Hipsters Finally Kill the LES
As the Lower East Side continues to become an overzealous developer's dream come true, the plebs pay the price: construction on the block of Orchard Street between Stanton and Houston has resulted in the slow crumbling of a tenement at 189 Orchard. Residents have a forthcoming luxury condo building and Jason Pomeranc's new hotel to thank for the mess:
"Every morning, you wake up and you grit your teeth through the building shaking and pray that it won't tumble over," said Rebecca Moore, who lives in another building on the hotel's block. "It's been dramatic."
Moore, a resident for more than 20 years, founded the Ludlow Orchard Community Organization to fight for preservation of the area's rent-stabilized housing and immigrant legacy. She rails against the changes in her neighborhood, like the arrival of drunken bar-goers who stage vomiting contests underneath her window at 1 a.m. for the benefit of cheering onlookers.
We're all for downzoning the neighborhood and preserving the area — but the vomiting contests? That's an equally important part of the Lower East Side's legacy. They are, if nothing else, the descendents of immigrants — and their ancestors toiled on these streets so that their heirs may puke freely.
