East Village, Manhattan

Early development

Stuyvesant Street, one of the neighborhood's oldest streets, in front of St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery. This street served as the boundary between boweries 1 and 2, owned by Peter Stuyvesant.

The area that is today known as the East Village was originally occupied by the Lenape Native Americans.^[6] The Lenape relocated during different seasons, moving toward the shore to fish during the summers, and moving inland to hunt and grow crops during the fall and winter.^[7] Manhattan was purchased in 1626 by Peter Minuit of the Dutch West India Company, who served as director-general of New Netherland.^[8][9]

The population of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam was located primarily below the current Fulton Street, while north of it were a number of small plantations and large farms that were then called bouwerij (anglicized to "boweries"; modern Dutch: boerderij). Around these farms were a number of enclaves of free or "half-free" Africans, which served as a buffer between the Dutch and the Native Americans.^[6][10] One of the largest of these was located along the modern Bowery between Prince Street and Astor Place, as well as the "only separate enclave" of this type within Manhattan.^[6][11] These black farmers were some of the earliest settlers of the area.^{[12]: 769–770}

There were several "boweries" within what is now the East Village. Bowery no. 2 passed through several inhabitants, before the eastern half of the land was subdivided and given to Harmen Smeeman in 1647. Peter Stuyvesant, the director-general of New Netherland, owned adjacent bowery no. 1 and bought bowery no. 2 in 1656 for his farm. Stuyvesant's manor, also called Bowery, was near what is now 10th Street between Second and Third Avenues. Though the manor burned down in the 1770s, his family held onto the land for over seven generations, until a descendant began selling off parcels in the early 19th century.^[13][14]

Bowery no. 3 was located near today's 2nd Street between Second Avenue and the modern street named Bowery. It was owned by Gerrit Hendricksen in 1646 and later given to Philip Minthorne by 1732. The Minthorne and Stuyvesant families both owned slaves on their farms.^[14] According to an 1803 deed, Stuyvesant's slaves were to be buried in a cemetery plot at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery.^[15] The Stuyvesants' estate later expanded to include two Georgian-style manors: the "Bowery House" to the south^[13][14] and "Petersfield" to the north.^[16][17]

Many of these farms had become wealthy country estates by the middle of the 18th century. The Stuyvesant, DeLancey, and Rutgers families would come to own most of the land on the Lower East Side, including the portions that would later become the East Village.^[18] By the late 18th century Lower Manhattan estate owners started having their lands surveyed to facilitate the future growth of Lower Manhattan into a street grid system. The Stuyvesant plot, surveyed in the 1780s or 1790s, was planned to be developed with a new grid around Stuyvesant Street, a street that ran compass west–east. This contrasted with the grid system that was ultimately laid out under the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, which is offset by 28.9 degrees clockwise. Stuyvesant Street formed the border between former boweries 1 and 2, and the grid surrounding it included four north–south and nine west–east streets.^[13][14]

Because each landowner had done their own survey, there were different street grids that did not align with each other. Various state laws, passed in the 1790s, gave the city of New York the ability to plan out, open, and close streets.^[16][17] The final plan, published in 1811, resulted in the current street grid north of Houston Street – and most of the streets in the modern East Village – were conformed to this plan, except for Stuyvesant Street.^[19] The north–south avenues within the Lower East Side were finished in the 1810s, followed by the west–east streets in the 1820s.^[20]

Upscale neighborhood

Hamilton-Holly House

Daniel LeRoy House

Two of the remaining rowhouses on St. Mark's Place. Both are city landmarks.^[17]

The Commissioners' Plan and resulting street grid was the catalyst for the northward expansion of the city,^[21] and for a short period, the portion of the Lower East Side that is now the East Village was one of the wealthiest residential neighborhoods in the city.^[22] Bond Street between the Bowery and Broadway, just west of the East Side within present-day NoHo, was considered the most upscale street address in the city by the 1830s,^[18] with structures such as the Greek Revival-style Colonnade Row and Federal-style rowhouses.^[23][17] The neighborhood's prestigious nature could be attributed to several factors, including a rise in commerce and population following the Erie Canal's opening in the 1820s.^[21]

Following the grading of the streets, development of rowhouses came to the East Side and NoHo by the early 1830s.^[21] One set of Federal-style rowhouses was built in the 1830s by Thomas E. Davis on 8th Street between Second and Third Avenues. That block was renamed "St. Mark's Place" and is one of the few remaining terrace names in the East Village.^[24] In 1833 Davis and Arthur Bronson bought the entire block of 10th Street from Avenue A to Avenue B. The block was located adjacent to Tompkins Square Park, located between 7th and 10th Streets from Avenue A to Avenue B, designated the same year.^[25]

Though the park was not in the original Commissioners' Plan of 1811, part of the land from 7th to 10th Streets east of First Avenue had been set aside for a marketplace that was ultimately never built.^[6] Rowhouses up to three stories were built on the side streets by such developers as Elisha Peck and Anson Green Phelps; Ephraim H. Wentworth; and Christopher S. Hubbard and Henry H. Casey.^[26]

Mansions were also built on the East Side. One notable address was the twelve-house development called "Albion Place", located on Fourth Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue, built for Peck and Phelps in 1832–1833.^[23][24] Second Avenue also had its own concentration of mansions, though most residences on that avenue were row houses built by speculative land owners, including the Isaac T. Hopper House.^[24][27] One New York Evening Post article in 1846 said that Second Avenue was to become one of "the two great avenues for elegant residences" in Manhattan, the other being Fifth Avenue.^[19]

Two marble cemeteries were also built on the East Side: the New York City Marble Cemetery, built in 1831 on 2nd Street between First and Second Avenues,^[28]: 1 and the New York Marble Cemetery, built in 1830 within the backlots of the block to the west.^[29]: 1 Following the rapid growth of the neighborhood, Manhattan's 17th ward was split from the 11th ward in 1837. The former covered the area from Avenue B to the Bowery, while the latter covered the area from Avenue B to the East River.^[30]

Immigrant neighborhood

19th century

Former German-American Shooting Society Clubhouse at 12 St Mark's Place (1885), part of Little Germany

By the middle of the 19th century, many of the wealthy had continued to move further northward to the Upper West Side and the Upper East Side.^[31]: 10 Some wealthy families remained, and one observer noted in the 1880s that these families "look[ed] down with disdain upon the parvenus of Fifth avenue".^[32] In general, though, the wealthy population of the neighborhood started to decline as many moved northward. Immigrants from modern-day Ireland, Germany, and Austria moved into the rowhouses and manors.^[30]

The population of Manhattan's 17th ward – which includes the western part of the East Village and Lower East Side – grew from 18,000 in 1840 to over 43,000 by 1850 and to 73,000 persons in 1860, becoming the city's most highly populated ward at that time.^{[30][33]: 29, 32} As a result of the Panic of 1837, the city had experienced less construction in the previous years, and so there was a dearth of units available for immigrants, resulting in the subdivision of many houses in lower Manhattan.^[30][34]

Another solution was brand-new "tenant houses", or tenements, within the East Side.^{[31]: 14–15} Clusters of these buildings were constructed by the Astor family and Stephen Whitney.^[35] The developers rarely involved themselves with the daily operations of the tenements, instead subcontracting landlords (many of them immigrants or their children) to run each building.^[36] Numerous tenements were erected, typically with footprints of 25 by 25 feet (7.6 by 7.6 m), before regulatory legislation was passed in the 1860s.^[35]

To address concerns about unsafe and unsanitary conditions, a second set of laws was passed in 1879, requiring each room to have windows, resulting in the creation of air shafts between each building. Subsequent tenements built to the law's specifications were referred to as Old Law Tenements.^[37][38] Reform movements, such as the one started by Jacob Riis's 1890 book How the Other Half Lives, continued to attempt to alleviate the problems of the area through settlement houses, such as the Henry Street Settlement, and other welfare and service agencies.^{[12]: 769–770}

Because most of the new immigrants were German speakers, the East Village and the Lower East Side collectively became known as "Little Germany" (German: Kleindeutschland).^{[33]: 29 [39][40][41]} The neighborhood had the third largest urban population of Germans outside of Vienna and Berlin. It was America's first foreign language neighborhood; hundreds of political, social, sports and recreational clubs were set up during this period.^[39] Numerous churches were built in the neighborhood, of which many are still extant.^[37] In addition, Little Germany also had its own library on Second Avenue,^[40] now the New York Public Library's Ottendorfer branch.^[42] However, the community started to decline after the sinking of the General Slocum on June 15, 1904, in which more than a thousand German-Americans died.^[40][43]

The Germans who moved out of the area were replaced by immigrants of many different nationalities.^[44] This included groups of Italians and Eastern European Jews, as well as Greeks, Hungarians, Poles, Romanians, Russians, Slovaks and Ukrainians, each of whom settled in relatively homogeneous enclaves.^{[12]: 769–770} In How the Other Half Lives Riis wrote: "A map of the city, colored to designate nationalities, would show more stripes than on the skin of a zebra, and more colors than any rainbow."^[38]: 20

One of the first groups to populate the former Little Germany were Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews, who first settled south of Houston Street before moving northward.^[45] The Roman Catholic Poles as well as the Protestant Hungarians would also have a significant impact in the East Side, erecting houses of worship next to each other along 7th Street at the turn of the 20th century. American-born New Yorkers would build other churches and community institutions, including the Olivet Memorial Church at 59 East 2nd Street (built 1891), the Middle Collegiate Church at 112 Second Avenue (built 1891–1892), and the Society of the Music School Settlement, now Third Street Music School Settlement, at 53–55 East 3rd Street (converted 1903–1904).^[46]

By the 1890s tenements were being designed in the ornate Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival styles. Tenements built in the later part of the decade were built in the Renaissance Revival style.^[47] At the time, the area was increasingly being identified as part of the Lower East Side.^[48]

20th century

The Village East Cinema/Louis N. Jaffe Theater was originally a Jewish theater.

