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Photograph: Courtesy CC/Flickr/Moriza

Lower East Side, NYC neighborhood guide

The Lower East Side, NYC is a prime shopping, drinking and dining neighborhood, but these are the spots that stick out

Written by
Jennifer Picht
&
Time Out New York contributors
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The Lower East Side, NYC is one of Manhattan’s most fashionable neighborhoods. The former Bargain District meets your late-night comedy, pastrami-on-rye and tattoo needs as it’s home to some of the best comedy clubs, one of the best New York delis and great tattoo shops. Culturally, the Tenement Museum keeps the area's history alive in a series of restored apartments visited via themed guided tours, but most of the area’s cultural draws are contemporary including the numerous art galleries on the LES.

RECOMMENDED: Full guide of Manhattan, NY

Things to do on the Lower East Side

The best Lower East Side restaurants

The best Lower East Side restaurants

Just like the neighborhood itself—where Jewish tenements buddies up next to Hispanic pride, where Little Italy seamlessly melts into Chinatown—the culinary...

The best bars on the Lower East Side

The best bars on the Lower East Side

The Lower East Side is a bar hopper’s paradise, thanks to the sheer volume and diversity of bars in the downtown neighborhood. European suds connoisseurs can...

Restaurants in the Lower East Side, NYC

Wildair

Wildair

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • price 2 of 4

The 45-seat restaurant is a sister to chef Jeremiah Stone and pastry chef Fabian von Hauske’s avant-garde tasting-menu den, Contra, two doors down. 

Katz’s Delicatessen

Katz’s Delicatessen

  • price 2 of 4

This cavernous cafeteria is a repository of New York history—glossies of celebs spanning the past century crowd the walls, and the classic Jewish deli...

Dirty French

Dirty French

  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • price 3 of 4

This Ludlow Hotel bistro blockbuster, from Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi and Jeff Zalaznick, is serving some of the cleanest French fare in town.

Dirt Candy

Dirt Candy

  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • price 2 of 4

Chef Amanda Cohen is one of the most prominent champions of vegetarian cuisine, well before vegetable-forward was the gastro buzzword on every menu.

Bars in the Lower East Side, NYC

Attaboy

Attaboy

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • price 2 of 4

Not all spin-offs are created equal: The best retain what you loved most about the original, with enough new material to keep things fresh, while others...

Bar Goto

Bar Goto

  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • price 2 of 4

Take a seat at Kenta Goto’s glimmering black-and-gold boîte, lodged away from the Houston Street bedlam, and you’ll find its noisy hype...

Nitecap

Nitecap

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • price 1 of 4

The entrance is hard to find and you’ll have to wrestle an unwieldy velvet curtain the second you step inside. But the effort is well worth it. 

The Flower Shop

The Flower Shop

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • price 2 of 4

Other bars may have the look of a 1970s house party, but the Flower Shop actually seems like one.

Hotels in the Lower East Side, NYC

The Ludlow

The Ludlow

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • price 3 of 4

The Ludlow classes up the joint by offering ridiculously luxurious studios, terraces, lofts, and penthouses to those aiming for fancy vibe for their NYC...

Hotel on Rivington

Hotel on Rivington

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • price 3 of 4

You can’t miss this enormous glass highrise jutting out in the LES skyline. This hotel offers what a lot of spots downtown cannot: space.

SIXTY LES

SIXTY LES

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • price 3 of 4

Floor-to-ceiling windows, lightbox headboards, and an 180-degree view of Manhattan is why you stay in Sixty, but the spa and pool is why you’ll never...

Nightlife in the Lower East Side, NYC

Arlene’s Grocery

Arlene’s Grocery

  • price 1 of 4

Arlene’s Grocery was one of the earliest rock-music venues south of East Houston, and it remains a hallowed hall of head-banging.

Bowery Ballroom

Bowery Ballroom

  • price 1 of 4

This is probably the best venue in the city for seeing indie bands, either those on their way up or the ones holding their own.

Slipper Room

Slipper Room

  • price 1 of 4

This cabaret-style venue commits itself curtain and soul to the nouveau burlesque scene, so if you stumble across a pile of pasties and glitter on the Lower...

Mercury Lounge

Mercury Lounge

  • price 1 of 4

The unassuming, boxy Mercury Lounge is both an old standby and pretty much the number-one indie-rock club in town.

Shops in the Lower East Side

Claw & Co.

Claw & Co.

Inside the hip-hop–inspired shop, expect to find items from her current fashion line, plus racks of rare vintage finds that have been on ice for the past...

Frankie

Frankie

  • price 2 of 4

We were bummed to see local fave Pixie Market (trendy clothes! übercheap prices!) close up shop. But before we could settle into a deep depression, the...

Grit N Glory

Grit N Glory

  • price 3 of 4

Fed up with the dearth of stores that matched their aesthetic, 24-year-old founders Emily Conley and Veronica Cano set up their own boutique with a real...

Bluestockings

Bluestockings

  • price 2 of 4

This self-proclaimed “radical” bookstore and cafe hosts readings and discussions on health, race, class and sexuality, featuring stellar writers...