You have to go far from the madding crowds of Union Square to find an empty street in today's Manhattan. But it is possible if you're wearing comfortable shoes. You just walk south and east towards the Williamsburg Bridge. By night, this area - known in caps as LES - is hopping with hipsters because of the bars and restaurants that have taken up residence in the area that was once a immigrant Jewish neighborhood. But by day it is still blessedly deserted, a little edgy and pretty interesting. There is a magnificent old synagogue, now painted pink and used as an arts center, an indoor market where Hispanic grocers and butchers sell canned pigeon peas and pigs trotters alongside of several upstart artisanal cheesemakers and bread bakers. And watching over it all on top of a roof, a statue of a man - whether he is waving a welcome to the area or directing newcomers to move right on by and leave the Lower East Side in gritty, ungentrified peace, I don't know, but in my mind, it should be the latter.