New York City (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [30]
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Planning
The East Village: Top Touring Experiences | Top Attractions | Worth Noting
The Lower East Side: Top Attractions | Top Attractions | Worth Noting
Updated by Arthur Bovino
The high concept of “La Bohème meets hipsters in vintage clothing,” better known as the musical Rent, accurately pegs the East Village as a community of artists, activists, and other social dissenters. Spend some time wandering these bohemian side streets, and you’ll be struck by the funky pastiche of ethnicities whose imprints are visible in the neighborhood’s restaurants, shops, and, of course, people.
Another defining point in the neighborhood’s history, American punk was born here at the now-defunct CBGB; the punk rock and indie scene is kept alive at the many small music venues both here and on the Lower East Side.
These days a walk along the lively but somewhat homogenized St. Marks Place barely evokes this once-gritty and counterculture scene. The arrival of Whole Foods, a Trader Joe’s, and the new glass-and-chrome condos signal that a tamer neighborhood has taken hold.
Enter the Lower East Side. Often referred to as simply as LES, the historic “Gateway to America” for many seeking a better life has seen waves of Irish, German, Jewish, Hispanic, and Chinese immigrants. Now it’s their great-grandchildren who pay top dollar for tiny apartments here, coming in droves to revel in the very place their forebears fought to leave for the greener “suburbs” of Brooklyn and Queens. On Saturday nights the scene can be as raucous as a college town, especially on Rivington and Orchard streets.
But during the day the Lower East Side is a wonderful place to catch of glimpse of the past, especially if it includes a visit to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. And then, of course, there’s noshing the neighborhood is famous for, from pastrami on rye at the age-old Katz’s Delicatessen or Russ & Daughters to the wide selection of top gourmet eats at the fantastic Essex Street Market.
PLANNING
MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR TIME
Houston Street, which runs the entire width of this part of Manhattan, somewhat neatly divides the area south of 14th Street and east of 4th Avenue and the Bowery into the East Village (above) and the Lower East Side (below). So many communities converge in these neighborhoods that each block seems like a new neighborhood unto itself.
The East Village lets loose on weekend nights, when reservations fill up and bar-hoppers converge. Visiting on weekdays makes for a less frenetic experience, when establishments attract mostly locals shuffling on errands and visitors enjoying the mellow shopping and café vibe. (It should be noted that “locals” always includes a large number of students from New York University.) Weekend days see the street life at its most vibrant, with brunch spots like Prune and Back Forty filled with lingering patrons, and boutique shoppers trying on vintage dresses.
The Lower East Side is not an early riser any day of the week. Although there’s plenty to see during the day, nightfall offers a different vision: blocks that were previously empty rows of pulled-down gratings transform into clusters of throbbing bars. When shopping, be aware that a number of traditional food and clothing establishments close on Saturday to observe the Jewish Sabbath, and on Sunday Orchard Street below Houston becomes a pedestrian-only strip where street vendors set up their stands outside the many “bargain district” clothing and specialty shops. On the increasingly trendy streets around Rivington and Stanton, stores, bars, and cafés buzz all week but are less crowded by day.
GETTING HERE AND AROUND
Take the R subway line to 8th Street or the 6 to Astor Place. To reach Alphabet City, take the L to 1st Avenue or the F to 2nd Avenue. Head southeast from the same stop on the F, or take the F to Delancey or the J, M, Z to Essex Street. Driving is not recommended, as parking here is very difficult.
FODOR