Forming a rough triangle on the east side of Manhattan, sitting south of Houston Street and east of the Bowery (with the East River forming its third side), the Lower East Side evokes first, for many, the days when it was home to thousands of immigrants living in six-story tenements. From roughly the 1880s through World War I, Eastern and Southern Europeans poured in, creating one of the most multicultural corners of the globe. Some traces of that period remain: a handful of buildings that were once synagogues, and historically significant, if not especially beautiful, tenements. In recent years the neighborhood has been undergoing a transformation. Along its northern edge, it feels increasingly like an extension of the East Village, with bars, restaurants, and clubs drawing younger New Yorkers to Ludlow and Orchard. Meanwhile, other blocks farther south reflect the ongoing expansion of Chinatown into adjacent neighborhoods.