Lower East Side... Still Gritty Enough To Feel Like Genuine NYC

While New York's super seedy Bowery is being overtaken by high-rise $$multi-million$$ condos, the Lower East Side remains as non-gentrified as any remaining nabe in Manhattan. Whole Foods Market changed everything along Delancey Street, where there are now McDonald's, Subway, Bank of America, Chase & other national retailers, but along such streets as Orchard, Rivington, Ludlow and Eldridge, there's still much magic.

Thursday eve, Leonard, Donna Mae and I spent four hours traipsing around the locale, soaking up the culture, including a finale at the famous Katz's Deli. This was a new one on me: bicycle polo. Orchard Street, where much of New York's original tenement housing was located... Beautiful boutique hotel in the LES. The border of Chinatown. Something smells fishy to me... Movie-making with character actor Luis Guzman.