Rivington Street

It snowed on Sunday and for much of the day the city looked quite magical. Brendan, my son, and I walked across town and down the Lower East Side to visit the opening of the newly renovated Eldridge Street Synagogue, which as I understand it, will be called Museum at Eldridge Street. The restoration looked beautiful, a good sized crowd was on hand, and a klezmer band played jauntily in the main sanctuary.

Eldridge Street

The synagogue is located at the southern end of Eldridge Street near the Manhattan Bridge, an area that is now the heart of Chinatown. The incongruity of the old world Moorish themed building surrounded by Chinese businesses is striking. But this is the kind of jarring cultural collision that makes the Lower East Side and New York in general so fascinating.

Eldridge Street

Canal Street

Canal Street

Brendan on Forsythe Street