Rivington Street (Manhattan)

Rivington Street (Manhattan)

Rivington Street is a street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which runs across the Lower East Side neighborhood, between Bowery and Pitt Street, with a break between Chrystie and Forsyth for Sara D. Roosevelt Park. Vehicular traffic runs west on this one-way street.

It is named after James Rivington, who under cover of writing one of the most infamous Loyalist newspapers in the American colonies, secretly ran a spy ring that supplied George Washington with information. Early in the 20th century, it was the home of many Italian and Jewish immigrants was hence the birthplace of many 2nd generation Italian and Jewish Americans. George Burns lived there for a time.

The site of the second African burial ground in New York lies between Rivington and Stanton Streets, now a playground in the Sara D. Roosevelt Park. The M'Finda Kalunga community garden is also at this location. Several functioning synagogues remain on Rivington Street, a reminder of the large Jewish immigrant population that once inhabited the Lower East Side.

While Rivington Street has for years been a cross-street to the Lower East Side's main thoroughfares, it has, in recent years, become a destination in its own right; there are many well-regarded restaurants along the street.

Notable establishments on Rivington Street include the University Settlement House (the first settlement house in New York), Streit's Matzos, Schiller's restaurant, musician Moby's vegan shop TeaNY, the social center called ABC No Rio, the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center, and the newly constructed 21-story Hotel on Rivington.

From east to west, Rivington starts at the Samuel Gompers Houses on Pitt Street, intersects Ridge Street, Attorney Street, Clinton Street, Suffolk Street, Norfolk Street, Essex Street, Ludlow Street, Orchard Street, Allen Street and Eldridge Street, and ends at Forsyth Street. Then it continues from Chrystie Street to the Bowery.