//essays//
Fall 2019
Fall 2019
The Creation, Sharing, and End of Ethnic Enclaves
Meredith Harris
Places cannot be possessed. Forget legal ownership over an area; no matter the privatization or exclusivity of an area, one location may mean something completely different to someone else. In New York City, no single group can claim a neighborhood. And when separate histories within the same area collide, it only adds richness and depth to their people and the places in which they live.
The Lower East Side of Manhattan tells many stories. Starting in the 17th century, it became a prominent residence of many freed slaves. Additionally, the Great Migration of 1950 brought a prominent Puerto Rican community to the Lower East Side, which continues to enrich Loisaida culture today. However, to many, the Lower East Side symbolizes the entryway into American Jewish life. It was the most common residing place for Jewish Eastern European immigrants at the turn of the century. Landmarks such as the Tenement Museum capture moments from this time, portraying the life of immigrants as bleak, but critical to the development of Jewish cultural life in America. To others, specifically Chinese-Americans, the Lower East Side was a homeland before Eastern European immigrants “pioneered” it. However, the area was stripped from the Chinese-American community with the introduction of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which prevented Chinese citizenship and forcibly expelled the Chinese from their communities, leaving space for a new community to define it.
The Chinese community did not return to their former neighborhood until the reversal of the Act in 1943. In years following, the ethnic enclave quickly re-established its roots. Yet, the Chinese community was now living side by side with the homeland of American Jewry (and the Puerto Rican community was on its way), in a neighborhood comprised of second and third generation families whose businesses and houses of worship were well-defined.
However, the two cultures did not clash, they grew to co-exist. Chinese influences on Jewish culture are still prominent today. Many of the values between the two groups strikingly align, and both are stereotyped by tropes including working hard and valuing education. Yet beyond these shared values, the cultural acts that Jews have adopted from the Chinese range from eating Chinese food on Christmas, to Jewish mothers mastering mahjong. The communities’ proximity to one another within the cramped Lower East Side neighborhood facilitated the creation of these adopted customs.
While these kitschy takeaways are important, the most direct impact from the Lower East Side/Chinatown relationship stems from the street. The fluidity of the two community’s co-existence led to a symbiotic rhythm that allowed for both groups to flourish within their shared overarching neighborhood. Urbanist Jane Jacobs details the sidewalk ballet that exists within New York City neighborhoods, which typically contain members of similar socioeconomic and ethnic groups. Jacobs relays that the benefits a community can provide differ from those granted by governmental or economic support. The ability to foster social relationships based off of a shared history, a history partially made through placemaking, cannot be manufactured by a non-social entity. And especially when the area’s living situation has been characterized by its tenements and close quarters, that community is only stronger.
Like many other New York City neighborhoods, the Lower East Side and Chinatown are on steady paths of gentrification. Trendy restaurants are replacing longstanding establishments, housing is dwindling due to the rezoning of residential areas as commercial ones, and real estate developers are taking advantage of the cheap land and opportunity the area provides. These historical neighborhoods are becoming commercialized, and are at risk of losing the factors that define them.
Preserving historical neighborhoods is critical, because preservation ensures the protection of generational housing and of the incoming immigrants seeking the ethnic enclave of their own. Neighboring SoHo has largely taken over Little Italy with the creation of the neighborhood NoLita (North of Little Italy), and the only moment the historic culture of Little Italy can shine today is during its annual San Gennaro festival. Conversely, the Chinese American community has maintained its internal economy and cultural life. On average, a dollar bill circulates six times within Chinatown before leaving the neighborhood. As the neighborhood changes, will this feeling of closeness persist?
New York City’s character exists from the diversity of cultures that thrive within it. Yet the survival of historical ethnic communities also contributes to the city’s success, and the preservation of these neighborhoods must be prioritized. Cultures sustain themselves through generational continuation. Placemaking--the act of planning, nurturing, and supporting a neighborhood--contributes to a large part of that. Thus, preventing commercialization and gentrification, and ensuring the affordability and rent availability for the people who feel the strongest connections there, must be a focus for the city at large. Places cannot be possessed. Yet the communities who their foster greatness and create their spatial histories must not be overlooked in the ongoing process of neighborhood improvement.