By the 1890s and 1900s any remaining manors on Second Avenue had been demolished and replaced with tenements or apartment buildings.^[49] The New York State Tenement House Act of 1901 drastically changed the regulations to which tenement buildings had to conform.^[49][50] The early 20th century marked the creation of apartment houses,^[51] office buildings,^[52] and other commercial or institutional structures on Second Avenue.^[53] After the widening of Second Avenue's roadbed in the early 1910s, many of the front stoops on that road were eliminated.^[54] The symbolic demise of the old fashionable district came in 1912 when the last resident moved out of the Thomas E. Davis mansion at Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place, which The New York Times had called the "last fashionable residence" on Second Avenue.^[55]

Simultaneously with the decline of the last manors, the Yiddish Theatre District or "Yiddish Rialto" developed within the East Side. It contained many theaters and other forms of entertainment for the Jewish immigrants of the city.^[56][57] While most of the early Yiddish theaters were located south of Houston Street, several theater producers were considering moving north along Second Avenue by the first decades of the 20th century.^[58]

Second Avenue gained more prominence as a Yiddish theater destination in the 1910s with the opening of two theatres: the Second Avenue Theatre, which opened in 1911 at 35–37 Second Avenue,^[59] and the National Theater, which opened in 1912 at 111–117 East Houston Street.^[60] This was followed by the opening of several other theaters, such as the Louis N. Jaffe Theater and the Public Theatre in 1926 and 1927 respectively. Numerous movie houses also opened in the East Side, including six on Second Avenue.^[61] By World War I the district's theaters hosted as many as twenty to thirty shows a night.^[57] After World War II Yiddish theater became less popular,^[62] and by the mid-1950s few theaters were still extant in the District.^[63]

The city built First Houses on the south side of East 3rd Street between First Avenue and Avenue A, and on the west side of Avenue A between East 2nd and East 3rd Streets in 1935–1936, the first such public housing project in the United States.^{[12]: 769–770 [64]: 1} The neighborhood originally ended at the East River, to the east of where Avenue D was later located. In the mid-20th-century, landfill – including World War II debris and rubble shipped from London – was used to extend the shoreline to provide foundation for the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive.^[65]

In the mid-20th century Ukrainians created a Ukrainian enclave in the neighborhood, centered around Second Avenue and 6th and 7th Streets.^[66][67] The Polish enclave in the East Village persisted as well. Numerous other immigrant groups had moved out, and their former churches were sold and became Orthodox cathedrals.^[66] Latin American immigrants started to move to the East Side, settling in the eastern part of the neighborhood and creating an enclave that later came to be known as Loisaida.^[68][69][70]

St. Nicholas Kirche at East 2nd Street, just west of Avenue A. The church and almost all buildings on the street were demolished in 1960 and replaced with parking lots for the Village View Houses.^[71]

The East Side's population started to decline at the start of the Great Depression in the 1930s and the implementation of the Immigration Act of 1924, and the expansion of the New York City Subway into the outer boroughs.^[72] Many old tenements, deemed to be "blighted" and unnecessary, were destroyed in the middle of the 20th century.^[73] A substantial portion of the neighborhood, including the Ukrainian enclave, was slated for demolition under the Cooper Square Urban Renewal Plan of 1956, which was to redevelop the area from Ninth to Delancey Streets from the Bowery/Third Avenue to Chrystie Street/Second Avenue with new privately owned cooperative housing.^[73][74]

The United Housing Foundation was selected as the sponsor for the project,^[75] and there was significant opposition to the plan, as it would have displaced thousands of people.^[76] Neither the original large-scale development nor a 1961 revised proposal were implemented and the city's government lost interest in performing such large-scale slum-clearance projects.^[77] Another redevelopment project that was completed was the Village View Houses on First Avenue between East 2nd and 6th Streets, which opened in 1964^[77] partially on the site of the old St. Nicholas Kirche.^[71]

Rebranding and cultural scene

Initial rebranding

Until the mid-20th century the area was simply the northern part of the Lower East Side, with a similar culture of immigrant, working-class life. In the 1950s and 1960s the migration of Beatniks into the neighborhood later attracted hippies, musicians, writers, and artists who had been priced out of the rapidly gentrifying Greenwich Village.^{[2][77][78]: 254} Among the first displaced Greenwich Villagers to move to the area were writers Allen Ginsberg, W. H. Auden, and Norman Mailer, who all moved to the area in 1951–1953.^[78]: 258

A cluster of cooperative art galleries on East 10th Street (later collectively referred to as the 10th Street galleries) were opened around the same time, starting with the Tanger and the Hansa which both opened in 1952.^[77][79] Further change came in 1955 when the Third Avenue elevated railway above the Bowery and Third Avenue was removed.^[77][80] This in turn made the neighborhood more attractive to potential residents; in 1960 The New York Times reported: "This area is gradually becoming recognized as an extension of Greenwich Village ... thereby extending New York's Bohemia from river to river."^[77][81]

The 1960 Times article stated that rental agents were increasingly referring to the area as "Village East" or "East Village".^[81] The new name was used to dissociate the area from the image of slums evoked by the Lower East Side. According to The New York Times, a 1964 guide called Earl Wilson's New York wrote: "Artists, poets and promoters of coffeehouses from Greenwich Village are trying to remelt the neighborhood under the high-sounding name of 'East Village'."^[2] Newcomers and real estate brokers popularized the new name, and the term was adopted by the popular media by the mid-1960s.^{[82]: ch. 5} A weekly newspaper with the neighborhood's new name, The East Village Other, started publication in 1966. The New York Times declared that the neighborhood "had come to be known" as the East Village in the edition of June 5, 1967.^[2]

Growth

The Phyllis Anderson Theater, one of several theaters that were originally Yiddish theaters

The East Village became a center of the counterculture in New York, and was the birthplace and historical home of many artistic movements, including punk rock^[83] and the Nuyorican literary movement.^[84] Multiple former Yiddish theaters were converted for use by Off-Broadway shows: for instance, the Public Theater at 66 Second Avenue became the Phyllis Anderson Theater.^[77] Numerous buildings on East 4th Street hosted Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway productions, including the Royal Playhouse, the Fourth Street Theatre, the Downtown Theatre, the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, and the Truck & Warehouse Theater just on the block between Bowery and Second Avenue.^[66][81]

By the 1970s and 1980s the city in general was in decline and nearing bankruptcy, especially after the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis.^[68] Residential buildings in the East Village suffered from high levels of neglect, as property owners did not properly maintain their buildings.^{[82]: 191–194} The city purchased many of these buildings, but was also unable to maintain them due to a lack of funds.^[68] Following the publication of a revised Cooper Square renewal plan in 1986,^[85] some properties were given to the Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association as part of a 1991 agreement.^[85][86]

In spite of the deterioration of the structures within the East Village, its music and arts scenes were doing well. By the 1970s gay dance halls and punk rock clubs had started to open in the neighborhood.^[85] These included the Fillmore East Music Hall (later a gay private nightclub called The Saint), which was located in a movie theater at 105 Second Avenue.^{[85][78]: 264} The Phyllis Anderson Theatre was converted into Second Avenue Theater, an annex of the CBGB music club, and hosted musicians and bands such as Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, and the Talking Heads. The Pyramid Club, which opened in 1979 at 101 Avenue A, hosted musical acts such as Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as drag performers such as RuPaul and Ann Magnuson.^[85] In addition, there were more than a hundred art galleries in the East Village by the mid-1980s. These included Patti Astor and Bill Stelling's Fun Gallery at 11th Street, as well as numerous galleries on 7th Street.^[85]

Decline

By 1987 the visual arts scene was in decline.^[87] Many of these art galleries relocated to more profitable neighborhoods such as SoHo, or closed altogether.^[88][85] The arts scene had become a victim of its own success, since the popularity of the art galleries had revived the East Village's real estate market.^[89]

A wall in the East Village in 1998, featuring a mural of two men

One club that tried to resurrect the neighborhood's past artistic prominence was Mo Pitkins' House of Satisfaction, part-owned by comedian Jimmy Fallon before it closed in 2007.^[90] A Fordham University study, examining the decline of the East Village performance and art scene, stated that "the young, liberal culture that once found its place on the Manhattan side of the East River" has shifted in part to new neighborhoods like Williamsburg in Brooklyn.^[91][92] There are still some performance spaces, such as Sidewalk Cafe on 6th Street and Avenue A, where downtown acts find space to exhibit their talent, as well as the poetry clubs Bowery Poetry Club and Nuyorican Poets Café.^[93]

Gentrification, preservation, and present day

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries the East Village became gentrified as a result of real-estate price increases following the success of the arts scene.^[94][89] In the 1970s rents were extremely low and the neighborhood was considered among the last places in Manhattan where many people would want to live.^[95] However, as early as 1983, the Times reported that because of the influx of artists, many longtime establishments and immigrants were being forced to leave the East Village due to rising rents.^[96] By the following year, young professionals constituted a large portion of the neighborhood's demographics.^[95] Even so, crimes remained prevalent and there were often drug deals being held openly in Tompkins Square Park.^[97]

