Thursday, May 1, 2014

The 1st Lower East Side (LES) History Month starts today


[Yet ANOTHER butter and eggs shop!]

From the EVG inbox…

May 2014 brings the first annual Lower East Side (LES) History Month, a month-long celebration of the rich, diverse history of New York City's Lower East Side, including the neighborhoods of the East Village, Chinatown, Little Italy and Alphabet City. With participation by more than 60 Lower East Side-based cultural and community groups, LES History Month will feature over 80 affordable and unique events, including live performances, exhibits, gallery and walking tours, talks, film screenings, festivals and more.

LES History Month opens with Chalk/LES, a weekend-long participatory project to bring LES history, art and stories onto the streets of the neighborhood. Starting Friday, May 2, numerous LES sites will be emblazoned with chalked trivia and memories of their lived histories. On Saturday, May 3, public chalking sites will be open for all, encouraging passersby to participate with their own stories and images of the LES. Game participants are also invited to join scavenger hunt teams, organized by Guerilla Haiku Movement, who will head out and cover the neighborhood with sidewalk-chalked poetry, and engage passersby in their own creative storytelling about the LES.

Chalk/LES culminates on Sunday, May 4, as artists and volunteers will chalk a pathway from various LES transit hubs toward East River Park, along the waterfront, and arriving at Pier 42 for Picnic on the Pier. As a partnership with Paths to Pier 42, LES History Month will present salsa dancing with las Dinimicas of Grand Street Settlement, gypsy swing from Sugar Hill Gypsy Jazz, songs from the young singers of Downtown Art, and an afternoon of family friendly art activities led by The Tenement Museum and the Museum of Chinese in America.

To celebrate, LES History Month will also announce the inaugural LES Heroes award, recognizing the often unsung contributions of neighborhood residents, activists and leaders.

To find out more about LES History Month, its participants and opening weekend programming, visit here.

Photo via NewYorkHistory.info

9 comments:

shmnyc said...

Interesting. And what better day than May Day to start on?!

THE NOTORIOUS L.I.B.E.R.A.T.I.O.N. said...

Grieve, the lines are long because they're each posing for minutes at a time for Daguerreotype selfies! #butterandeggsrager

EV Grieve said...

@ THE NOTORIOUS L.I.B.E.R.A.T.I.O.N.

I got so tired of these self-absored people running into me with their head down while reading The New York Herald!

Giovanni said...

Funny, I don't see anyone complaining about the Halal cart or the street vendors in this picture. My how times have changed...

THE NOTORIOUS L.I.B.E.R.A.T.I.O.N. said...

And it's impossible to cross the street with all those filthy hipsters eating tacos in the gutter.

Eden Bee said...

Tell them to get off their ear trumpets and watch where they are walking!

3:25 pm said...

Waiting for brunch. Damn hipsters. And those eggs and butter are artisinal. If you don't like eggs and butter then move to________.

bowboy said...

I'm conflicted: is this a good thing for the neighborhood or not?
Are we just celebrating all that has been destoyed and taken from us?
And, are we just drawing more attention to this area, encouraging others to stake a claim and drive out the last of us?
It reminds me of how Seattle once did away with their Welcome Center so as not to encourage more people to move there.
Not angry, just wondering.

Crazy Eddie said...

Can’t wait for the color hand-painted glass plate stereoscopics to follow.