Walking Off the Lower East Side: Orchard Street Highlights

After reeling from the shock of construction sites along Orchard St. just south of E. Houston, as noted in the previous post, I calmed down long enough to enjoy the less disrupted blocks farther south. Some places of note, including a few art galleries, an increasingly more visible part of the Lower East Side landscape, listed from north to south:

• Charbon Epicerie: a convincingly French cafe; the door is through the Tabac Shop. 170 Orchard St.
• Guitar Man, 147 Orchard St.
• The Orchard Building. 140, 142. Beautiful ornate apartment building that could use some exterior preservation.
• Altman Luggage, long-established store. 135 Orchard St.
• Beckenstein signage. Fabric store established in 1919. According to Barry Popik's Big Apple website, The song "Sam, You Made the Pants Too Long" (1932) probably refers to Sam Beckenstein.
• The Bean Coffee & Tea. 118 Orchard St. Free Wifi.
• Blue Moon Hotel. 100 Orchard St. Upscale boutique hotel with large rooms and luxurious amenities.
• Mark Miller Gallery, 92 Orchard St.
• The Lower East Side Tenement Museum. 91 Orchard St. Must stop for gift shop and information. Guided tours only.
• Roasting Plant. 81 Orchard St. Cafe and Wifi.
• Former E.S. Ridley Department Store (at Grand). Once the largest retail store in the world, closed in 1901, it's a pink show-stopper of a building.
• Miguel Abreu Gallery, 36 Orchard St.
• Orchard. Gallery 47 Orchard St.
• Good World Bar and Grill. 3 Orchard Street

More images at Flickr WOTBA.
Part of a series about the Lower East Side. See related posts.