Essex Street & Hester Street

Essex Street and Hester Street meet at a three-way junction in Chinatown-Two Bridges, Manhattan. Between 2021 and 2025, nine police-reported crashes were recorded here, fewer than the median of ten crashes for a Manhattan corner. Seward Park is 50 feet away, and Primitive Christian Church is 790 feet away. The nearest subway, East Broadway, is about two minutes on foot, and six subway lines stop within a ten-minute walk. Within a five-minute walk are 48 public places, 16 of them religious buildings, and 142 places to eat.

Safety record
6 hurt
9 police-reported crashes, 2021–2025
Nearest subway
East Broadway
510 feet · 2 min on foot · F
Nearest bus stop
40 feet
Essex St/Canal St · M9
Within a walk
48 places
16 religious buildings, 10 schools and 13 more kinds, within five minutes

Map

Layers
Essex Street & Hester Street Nearby corners, linked

Getting there

How walks are measured

Subway

The nearest subway station is East Broadway, 510 feet from this corner, about two minutes on foot.

  • 6 lines within a ten-minute walk
  1. East Broadway F
    510 feet
    F

Next trains at this station

Uptown
1 line
  1. F …
Brooklyn
1 line
  1. F …

Also within a walk

  1. Delancey St-Essex St F, J, M, Z
    1,050 feet
    F J M Z
  2. Grand St B, D
    0.3 miles
    B D

Bus

The nearest bus stop is Essex St/Canal St, 40 feet away, for the M9.

  • 12 routes within a ten-minute walk
  1. Essex St/Canal St M9
    40 feet
    M9

Next buses at this stop

  1. M9 …

Live arrivals

Cycling

  • 34 bicycle racks within 820 feet
  • 5 more bike-share stations within a five-minute walk

Nearest bike-share station

  1. Canal St & Rutgers St 45 docks in all
    550 feet

By car

The nearest highway entrance is the ramp to the FDR Drive southbound at FDR Drive & Grand Street, 0.7 miles by car along the streets.

  1. 55 8th Avenue Gas station
    2.3 miles
  2. 59 Allen Street Charging for electric cars, two Level 2 chargers
    1,270 feet
  3. 107 Essex Street Fast charging for electric cars
    0.3 miles

Safety record

How crashes are counted

Between 2021 and 2025, police reported nine crashes at this corner, fewer than the median of ten crashes for a Manhattan corner.

  • 6 people injured
  • 0 people killed
  • 2 of those hurt, on foot
  • 3 of those hurt, on a bike

The most recent crash recorded here was in July 2025.

What the city has done here

  • Leading pedestrian interval, October 2017

About this corner

Where facts come from
ZIP code
10002
Community board
Manhattan Community Board 3
City Council district
1
Police precinct
7
Neighborhood (City Planning area)
Chinatown-Two Bridges
Elevation
33 feet above sea level

The streets

  • Up to four travel lanes
  • One of the streets is one-way

Homes

About 4,100 homes stand within 820 feet of this corner, most of them in buildings of ten homes or more.

Since 2014 at least 115 new affordable homes have been completed within 820 feet.

Trees

NYC Parks records 121 trees within 330 feet; the most common is the Siberian elm.

Parking on the streets meeting here

How signs are read
  • 29 signs on these blocks
  • 9 different rules
  • 7 active meters
  • 4 pay-by-cell zones

The sign wording is DOT's, as recorded between March 2023 and December 2024, and the sign on the street decides.

Meters are posted as 2 hour passenger vehicles Monday to Saturday 9am to 7pm on Essex Street (east side).

West side of Essex Street

  • Metered parking 8 signs 2 HOUR METERED PARKING 9AM-7PM EXCEPT SUNDAY
  • No parking 1 sign NO PARKING ANYTIME
  • No parking 8 signs NO PARKING MONDAY WEDNESDAY FRIDAY MIDNIGHT-3AM
  • No standing 2 signs NO STANDING 7AM-7PM ALL DAYS

North side of Hester Street

  • Metered parking 2 signs 2 HOUR METERED PARKING SATURDAY 9AM-7PM
  • No parking 2 signs NO PARKING MONDAY-FRIDAY 7AM-7PM
  • No parking 2 signs NO PARKING W/ MONDAY WEDNESDAY FRIDAY 3AM-6AM

South side of Hester Street

  • Metered parking 2 signs 2 HOUR METERED PARKING 9AM-7PM EXCEPT SUNDAY
  • No parking 2 signs NO PARKING TUESDAY THURSDAY SATURDAY 3AM-6AM

ParkNYC pay-by-cell zones: 101060, 101063, 102424 and 105105.

