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April 16. 2006
Birthplace of Dreams: A New Way to Discover New York's Lower East Side
by - Ian Yanover

If your family was part of the Jewish Wave that swept into America through the Lower East Side you might be interested in some new technology that could enhance a visit to this New World focal point. The Talking Street Cell-phone Walking Tour will take you into a world of tenements and sweatshops, radicals and capitalists, artists and gangsters and make this centre of Jewish immigration come alive.

The tour is narrated by Jerry Stiller and enhanced by lively narration, historic audio, expert interviews, dramatic readings and more. It is a simple introduction to your research. The Talking Street Cell-phone Walking Tour is as simple to use as an audio guide in a museum. Just choose a stop and enjoy an audio segment about the place where you're standing. The introductory price is $5.95 and a portion of tour proceeds are donated to the Henry Street Settlement. Once in New York City just use your cell-phone and call 212-262-TOUR (8687) to start your personal journey.

There are 13 stops on the tour including several with major significance to Jewish life in America. These include the tenements, the Garment District, the home of the Jewish Daily Forward, the Young Israel Synagogue and Kossar's Bialys, a most delicious visit.

You can enhance your tour before you travel with a stop at www.talkingstreet.com/tours You'll find a list of credits that directs you to sources that help you learn more about the interviews and readings on the tour. One source of note is www.yivoinstitute.org This is the website for the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. As it says on its website, the organization was founded in 1925 in Vilna, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania), as the Yiddish Scientific Institute, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is dedicated to the history and culture of Ashkenazi Jewry and to its influence in the Americas. Headquartered in New York City since 1940, today YIVO is the world's preeminent resource center for East European Jewish Studies; Yiddish language, literature and folklore; and the American Jewish immigrant experience. The YIVO Library holds over 360,000 volumes in 12 major languages, and the Archives contains more than 23,000,000 pieces, including manuscripts, documents, photographs, sound recordings, art works, films, posters, sheet music, and other artifacts.

Narrator Jerry Stiller grew up on the Lower East Side. He went on to an entertainment career that includes an Emmy-winning performance as Frank Costanza on Seinfeld. He still lives in New York City. He tells how the tour brought back memories for him. "Eddie Cantor, who lived on Henry Street near the Henry Street Playhouse, where I got my first taste of acting, was my hero. The Educational Alliance, the subject of another stop on the tour, was where I did my first stand-up gig. It was an Amateur Hour. I was fifteen years old, and I bombed."

Once the world's largest Jewish community, the Lower East Side is now renown for great shopping bargains and delicious food. Bargain hunters will enjoy the many shops along Orchard Street, which are particularly well-known for offering clothing and shoes at great prices. Along other neighborhood streets, you can find great deals on a variety of housewares, linens and more. Sundays are the best weekend days for visiting the Lower East Side, as many shop owners observe the Sabbath and are closed on Saturday. From pickles and knishes to bialys and huge corned beef sandwiches, there are a variety of stores and restaurants featuring delicious foods reflecting the Jewish heritage of the Lower East Side.

With cell-phone in hand, you will absorb the amazing history and genealogical resources which characterize the area. Over a century after hardworking immigrant families first crowded the tenements of Orchard Street, you will join visitors from around the world in rediscovering this historic neighbourhood and finding new surprises.