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East Village

The East Village is a bohemian neighborhood east of Greenwich Village that is gentrifying. It’s where the hit Broadway play “Rent” was set. It used to be the Lower East Side, but was rebranded by real estate promoters. Now even the Hells Angels left. It’s still funky. It’s still eclectic, and it is always fun.

Parks

East River Park is along the East River waterfront.

East Village Restaurants

Buenos Aires restaurant is one of New York City’s best Argentine restaurants. They cut their own meat, so it’s one of the few places you can get a real “vacio” or other South American style cuts. Food tastes different depending on how you cut it, so that’s important.

Esperanto is a popular pan-Latin restaurant. Their Brazilian food is pretty good and the vibe is great, especially in summer.

Veselka is popular with the late night crowd.

Gnocco makes great northern Italian pizza.

Cafe Mogador is popular with the brunch crowd.

Jules Bistro is good French and sometimes has live jazz.

East Village Night Clubs

Webster Hall is a historic night club. Nublu is known for its own style of world jazz. Wednesdays are a popular Brazilian night there.

Sanctuaries

St Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery is pretty cool. It serves as a community cultural center with strong dance and poetry programs.

Nydia Velázquez

U.S. Representative NY District 7. First Latina on the New York City Council and first Puerto Rican woman in U.S. Congress.
MANHATTAN
Lower East Side, East Village
BROOKLYN
Brooklyn Heights, Bushwick, Carroll Gardens, Greenpoint, Red Hook, Williamsburg
QUEENS
Maspeth, Ridgewood, Woodside

Continue Reading Nydia Velázquez

It Used to be the Lower East Side

East Village Spring on Stuyvesant St (Ryan Deberardinis/Dreamstime)
East Village Spring on Stuyvesant St (Ryan Deberardinis/Dreamstime)

The Lower East Side used to run up to 14th St. Above Houston St, it was rebranded as the “East Village” in the 1960s. This was partly due to the development of New York City’s contemporary art community which began in SoHo and moved up to Greenwich Village, then moved east into the Lower East Side.

St Mark’s Place (8th St) used to be NYC’s punk street. First Houses was the first public housing in the United States. Alphabet City refers to Avenue A, B, C and D which fill out the bulge on Manhattan’s east side. It’s much calmer now, but it used to get wilder as the letters went up.

Ukrainian East Village restaurant is a remnant of Little Ukraine. It’s back room is popular with the Argentine tango community. New York City’s Little Tokyo is around St Mark’s Place.

Alphabet City

The Manhattan street grid has twelve avenues running north and south on the island. The bump on Lower Manhattan’s East Side is filled with Avenues A through D in the Lower East Side and East Village.

It was rough in the 1970s and kept getting rougher as you headed east. Avenue A was edgy. Avenue B was edgier. Avenue C was hard core and Avenue D was dangerous. It’s all changed now, but that’s how it was.

Downtown

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