The working-class Lower East Side may not be beautiful yet its history-laden, grungy streets are among the most interesting destinations on New York’s social scene. Puerto Rican bodegas share space with restaurants, boutiques, live music venues and galleries to create an all-night buzz. Real estate in this area, once considered the last bargain in town, is on the rise thanks to an influx of flash hotels and restaurants. In the mid-1800s, the area’s crowded tenements were home to immigrants from Ireland and Germany. They were followed between 1870 and 1930 by Italians, Jewish, Polish, Romanians, Chinese and Ukranians who came here to work in the garment industry. After World War II, Puerto Rican and African Americans also moved into the area. The Eastern European influx to the area is still evident in the diners lining Second Avenue, selling matzoh ball soup, cured roast beef and the like; the Irish have left their mark, too, especially at New York’s oldest drinking den, McSorley’s Old Ale House. Join a walking tour run by the Lower East Side Tenement Museum for a fascinating insight into the area’s poverty-stricken past. Just across Houston Street is the non-conformist East Village, where the city’s zanier students, punks, bums, artists and eccentrics keep a scruffy and lively neighbourhood awake all night. This edgy, politically-active area was home to many of the Beat artists in the 1950s, including WH Auden, Allen Ginsburg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, who used to hold poetry readings together. Musically, it’s been the launching pad for big names such as the Talking Heads, the Ramones, Blondie and Patti Smith, many of whom were first heard at legendary CBGB’s on The Bowery. Boutiques and bars cluster around Tompkins Square Park at the heart of this area, nudging up to the Hispanic neighbourhood of Alphabet City. SightsLower East Side Tenement Museum 90 Orchard St at Broome St, T 1-212 431 0233, http://www.tenement.org Visitor center Tue-Fri 1300-1600, Sat-Sun 1100-1630. Museum Tue-Sun by guided tour only; phone ahead for times and reservations. $9, $7 students and seniors. Subway F to Delancey, J, M, Z to Delancey-Essex St. Visit refurbished former tenements to witness the lifestyles of German Jewish or Sicilian Catholic immigrants in the 19th century. Three tenements have been recreated to show how immigrants lived without water or electricity, often cramming several families into one room. Far from being hokey, the tours are an excellent and interesting way to learn about the hardships and unbelievably crowded living conditions that accompanied the American dream. Rivington Street between Allen St and Essex St. Subway F, J, M, Z to Delancey St-Essex St. The many cafés, restaurants, boutiques and bars around Rivington Street make this an ideal starting point for exploring the area. Proof that the East Village has aspirations beyond its working class roots is proved by the opening of the flashy, glass-fronted Surface Hotel in 2004. Luckily, the wine and matzo-making shops, kosher of course, can still be found here too. At the east end of Rivington Street, wander into Essex Street Market (120 Essex St, Mon-Sat 0800-1800), a large market hall with dozens of food vendors and bakeries. It attracts a mixed shopping crowd of working-class locals and incoming hipsters. Tompkins Square Park Av A to Av B between 7th and 10th St. Subway 6 to Astor Pl. The punk and grunge atmosphere gives way to a more village-like vibe towards Alphabet City and Tompkins Square Park, where the streets have inviting cafés, second-hand shops and attractive townhouses. During the 1980s Tompkins Square Park was the hangout for drug dealers, squatters and the homeless, until former Mayor Giuliani added it to his zero-tolerance crackdown list in the 1990s. Now, this lively, anything-goes part of the East Village provides hippies, punks, chess players, musicians and dogs a place to mingle. The square hosts musical performances, festivals and rallies by individuals and groups, but usually people watching is entertainment enough. Look out for pretty Grace Church at 48 E 10th Street and Broadway, particularly at night when white lights illuminate the Gothic structure. The marble for the church was quarried by prisoners at Sing Sing, the notorious state penitentiary on the Hudson River. St Mark’s-in-the-Bowery 131 E 10th St at 2nd Av, T 1-212 674 6377. Daily 1000-1800. Subway 6 to Astor Pl. This striking, steepled Episcopal church with a cast-iron entranceway was built in 1799 on the former home of Peter Stuyvesant, a Dutch governor of New York. It is now famous as the place where many art groups meet and perform, with poetry readings, dance shows and other events taking place regularly. New York Marble Cemetery 41½ Second Av between 2nd St and 3rd St, http://www.marblecemetery.org 4th Sun of the month 1100-1500. Subway F, V to Lower East Side-2nd Av. Hidden away, like many of New York’s treasures, this private 1830 cemetery is the oldest non-sectarian burial ground in the city. If you are lucky enough to be visiting on the fourth Sunday of each month, it is well worth a look, providing a half-acre oasis of calm amid the bustle of the East Village. Six and B Community Garden Av B and 6th St. Subway F, V to Lower East Side-2nd Av. The hippies who flocked to the East Village in the 1960s have done a fine job of setting up communal parks around the neighbourhood. The Six and B park is open most days and is worth visiting to see the funky collection of objects and people, including a giant tree sculpture that resembles the imaginings of some hallucinogenic dream. There are a number of other community gardens between Avenues B and D, especially on Eighth Street. Curry lovers take note, Sixth Street between First and Second Avenues is home to dozens of Indian restaurants.
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