Tensions over gentrification resulted in the 1988 Tompkins Square Park riot, which occurred following opposition to a proposed curfew that had targeted the park's homeless. The aftermath of the riot slowed down the gentrification process somewhat as real estate prices declined.^[98] By the end of the 20th century, however, real estate prices had resumed their rapid rise. About half of the East Village's stores had opened within the decade since the riot, while vacancy rates in that period had dropped from 20% to 3%, indicating that many of the longtime merchants had been pushed out.^[99]

By the early 21st century some buildings in the area were torn down and replaced by newer buildings.^[100] One example of this was in 2010, when actor David Schwimmer bought an 1852 townhouse on 6th Street and completely rebuilt it, despite having received several notices of its possible landmark status.^[101]

Rezoning

Due to the gentrification of the neighborhood, parties including the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), Manhattan Community Board 3, the East Village Community Coalition, and City Councilmember Rosie Mendez, began calling for a change to the area's zoning in the first decade of the 21st century. The city first released a draft in July 2006, which concerned an area bounded by East 13th Street on the north, Third Avenue on the west, Delancey Street on the south, and Avenue D on the east.^[102][103] The rezoning proposal was done in response to concerns about the character and scale of some of the new buildings in the neighborhood.^[104] Despite protests and accusations of promoting gentrification and increased property values over the area's history and need for affordable housing, the rezoning was approved in 2008.^[104] Among other things, The zoning established height limits for new development throughout the affected area, modified allowable density of real estate, capped air rights transfers, eliminated the current zoning bonus for dorms and hotels, and created incentives for the creation and retention of affordable housing.^[105]

Landmark efforts

"Extra Place", an obscure side street off of East 1st Street, just east of the Bowery

Local community groups such as the GVSHP are actively working to gain individual and district landmark designations for the East Village to preserve and protect the architectural and cultural identity of the neighborhood.^[106] In early 2011 the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) proposed two East Village historic districts: a small district along the block of 10th Street that lies north of Tompkins Square Park, and a larger district focused around lower Second Avenue.^[107] before later being expanded.^[108] In January 2012 the East 10th Street Historic District was designated by the LPC,^[109][110] and that October, the larger East Village/Lower East Side Historic District was also designated by the LPC.^[111]

Several notable buildings are designated as individual landmarks, some due to the GVSHP's efforts. These include:

• The First Houses at East 3rd Street and Avenue A, the country's first public housing development, built in 1935 and designated in 1974^[64]
• The Stuyvesant Polyclinic at 137 Second Avenue, built in 1884 and designated in 1976^[112]
• The Christodora House, built in 1928 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986^[113]
• The Children's Aid Society's Tompkins Square Lodging House for Boys and Industrial School at 296 East 8th Street, built in 1886 and designated in 2000^[114]
• Public School 64 at 350 East 10th Street, a French Renaissance Revival public school built in 1904–1906 by architect and school superintendent C.B.J. Snyder, designated in 2006^[115]
• Webster Hall, a Romanesque Revival concert hall and nightclub designed in 1886,^[116] designated in 2008^[117]
• The Children's Aid Society's Elizabeth Home for Girls at 308 East 12th Street, built in 1891–1892 and designated in 2008^[118]
• The Wheatsworth Bakery Building, built in 1927–1928 and designated in 2008^[119]
• The St. Nicholas of Myra Church at 288 East 10th Street, designated in 2008^[120]
• The Van Tassell and Kearney Horse Auction Mart at 126–128 East 13th Street, a horse auction mart built in 1903–1904, designated in 2012^[121]
• The First German Baptist Church (Town & Village Synagogue) at 334 East 14th Street, designated in 2014^[122]

East 5th Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square is a typical side street in the heart of the East Village.

Landmark efforts have included a number of losses as well. For instance, although the GVSHP and allied groups asked in 2012 that the Mary Help of Christians school, church and rectory be designated as landmarks, the site was demolished starting in 2013.^[123] In 2011, an early 19th-century Federal house at 35 Cooper Square – one of the oldest on the Bowery and in the East Village – was approved for demolition to make way for a college dorm.^[124] over requests of community groups and elected officials.^[125] Furthermore, the LPC acts on no particular schedule, leaving open indefinitely some "calendared" requests for designation.^[126] Sometimes it simply declines requests for consideration, as it did regarding an intact Italianate tenement at 143 East 13th Street.^[127] In other cases the LPC has refused the expansion of existing historic districts, as in 2016 when it declined to add 264 East 7th Street (the former home of illustrator Felicia Bond) and four neighboring rowhouses to the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District.^[128]

2015 gas explosion

On March 26, 2015, a gas explosion occurred on Second Avenue after a gas line was tapped.^[129] The explosion and resulting fire destroyed three buildings at 119, 121 and 123 Second Avenue, between East 7th Street and St. Marks Place. Two people were killed, and at least twenty-two people were injured, four critically.^[130] Three restaurants were also destroyed in the explosion.^[131] Landlord Maria Hrynenko and an unlicensed plumber and another employee were sentenced to prison time for their part in causing the explosion in New York State Supreme Court. Ms. Hrynenko allowed an illegal gas line to be constructed on her property.^[132]

Discover more about History related topics

Lenape

Lenape

The Lenape also called the Lenni Lenape, and Delaware people, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada.

Peter Minuit

Peter Minuit

Peter Minuit was a Wallonian merchant from Tournai, in present-day Belgium. He was the 3rd Director of the Dutch North American colony of New Netherland from 1626 until 1631, and 3rd Governor of New Netherland. He founded the Swedish colony of New Sweden on the Delaware Peninsula in 1638.

Dutch West India Company

Dutch West India Company

The Dutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx (1567–1647) and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was granted a charter for a trade monopoly in the Dutch West Indies by the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and given jurisdiction over Dutch participation in the Atlantic slave trade, Brazil, the Caribbean, and North America.

New Netherland

New Netherland

New Netherland was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic located on the east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to southwestern Cape Cod, while limited settlements were in parts of the U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts and Connecticut, with small outposts in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

New Amsterdam

New Amsterdam

New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading factory gave rise to the settlement around Fort Amsterdam. The fort was situated on the strategic southern tip of the island of Manhattan and was meant to defend the fur trade operations of the Dutch West India Company in the North River. In 1624, it became a provincial extension of the Dutch Republic and was designated as the capital of the province in 1625.

Fulton Street (Manhattan)

Fulton Street (Manhattan)

Fulton Street is a busy street located in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Located in the Financial District, a few blocks north of Wall Street, it runs from West Street at the site of the World Trade Center to South Street, terminating in front of the South Street Seaport. The westernmost two blocks and the easternmost block are pedestrian streets.

Dutch language

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. Afrikaans is a separate but somewhat mutually intelligible daughter language spoken, to some degree, by at least 16 million people, mainly in South Africa and Namibia, evolving from the Cape Dutch dialects of Southern Africa. The dialects used in Belgium and in Suriname, meanwhile, are all guided by the Dutch Language Union.

Bowery

Bowery

The Bowery is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north. The eponymous neighborhood runs roughly from the Bowery east to Allen Street and First Avenue, and from Canal Street north to Cooper Square/East Fourth Street. The neighborhood roughly overlaps with Little Australia. To the south is Chinatown, to the east are the Lower East Side and the East Village, and to the west are Little Italy and NoHo. It has historically been considered a part of the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Astor Place

Astor Place

Astor Place is a one-block street in NoHo/East Village, in the lower part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs from Broadway in the west to Lafayette Street. The street encompasses two plazas at the intersection with Cooper Square, Lafayette Street, Fourth Avenue, and Eighth Street – Alamo Plaza and Astor Place Station Plaza. "Astor Place" is also sometimes used for the neighborhood around the street. It was named for John Jacob Astor, soon after his death in 1848. A $21 million reconstruction to implement a redesign of Astor Place began in 2013 and was completed in 2016.

Georgian architecture

Georgian architecture

Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, George III, and George IV—who reigned in continuous succession from August 1714 to June 1830. The so-called great Georgian cities of the British Isles were Edinburgh, Bath, pre-independence Dublin, and London, and to a lesser extent York and Bristol. The style was revived in the late 19th century in the United States as Colonial Revival architecture and in the early 20th century in Great Britain as Neo-Georgian architecture; in both it is also called Georgian Revival architecture. In the United States the term "Georgian" is generally used to describe all buildings from the period, regardless of style; in Britain it is generally restricted to buildings that are "architectural in intention", and have stylistic characteristics that are typical of the period, though that covers a wide range.

Commissioners' Plan of 1811

Commissioners' Plan of 1811

The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 was the original design for the streets of Manhattan above Houston Street and below 155th Street, which put in place the rectangular grid plan of streets and lots that has defined Manhattan on its march uptown until the current day. It has been called "the single most important document in New York City's development," and the plan has been described as encompassing the "republican predilection for control and balance ... [and] distrust of nature". It was described by the Commission that created it as combining "beauty, order and convenience."

Houston Street

Houston Street

Houston Street is a major east–west thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs the full width of the island of Manhattan, from FDR Drive along the East River in the east to the West Side Highway along the Hudson River in the west. The street is divided into west and east sections by Broadway.

Neighboring the East Village are the Lower East Side to the south, NoHo to the west, Stuyvesant Park to the northwest, and Stuyvesant Town to the northeast. The East Village contains several smaller vibrant communities, each with its own character.^[133]

Subsections

Alphabet City

A Loisaida street fair in 2008

St. Marks Place is a major shopping street, with many businesses that cater to the tourist trade.

