Lower East Side

The Lower East Side New York City has historically been a neighborhood compromised primarily of working-class immigrants. After WWII, it served as the center of Jewish culture and commerce. The streets were busy with not only store-front vendors, but merchants who set up independent stands selling everything from fruits, vegetables and seafood to clothing and rugs, and everything in between. Martin Elkort loved to roam the streets of this constantly pulsing neighborhood. With his camera draped around his neck, he was always on the lookout for that next great photograph. His photographs from the late 1940s through the mid 1950s, show a community alive with excitement and possibility.