East Village

The East village is what used to be the northern most part of the Lower East side. In the late 50’s early 60’s with a change in the composition of the residents, both residents & realtors alike began calling this area east of Greenwich Village as the East village to differentiate this area from the working class lower east side.  The residents of the East Village developed a culture more akin to that of Greenwich Village yet different and the name stuck.
The nightclub CBGB considered the birthplace of punk music by many an aficionado set up shop in this neighborhood in 1973. Many famous punk bands like the Ramones, Blondie and Talking Heads played at CBGB before they became famous.  The East village is also an integral part of the modern art movement in America, artists such as Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Jeff Koons called the East Village home.
The East village is also home to Tompkins Square Park made famous by the Tompkins Square Park Police Riot of August 6–August 7, 1988. Tompkins square Park was open 24 hours and by the late 80s was home to drug pushers & the homeless. The local Community board adopted a 1am curfew and the police imposed the curfew and the rest was history.
If you like to stay up late - really late! - this is the neighborhood for you. The mornings are dead, but after 9 pm, the streets are full of students, artists and young professionals.
East Village streets are low-rise and lined with recently renovated tenement buildings. Historically, this neighborhood has been a first stop for newcomers to New York - the Slavic population in the early 1900s, immigrating European Jews through World War II, and a large Latino community.