Ghetto Chic - The Lower East Side Restaurant Scene
Lower East Side residents and business owners struggle to preserve the area’s historical funky vibe while adapting to the money and trendy newcomers that come with gentrification.
It’s called gentrification. It’s the process of turning urban decay into the next trendy neighborhood, renovating deteriorated buildings and increasing property values.
Gentrification claimed the Lower East Side 10 years ago. New restaurants, expensive shops and luxury condos followed the influx of wealthier residents in the mid 1990s.
“If I had to describe this neighborhood I would say it is ‘ghetto chic,’” Eric Kleinman, head chef at ‘inoteca, said. “There is an interesting mix of ‘grit’ with trendy bars and boutiques.”
‘inoteca is one of many new restaurants lining the streets from Houston to Canal trying to capitalize on the changing character of the Lower East Side and become the next neighborhood hangout. According to Kleinman, the neighborhood’s ‘ghetto chic’ character draws customers.
Gentrification has its price though. Some residents and preservationists believe the progress is destroying signs of the neighborhood’s cultural history.
“What is happening today is exciting, but there is a consequence to it,” Amy Milford, a longtime resident, said. “The rents and costs of owning a business here will make it too expensive for some of the smaller, and oftentimes older, mom and pop shops to stay open.”
According to the Real Estate Board of New York’s annual report on rental prices for retail locations, the average rent for ground floor space is $90/square foot in Downtown Manhattan.
That means a restaurant the size of ‘inoteca, maybe 500 square feet, pays $45,000 per month just for rent.
Greedy landlords are a problem. Kleinman and his partner, Joe Denton, said they had their own rent increase 10 percent each year since opening.
“We haven’t experienced a backlash from other restaurant owners that were already here or were closed down after we opened,” Denton said. “The backlash is really against landlords because they can raise the rents. That is why there are less and less places that have been around for 40 or 50 years.”
The scene at ‘inoteca on Thursday was different from what visitors would have experienced in this neighborhood before gentrification. It was the combination of ‘ghetto’ and ‘chic’ that Kleinman described.
Young, stylishly-dressed couples with shopping bags from expensive boutiques at their feet sipped wine. Across the street, they watched a homeless man, who had set up a makeshift bed under scaffolding and plywood tagged with graffiti, as he yelled and cursed at two women walking past him.
“That’s our guy,” Kleinman said. “He has Turrets Syndrome and is always hanging around.”
The Lower East Side has historically been an immigrant, working-class area of New York City. It served as the cultural center to Eastern European Jewish immigrants who first settled here in the mid 1800’s and set up their families in tenement buildings. The tenements still stand today, although some have been converted to make room for luxury condos. As Jewish immigrants moved out, drug dealers took over and the Lower East Side became the center of the city’s heroin trade.
When the young professionals, artists, students and tourists moved in 10 years ago, they created a market for eateries like ‘inoteca.
“These places are making the Lower East Side better,” Shayne Settenbrino, a manager at the local Blue Moon Hotel, said. “They are getting people here to live, to eat, to shop which all supports the local business owners.”
Settenbrino, a long-time resident, believes the ‘new’ Lower East Side is younger and more affluent.
“The new restaurants capture what the neighborhood is like now,” she said. “Lots of young people are moving in and the overall feeling is that it is really up and coming.”
When Denton and Kleinman, who both live in the Lower East Side, looked for the restaurant’s location they searched exclusively in this area because rents were low and the neighborhood had a funky personality. “My parents were shocked when I told them where we were opening the restaurant because they knew what it used to be like here,” Kleinman said. “It was full-on frightening 15 years ago.”
Kleinman, a native New Yorker, often visited the Lower East Side growing up and has seen the progress first hand.
“The changes have been good, but this neighborhood is still eclectic and has an ‘edge’ to it” he said. “It has always had grit and I hope it stays that way.”
Denton’s goal is to make the neighborhood residents ‘inoteca’s primary customer “We’ve tried to create an intimate atmosphere since opening three years ago,” Denton said. “We want this to be a neighborhood place that people associate with the new Lower East Side.”
The owners say they cater to what the customers want from a dining experience by providing a subtle setting, expansive wine list (700 wines available by the glass) and fun vibe that is always accessible and not exclusive.
“We made certain decisions like staying open from noon to 3:00 a.m. and not serving liquor, which leads to louder and rowdier crowds, specifically to create the ‘neighborhood’ feel,” Denton said. “The people from this area know when they come here that it doesn’t have an exclusive vibe to it.”
Denton and Kleinman hope the neighborhood will embrace ‘inoteca and that, eventually, it will have a similar reputation in the community as older places like Katz’s Delicatessen, a Jewish deli that has been on Houston Street since 1888.
For residents like Milford, who believe in preserving the community’s history, the new restaurants and shops need to find a link to the neighborhood.
“It is great for them to try to appeal to the locals and not just be a super trendy bar that doesn’t have a tie to the community,” Milford said.