Eric Ferrara

Eric Ferrara (August 26, 1970 - )is an American author from New York City, founder and executive director of Lower East Side History Project, founder and former director of the East Village Visitors Center, co-founder of Museum of the American Gangster, E.4th Street Cultural District Historian, educator at Brooklyn College, and public speaker.
Ferrara is a fourth-generation, native New Yorker whose paternal great-grandmother immigrated from Sicily in 1889 and settled in the heart of Little Italy. Ferrara's maternal great-grandparents (Eva and Nicolas Zabrocki) arrived from the modern-day Ukraine in 1909, and settled in an Eastern European community east of the Bowery, living on Sheriff, Allen, Pitt and Suffolk Streets.
In 2001, Ferrara launched a community website to showcase the established businesses in his neighborhood which were disappearing due to recent gentrification. In 2003, east-village.com was established and Ferrara, with a staff of dedicated East Villagers, published a popular print companion simply titled, "The Guide." In 2006, The East Village History Project was founded, and Ferrara recruited volunteer educators to provide free guided historic tours of the East Village and greater Lower East Side.
In 2008, under the fiscal sponsorship of Bowery Arts & Science, 501(c)(3), East Village History Project became an official non-profit organization. On March 1, 2009, Ferrara and EVHP partnered with several local cultural institutions to open the East Village Visitor Center at 308 Bowery, hosted by the notable Bowery Poetry Club. By June 2009, EVHP had received its first grant from the prestigious Citizen's Committee for New York City -- a 40-year-old organization established by Jacob Javits.
On October 1, 2009, EVHP officially expanded into the "Lower East Side History Project," a non-profit organization dedicated to researching and documenting the history of the greater Lower East Side of New York City. This research is used for city-wide landmarking efforts, public school and university programming, guided educational tours, and available to the public for personal research. Numerous media outlets, movie/tv productions, educators, journalists and students worldwide continue to consult Eric Ferrara and LESHP for accurate neighborhood information and historical data.
Ferrara is an active community member and sits on numerous boards, including being a member of the 2009 Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation Neighborhood Awards Committee. and a member of the Tenement Museum's Immigrant Programs Advisory Committee, and the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors..
In June 2009, Ferrara's book, "A Guide to Gangsters, Murderers and Weirdos of New York City's Lower East Side," was published by The History Press (ISBN 1596296771.) The book has been received with critical acclaim, has sold out in major retailers and online several times since, and has been suggested by many major publications, including the NY Times
In November 2009, Ferrara was named Historian of the East Fourth Street Cultural District, the only official cultural district in Manhattan.
In March 2010, Eric teamed up with Theatre 80 proprietor, Lorcan Otway, and opened the Museum of the American Gangster inside a historic speakeasy building in New York City.
Public Appearances
Eric Ferrara is a popular public speaker and lecturer. Recent appearances (2009/2010) include:
Beyond the Beatniks: The Hidden History of St. Marks Place
July 12, 2009
Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
232 E 11th St, NY NY
East Village Theater Festival panel discussion
August 17, 2009
Ferrara appeared with artist Marguerite Van Cook, City Lore director Steve Zeitland, City Councilmember Rosie Mendez.
Metropolitan Playhouse
220 E.4th Street, NY NY
Gangster City
September 27, 2009
Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
232 E 11th St, NY NY
The Bowery: Past Present & Future
September 28, 2009
Ferrara participated in a panel discussion which included David Mulkins of the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors and Doris Deither, iconic community activist.
Dixon Place
161 Chrystie St, NY NY
A History of the Sicilian Mafia
September 29, 2009
Tenement Museum
108 Orchard Street, NY NY
Bowery Mission 100 Year Anniversary
October 8, 2009
The Bowery Mission
227 Bowery, NY NY
A History of Vice and Crime in New York City
October 18, 2009
New York Historical Society
170 Central Park W, NY NY
The Lower East Side: Remembered and Revisited panel discussion
December 2, 2009
Ferrara appearing with author Joyce Mendelsohn, photojournalist Clayton Patterson and the Tenement Museum director Annie Polland
City University of New York-Graduate Center, The Gotham Center
365 Fifth Ave, NY NY
Lecture on Vice & Crime
January 18, 2010
Three Village Historical Society
Setauket, NY
A History of Vice and Crime in New York City
February 25, 2010
Mid-Manhattan Library
455 Fifth Avenue, NY NY
The Past, Present & Future of the East 4th Street Cultural District
Thursday, February 25
Teatro Circulo theater
64 East 4th Street, NY NY
Lower East Side: Beyond the Melting Pot
June 15, 2010
Mid-Manhattan Library
455 Fifth Avenue, NY NY

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu