Neighborhood Guide · Manhattan
East Village
Downtown's creative soul.
Joe's East Village
The Village was a dream long before it was home.
I wanted to live here ever since college. I drove from Queens to NYU every day, which meant hours spent circling the block looking for parking. You don't really get to know a neighborhood until you've driven every street in it, block by block, hunting for a spot. That's how I learned that each street in the Village has its own personality and its own charm.
I finally bought my place here right before COVID. It was supposed to be a quick renovation. It wasn't. Fourteen months later, I had a gorgeous apartment with windows everywhere, in a building that's truly special. 115 East 9th Street doesn't look like much from the outside, but it's the only co-op I've ever come across with no underlying mortgage, and the monthlies are extremely low. When it came to what I paid each month to live in a doorman building, I was the envy of all my friends.
The neighborhood is full of life. University Place buzzes with college students and with residents doing their best to act and feel young. Every September brings a new crop of students, and from my window I can see the NYU dorms and all those bewildered, excited faces. That look usually lasts from late August until Thanksgiving.
By the time they come back from break, they're New York veterans who have seen it all.
A few blocks from home
Madman Espresso
54 University Place
The meetup spot for anyone who wants a coffee and a focaccia and a chance to talk about that one trip to Italy.
Village Taverna
81 University Place
A neighborhood staple for lunch, where you'll see everyone from suits to students.
Wegmans Astor Place
770 Broadway
A total game changer for the neighborhood, and my favorite place to visit. I'm there every day.
The East Village is downtown New York at its most independent. It's a neighborhood of tenement walk-ups and community gardens, old-world bakeries and brand-new restaurants, dive bars and legendary music venues. It has changed a lot over the years, but it has never lost its edge.
At a Glance
What to expect
Great food, great bars and a real neighborhood feel.
The lifestyle
Quiet mornings in the park, lively nights out.
What not to expect
A sleepy residential enclave.
Living here
Prewar walk-ups, converted tenements and a handful of newer condos.
You'll fall in love with
The creative, independent spirit on every block.
Buildings I Know Inside and Out
The East Village is walk-up country, and every building has its own story. These are the East Village buildings where I've sold.
Around the Block
St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, Stuyvesant Street and Second Avenue, in 1893.
A little history
The East Village was once Peter Stuyvesant's farm, and he is buried at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, one of the oldest churches in Manhattan. In the 1800s the area became Little Germany, one of the largest German-speaking communities in the world, followed by waves of Ukrainian, Polish, Jewish and Puerto Rican families.
The name "East Village" caught on in the 1960s, when artists, writers and musicians began moving east from Greenwich Village. Tompkins Square Park, which opened in the 1830s, has been the neighborhood's gathering place ever since, and it is home to the city's first dog run.
Tree-lined streets & old New York charm
Walk the side streets between First Avenue and Avenue B and you'll find tree-lined blocks of brick walk-ups, stoops and fire escapes, with dozens of community gardens tucked between the buildings. Stuyvesant Street, running at an angle past St. Mark's Church, is one of the oldest streets in the city.
The lifestyle
The East Village has one of the best food scenes in New York, from Ukrainian pierogi at Veselka, open since 1954, to tiny restaurants that only locals know about. McSorley's Old Ale House has been pouring since the mid-1800s, with Houdini's handcuffs still on the bar rail. St. Marks Place, vintage shops, record stores, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and the old CBGB block on the Bowery keep the neighborhood's creative streak alive.
Living here
Most East Village homes are in prewar walk-ups and converted tenements, with a growing number of boutique condos and a few doorman buildings. It's one of the best values in downtown Manhattan, and prices generally ease the farther east you go.
Famous Neighbors
Poets, jazz legends and rock stars have all called these blocks home.
Getting Around
Subway
The 6 stops at Astor Place, the L crosses 14th Street with stops at Third Avenue and First Avenue, and the F stops at Second Avenue on Houston Street. The N, R and W are a short walk west at 8th Street–NYU. The M14 and M15 Select Bus Service cover the avenues farther east.
Street parking
Easier than most of Manhattan, especially in Alphabet City. Side streets follow alternate-side rules for street cleaning, and there are garages along the avenues for anyone who doesn't want to circle the block.
Boundaries & neighbors
Roughly 14th Street to Houston Street, from Fourth Avenue and the Bowery east to the East River. Gramercy, Greenwich Village, NoHo and the Lower East Side are all next door.
You'll fall in love with the creative, independent spirit that has defined these blocks for generations.
Thinking about calling the East Village home?
Let's talkPhotography via Pexels. Historic illustration from King's Handbook of New York City, 1893 (public domain).