Schapiro's Kosher Wines

Nothing captures the shift in the Lower East Side's demographics better than this photo of a Mexican restaurant next to the recently closed Schapiro's Kosher Wines on Rivington Street - except, perhaps, this 2002 New York Times article which discusses the Lower East Side's transition from living, breathing Eastern European Jewish neighborhood with kosher butcher shops and Ratner's Deli to "museum piece" (the Tenement Museum is mentioned, of course.) The article touches on the special role food plays in people's relationship to a neighborhood.