Streit's Matzos, Economy Candy Dubbed Historic Downtown Sites - DNAinfo.com

MANHATTAN — From a matzo maker to a candy store, a handful of downtown landmarks will be recognized Tuesday for their contributions to the city's history.

A partnership between the Municipal Art Society and East Village-based nonprofit City Lore will honor six lower Manhattan locations on Tuesday night that have been chosen as culturally and historically significant.

The honorees incuded everything from a senior center in Chinatown to one of the oldest operating bars in New York City.

“All of the sites that we are honoring come from our census of places that matter, which is a publicly generated survey,” said Molly Garfinkel, a City Lore spokeswoman for the Place Matters project, which helps the community to preserve, advocate for and celebrate significant places in New York City.

While the Landmarks Preservation Commission designates physical buildings as historic landmarks, allowing officials to restrict changes to the façade and other rules, the Place Matters Awards helps recognize what made a building significant in the first place.

“Until not so long ago there wasn't a forum for discussion of this," Garfinkel said about the project. "We are helping facilitate that discussion."

The organizations will honor each location with a plaque that will be collected by either an owner, director, occupants or simply fans of the buildings.

The following places will be honored at the awards:

Streit’s Matzos, 148-154 Rivington St., Lower East Side

The matzo manufacturing company opened its location in 1925 and is the oldest family-run business of its kind in the United States. The factory, which produces matzo as well as other kosher foods, has been in the Streit family for five generations.

The Bowery Mission, 227 Bowery, Lower East Side

Since 1879, when the Bowery was known as "skid row," the Mission has been serving the city's homeless and hungry. Today the Bowery Mission is still bringing hope to the community by providing 356,000 meals, 34,000 bags of groceries and 72,100 nights of shelter to those in need each year.

Tenement building at 109 Washington St., Financial District

Situated near the World Trace Center site, this tenement building survived 9/11 and is located in an area home to the city’s largest Middle Eastern community from the late 19th to mid-20th centuries, according to Place Matters. During the construction of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in the 1940s and later the World Trade Center, much of the area was demolished, scattering the largely ethnic population.

Economy Candy, 108 Rivington St., Lower East Side

The massive candy store has been a well-known neighborhood establishment since 1937, drawing customers with hundreds of different candies, nuts and dried fruits. The family-owned store is now run by Jerry Cohen, his wife Ilene and son Mitchell.

The Chinatown Senior Citizens’ Center, 70 Mulberry St., Chinatown

Surrounded by fortune tellers and snack vendors, this red-brick building has been entertaining the elderly citizens of Chinatown since it opened in 1974. About 300 people gather at the center each day to participate in a host of activities, from tradtional Chinese games to amateur singing groups, according to Place Matters.

Ear Inn (The James Brown House), 326 Spring St., Hudson Square

While the location is already a designated New York City landmark, it still packs in the patrons looking to drain a pint in one of the city's most ancient bars. The restaurant/bar is considered one of the oldest continuously operating watering holes in the city, and was once home to James Brown, who assisted George Washington during the Revolutionary War.

The event is free and open to the public at the Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre St., from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. For more information call City Lore at 212-529-1955.

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20111026/lower-east-side-east-village/streits-matzos-economy-candy-dubbed-historic-downtown-sites#ixzz1bzjywveG