This lively downtown neighborhood has been a center of bohemian lifestyle since the

early 1900s. Home to jazz clubs in the 1920s, to 1960s hippy havens and 1980s punk

rock clubs, the East Village has always had an edginess that the West Village (a.k.a.

Greenwich Village) lacks. During Dutch colonial days, much of the East Village was

farmland owned by Dutch colonial Governor Peter Stuyvesant. Its18th century pastoral

setting gave way to 19th century wealth followed by 20th century bohemianism and is

now a 21st century playland filled to the brim with bars, lounges, cheap restaurants and

haute cuisine, boutiques, vintage shops and more. The most special thing about the East

Village is free: the authenticity and energy you will feel when you stroll its streets.

Be sure to check out our self-guided tour of Greenwich Village (West Village) as well as

our full list of self-guided NYC tours.

We recommend that you start this tour in Astor Place. Astor Place is located on the

western boundary of the East Village. Use this Google map link for directions to Astor

Place. If you are considering purchasing a hop-on, hop-off bus ticket, most companies

offer stops in or just nearby Astor Place. Read our comparison post on New York bus

tours.

Click here for a larger interactive East Village Tour Map

Stop A - Astor Place

This short two block street, running east

from Broadway to Lafayette Street is named

after John Jacob Astor, who was the richest

person in America when he died in 1848. He

also lived down the block at Colonnade Row,

included in this tour. If you ask most New

Yorkers who Astor Place is named for, they

won’t know. But if you ask them where The

Cube at Astor Place is, they will easily direct you to the intersection of Cooper Square,

Lafayette St., Fourth Ave and 8th St. At this intersection is a large pedestrian triangle

called Alamo Plaza named after artist Tony Rosenthal’s 1967 sculpture named Alamo,

a massive eight-foot-square steel cube painted solid black. The Alamo is more fondly

known by locals as The Cube and is a popular meeting place. As of 2015, Alamo Plaza

and the surrounding area are under a $16 million reconstruction by the city and the

Cube has been removed until the project is complete.

Stop B - The Mosaic Trail

Throughout the streets of the East Village, starting at

Astor Place and St. Marks Place, you will notice that

the street lampposts are decorated with bits of broken

china, broken tile, mirror shards, and any other

colorful and free found objects that Mosaic Man can

get his hands on. These posts make up the Mosaic

Trail. (Here’s a map of most of the lampposts). Since

the late 1980s, Jim Power, a Vietnam War veteran

(nicknamed Mosaic Man by The Village Voice newspaper), has been creating these

whimsical mosaics without any financial support other than donations of items to

decorate the poles. Many of them commemorate important events in New York history,

or people from the neighborhood. At first, he was a target of the city’s Anti-Graffiti Task

Force, but now he is allowed to work his magic with official city permission. Two years

ago, our guests on our East Village Food tour, had the distinct honor of speaking with

Jim, about his mosaics and even got a group photo with him in front of his amazing

Mosaic Wall. He later wrote about meeting us on his blog saying “This was just one of

those great East Village moments.” If you see him around the East Village, walk up and

say hi, and by all means, feel free to give him a buck. He gives his heart and hard work to

beautify this part of the city.

Stop C - Astor Place Theater and Colonnade

Row 434 Lafayette St.

Home to the Blue Man Group performance troupe,

the Astor Theater is located in what were once the

private homes of some of New York City’s wealthiest

families, like the Astors and the Vanderbilts back in

the 1830s. Originally there were nine Greek Revival mansions known as Colonnade

Row. Of the nine buildings only these four remain and were among the first buildings to

gain landmark status in 1965 under the city’s newly created Landmark Preservation

laws.

Stop D - The Public Theater 425 Lafayette

St. at Astor Place

Founded by Joseph Papp in 1954 to showcase

performances stemming from his Shakespeare

Workshop, The Public now stages a wide

variety of top-notch performances by cutting

edge playwrights. The Public is also the

sponsor of New York’s annual Shakespeare in

the Park every summer where hundreds of determined Shakespeare fans line up

overnight to get free tickets for same-evening performances. Next door to The Public is

Joe’s Pub, an intimate live music and dinner venue. http://www.publictheater.org/ 

Stop E - The Village Voice 36 Cooper Square

This Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper was launched in 1955 by

American author Norman Mailer and 3 other journalists. It has

always been known for its groundbreaking investigative

journalism and exposes as well as in depth local reporting.

