Lower East Side used to be the most densely populated area in the world, hosting a large working-class immigrant community. From the 1870s through the 1930s, many people began their American Dreams in this neighborhood. But as immigration slowed and social policies changed, especially with the suburban explosion of the 1950s and beyond, this area fell derelict. In recent years, however, young urban professionals looking for affordable housing and conveniences of city life have revitalized and gentrified the area.

Most new immigrants lived in tenements like these. By New York City law, a tenement is defined as any residential building with three or more units, though the term usually connotes old working-class buildings like these. City housing codes have evolved to make tenement living more tolerable and safer, such as requiring windows, running power and water, and a minimum number of toilets per residential units, and banning wooden stairs (fire hazard). Needless to say, landlords grumbled about the cost of compliance, and they gave up on many of these buildings when immigration slowed to a trickle after 1924.

The immigrants who came to this area at first were Germans and Eastern Europeans in the late 19th Century. By the turn of the 20th Century, Italians and other Southern Europeans were taking over. Today, in a more vitalized Lower East Side, the Chinese, spilling over from nearby Chinatown, are the dominant immigrant group, as evidenced by the laundromat sign. Community organizations and services have always existed (and continue to exist) to cater to the needs of the new immigrants, in their languages and cultures.