For generations of immigrants, the Lower East Side is where it all began. For a new generation of emerging artists and innovative merchants, the LES is where it's beginning - again.Historically characterized by tenements and pushcarts, Orchard Street gained its flavor more than 200 years ago, when families squeezed into the tall, cramped buildings that filled lower Manhattan. Industrious immigrants became the Lower East Side's first business owners as they hit the streets, selling their wares from potato sacks to the thousands of local shoppers. Successful business owners expanded their inventory, purchased pushcarts - and eventually storefronts, making Orchard Street one of the busiest commercial districts in the world. The potato sacks of yester-year and that same entrepreneurial spirit have paved the way for some of today's most popular restaurants and boutiques in New York. The neighborhood so passionately sought for its amazing bargains, has become one of the top destinations for fashion, dining, theatre and nightlife. Now, old-world shops neighbor a new generation of boutiques and galleries that showcase the New York's avant-garde fashion scene. The time-honored practice of noshing is easily achieved at one of the area's many distinctive restaurants and food shops - whether you crave a towering pastrami sandwiches or eclectic cuisine. As the sun goes down, the streets light up on the LES with a sprinkling of poetry readings, local bands, cozy lounges, bars and restaurants. Over a century after hardworking immigrant families first crowded the tenements of Orchard Street, visitors from around the world are rediscovering the historic neighborhood and finding new surprises.