Hotel at a Glance: Hotel 50 Bowery NYC

Dozens of art galleries are sprinkled around the Lower East Side, but this 4.5-star hotel always has its own exhibit running. Original works by local artists are displayed throughout common areas and guest rooms. In a nod to the neighborhood’s past, the pieces are joined by historical black-and-white photos of Chinatown.

• Spotlight on suites: The Manhattan has a private terrace, the Kindred spans 575 feet, and the Bowery suites are on the top three floors.
• Pet-friendly digs: Four-legged travelers are welcome for no additional fee.
• Global cuisine: Rice & Gold restaurant fuses Asian and American flavors in dishes like lobster fried rice.
• Rooftop lounge: specialty cocktails and spectacular views of Manhattan and Brooklyn
• Where to work out: 24-hour fitness center with kettlebells and a Peloton bike

Manhattan’s Lower East Side: Chic Boutiques, Restaurant Row, and Contemporary-Art Galleries

If you were a German, Irish, Polish, or Jewish immigrant coming to America in pursuit of a better life in the 19th or early 20th century, odds were good that you’d wind up sharing space in an overcrowded tenement building on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The neighborhood—one of the city’s oldest—was a refuge for New York’s newest and poorest residents for generations. You can learn more at the Tenement Museum, located in a five-story brick building that once housed some 7,000 working-class immigrants.

In recent years, the Lower East Side’s identity as a welcome mat for newcomers has shifted as gentrification began to reshape the neighborhood. Pushcarts and rundown storefronts have given way to trendy boutiques along Orchard Street and a chic “restaurant row” on Clinton Street. What’s more, the relocation of the New Museum has attracted a slew of contemporary-art galleries. Some of the old mainstays have stuck around, though, including Katz’s Delicatessen and Russ & Daughters, which has been selling premium smoked fish, bagels, and other specialty foods since 1914.