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For over a year now, friends and family outside of New York have asked the same questions: Is it true, are people leaving the city? Does New York feel so deserted?! Their queries usually came with a side of smug vindication; finally, the most desirable city on the planet wasn’t so desirable, or so they heard.
And yeah, some people left. Those ultra-luxe apartment buildings in Tribeca and the West Village are still a bit quiet, and Midtown is patiently waiting for its workforce to return. But here on the Lower East Side, you’d never know anything had changed—in fact, certain blocks feel more alive than ever.
As a resident, I’m certainly biased, but I really think the best place you could possibly be this weekend is Orchard Street, namely the three blocks below Broome. With the intersections closed to traffic, restaurants and bars like Skin Contact, Dudley’s, Las Lap, Barrio Chino, Sunday to Sunday, and Casa Mezcal (and many more!) have stretched their outdoor dining set-ups into the street, adding mismatched tables and chairs as the crowds build. Art galleries are flinging their doors open for fresh air so you can wander in and out between glasses of pét-nat, and on most Saturdays, musicians set up mics and speakers just past the barricades.
It feels like a block party—and an oddly stylish one at that. Some of New York’s best new shops are tucked away on Orchard Street, too, from Bode to LAAMS to Coming Soon. While storefronts remain empty in Soho and the West Village, Daniella Kallmeyer’s two-year-old shop at 83 Orchard Street is thriving. Her elegant tailoring and luxe essentials resonate with women looking for timeless, high-quality pieces, but she’s also found a new clientele as a result of the area’s buzz. “Of all my years living downtown, this is one of the fastest shifts I’ve experienced in a neighborhood,” Kallmeyer says. “It’s become a destination for a Gen Z sartorial scene. Before the pandemic, our regulars used to be visitors in between tours at the Tenement Museum, ladies who drove in from Westchester to see their esthetician Christine Chin [across the street], and young professional neighbors shopping for a new job or a wedding. I knew all of their names, or at least recognized their faces. Now, that customer still exists, but we’re seeing a lot more clients who live in the West Village, Upper East Side, and Brooklyn who come to the neighborhood specifically to shop, lunch, and gallery hop for the day.”
The shift accelerated last summer, when outdoor dining brought people outside and stores like Kallmeyer reopened at limited capacity. Initially, Kallmeyer was worried the patios and crowds would hide her store from view at a time when she needed customers, but it didn’t turn out to be the case. “It allowed us to literally think outside the box and use the street to gather the community we would normally have inside the shop,” she says. “We hosted movie nights, raised money for different causes, and hosted a holiday Makers Market, which we’ve brought back for the spring and summer.”
Kallmeyer’s new community have inspired her designs, too: “We’re seeing how we can be less conservative with our in-house collection, delivery schedule, and even colors,” she says. “Our modest spring delivery of calm, neutral inventory is nearly sold out, so we’re about to launch an impromptu summer capsule filled with more optimistic colors and confident silhouettes.”
Two blocks south, Clark Chung just moved his November 19 Shop into Coming Soon’s old space (don’t fret—the design mecca just moved down the street, to the corner of Orchard and Canal). November 19 is filled with distinctive home goods, ceramics, table settings, accessories, vintage clothes, and objects sourced from Japan and makers around the world, along with Chung’s own line of socks and knit beanies, Mr. Chung. He opened his first November 19 outpost in Hell’s Kitchen three years ago, but when the lease expired mid-lockdown, he felt ready for a new neighborhood; Chung and his husband also moved to the Lower East Side this year.
“We fell in love with this block on Orchard Street and its rich history, community, and diversity,” he says of the retail space. “There is a sense of excitement around here as new shops, restaurants, and cafés are popping up. This corner of the Lower East Side also feels special to us because of the mix of people who live and work in the area. It’s a unique crossroads of different generations, cultures, long-time residents, and new transplants who make the neighborhood feel unlike anywhere else in New York. There’s a sense of community, where people from the neighborhood will actually smile and say hello.”
Just around the corner from Chung is Emily Bode’s lush, wood-paneled store on Hester Street, which she opened in November of 2019, and her brand-new tailoring shop next door. When Huy Luong went out to photograph the neighborhood for Vogue last Saturday, Bode was hosting a sale to support COVID relief in India, where much of her collection is produced. A crowd gathered outside to buy custom T-shirts, photographs, and snacks to benefit GiveIndia and other organizations, while a mehndi artist gave henna tattoos for $20.
When the festivities wrapped up that evening, Bode’s friends didn’t have to venture too far. Take a right, and they’d find themselves at Reception Bar—Chung recommends the honeydew soju—or Skin Contact, Dudley’s, or Ten Bells. Turn left, and Orchard Street quickly ends at a triangle formed by Canal Street and East Broadway, where Dimes, Cervo’s, Bacaro, Kiki’s, and Forgtmenot draw crowds of their own. Canal’s two-way traffic is closed, so their tables spill far out into the street, and a lack of skyscrapers nearby makes for unexpectedly pretty sunsets.
You could spend an entire weekend zig-zagging between those crowd favorites and hidden gems—trust me, I have!—and never feel like you’re missing anything. That it’s all coalesced so organically and exists a little off the beaten path—far from Instagram-y matcha cafés and endless lines for trendier stores—makes it even more appealing. When Bode opened her store on Hester back in 2019, many found it an unlikely choice; not anymore.
Visual editor: Thomas Wolfe