Alphabet City is the eastern section of the East Village that is so named because it contains avenues with single-lettered names, e.g. Avenues A, B, C, and D. It is bordered by Houston Street to the south and 14th Street to the north. Notable places within Alphabet City include Tompkins Square Park and the Nuyorican Poets Café.^{[69][134][135]} Alphabet City also contains St. Marks Place, the continuation of Eighth Street between Third Avenue and Avenue A. The street contains a Japanese street culture; an aged punk culture and CBGB's new store; the former location of one of New York City's only Automats;^[136] and a portion of the "Mosaic Trail", a trail of eighty mosaic-encrusted lampposts that runs from Broadway down Eighth Street to Avenue A, to Fourth Street and then back to Eighth Street.^[137]

Alphabet City was once the archetype of a dangerous New York City neighborhood. Its turn-around was cause for The New York Times to observe in 2005 that Alphabet City went "from a drug-infested no man's land to the epicenter of downtown cool".^[138] This part of the neighborhood has long been an ethnic enclave for Manhattan's German, Polish, Hispanic, and Jewish populations. Crime went up in the area in the late 20th century but then declined in the 21st, as the area became gentrified.^[139] Alphabet City's alternate name Loisaida, which is also used as the alternate name for Avenue C, is a term derived from the Latino, and especially Nuyorican, pronunciation of "Lower East Side". The term was originally coined by poet/activist Bittman "Bimbo" Rivas in his 1974 poem "Loisaida".^[70][140]

Bowery

Once synonymous with "Bowery Bums", the Bowery area has become a magnet for luxury condominiums as the East Village neighborhood's rapid gentrification continues.

The Bowery was once known for its many homeless shelters, drug rehabilitation centers and bars. The phrase "on the Bowery", which has since fallen into disuse, was a generic way to say one was down-and-out.^[141] By the 21st century the Bowery had become a boulevard with new luxury condominiums. Redevelopment of the avenue from flophouses to luxury condominiums has met resistance from long-term residents, who agree the neighborhood has improved but its unique, gritty character is disappearing.^[142] The Bowery has also become an area with a diverse artistic community. It is the location of the Bowery Poetry Club, where artists Amiri Baraka and Taylor Mead have held regular readings and performances,^[143] and until 2006 was home to the punk–rock nightclub CBGB.^[144]

Little Ukraine

Taras Shevchenko Place, with St. George's Church on the north side and St. George Academy on the south side

Little Ukraine is an ethnic enclave in the East Village, which has served as a spiritual, political and cultural epicenter for several waves of Ukrainian Americans in New York City as far back as the late 19th century.^[145]

At the beginning of the 20th century, Ukrainian immigrants began moving into areas previously dominated by fellow Eastern European and Galician Jews, as well as the Lower East Side's German enclave. After World War II, the Ukrainian population of the neighborhood reached 60,000,^[67] but as with the city's Little Italy, today the neighborhood consists of only a few Ukrainian stores and restaurants. Today, the East Village between Houston and 14th Street, and Third Avenue and Avenue A^[146] still houses nearly a third of New York City's Ukrainian population.^[147]

Several churches, including St. George's Catholic Church; Ukrainian restaurants and butcher shops; The Ukrainian Museum; the Shevchenko Scientific Society; and the Ukrainian Cultural Center are evidence of the impact of this culture on the area.^[148] The gallery American Painting, located on E. 6th Street during 2004–2009, presented a painting exhibition by artists Andrei Kushnir and Michele Martin Taylor titled "East Village Afternoon" depicting many of these sites.^[149]

Since the early 20th century, St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church has served as the anchor of Little Ukraine, offering daily liturgies and penances, and operating the adjoining St. George Academy, a coeducational parochial school. Starting in 1976 the church has sponsored an annual Ukrainian Heritage Festival, regularly described as one of the few remaining authentic New York City street fairs.^[150] In April 1978 the New York City Council renamed Taras Shevchenko Place, a small connecting street between East 7th and 6th Streets, after Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine's national bard.^[151]

Political representation

1st Avenue, looking north at 10th Street

Politically, the East Village is in New York's 7th and 12th congressional districts.^[152][153] It is also in the New York State Senate's 27th and 28th districts,^[154][155] the New York State Assembly's 65th, 66th, and 74th districts,^[156][157] and the New York City Council's 1st and 2nd districts.^[158]

Discover more about Geography related topics

Lower East Side

Lower East Side

The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.

Stuyvesant Square

Stuyvesant Square

Stuyvesant Square is the name of both a park and its surrounding neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The park is located between 15th Street, 17th Street, Rutherford Place, and Nathan D. Perlman Place. Second Avenue divides the park into two halves, east and west, and each half is surrounded by the original cast-iron fence.

Alphabet City, Manhattan

Alphabet City, Manhattan

Alphabet City is a neighborhood located within the East Village in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Its name comes from Avenues A, B, C, and D, the only avenues in Manhattan to have single-letter names. It is bounded by Houston Street to the south and 14th Street to the north, and extends roughly from Avenue A to the East River. Some famous landmarks include Tompkins Square Park, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and the Charlie Parker Residence.

Avenue A (Manhattan)

Avenue A (Manhattan)

Avenue A is a north–south avenue located in Manhattan, New York City, east of First Avenue and west of Avenue B. It runs from Houston Street to 14th Street, where it continues into a loop road in Stuyvesant Town, connecting to Avenue B. Below Houston Street, Avenue A continues as Essex Street.

Avenue B (Manhattan)

Avenue B (Manhattan)

Avenue B is a north–south avenue located in the Alphabet City area of the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, east of Avenue A and west of Avenue C. It runs from Houston Street to 14th Street, where it continues into a loop road in Stuyvesant Town, to be connected with Avenue A. Below Houston Street, Avenue B continues as Clinton Street to South Street. It is the eastern border of Tompkins Square Park.

Avenue C (Manhattan)

Avenue C (Manhattan)

Avenue C is a north-south avenue located in the Alphabet City area of the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, east of Avenue B and west of Avenue D. It is also known as Loisaida Avenue. It starts at South Street, proceeding north as Montgomery Street and Pitt Street, before intersecting East Houston Street and assuming its proper name. Avenue C ends at 23rd Street, running nearly underneath the FDR Drive from 18th Street. North of 14th Street the road forms the eastern boundary of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. A melting pot of people, culture and style.

Avenue D (Manhattan)

Avenue D (Manhattan)

Avenue D is the easternmost named avenue in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, east of Avenue C and west of the FDR Drive. It runs through East 13th and Houston Streets, and continues south of Houston Street as Columbia Street until Delancey Street and Abraham E. Kazan Street until its end at Grand Street. Avenues A, B, C and D are the origin of the name of the section of the East Village neighborhood through which they run, Alphabet City.

14th Street (Manhattan)

14th Street (Manhattan)

14th Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, traveling between Eleventh Avenue on Manhattan's West Side and Avenue C on Manhattan's East Side. It forms a boundary between several neighborhoods and is sometimes considered the border between Lower Manhattan and Midtown Manhattan.

Nuyorican Poets Café

Nuyorican Poets Café

The Nuyorican Poets Cafe is a nonprofit organization in Alphabet City, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It is a bastion of the Nuyorican art movement in New York City, and has become a forum for poetry, music, hip hop, video, visual arts, comedy, and theater. Several events during the PEN World Voices festival are hosted at the cafe.

Third Avenue

Third Avenue

Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, as well as in the center portion of the Bronx. Its southern end is at Astor Place and St. Mark's Place. It transitions into Cooper Square, and further south, the Bowery, Chatham Square, and Park Row. The Manhattan side ends at East 128th Street. Third Avenue is two-way from Cooper Square to 24th Street, but since July 17, 1960 has carried only northbound (uptown) traffic while in Manhattan above 24th Street; in the Bronx, it is again two-way. However, the Third Avenue Bridge carries vehicular traffic in the opposite direction, allowing only southbound vehicular traffic, rendering the avenue essentially non-continuous to motor vehicles between the boroughs.

CBGB

CBGB

CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters CBGB were for Country, BlueGrass, and Blues, Kristal's original vision, yet CBGB soon became a famed venue of punk rock and new wave bands like Ramones, Television, Patti Smith Group, Blondie, and Talking Heads. From the early 1980s onward, CBGB was known for hardcore punk.

Automat

Automat

An automat is a fast food restaurant where simple foods and drinks are served by vending machines. The world's first automat, Quisisana, opened in Berlin, Germany in 1895.

Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of the East Village was 44,136, a change of 2,390 (5.4%) from the 41,746 counted in 2000. Covering an area of 250.02 acres (101.18 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 176.5 inhabitants per acre (113,000/sq mi; 43,600/km²).^[159] The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 65.5% (28,888) White, 3.9% (1,743) African American, 0.1% (64) Native American, 14.9% (6,560) Asian, 0% (22) Pacific Islander, 0.4% (182) from other races, and 2.8% (1,214) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.4% (5,463) of the population.^[4]

The entirety of Community District 3, which comprises the East Village and the Lower East Side, had 171,103 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 82.2 years.^[160] This is higher than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods.^{[161]: 53 (PDF p. 84) [162]} Most inhabitants are adults: a plurality (35%) are between the ages of 25–44, while 25% are between 45 and 64, and 16% are 65 or older. The ratio of youth and college-aged residents was lower, at 13% and 11% respectively.^[163]

As of 2017 the median household income in Community District 3 was $39,584,^[164] though the median income in the East Village individually was $74,265.^[3] In 2018 an estimated 18% of East Village and Lower East Side residents lived in poverty, compared to 14% in all of Manhattan and 20% in all of New York City. One in twelve residents (8%) were unemployed, compared to 7% in Manhattan and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 48% in the East Village and the Lower East Side, compared to the boroughwide and citywide rates of 45% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018^[update], the East Village and the Lower East Side are considered to be gentrifying.^[165]

Hare Krishnas

On October 9, 1966, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, held the first recorded outdoor chanting session of the Hare Krishna mantra outside the Indian subcontinent at Tompkins Square Park.^[166] This is considered the founding of the Hare Krishna religion in the United States, and the large tree close to the center of the Park is demarcated as a special religious site for Krishna adherents.^[166]

Cultural institutions

Preservation institution: Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation[167] Gallery: Tenth Street galleries Museums: Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space New Museum of Contemporary Art Brant Foundation Art Museum The Ukrainian Museum Movie theaters Anthology Film Archives City Cinema Village East Landmark's Sunshine Theater Two Boots Pioneer Theater Village East Cinema

Music venues: Bowery Ballroom – concerts and shows Mercury Lounge – live music Nublu Club – live music The Stone – experimental music Rue B – live jazz Poetry venues: Nuyorican Poets Café – music, poetry, readings, slams Bowery Poetry Club – music, poetry, readings, slams Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery

Theaters and performance spaces: Amato Opera Bouwerie Lane Theatre Connelly Theater – historic Off-Broadway venue Danspace Project – at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery La MaMa E.T.C. – avant-garde theater Metropolitan Playhouse[168] The Ontological-Hysteric Theater at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery The Pearl Theatre Company[169] Tompkins Square Park – Regular site of outdoor music, dance, and performance Performance Space New York Stomp! – long running Off-Broadway performance Theater for the New City[170] Theatre for a New Audience Wild Project[171]

The Nuyorican Poets Café has been located off Avenue C and East 3rd Street since its founding in 1973. The Bowery Poetry Club

Neighborhood festivals

Sherry Vine and Joey Arias during the 2009 HOWL! Festival

• Mayday Festival – May 1; yearly.
• Charlie Parker Jazz Festival – August; yearly.^[172]
• HOWL! Festival – Summer; yearly.^[173][174]
• Dance Parade – Summer; yearly.
• Dream Up Festival – August–September; yearly.^[175]
• Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade – October; yearly.^[176]

Discover more about Culture related topics

International Society for Krishna Consciousness

International Society for Krishna Consciousness

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Hare Krishna (mantra)

Hare Krishna (mantra)

The Hare Krishna mantra, also referred to reverentially as the Mahā-mantra, is a 16-word Vaishnava mantra which is mentioned in the Kali-Santarana Upanishad and which from the 15th century rose to importance in the Bhakti movement following the teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This mantra is composed of three Sanskrit names – "Krishna", "Rama", and "Hare".

Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation

Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation

Village Preservation is a non-profit organization which advocates for the preservation of architecture and culture in several neighborhoods of Lower Manhattan, New York. Since it began in 1980, it has engaged in efforts to attain landmark status for a variety of sites like the Stonewall Inn and Webster Hall. The organization and its Executive Director, Andrew Berman, have been described as influential in New York real estate, while some of its activities to prevent development and to support restrictive zoning have attracted criticism.

Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space

Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space

The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) is a not-for profit museum dedicated to archiving the history of community gardens, squatting, and grassroots environmental activism of the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Located in the storefront of C-Squat at 155 Avenue C, the museum documents how neighborhood residents transformed abandoned spaces and lots in the neighborhood into squats and gardens. By preserving the neighborhood's history, the museum aims to educate communities and individuals to keep this form of sustainable, community-based activism alive.

Brant Foundation

Brant Foundation

The Brant Foundation Art Study Center is a private art collection and gallery with exhibition spaces in New York City and nearby Greenwich, Connecticut. The collections, focused on modern and contemporary art, are privately owned by Peter Brant and open to the public; reservations must be booked in advance.

Anthology Film Archives

Anthology Film Archives

Anthology Film Archives is an international center for the preservation, study, and exhibition of film and video, with a particular focus on independent, experimental, and avant-garde cinema. The film archive and theater is located at 32 Second Avenue on the southeast corner of East 2nd Street, in a New York City historic district in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan.

Bowery Ballroom

Bowery Ballroom

The Bowery Ballroom is a New York City live-music venue located at 6 Delancey Street in the neighborhood of Bowery in Manhattan. The Bowery Ballroom holds something of a cult status among musicians as well as audiences. Rolling Stone magazine has awarded it #1 Best Club in America. "It's both intimate and grand, with consistently great sound and sightlines, and touches of old-school class, like 84-year-old bronze rails." It has a capacity of 575 people. A detailed scholarly account of the venue and its place in the wider music and cultural history of New York City was published in 2020.

Nublu Club

Nublu Club

The Nublu Club is a club in East Village, Manhattan, New York, that was opened in 2002 by Swedish-Turkish saxophonist Ilhan Ersahin. On its 10th anniversary the club's namesake festival presented what it calls the Nublu Sound, a combination of jazz, African, South American, Caribbean, electronic, and dance music. Among the bands associated with Nublu are The Brazilian Girls, Forro in the Dark, Love Trio, and Wax Poetic. Associates who perform there include Butch Morris, John Zorn, Sun Ra Arkestra, David Byrne, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Norah Jones, and Bebel Gilberto.

Nuyorican Poets Café

Nuyorican Poets Café

The Nuyorican Poets Cafe is a nonprofit organization in Alphabet City, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It is a bastion of the Nuyorican art movement in New York City, and has become a forum for poetry, music, hip hop, video, visual arts, comedy, and theater. Several events during the PEN World Voices festival are hosted at the cafe.

Poetry slam

Poetry slam

A poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges. While formats can vary, slams are often loud and lively, with audience participation, cheering and dramatic delivery. Hip-hop music and urban culture are strong influences, and backgrounds of participants tend to be diverse.

Bowery Poetry Club

Bowery Poetry Club

The Bowery Poetry Club is a New York City poetry performance space founded by Bob Holman in 2002. Located at 308 Bowery, between Bleecker and Houston Streets in Manhattan's East Village, the BPC is a popular meeting place for poets and aspiring artists.

Poetry Project

Poetry Project

The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church was founded in 1966 at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery in the East Village of Manhattan by, among others, the poet and translator Paul Blackburn. It has been a crucial venue for new and experimental poetry for more than five decades.

Large parks

Tompkins Square Park is the recreational and geographic heart of the East Village. It has historically been a part of counterculture, protest and riots.

Tompkins Square Park is a 10.5-acre (4.2 ha) public park in the Alphabet City section of the East Village. It is bounded on the north by 10th Street, on the east by Avenue B, on the south by 7th Street, and on the west by Avenue A.^[177] Tompkins Square Park contains a baseball field, basketball courts, and two playgrounds.^[178] It also contains the city's first dog run, which is a social scene unto itself.^[179] The park has been the site of numerous events and riots:

• On January 13, 1874, a riot broke out after the New York City Police Department clashed with a demonstration involving thousands of unemployed civilians.^[180]
• On July 25, 1877, during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, twenty thousand people gathered in the park to hear communist orators speak. New York City police and National Guardsmen eventually charged the crowd with billy clubs, later claiming that the rally was not being held in a peaceful manner. In the wake of this "riot" the city, in conjunction with the War Department, established an official city armory program led by the 7th Regiment.^[181]
• On August 6–7, 1988, a riot broke out between police and groups of "drug pushers, homeless people and young people known as 'skinheads'" who had largely taken over the park. The neighborhood was divided about what, if anything, should be done about it.^[182] Manhattan Community Board 3 adopted a curfew for the previously 24-hour park in an attempt to bring it under control.^[183] A rally against the curfew resulted in several clashes between protesters and police.^[184]

East River Park is 57 acres (23 ha) and runs between the FDR Drive and the East River from Montgomery Street to East 12th Street. It was designed in the 1930s by parks commissioner Robert Moses, who wanted to ensure there was parkland along the Lower East Side shorefront.^[185] The park includes football, baseball, and soccer fields; tennis, basketball, and handball courts; a running track; and bike paths, including the East River Greenway.^[186]

Community gardens

There are reportedly more than 640 community gardens in New York City – gardens run by local collectives within the neighborhood who are responsible for the gardens' upkeep – and an estimated ten percent of those are located on the Lower East Side and the East Village alone.^[187] Development of these community gardens, often on municipally owned land, started in the early 1970s. Although many of these lots were later sold to private developers, others were taken over by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, which preserves the gardens under its ownership.^[65]

Open Road Park, a former cemetery and bus depot, is a garden and a playground adjacent to East Side Community High School between 11th and 12th Streets east of First Avenue.^[188]

The Avenue B and 6th Street Community Garden was known for a now-removed outdoor sculpture, the Tower of Toys, designed by artist and long-time garden groundskeeper Eddie Boros.^[189] It was a 65-foot-tall (20 m) makeshift structure made of wooden planks, from which were suspended an amalgamation of fanciful objects.^[190] The tower was a neighborhood icon, having appeared in the opening credits for the television show NYPD Blue and also appears in the musical Rent.^[189] It was also controversial: some viewed it as a masterpiece, while others as an eyesore.^[189][191] The tower was dismantled in May 2008 because, according to parks commissioner Adrian Benepe, it was rotting and thus a safety hazard. Its removal was seen by some as a symbol of the neighborhood's fading past.^[192]

The Toyota Children's Learning Garden at 603 East 11th Street is technically a learning garden rather than a community garden. Designed by landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh, the garden opened in May 2008 as part of the New York Restoration Project and is designed to teach children about plants.^[193]

