The East Village is today what is left of the common term “Village” of old New York.
It is, however, a place you will experience nearly every facet of New York life imaginable and a few besides.
The East Village runs from about 14th Street to Houston Street on the east side of Manhattan and it the place to go for any tattoos, piercings or crazy hair colors you've been wanting; this along with it's many cafes makes it an ideal spot for people-watching.
During the 19th century, millionaires like the Astors and Vanderbilts had homes in East Village, but the waves of Irish, German, Jewish, Polish, and Ukrainian immigrants who flooded into New York City in the 1900s soon displaced the elite, who moved uptown.
Since then, the area has been home to the Beat generation of the 1950s, hippies in the 1960s, and punks in the late 1970s and 1980s. Today it's still a young person's neighborhood, with its experimental music clubs and theaters and cutting-edge fashion. New York University is in the area, so there's no shortage of clientele here. Foodies take note: this neighborhood reputedly contains the most varied assortment of ethnic restaurants in New York City, from the crush of Indian eateries on the south side of East Sixth Street (sometimes called "Little Bombay") to McSorley's Old Ale House, a pub that seems unchanged since it first opened in 1854. Nearby, in what was once the home of the Astor Library, the restored Public Theater has been the opening venue for many now-famous plays.
For more trend-setting street life, head east toward Alphabet City (named for avenues A, B, C, and D)- still a little rough around the edges but with many reasonably priced, fun, and gamut-running places to eat, drink, and shop…and, if you're really getting into the scene, some very cool tattoo parlors.
A haven from the pressure of classes at New York University, students regularly gather around the Alamo at Astor Place. The Alamo is a 15-ft (4.5m) steel cube designed by Bernard Rosenthal that revolves when pushed. Cooper Union, a school that holds many interesting public lectures and exhibits, was established in 1859 just in time for Abraham Lincoln to make a campaign speech in its auditorium. Today, Blue Man Group performs its popular Tubes Off-Broadway audience-participation performance art extravaganza at the Astor Place Theater.
Major Sights of East Village in geographical order
1.Astor Place / St. Mark's Place 8th Street
2.Strand Bookstore 12th Street & Broadway
3.St. Mark's in the Bowery Church 11th Street & Second Avenue
4.Grace Church 10th Street & Broadway
5.Second Avenue Deli 10th Street & Second Avenue
6.Cooper Union Astor Place & Third Avenue
7.Tompkins Square Park 9th Street and Avenue A
8.Joseph Papp Public Theater Astor Place & Lafayette Street
9.Tower Records 4th Street & Broadway
10.CBGB's Bond Street & Fourth Avenue
11.Anthology Film Archives 1st Street & Second Avenue
12.Puck Building East Houston Street & Lafayette
East Village Dining. The magnificent 7.
Around the Clock Cafe ($6-$10)
8 Stuyvesant Pl. (@3rd Ave.), 598-0402
M-Su 24hrs
Take advantage of the outdoor tables during the summer and the multi-ethnic menu items!
Astors ($12.95-$16.95)
316 Bowery (@ Bleeker St.), 253-8644
Su-Th 6pm-1am, F-Sa 6pm-2am
Contemporary American cuisine is served here.
Avenue A ($3.95-$14.00)
103 Avenue A (btw. 6th St. & 7th St.), 982-8109
M-F 5pm-1:30am, Sa-Su 5pm-2:30am
Japanese restaurant with sushi bar.
La Balconata ($5-$12)
304 E. 6th St. (bet. 1&2 Aves.) 529-8250
Recommended by a visitor: "Having returned to NYC recently, I was shocked to find rent and restaurant prices have gone through the roof. I'm currently in the East Village, and discovered a small bistro that changed my mind about getting value eating out. Excellent Mediterranean/Italian cuisine at outstanding prices. Great sevice, ambience-there's an upstairs/downstairs, and the balcony that the name is derived from. I recommend it highly!"
Ballato ($7.50-$25)
55 E. Houston St. (btw. Mott St. & Mulberry St.), 274-8881
M-F 12pm-11am, Sa 3:30pm-12am, Su 4pm-11pm
This trattoria is a great value serving fine Italian cuisine.
Mary Ann's ($7-$10)
86 2nd Ave. (@ 5th St.), 475-5939
M-Su 5am-11:30pm
Amazing Mexican food and strong, tasty margaritas (regular and JUMBO). Good vegetarian selection. Highly recommended by us.
Yaffa Cafe ($8.95-$15.95)
97 St. Marks Pl. (btw. Avenue A & 1st Ave.), 674-9302
M-Su 24hrs
A large portion of this cafe's menu is vegetarian (no red meat). Other types of white meat plates are offered, but don't expect a large variety.
The Big Apple needs no introduction. The largest city in the U.S. is known world wide as the city that never sleeps. New York has the lot. No other city on Earth offers more culture, entertainment, dining, fashion, art, sports, finance, and everything else you can name. New York offers more than 18,500 restaurants, 150 world-class museums, and more than 10,000 retail shops of every variety. Last year, over 34 million tourists spent more than $14.5 billion dollars making it the our planets number 1 tourist city.
Night time entertainment consists, for the most part, of the East Village bar crawl comprising some of the seediest joints you’re ever likely to come across in New York. Most have a Ukranian dive feel—dimly lit places with a slight hint of sticky wetness over every surface, like a film of slick debauchery has been dumped over the entire place and I kid you not.