The Lower East Side of Manhattan tells many stories. Starting in the 17th century, it became a prominent residence of many freed slaves. Additionally, the Great Migration of 1950 brought a prominent Puerto Rican community to the Lower East Side, which continues to enrich Loisaida culture today. However, to many, the Lower East Side symbolizes the entryway into American Jewish life. It was the most common residing place for Jewish Eastern European immigrants at the turn of the century. Landmarks such as the Tenement Museum capture moments from this time, portraying the life of immigrants as bleak, but critical to the development of Jewish cultural life in America. To others, specifically Chinese-Americans, the Lower East Side was a homeland before Eastern European immigrants “pioneered” it. However, the area was stripped from the Chinese-American community with the introduction of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which prevented Chinese citizenship and forcibly expelled the Chinese from their communities, leaving space for a new community to define it.
The Chinese community did not return to their former neighborhood until the reversal of the Act in 1943. In years following, the ethnic enclave quickly re-established its roots. Yet, the Chinese community was now living side by side with the homeland of American Jewry (and the Puerto Rican community was on its way), in a neighborhood comprised of second and third generation families whose businesses and houses of worship were well-defined.
However, the two cultures did not clash, they grew to co-exist. Chinese influences on Jewish culture are still prominent today. Many of the values between the two groups strikingly align, and both are stereotyped by tropes including working hard and valuing education. Yet beyond these shared values, the cultural acts that Jews have adopted from the Chinese range from eating Chinese food on Christmas, to Jewish mothers mastering mahjong. The communities’ proximity to one another within the cramped Lower East Side neighborhood facilitated the creation of these adopted customs.
While these kitschy takeaways are important, the most direct impact from the Lower East Side/Chinatown relationship stems from the street. The fluidity of the two community’s co-existence led to a symbiotic rhythm that allowed for both groups to flourish within their shared overarching neighborhood. Urbanist Jane Jacobs details the sidewalk ballet that exists within New York City neighborhoods, which typically contain members of similar socioeconomic and ethnic groups. Jacobs relays that the benefits a community can provide differ from those granted by governmental or economic support. The ability to foster social relationships based off of a shared history, a history partially made through placemaking, cannot be manufactured by a non-social entity. And especially when the area’s living situation has been characterized by its tenements and close quarters, that community is only stronger.
Like many other New York City neighborhoods, the Lower East Side and Chinatown are on steady paths of gentrification. Trendy restaurants are replacing longstanding establishments, housing is dwindling due to the rezoning of residential areas as commercial ones, and real estate developers are taking advantage of the cheap land and opportunity the area provides. These historical neighborhoods are becoming commercialized, and are at risk of losing the factors that define them.
Preserving historical neighborhoods is critical, because preservation ensures the protection of generational housing and of the incoming immigrants seeking the ethnic enclave of their own. Neighboring SoHo has largely taken over Little Italy with the creation of the neighborhood NoLita (North of Little Italy), and the only moment the historic culture of Little Italy can shine today is during its annual San Gennaro festival. Conversely, the Chinese American community has maintained its internal economy and cultural life. On average, a dollar bill circulates six times within Chinatown before leaving the neighborhood. As the neighborhood changes, will this feeling of closeness persist?
New York City’s character exists from the diversity of cultures that thrive within it. Yet the survival of historical ethnic communities also contributes to the city’s success, and the preservation of these neighborhoods must be prioritized. Cultures sustain themselves through generational continuation. Placemaking--the act of planning, nurturing, and supporting a neighborhood--contributes to a large part of that. Thus, preventing commercialization and gentrification, and ensuring the affordability and rent availability for the people who feel the strongest connections there, must be a focus for the city at large. Places cannot be possessed. Yet the communities who their foster greatness and create their spatial histories must not be overlooked in the ongoing process of neighborhood improvement.
//MEREDITH HARRIS is a junior at Barnard College and the Jewish Theological Seminary and serves as the Layout and Senior Editor for The Current. She can be reached at [email protected].
Photo Courtesy of Tony Shi Photography, Trip Savvy
Photo Courtesy of Tony Shi Photography, Trip Savvy