New York City (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [33]
The studded, pink-haired, and shaved-head punk scene followed, continuing today, although a little more diluted, with pierced rockers and teenage Goths. The blocks between 2nd and 3rd avenues have time-tested alternative-clothing boutiques and Asian restaurants galore. The cafés between 2nd Avenue and Avenue A attract customers late into the night. | Subway: 6 to Astor Pl.
Tompkins Square Park.
This leafy spot amid the East Village’s crowded tenements is a release valve. The park fills up with locals year-round, partaking in picnics, drum circles, the playground, and two dog runs. The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, honoring the former park-side resident and noted jazz saxophonist, packs the park in late August, and since 2003 it has been the site of the annual Howl! Festival, which commemorates Allen Ginsberg’s famous poem.
But it wasn’t always so rosy. In 1988 police followed then-mayor David Dinkins’s orders to clear the many homeless who had set up makeshift homes here, and homeless rights and anti-gentrification activists fought back with sticks and bottles. The park was reclaimed and reopened in 1992 with a midnight curfew, still in effect today. | Bordered by Aves. A and B and E. 7th and E. 10th Sts., East Village | 10009 | Subway: 6 to Astor Pl.; L to 1st Ave.
WORTH NOTING IN THE EAST VILLAGE
Colonnade Row.
Marble Corinthian columns on the second level front this shabby-but-grand sweep of four Greek Revival mansions (originally nine) constructed in 1833, with stonework by Sing Sing penitentiary prisoners. These once-elegant homes served as residences to millionaires John Jacob Astor and Cornelius Vanderbilt until they moved uptown. Today they house apartments, a lounge, and a restaurant. The northernmost building is the home of the Astor Place Theatre and Blue Man Group. | 428–434 Lafayette St., between Astor Pl. and E. 4th St., East Village | 10003 | Subway: 6 to Astor Pl.
Astor Place Subway Station.
At the beginning of the 20th century almost every Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) subway entrance resembled the ornate cast-iron replica of a Beaux-Arts kiosk that covers the stairway leading to the uptown No. 6 train here.
Inside, plaques of beaver emblems line the tiled station walls, a reference to the fur trade that contributed to John Jacob Astor’s fortune. Milton Glaser, a Cooper Union graduate, designed the station’s murals. | On traffic island at E. 8th St. and 4th Ave., East Village | 10003 | Subway: 6 to Astor Pl.
Russian and Turkish Baths.
It’s clear from the older Soviet types devouring blintzes and Baltika beer served in the lobby that this is no cushy, uptown spa. But the three-story public bathhouse, which dates to 1892, isn’t about pampering as much as hearty, Slavic-style cleansing.
The baths have five saunas and steam rooms, an aromatherapy steam room, a Finnish sauna, a Turkish room with a pull chain shower, and a Russian room for dousing yourself with cold water. You’re encouraged to alternate cooking in the hot rooms with plunges in the cold pool to stimulate circulation, a bathing cultures staple.
Traditional massages and scrubs are offered without appointment. Except for a few single-sex hours per week on Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday, the baths are coed, with bathing suits or shorts worn, and felt hats (alleged to decrease lightheadedness) for the seriously old-school. | 268 E. 10th St., between 1st Ave. and Ave. A, East Village | 10009 | 212/674–9250 | www.russianturkishbaths.com | $30 | Mon., Tues., Thurs., and Fri. noon–10, Wed. 10–10, Sat. 9 am–10 pm, Sun. 8 am–10 pm | Subway: L to 1st Ave.
St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery.
This charming 1799 fieldstone country church stands on what was once Governor Peter Stuyvesant’s bouwerie, or farm. St. Mark’s is Manhattan