Though the Voice’s offices are now in the Financial District, no

other newspaper is associated with the East Village the way the

Voice is and fittingly their name still adorns the building. Once

sold for a dollar, the paper is now free and can be found in

newspaper boxes around the city. They also have a great website

with listings of local activities, restaurants, bars, theater and gallery listings and more.

Stop F - Merchant's House Museum 29 E. 4th St. bet Lafayette St. and Cooper

Square

This is the only 19th century family home preserved in its entirety, inside and out, in

New York City. Built in 1832, this elegant red-brick and white-marble row house was

lived in by the same family for almost 100 years. Visiting the museum gives you a

glimpse of domestic life in the city in the 19th century. For information on visiting the

museum click here.

Stop G - Former site of CBGBs 315 Bowery bet. 1st and 2nd St.

This is the birthplace of punk rock and it all started with The Ramones, a group of

long-haired, leather-clad guys from Forest Hills, Queens. Other bands that got their

start at CBGBs are Blondie, the Talking Heads, Patti Smith and dozens of other

punk/new wave bands. CBGB’s was originally named Hilly’s On The Bowery when it

was opened in 1974 by Hilly Kristal as a spin-off to his successful West Village venue

where performers like Bette Midler and Jerry Stiller appeared. Kristal wanted a more

music-oriented crowd and changed the name to Country Bluegrass Blues and Other

Music For Uplifting Gormandizers which became known by the now famous acronym

CBGB and OMFUG. By the 1990s the surrounding neighborhood, particularly the

Bowery, had become heavily gentrified with new luxury boutique hotels and restaurants.

Rents sky-rocketed and CBGBs wasn’t turning a profit. It was forced to close in 2006.

The site is now a John Varvatos menswear boutique. Knowing that the site would be a

shrine to CBGBs, the store covered its walls with original memorabilia, posters and

albums of the bands that performed at the club. Step inside the shop, they are very

welcoming of people who want to say they stood on sacred ground. Just for fun, here’s a

video of Blondie performing at CBGBs in 1977. 

Stop H - George and Ira Gershwin home 91 2nd Ave bet 5th

and 6th Sts.

This was the childhood home of these brothers, two of the great

song composers of all time. Their individual and collaborative

pieces include the overtures Rhapsody in Blue, Strike up the

Band, and musical Porgy and Bess.

Stop I - New Middle Collegiate Church 112 2nd Ave bet. 6th and 7th Sts.

The congregation was founded in 1628, and is one of the oldest continuous Protestant

congregations in North America. The church was built in 1891 and known for their

Tiffany stained-glass windows.

Stop J - Fillmore East 102 2nd Ave

bet. 6th and 7th Sts.

From 1968 to 1971, the ground floor of

this building (now a bank) was the

Fillmore East, the East Coast

counterpart to hippie/music promotor Bill Graham’s Fillmore in San Francisco. Though

only opened for four years, dozens of the best musicians and bands of the 1960s and

early 1970s appeared on its stage including: Jimi Hendrix, Tina Turner, The Doors, The

Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Chuck Berry,

Miles Davis and so many more musical legends. On the corner is one of Mosaic Man’s

lampposts with the names of some of the bands who played here.

Stop K - Ukrainian Museum 222 E. 6th St. bet. Bowery and 2nd Ave

This is the largest museum in the U.S. committed to Ukrainian cultural heritage. It

opened in 1976 and offers several annual exhibitions and public programs.

Stop L - McSorley's Old Ale House 15 E.

7th St. bet. Bowery and 2nd Ave

This is one of the oldest ale houses in New

York, opened in 1854, and has served up its

home-brewed ale to notables Abraham

Lincoln, Babe Ruth, and Theodore Roosevelt.