La Plaza Cultural de Armando Perez is a community garden, open-air theater, and green space at 9th Street and Avenue C. Founded in 1976, the garden continues to operate as of 2019^[update],^[194] despite having been proposed for redevelopment multiple times.^[195]

Marble cemeteries

A production of John Reed's All the World's a Grave in the New York Marble Cemetery, which does not contain headstones

On the block bounded by Bowery, Second Avenue, and 2nd and 3rd Streets, is the oldest public cemetery in New York City not affiliated with any religion, the New York Marble Cemetery.^{[29]: 1 [196]} Established in 1830,^[29]: 1 it is open the fourth Sunday of every month.^[197]

The similarly named New York City Marble Cemetery, located on 2nd Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue, is the second oldest nonsectarian cemetery in New York City. The cemetery opened in 1831.^[28]: 1 Notable people interred there include U.S. President James Monroe; Stephen Allen, mayor (1821–1824); James Lenox, whose personal library became part of the New York Public Library; Isaac Varian, mayor (1839–1841); Marinus Willet, Revolutionary War hero; and Preserved Fish, a well-known merchant.^[198]

Discover more about Parks and gardens related topics

Counterculture

Counterculture

A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores. A countercultural movement expresses the ethos and aspirations of a specific population during a well-defined era. When oppositional forces reach critical mass, countercultures can trigger dramatic cultural changes. Prominent examples of countercultures in the Western world include the Levellers (1645–1650), Bohemianism (1850–1910), the more fragmentary counterculture of the Beat Generation (1944–1964), and the globalized counterculture of the 1960s (1964–1974).

Dog park

Dog park

A dog park is a park for dogs to exercise and play off-leash in a controlled environment under the supervision of their owners.

New York City Police Department

New York City Police Department

The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, municipal police departments in the United States.

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, sometimes referred to as the Great Upheaval, began on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) cut wages for the third time in a year. This strike finally ended 52 days later, after it was put down by unofficial militias, the National Guard, and federal troops. Because of economic problems and pressure on wages by the railroads, workers in numerous other cities, in New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland, into Illinois and Missouri, also went out on strike. An estimated 100 people were killed in the unrest across the country. In Martinsburg, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and other cities, workers burned down and destroyed both physical facilities and the rolling stock of the railroads—engines and railroad cars. Some locals feared that workers were rising in revolution such as the Paris Commune of 1871, while others joined their efforts against the railroads.

East River Park

East River Park

East River Park, also called John V. Lindsay East River Park, is 57.5-acre (20 ha) public park located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, administered by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Bisected by the Williamsburg Bridge, it stretches along the East River from Montgomery Street up to 12th Street on the east side of the FDR Drive. Its now-demolished amphitheater, built in 1941 just south of Grand Street, had been reconstructed and was often used for public performances. The park includes football, baseball, and soccer fields; tennis, basketball, and handball courts; a running track; and bike paths, including the East River Greenway. Fishing is another popular activity, for now.

FDR Drive

FDR Drive

The Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive, commonly called the FDR Drive for short, is a 9.68-mile (15.58 km) limited-access parkway on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It starts near South and Broad Streets, just north of the Battery Park Underpass, and runs north along the East River to the 125th Street / Robert F. Kennedy Bridge / Willis Avenue Bridge interchange, where it becomes the Harlem River Drive. All of the FDR Drive is designated New York State Route 907L (NY 907L), an unsigned reference route.

East River

East River

The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Queens on Long Island from the Bronx on the North American mainland, and also divides Manhattan from Queens and Brooklyn, also on Long Island.

Lower East Side

Lower East Side

The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.

Manhattan Waterfront Greenway

Manhattan Waterfront Greenway

The Manhattan Waterfront Greenway is a waterfront greenway for walking or cycling, 32 miles (51 km) long, around the island of Manhattan, in New York City. The largest portions are operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. It is separated from motor traffic, and many sections also separate pedestrians from cyclists. There are three principal parts — the East, Harlem and Hudson River Greenways.

Community gardening

Community gardening

A community garden is a piece of land gardened or cultivated by a group of people individually or collectively. Normally in community gardens, the land is divided into individual plots. Each individual gardener is responsible for their own plot and the yielding or the production of which belongs to the individual. In collective gardens the piece of land is not divided. A group of people cultivate it together and the harvest belongs to all participants. Around the world, community gardens exist in various forms, it can be located in the proximity of neighborhoods or on balconies and rooftops. Its size can vary greatly from one to another.

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecological diversity of the city's natural areas, and furnishing recreational opportunities for city's residents and visitors.

Open Road Park

Open Road Park

Open Road Park is a small park in East Village, Manhattan, New York City, located east of First Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets. It is among the larger green spaces created in the East Village as a result of community organizing. The site of this park was taken over in 1993 by Open Road, a neighborhood nonprofit that developed the lot into a community garden and playground. Prior to its use as a park, the site was used for many purposes that reflect on the history of the surrounding neighborhood.

East Village is patrolled by the 9th Precinct of the NYPD, located at 321 East 5th Street.^[199] The 9th Precinct ranked 58th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010.^[200] As of 2018^[update], with a non-fatal assault rate of 42 per 100,000 people, Community District 3's rate of violent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 449 per 100,000 people is higher than that of the city as a whole.^[201]

The 9th Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 79.5% between 1990 and 2019. The precinct reported 3 murders, 15 rapes, 119 robberies, 171 felony assaults, 122 burglaries, 760 grand larcenies, and 37 grand larcenies auto in 2019.^[202]

Ladder Co. 3/Battalion 6

East Village is served by four New York City Fire Department (FDNY) fire stations:^[203]

• Ladder Co. 3/Battalion 6 – 103 East 13th Street^[204]
• Engine Co. 5 – 340 East 14th Street^[205]
• Engine Co. 28/Ladder Co. 11 – 222 East 2nd Street^[206]
• Engine Co. 33/Ladder Co. 9 – 42 Great Jones Street^[207]

As of 2018^[update], preterm births and births to teenage mothers are less common in the East Village and the Lower East Side than in other places citywide. In the East Village and the Lower East Side, there were 82 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 10.1 teenage births per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide).^[208] The East Village and the Lower East Side have a low population of residents who are uninsured. In 2018 this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 11%, slightly less than the citywide rate of 12%.^[209]

The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in the East Village and the Lower East Side is 0.0089 milligrams per cubic metre (8.9×10⁻⁹ oz/cu ft), more than the city average.^[210] Twenty percent of East Village and Lower East Side residents are smokers, which is more than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers.^[211] In the East Village and the Lower East Side, 10% of residents are obese, 11% are diabetic, and 22% have high blood pressure – compared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively.^[212] In addition, 16% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%.^[213]

Eighty-eight percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is about the same as the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 70% of residents described their health as "good", "very good", or "excellent", less than the city's average of 78%.^[211] For every supermarket in the East Village and the Lower East Side, there are eighteen bodegas.^[214]

The nearest major hospitals are Beth Israel Medical Center in Stuyvesant Town, as well as the Bellevue Hospital Center and NYU Langone Medical Center in Kips Bay, and NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital in the Civic Center area.^[215][216]

Discover more about Health related topics

Preterm birth

Preterm birth

Preterm birth, also known as premature birth, is the birth of a baby at fewer than 37 weeks gestational age, as opposed to full-term delivery at approximately 40 weeks. Extreme preterm is less than 28 weeks, very early preterm birth is between 28 and 32 weeks, early preterm birth occurs between 32 and 36 weeks, late preterm birth is between 34 and 36 weeks' gestation. These babies are also known as premature babies or colloquially preemies or premmies. Symptoms of preterm labor include uterine contractions which occur more often than every ten minutes and/or the leaking of fluid from the vagina before 37 weeks. Premature infants are at greater risk for cerebral palsy, delays in development, hearing problems and problems with their vision. The earlier a baby is born, the greater these risks will be.

Health insurance coverage in the United States

Health insurance coverage in the United States

Health insurance coverage in the United States is provided by several public and private sources. During 2019, the U.S. population overall was approximately 330 million, with 59 million people 65 years of age and over covered by the federal Medicare program. The 273 million non-institutionalized persons under age 65 either obtained their coverage from employer-based or non-employer based sources, or were uninsured. During the year 2019, 89% of the non-institutionalized population had health insurance coverage. Separately, approximately 12 million military personnel received coverage through the Veteran's Administration and Military Health System.

Particulates

Particulates

Particulates – also known as atmospheric aerosol particles, atmospheric particulate matter, particulate matter (PM) or suspended particulate matter (SPM) – are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. The term aerosol commonly refers to the particulate/air mixture, as opposed to the particulate matter alone. Sources of particulate matter can be natural or anthropogenic. They have impacts on climate and precipitation that adversely affect human health, in ways additional to direct inhalation.

Air pollution

Air pollution

Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. It is also the contamination of indoor or outdoor surrounding either by chemical activities, physical or biological agents that alters the natural features of the atmosphere. There are many different types of air pollutants, such as gases, particulates, and biological molecules. Air pollution can cause diseases, allergies, and even death to humans; it can also cause harm to other living organisms such as animals and food crops, and may damage the natural environment or built environment. Air pollution can be caused by both human activities and natural phenomena.

