40°43′12″N73°59′42″W / 40.720°N 73.995°W /40.720; -73.995
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Elizabeth Street (Chinese:伊利莎白街) is a street inManhattan,New York City, which runs north-south parallel to and west of theBowery. The street is a popular shopping strip inLower Manhattan'sNolita neighborhood.[1]
The southern part of Elizabeth Street was constructed in 1755. It was extended north toBleecker Street in 1816.[2]
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Elizabeth Street was filled withtenement buildings, largely populated bySicilian immigrants, making the street part of the onetimeLittle Italy of Lower Manhattan.[3][4] By the late 20th century, manyChinese immigrants moved to Elizabeth Street, south of Kenmare Street, formingManhattan's Chinatown. The northern portion runs through the modern neighborhoods ofSoho andNolita.[5][6][7]
During the height of Italian immigration to the United States of America between the 1880s and 1940s, manySicilian immigrants settled together on Elizabeth Street. Many of these immigrants came from fishing towns such asCastellammare del Golfo,Sciacca,Palermo,Messina andCatania. At one time, Elizabeth Street was home to the largest congregation of Sicilian speakers outside of Sicily. In the 1950s after World War II, many of these Sicilian immigrants moved out of Elizabeth Street and to other parts of New York City such asBensonhurst, Brooklyn,Staten Island and other parts of the tri-state area such asWestchester,Long Island andNew Jersey.
Elizabeth Street has several buildings of note, including theNew York Chinese School which caters to both Cantonese and Mandarin speakers; the Trust in God Baptist Church; and theNew York City Police Department 5th Precinct.[citation needed] At Grand Street, the rear of theBowery Savings Bank Building faces Elizabeth Street.[8]
11Spring Street, a former stable and carriage house at the corner of Elizabeth Street, was built in 1888. It was once a noted magnet forgraffiti artists, who covered the exterior of the building with their artwork. When the building was bought for conversion into condominiums, the developers, in collaboration with the Wooster Collective, mounted a show inside the building, inviting well-known graffitists – many of whom had work on the outside – to cover the entire five floors of the building's interior. The show opened in December 2006 for a few days, before work on the conversion began and the artwork was covered over or destroyed. Prior to its days as a canvas for graffiti, the stable had been the home ofIBM employee John Simpson for 30 years. Simpson had filled it withRube Goldberg-like mechanisms, and put burnt candles, surplus from the1964 New York World's Fair, in the windows, giving the building its nickname at the time, the "Candle Building".[9][10]
Near theNew York City Police Department's 5th Precinct station house, theJing Fong restaurant at 20 Elizabeth Street was for decades the largest Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. It specialized in Cantonesedim sum dishes as well asCantonese cuisine andHong Kong cuisine. It was often used for banquets, cultural events, and parties, and attracted many non-Asian customers.[11][12] Jing Fong moved to a much smaller location atCentre Street in 2021 as a result of theCOVID-19 pandemic in New York City.[13]
Elizabeth Street has three Cantonese food markets:Hong Kong Supermarket, at Hester and Elizabeth Streets; Deluxe Food Market, from Elizabeth toMott Street, between Hester and Grand Streets; and Po Wing Hong Market.[14][15]
Adjacent to the 5th police precinct, there is a small two-floor Hong-Kong-style shopping centerElizabeth Center.[16]
Since 1976,Eastern Bookstore has been located at 13-17 Elizabeth Street. It is the largest ChineseBookstore in Manhattan's Chinatown. It sells otherChinese cultural products such asgifts andaccessories as well asChinese calligraphy products.[17]
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In May 2014, a portion of Elizabeth Street belowCanal Street was given an extra name:Private Danny Chen Way (陳宇暉路), in memory ofDanny Chen, a CantoneseChinese New Yorker born and raised in Manhattan's Chinatown. After joining theUnited States Army, he fatally shot himself after being bullied by other American soldiers, some of whom were charged with anti-Asian harassment that led to Chen's apparent suicide.[18][19][20][21][22]