The décor – from sawdust on the floor to the

long wooden bar that serves only beer – is

like a time capsule. Whether or not you order

a pint of beer, step inside to see the hundreds of photos and memorabilia on the wall.

Read our post on McSorley's.

Stop M - Surma 11 E. 7th St. Bowery and 2nd Ave

Opened in 1918 this shop next to McSorley’s is filled with traditional Ukrainian décor

items, housewares and toys, clothing. For hours and their catalog, see their website.

Stop N - Cooper Union Cooper Square and Astor

Place

This highly prestigious and competitive private

college was founded in 1859 by

industrialist/philanthropist Peter Cooper, who

believed that a good education should be available to

everyone regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender or

social/economic status. He mandated that the school

would always be tuition-free and it was until 2015 when a financial fiasco caused the

school to lose its massive endowments and Cooper Union now charges $40,000 a year.

The building is most famous for the prominent individuals who have spoken there. In

1860, the then presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln gave his famous "right makes

might" anti-slavery speech. More recently, President Barack Obama spoke there in

2010. The university has a visitors page.

Stop O - Hamilton-Holly House 4 St. Marks Place bet. 3rd and 2nd Aves.

Named for Alexander Hamilton’s widow who lived there in the 1830s, this mid-19th

century Federal style building is an elegant standout on what was once one of the city’s

fashionable upper-class streets.

Stop P - German-American Shooting Society Clubhouse 12 St. Marks Place bet.

3rd and 2nd Aves.

At the time the DeutscheAmerikanische Schützen Gesellschaft clubhouse was built in

1888, the East Village had a huge German immigrant population and the neighborhood

was known as KleinDeutschland (Little Germany). This building is one of a handful of

reminders that the area was once primarily

German-speaking. Look up at the façade of the building

to see the engraving that reads “Einigkeit Macht Stark”

(“Unity provides strength”).

Stop Q - Ottendorfer Library 2nd Ave bet. St. Marks Place and 9th St

Founded in 1884, Oswald Ottendorfer, editor of a widely read German-American

journal helped create one of New York City’s first free libraries. Ottendorfer wanted to

help German immigrants assimilate into American society with access to reading

materials. Next door is the Die Deutsche Poliklinik (German Dispensary), financed by

Oswald’s wife, Anna Ottendorfer, to provide poor German-Americans with free

healthcare.

TIP: If you are planning on purchasing a CitySights hop-on, hop-off bus ticket, there is

a stop just outside Theater 80. Read our comparison post on New York bus tours.

Stop R - Theater 80 80 St. Marks Place bet. 1st and 2nd Aves.

This space housed a ‘speakeasy’ (an illegal bar during the Prohibition era) and local

gangsters Al Capone and Lucky Luciano drank here. After Prohibition was repealed in

1930, a jazz club called The Gallery opened and Thelonious Monk performed there.

Then the space became a theater, followed by a cinema revival house and is now again a

small theater staging plays and musicals. Also housed in the building is the small but

very interesting Museum of the American Gangster.

Stop S - Upright Citizens Brigade Theater 153 E. 3rd St. bet. Ave A and Ave B

This 152-seat theatre in is the East Village offshoot of this comedic improve troupe’s first

New York Theater in Chelsea. In addition to holding wildly popular improv

performances for only $10, the UCBT also has an Improv Training Center that teaches

the art of improvisational and written comedy. Click here for performance schedules.

Stop T - Secret Garden on the corner of E. 4th St. and Ave C.

The East Village is known for its community gardening movement that began in the

1970s, when the neighborhood was undesirable to live in. Empty lots between buildings

went unattended by owners who were losing money. Residents of the area illegally

turned the lots into gardens in an effort to beautify their surroundings. After years of

legal battles with land-owners who abandoned their lots, 39 community gardens exist

legally around the East Village and are maintained by volunteers from the

neighborhood. Another favorite of ours is 6BC Botanical Garden at the corner of E.

6th St. bet. Aves. B and C.