Smoking

Smoking

Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke is typically breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have been rolled into a small rectangle of rolling paper to create a small, round cylinder called a cigarette. Smoking is primarily practised as a route of administration for recreational drug use because the combustion of the dried plant leaves vaporizes and delivers active substances into the lungs where they are rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream and reach bodily tissue. In the case of cigarette smoking, these substances are contained in a mixture of aerosol particles and gases and include the pharmacologically active alkaloid nicotine; the vaporization creates heated aerosol and gas into a form that allows inhalation and deep penetration into the lungs where absorption into the bloodstream of the active substances occurs. In some cultures, smoking is also carried out as a part of various rituals, where participants use it to help induce trance-like states that, they believe, can lead them to spiritual enlightenment.

Obesity

Obesity

Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's weight divided by the square of the person's height—is over 30 kg/m2; the range 25–30 kg/m2 is defined as overweight. Some East Asian countries use lower values to calculate obesity. Obesity is a major cause of disability and is correlated with various diseases and conditions, particularly cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.

Hypertension

Hypertension

Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high blood pressure, however, is a major risk factor for stroke, coronary artery disease, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, peripheral arterial disease, vision loss, chronic kidney disease, and dementia. Hypertension is a major cause of premature death worldwide.

Convenience store

Convenience store

A convenience store, bodega, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery tickets, over-the-counter drugs, toiletries, newspapers and magazines. In some jurisdictions, convenience stores are licensed to sell alcoholic drinks, although many jurisdictions limit such beverages to those with relatively low alcohol content, like beer and wine. The stores may also offer money order and wire transfer services, along with the use of a fax machine or photocopier for a small per-copy cost. Some also sell tickets or recharge smart cards, e.g. OPUS cards in Montreal or include a small deli. They differ from general stores and village shops in that they are not in a rural location and are used as a convenient supplement to larger stores.

Kips Bay, Manhattan

Kips Bay, Manhattan

Kips Bay, or Kip's Bay, is a neighborhood on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by East 34th Street to the north, the East River to the east, East 27th and/or 23rd Streets to the south, and Third Avenue to the west.

Civic Center, Manhattan

Civic Center, Manhattan

The Civic Center is the area and neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, Manhattan, New York City, that encompasses New York City Hall, One Police Plaza, the courthouses in Foley Square, the Metropolitan Correctional Center and the surrounding area. The district is bound on the west by Tribeca at Broadway, on the north by Chinatown at Worth Street or Bayard Street, on the east by the East River and the Brooklyn Bridge at South Street, and on the south by the Financial District at Ann Street.

USPS Cooper Station post office

East Village is located within two primary ZIP Codes. The area east of First Avenue including Alphabet City is part of 10009, while the area west of First Avenue is part of 10003.^[217] The United States Postal Service operates three post offices in the East Village:

• Cooper Station – 93 Fourth Avenue^[218]
• Peter Stuyvesant Station – 335 East 14th Street^[219]
• Tompkins Square Station – 244 East 3rd Street^[220]

East Village and the Lower East Side generally have a higher rate of college-educated residents than the rest of the city as of 2018^[update]. A plurality of residents age 25 and older (48%) have a college education or higher, while 24% have less than a high school education and 28% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 64% of Manhattan residents and 43% of city residents have a college education or higher.^[221] The percentage of East Village and the Lower East Side students excelling in math rose from 61% in 2000 to 80% in 2011, and reading achievement increased from 66% to 68% during the same time period.^[222]

East Village and the Lower East Side's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is lower than the rest of New York City. In the East Village and the Lower East Side, 16% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year, less than the citywide average of 20%.^{[221][161]: 24 (PDF p. 55)} Additionally, 77% of high school students in the East Village and the Lower East Side graduate on time, more than the citywide average of 75%.^[221]

Schools

The New York City Department of Education operates public schools in the East Village as part of Community School District 1.^[223] District 1 does not contain any zoned schools, which means that students living in District 1 can apply to any school in the district, including those in the Lower East Side.^[224][225]

The following public elementary schools are located in the East Village and serve grades PK–5 unless otherwise indicated:^[223]

The following middle and high schools are located in the East Village:^[223]

• East Side Community High School (grades 6–12)^[237]
• Manhattan School for Career Development (grades 9–12)^[238]
• Tompkins Square Middle School (grades 6–8)^[239]

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York operates Catholic schools in Manhattan. St. Brigid School in the East Village closed in 2019.^[240]

The following independent schools are located in the East Village:

• The New Amsterdam School (Waldorf)^[241]

Libraries

New York Public Library, Ottendorfer branch

The New York Public Library (NYPL) operates three branches near the East Village.

• The Ottendorfer branch is located at 135 Second Avenue. The branch opened in 1884 based on a gift from Oswald Ottendorfer, who owned the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung. The Ottendorfer branch, designed in the Queen Anne and Renaissance Revival styles, is a New York City designated landmark.^[42]
• The Tompkins Square branch is located at 331 East 10th Street. The library opened in 1887 and moved three times before relocating to its current Carnegie library structure in 1904.^[242]
• The Hamilton Fish Park branch is located at 415 East Houston Street. It was originally built as a Carnegie library in 1909, but was torn down when Houston Street was expanded; the current one-story structure was completed in 1960.^[243]

Colleges

New York University

Along with gentrification, the East Village has seen an increase in the number of buildings owned and maintained by New York University, particularly dormitories for undergraduate students, and this influx has given rise to conflict between the community and the university.^[244]

St. Ann's Church, a rusticated-stone structure with a Romanesque Revival tower on East 12th Street that dated to 1847, was sold to NYU to make way for a 26-story, 700-bed dormitory. After community protest, the university promised to protect and maintain the church's original facade; and so it did, literally, by having the facade stand alone in front of the building, now the tallest structure in the area.^[244] According to many residents, NYU's alteration and demolition of historic buildings, such as the Peter Cooper Post Office, is spoiling the physical and socio-economic landscape that makes this neighborhood so interesting and attractive.^[245]

NYU has often been at odds with residents of both the East and West Villages due to its expansive development plans; urban preservationist Jane Jacobs battled the school in the 1960s.^[246] "She spoke of how universities and hospitals often had a special kind of hubris reflected in the fact that they often thought it was OK to destroy a neighborhood to suit their needs," said Andrew Berman of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.^[247]

Cooper Union

The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, founded in 1859 by entrepreneur and philanthropist Peter Cooper and located on Cooper Square,^[248] was, as of 2008, one of the most selective colleges in the world,^[249] and formerly offered tuition-free programs in engineering, art and architecture.^[250][251] Its Great Hall has been used for several notable speeches, such as Abraham Lincoln's Cooper Union speech,^[252][253] and its New Academic Building is the first in New York City to achieve LEED Platinum status.^[254]

Discover more about Education related topics

New York City Department of Education

New York City Department of Education

The New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) is the department of the government of New York City that manages the city's public school system. The City School District of the City of New York is the largest school system in the United States, with over 1.1 million students taught in more than 1,800 separate schools. The department covers all five boroughs of New York City, and has an annual budget of $38 billion. The department is run by the Panel for Educational Policy and New York City Schools Chancellor. The current chancellor is David C. Banks.

East Side Community High School

East Side Community High School

East Side Community High School is a public school at 420 East 12th Street in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Founded in 1991, it is for students from the 6th to 12th grade. Its principal is Mark Federman. Girls Prep, a charter school, is housed inside the same building. The building also housed Ross Global Academy, another charter school, until 2011.

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York

The Archdiocese of New York is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the State of New York. It encompasses the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island in New York City and the counties of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester. The Archdiocese of New York is the second-largest diocese in the United States by population, encompassing 296 parishes that serve around 2.8 million Catholics, in addition to hundreds of Catholic schools, hospitals and charities. The archdiocese also operates the well-known St. Joseph's Seminary, commonly referred to as Dunwoodie. The Archdiocese of New York is the metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province of New York which includes the suffragan dioceses of Albany, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Ogdensburg, Rochester, Rockville Centre and Syracuse.

New York Public Library

New York Public Library

The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States and the fourth largest in the world. It is a private, non-governmental, independently managed, nonprofit corporation operating with both private and public financing.

Oswald Ottendorfer

Oswald Ottendorfer

Valentin Oswald Ottendorfer was a United States journalist associated with the development of the German-language New Yorker Staats-Zeitung into a major newspaper. He served a term as a member of the New York City Board of Aldermen and as a member of the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York. He also served three times as an elector of the United States Electoral College. In addition to his political and journalistic pursuits, Ottendorfer was a notable philanthropist in both Europe and the United States. Today, he is best remembered as the donor whose contribution founded the Ottendorfer Public Library in Manhattan, which bears his name.

New Yorker Staats-Zeitung

New Yorker Staats-Zeitung

The New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, nicknamed "The Staats", claims to be the leading German-language weekly newspaper in the United States and is one of the oldest, having been published since the mid-1830s. In the late 19th century, it was one of New York City's major daily newspapers, exceeded in circulation only by the New York World and the New-York Tribune. Among other achievements, as of its sesquicentennial anniversary in 1984 it had never missed a publication date, thereby laying claim to the title of being continuously published longer than any other newspaper in America.

Renaissance Revival architecture

Renaissance Revival architecture

Renaissance Revival architecture is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes. Under the broad designation Renaissance architecture nineteenth-century architects and critics went beyond the architectural style which began in Florence and Central Italy in the early 15th century as an expression of Renaissance humanism; they also included styles that can be identified as Mannerist or Baroque. Self-applied style designations were rife in the mid- and later nineteenth century: "Neo-Renaissance" might be applied by contemporaries to structures that others called "Italianate", or when many French Baroque features are present.

