Allen Malls

The Allen Malls are landscaped median strips running along Allen Street on the Lower East Side, stretching from East Houston Street south to East Broadway. These green ribbons divide the wide boulevard created in the 1930s when the elevated train tracks along Allen Street were demolished.

Before the demolition of the elevated railway, Allen Street was a dark, narrow corridor shadowed by the tracks above. The creation of the wide, divided boulevard and its planted medians transformed the character of the street and gave the neighborhood its first significant public green space.

The malls feature benches, trees, and ornamental plantings that provide a pedestrian oasis amid the busy commercial activity of the Lower East Side. The neighborhood surrounding the malls has long been one of Manhattan's most diverse, home to successive waves of Jewish, Chinese, and Latino immigrants.

In recent years, the Allen Malls have benefited from community-led improvement efforts that have refreshed plantings and seating areas. The malls serve as a de facto town square for the surrounding neighborhood.

The Allen Street Malls stand as a reminder of how the removal of elevated transit infrastructure can fundamentally reshape a neighborhood's relationship with public space, turning what was once a shadowed corridor into a sun-filled green promenade.