Delancey Street

File:Blue Condominium Tower Neighborhood.jpg from Suffolk Street looking west]]

Delancey Street is one of the main thoroughfares of the Lower East Side in Manhattan, New York City. It runs from the street's western terminus at the Bowery to its eastern end at FDR Drive, connecting to the Williamsburg Bridge and Brooklyn at Clinton Street. It is an eight-lane, median-divided street, which is west of Clinton Street, and a service road for the Williamsburg Bridge east of Clinton Street. West of Bowery, Delancey Street becomes Kenmare Street, which continues as a four-lane, undivided street to Lafayette Street.

Delancey Street is named after James De Lancey Sr., chief justice, lieutenant governor, and acting colonial governor of the Province of New York, whose farm was located in what is now called the Lower East Side.

Businesses range from delis to check-cashing stores to bars. Delancey Street has long been known for its discount and bargain clothing stores. Famous establishments include the Bowery Ballroom, built in 1929, Ratner's kosher restaurant (now closed), and the Essex Street Market, which was built by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia to avoid pushcart congestion on the neighborhood's narrow streets.

Until the middle 20th century, Delancey Street was a main shopping street in the predominantly Jewish and Irish Lower East Side. Since the late 2000s, the neighborhood around Delancey is more diverse; including African Americans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Chinese. Gentrification has brought more upscale retail and nightlife establishments.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

Transportation

The New York City Subway's {{NYCS trains|Delancey-Essex}} serve the Delancey Street/Essex Street station, and the {{NYCS trains|Nassau north}} also stop at the Bowery station.

Under New York City Bus, the {{NYC bus link|B39}} is Delancey Street’s main bus, running between Allen & Clinton Streets. In addition, the {{NYC bus link|M14D SBS|M21|prose=y}} run in the westbound direction to Columbia Street, where the former terminates, from the FDR Drive and Lewis Street, respectively (eastbound M21 buses cross on the FDR Drive). The {{NYC bus link|M9|M14A SBS|prose=y}} cross on Essex Street, the {{NYC bus link|M15|M15 SBS|prose=y}} on Allen Street, and the {{NYC bus link|M103}} on Bowery.{{Cite NYC bus map|M}}

The Williamsburg Bridge Trolley Terminal, beneath Delancey and Essex Streets, was a station and balloon loop for streetcars crossing the Williamsburg Bridge from Brooklyn. The Lowline, an underground public park in which natural light would be directed using fiber optics to create a setting in which trees and grass could be grown indoors, was proposed in 2011.{{cite news |last=Foderaro |first=Lisa W. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/nyregion/high-line-inspires-plans-for-park-under-delancey-street.html |title=Inspired by High Line, Park Is Envisioned With Sights Set Low |work=The New York Times |date=November 21, 2011 |access-date=November 21, 2011}}{{cite web |last=Cohen |first=Andrew |date=September 22, 2011 |url=http://www.boweryboogie.com/2011/09/plans-for-delancey-underground-low-line-presented-to-cb3/ |title=Plans for Delancey Underground presented to Community Board 3 |website=Bowery Boogie |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926045305/http://www.boweryboogie.com/2011/09/plans-for-delancey-underground-low-line-presented-to-cb3/ |archive-date=September 26, 2011}}

Because Delancey Street is very wide, and because of its high rate of fatalities, safety measures were erected along its length in the 2000s and 2010s. This includes pedestrian plazas, bans on left turns along the street, and pedestrian countdown signals.{{cite web |url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/2012-02-delancey-slides.pdf |title=Delancey Street 2012 |date=February 8, 2012 |website=New York City Department of Transportation}} A protected bike lane was constructed on Delancey Street from Chrystie Street to the Williamsburg Bridge in November 2018, in advance of the 14th Street Tunnel shutdown.{{cite web |last=Robbins |first=Christopher |date=November 15, 2018 |title=The New Delancey Street Bike Lane Has A Potentially Dangerous Flaw |url=https://gothamist.com/news/the-new-delancey-street-bike-lane-has-a-potentially-dangerous-flaw |access-date=February 2, 2023 |website=Gothamist}} In January 2023, city officials received a $21 million grant from the federal government to add bike lanes, widen sidewalks, and reduce vehicular lanes along Delancey Street.{{cite web |last=Nessen |first=Stephen |date=February 1, 2023 |title=Delancey Street to get ‘road diet’ thanks to $21M from feds |url=https://gothamist.com/news/nycs-delancey-street-to-get-road-diet-thanks-to-21m-from-feds |access-date=February 2, 2023 |website=Gothamist}}

Kenmare Street

File:Nolita Hotel 153 Elizabeth and Kenmare sunny jeh.JPG

Kenmare Street is the western extension of Delancey Street, running five blocks from the Bowery to Lafayette Street. It is a major thoroughfare for traffic traveling westbound to the Holland Tunnel. The street was founded in 1911, by Tim Sullivan, the son of immigrants Daniel O’Sullivan and Catherine Connelly, who came from Kenmare, County Kerry, Ireland.{{cite web |date=March 10, 2017 |url=http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/The-story-of-how-New-Yorks-Kenmare-St-got-its-name-from-famine-emigrants--AUDIO-181742631.html#ixzz2gCSvUWSX |title=The story of how New York's Kenmare St got its name from famine emigrants |website=Irish Central}}

References

Notes

External links

[http://www.nychinatown.org/storefronts/delancey.html Delancey Street Storefronts] - photographs of buildings and stores along Delancey Street.
[http://www.nysonglines.com/delancey.htm Delancey Street: A New York Songline] - a virtual walking tour
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie4qmEUHjMA Cuban Pete] - Desi and Lucy performing "Cuban Pete"

Category:Streets in Manhattan

Category:Lower East Side