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and culturally significant buildings and sites by granting them landmark or historic district status, and regulating them after designation. It is the largest municipal preservation agency in the nation. As of July 1, 2020, the LPC has designated more than 37,000 landmark properties in all five boroughs. Most of these are concentrated in historic districts, although there are over a thousand individual landmarks, as well as numerous interior and scenic landmarks.

Carnegie library

Carnegie library

A Carnegie library is a library built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. A total of 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929, including some belonging to public and university library systems. 1,689 were built in the United States, 660 in the United Kingdom and Ireland, 125 in Canada, and others in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Serbia, Belgium, France, the Caribbean, Mauritius, Malaysia, and Fiji.

New York University

New York University

New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.

Jane Jacobs

Jane Jacobs

Jane Jacobs was an American-Canadian journalist, author, theorist, and activist who influenced urban studies, sociology, and economics. Her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) argued that "urban renewal" and "slum clearance" did not respect the needs of city-dwellers.

Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation

Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation

Village Preservation is a non-profit organization which advocates for the preservation of architecture and culture in several neighborhoods of Lower Manhattan, New York. Since it began in 1980, it has engaged in efforts to attain landmark status for a variety of sites like the Stonewall Inn and Webster Hall. The organization and its Executive Director, Andrew Berman, have been described as influential in New York real estate, while some of its activities to prevent development and to support restrictive zoning have attracted criticism.

The nearest New York City Subway stations are Second Avenue (F and ​ trains), Astor Place (6 and ​ trains), Eighth Street–New York University (N, ​R, and ​W trains), and First Avenue (L train).^[255] Phase 3 of the Second Avenue Subway is planned to establish two stations on 2nd Avenue, one on 14th Street and one on Houston Street.^[256] Bus routes serving the area include the M1, M2, M3, M8, M9, M14A SBS, M14D SBS, M15, M15 SBS, M21, M101, M102 and M103.^[257]

Discover more about Transportation related topics

New York City Subway

New York City Subway

The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 27, 1904, the New York City Subway is one of the world's oldest public transit systems, one of the most-used, and the one with the most stations, with 472 stations in operation.

F (New York City Subway service)

F (New York City Subway service)

The F and Queens Boulevard Express/Sixth Avenue Local are two rapid transit services in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Their route bullets are colored orange, since they use and are part of the IND Sixth Avenue Line in Manhattan.

6 (New York City Subway service)

6 (New York City Subway service)

The 6 Lexington Avenue Local and <6> Pelham Bay Park Express are two rapid transit services in the A Division of the New York City Subway. Their route emblems, or "bullets", are colored forest green since they use the IRT Lexington Avenue Line in Manhattan. Local service is denoted by a (6) in a circular bullet, and express service is denoted by a <6> in a diamond-shaped bullet.

N (New York City Subway service)

N (New York City Subway service)

The N Broadway Express is a rapid transit service in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Its route emblem, or "bullet," is colored yellow, since it uses the BMT Broadway Line in Manhattan.

R (New York City Subway service)

R (New York City Subway service)

The R Broadway/Fourth Avenue Local is a rapid transit service in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Its route emblem, or "bullet", is colored yellow since it uses the BMT Broadway Line in Manhattan.

W (New York City Subway service)

W (New York City Subway service)

The W Broadway Local is a rapid transit service of the New York City Subway's B Division. Its route emblem, or "bullet", is colored yellow since it uses the BMT Broadway Line in Manhattan.

L (New York City Subway service)

L (New York City Subway service)

The L 14th Street–Canarsie Local is a rapid transit service in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Its route emblem, or "bullet", is colored medium gray since it serves the BMT Canarsie Line.

Second Avenue Subway

Second Avenue Subway

The Second Avenue Subway is a New York City Subway line that runs under Second Avenue on the East Side of Manhattan. The first phase of this new line, with three new stations on Manhattan's Upper East Side, opened on January 1, 2017. The full Second Avenue Line, if and when it will be funded, will be built in three more phases to eventually connect Harlem–125th Street in Harlem to Hanover Square in Lower Manhattan. The proposed full line would be 8.5 miles (13.7 km) and 16 stations long, serve a projected 560,000 daily riders, and cost more than $17 billion.

M8 (New York City bus)

M8 (New York City bus)

The Eighth and Ninth Streets Crosstown is a public transit line in Manhattan, New York City, running mostly along Eighth Street, Ninth Street, Tenth Street, and Christopher Street through the West Village, Greenwich Village, and East Village. Originally a streetcar line, it is now the M8 bus route, operated by the New York City Transit Authority.

M9 (New York City bus)

M9 (New York City bus)

The M9 is a local bus route that operates along the Avenue C Line, in Manhattan, New York City. The route runs mostly along Essex Street and Avenue C from Battery Park City to Kips Bay. Originally a streetcar line, the Avenue C Line is now part of the M9 route, as well as the M21, which operates on the Houston Street Line. Both the Avenue C and Houston Street segments were served by a single route, the M21, until June 2010. The M9 and M21 are operated by the New York City Transit Authority, and based out of the Michael J. Quill Depot.

Discover more about Media related topics

East Village Eye

East Village Eye

The East Village Eye was a cultural magazine, published by editor-in-chief Leonard Abrams, in circulation from May, 1979 until January, 1987. Based in the East Village section of New York City, the publication covered a range of locally focused topics, including art, politics and gentrification. The East Village Eye, colloquially referred to as The Eye, covered topics such as the emergence of punk rock, hip hop and fashion as fringe pop culture, as well as the burgeoning art and nightlife scenes that highlighted NYC's East Village neighborhood during the 1980s.

The Village Voice

The Village Voice

The Village Voice is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the Voice began as a platform for the creative community of New York City. It ceased publication in 2017, although its online archives remained accessible. After an ownership change, the Voice reappeared in print as a quarterly in April 2021.

The Villager (Manhattan)

The Villager (Manhattan)

The Villager is a weekly newspaper serving Downtown Manhattan.

East Village Radio

East Village Radio

East Village Radio (EVR), begun in August 2003, was an Internet radio station which broadcast from a storefront studio in the East Village of Manhattan, in New York City. Originally a pirate radio station broadcasting at 88.1 MHz, the station shut down on May 23, 2014 and relaunched in conjunction with Dash Radio, June 3, 2015.

Oddities (TV series)

Oddities (TV series)

Oddities is a half-hour documentary/reality television program which follows the operation of an East Village, Manhattan shop which trades in antiques and other rarities. The show premiered on November 4, 2010, and airs on the Discovery Channel and its sister network, the Science Channel.

Punk rock icon and writer Richard Hell still lives in the same apartment in Alphabet City that he has had since the 1970s.

Miss Understood stops an M15 bus in front of the Lucky Cheng's restaurant at 2nd Street on First Avenue.

Lotti Golden, Lower East Side, 1968

Discover more about Notable residents related topics

Miss Understood

Miss Understood

Miss Understood is an American drag queen originally from Levittown, New York, who has been based in New York City since the late 1980s. She was a prominent figure in the East Village drag scene of the early 1990s which revolved around the legendary Pyramid Club and Wigstock, an annual open air drag festival.

M15 (New York City bus)

M15 (New York City bus)

The First and Second Avenues Line, also known as the Second Avenue Line, is a bus line in Manhattan, New York City, running mostly along Second Avenue from Lower Manhattan to East Harlem. Originally a streetcar line along Second Avenue, it is now the M15 bus route, the busiest bus route in the city and United States, carrying over 8.1 million people annually. MTA Regional Bus Operations, under the New York City Bus and Select Bus Service brands, operates the local out of the Tuskegee Airmen Bus Depot and the SBS from the Mother Clara Hale Bus Depot. Service is operated exclusively with articulated buses.

First Avenue (Manhattan)

First Avenue (Manhattan)

First Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, running from Houston Street northbound to 127th Street. At 125th Street, most traffic continues onto the Willis Avenue Bridge over the Harlem River, which continues into the Bronx. South of Houston Street, the roadway continues as Allen Street south to Division Street. Traffic on First Avenue runs northbound (uptown) only.

Lotti Golden

Lotti Golden

Lotti Golden is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, poet and artist. Golden is best known for her 1969 debut album Motor-Cycle, on Atlantic Records.

Darren Aronofsky

Darren Aronofsky

Darren Aronofsky is an American filmmaker. His films are noted for their surreal, melodramatic, and often disturbing elements, frequently in the form of psychological fiction.

John Franklin Bardin

John Franklin Bardin

John Franklin Bardin was an American crime writer, best known for three novels he wrote between 1946 and 1948.

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the Neo-expressionism movement.

Dana Beal

Dana Beal

Irvin Dana Beal is an American social and political activist, best known for his efforts to legalize marijuana and to promote the benefits of Ibogaine as an addiction treatment. He is a founder and long-term activist in the Youth International Party (Yippies), and founded the Yipster Times newspaper in 1972. The Yipster Times was renamed Overthrow in 1978, and ended publication in 1989.

Mark Bloch (artist)

Mark Bloch (artist)

Mark Bloch is an American conceptual artist, mail artist, performance artist, visual artist, archivist and writer whose work combines visuals and text as well as performance and media to explore ideas of long distance communication, including across time.

Jeremy Blake

Jeremy Blake

Jeremy Blake was an American digital artist and painter. His work included projected DVD installations, Type C prints, and collaborative film projects.

East Village Other

East Village Other

The East Village Other was an American underground newspaper in New York City, issued biweekly during the 1960s. It was described by The New York Times as "a New York newspaper so countercultural that it made The Village Voice look like a church circular".

David Bowes

David Bowes

David Dirrane Bowes is an American painter, based in Turin, Italy. He was first recognized for his paintings during the early 1980s in New York's East Village.