VIDEO: Visit the Wonderfully Weird Lower East Side of 1995
It’s hard to imagine the Lower East Side without all of its barflies and bros, but get ready for a blast from the past. Bowery Boogie has found an amazing video that gives us a glimpse into the neighborhood’s quirky past—well before it became a nightlife mecca for New York’s downtown set. The four-minute film, aptly titled “Planet Ludlow,” takes us through the block via Ludlow Street circa 1995.
Mainstays like Katz’s Deli make an appearance, while plenty of long-gone galleries, theaters, and shops also appear (a near-century old pillow shop, anyone? Or maybe you’re interested in a basement blacksmith). The LES of 20 years ago depicted in the film is wildly different and way more colorful than today’s—but funnily enough, narrator Ronnie DeMonarco reminisces over just how different the neighborhood was when he himself first arrived there years before. It’s now a “thriving, out-of-the-way artist community,” he says. Watch the video above for more.
[Via Bowery Boogie]
[Related: Mapping the Evolution of the Lower East Side Through a Jewish Lens, 1880-2014]
