Pest Control in Lower East Side, Manhattan
The Lower East Side occupies the area south of Houston Street and east of the Bowery, reaching toward the East River and Chinatown. Once the most crowded immigrant district in America, it now blends historic synagogues, pushcart-era storefronts and bargain shops with bars, galleries and restaurants along Orchard, Ludlow and Rivington Streets. The Grand Street co-ops and several NYCHA developments house long-established families, while new towers near Delancey Street and Essex Crossing have brought newer residents. Essex Market offers food stalls and groceries under one roof. Transit includes the F, J, M and Z at Delancey-Essex and the F at East Broadway and Second Avenue, with the Williamsburg Bridge carrying the J and M to Brooklyn.
Also known as: LES, Loisaida.
About Lower East Side
From the 1850s through the 1920s, wave after wave of Irish, German, Jewish, Italian and Eastern European immigrants crowded into tenements here, often several families to an apartment. Reform laws in 1879 and 1901 required air shafts and indoor plumbing, shaping the buildings still standing. Later decades brought Puerto Rican and Chinese residents, and the Lower East Side Tenement Museum on Orchard Street now preserves that immigrant story in restored apartments.
Common Pest Problems in Lower East Side
Tenements on Orchard, Ludlow and Eldridge Streets are well over a century old, and their shared walls, old pipe chases and patched plaster provide countless paths for German cockroaches and mice. A roach problem in one unit tends to move through the entire building unless everyone is treated. The neighborhood's thriving nightlife means late-night trash piles from bars and restaurants, which help sustain Norway rats in tree pits, basements and the old sewer lines.
Large public housing campuses and the grounds around Seward Park give rats open soil for burrowing, and burrows are often found near trash areas and shrubs. Pigeons roost along the Williamsburg Bridge approach and on tenement cornices and fire escapes. In prewar apartments, silverfish appear in damp bathrooms, and clothes moths can infest closets, vintage clothing and wool rugs, especially in buildings with steam heat. Radiator steam and poorly vented bathrooms keep humidity high enough for these pests to persist.