Landmarks, monuments and public art

How landmarks are placed

Landmarks and historic districts

Within 820 feet are six Individual Landmarks, and seven buildings in all are designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, recorded most often as Classical Revival. They were mostly built between 1886 and 1912.

  1. Loew's Canal Street Theatre Designated landmark
    390 feet
  2. Forward Building Designated landmark
    630 feet
  3. S. Jarmulowsky Bank Building Designated landmark
    750 feet

Monuments and public art

The City's public art inventory lists two works near this corner, the nearest in Seward Park.

  1. Jacob H. Schiff Fountain Fountain by Arnold W. Brunner, 1895
    220 feet
  2. Lower East Side War Memorial Stele by Joseph Kiselewski, 1953
    490 feet

Schools, parks and places within a walk

How places are listed

Within a five-minute walk there are 48 public places.

  • 16 religious buildings
  • 10 schools
  • 5 day care or pre-K sites
  • 3 parks
  • 3 playgrounds
  • 11 other places

Schools and child care

  1. P.S. 042 Benjamin Altman School
    440 feet
  2. Grand St. Settlement Preschool, ages 2 to 5 · Pre-K
    570 feet
  3. Victoria Children's Center & Nursery Infant, toddler and preschool care, ages 0 to 5
    670 feet
Show all 15
  1. Essex Street Academy School
    750 feet
  2. High School for Dual Language and Asian Studies School
    750 feet
  3. Lower Manhattan Arts Academy School
    750 feet
  4. New Design High School
    750 feet
  5. Urban Assembly Academy of Government and Law, The School
    750 feet
  6. Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem Pre-School School-based preschool, ages 3 to 5
    850 feet
  7. Mesivta Tifereth Jerusalem School
    890 feet
  8. Victoria Children's Center Preschool, ages 2 to 5 · Pre-K
    890 feet
  9. The Educational Alliance Infant, toddler and preschool care, ages 0 to 5 · Pre-K
    990 feet
  10. Emma Lazarus High School
    1,240 feet
  11. M.S. 131 School
    1,240 feet
  12. Pace High School
    1,240 feet

Parks, playgrounds and gardens

  1. Seward Park
    50 feet
  2. Seward Park Playground
    130 feet
  3. Straus Square
    490 feet
Show all 7
  1. Captain Jacob Joseph Playground
    760 feet
  2. Lower East Side People Care Garden
    950 feet
  3. Sara D. Roosevelt Park
    1,220 feet
  4. Hester St Playground
    1,230 feet

Plazas and public spaces

  1. Division Street Plaza Pedestrian plaza
    680 feet

Libraries, museums and history

  1. Lower East Side Historic District Listed historic place
    750 feet
  2. Seward Park Library Landmark
    990 feet
  3. International Center of Photography Museum
    1,020 feet
Show all 4
  1. Beth Hamedrash Hagodol Synagogue Listed historic place
    1,030 feet

Houses of worship

  1. St Teresa Church House of worship
    750 feet
  2. Primitive Christian Church House of worship
    790 feet
  3. Trinity Assembly of God Church House of worship
    900 feet
Show all 5
  1. Chinese Missionary Baptist Church House of worship
    910 feet
  2. Latin Amer Pentecostal Church House of worship
    1,140 feet

Community centers and public services

  1. Seward Park Community Center
    670 feet
  2. Knickerbocker Post Office Listed historic place
    960 feet
  3. Older adult center at 197 East Broadway Older adult center
    1,010 feet
Show all 4
  1. YMCA Chinatown Hester Street Center Recreation center
    1,040 feet

Fire and police

  1. Engine 9/Ladder 6 Fire station
    1,140 feet

Bank branches

  1. TD Bank Bank branch
    1,070 feet
  2. Chase Bank branch
    1,150 feet
  3. Citibank Bank branch
    1,160 feet

Supermarkets

  1. Trader Joe's Supermarket
    1,180 feet
  2. Metro Acres Market Supermarket
    1,220 feet
  3. Chinatown Supermarket Supermarket
    0.3 miles

Pharmacies

  1. Duane Reade Pharmacy
    0.3 miles
  2. CVS Pharmacy
    0.4 miles

Other stores

  1. Target Store
    1,160 feet

Food stores and places to eat

Within a five-minute walk there are 142 places to eat and 34 food stores.

Nearby corners

The eight nearest of the 13 corners within a three-minute walk:

See every intersection along Essex Street or Hester Street.

Sources: NYC Technology and Innovation, NYPD, NYC DOT, MTA, New York City's bike-share system, NYS Environmental Conservation, NYC City Planning, US Department of Energy, NYCHA, NYC Housing Preservation and Development, Landmarks Preservation Commission, NYC Public Design Commission, NYC Parks, NYC Health, FDIC, NYS Agriculture and Markets and USDA, retrieved September 18 – October 6, 2026.