Stop U - Tompkins Square Park Ave A to Ave B and E. 7th St. to E.10th St.

The heart of the East Village, this park is named for Daniel D. Tompkins, once Governor

of New York (1807-1817). This piece of land was part of the massive Stuyvesant estate

during the 17th century. By the 19th century, Tompkins had purchased the land and it

was marked for development as a public square. The Square was the site of two serious

New York City protests, in 1857 and again in 1875, over the bad economy and lack of

jobs. In 1878, the square was landscaped into a park that was enjoyed by the primarily

German residents of KleinDeutschland. By the 1980s the East Village had become a

dangerous neighborhood and the park was a safe haven for the homeless who would

sleep in the park in a small make-shift community. At the same time, the area was

becoming gentrified and the radical, open-minded spirit of the East Village was being

replaced by greed and high rents. On July 31, 1988, the police suddenly and

unexpectedly enforced the park’s 1 a.m. essentially telling locals, homeless or not, ‘get

out of your park now.’ A week later a protest was held against the gentrification of the

neighborhood. Clashes between protestors and the police became two days of rioting,

with the police being blamed by newspapers, activists and local politicians, for the

escalation of violence. Over 100 complaints of police brutality were filed. The Tompkins

Square Park Riot has been commemorated in a scene in the musical Rent and a song by

famed musician Lou Reed.

The park was shut down entirely in 1991 and renovated. It reopened in 1992 with new

playgrounds, a dog run and clean public facilities, but its free-wheeling character that

the park had for decades is gone. The old spirit of the park comes out every year at the

annual performances hosted by the park hosts annual events such as the outdoor drag

festival Wigstock, the Howl Festival commemorating neighborhood resident Allen

Ginsberg, and the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival.

http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/tompkins-square-park 

Stop V - Charlie Parker house 151 Ave B bet. 10th and 9th St.

Legendary jazz saxophonist lived with his family in this landmark brownstone from

1950 to 1954. It was here that he composed some of his most influential works.

Stop W - Russian and Turkish Bath Houses 268 E. 10th St. bet 1st Ave and Ave A

This sauna and bath house has been around since 1892. And it feels like it -- as the

bathhouse has the atmosphere of another era. One hundred years ago, 50 cents could

get you a bath. Today, it is $35. This is not a luxury spa, rather it is an authentic,

no-frills banya (Russian for sauna). Come here for the seriously hot saunas and get

ready to detox! Rumored patrons over the years include Frank Sinatra, Bill Murray, and

John F. Kennedy Jr. Even Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev made a special visit in

1986. It doesn’t get more authentic than that. For many decades the bathhouse was

men-only. Now, the baths are co-ed except for Wednesday mornings when they are

women-only, and Sunday mornings, when they are reserved for men. For hours and

services, see their website. 

Stop X - Yiddish Theater Walk of Fame

corner of 2nd Ave and 10th St.

In the 1880s to 1920s 2nd avenue between 10th

Street and Houston Street was known as the

‘Yiddish Rialto’ because of the in nearly two dozen

theaters that put on dramatic plays, operettas and

comedies performed in Yiddish (a language that

combines German, Hebrew and bits of other

languages) that was widely spoken among Jews at that time in history. Yiddish Theater

was enormously popular in the East Village and many of the performers went on to have

successful careers outside the Yiddish Theater. The Walk of Fame, which are plaques

placed in the sidewalk, commemorates some of the most beloved Yiddish Theater stars,

including On the corner in the sidewalk are plaques with the names of the great Yiddish

theater performers including Fyvush Finkel, known for his role on the TV series Picket

Fences and Ida Kaminska, who was nominated for an Academy Award in 1965 for her

performance in the Czechoslovakian movie The Shop on Main Street.

Stop Y - St. Mark’s in the Bowery Episcopal Church 131 E. 10th St. bet. 2nd and

3rd Aves. This is one of the oldest sites of continuous worship in the city, built in 1799

on the Stuyvesant estate. Peter Stuyvesant was the last Dutch colonial governor of New

Amsterdam before the British took control of the colony and renamed it City of New

York. Stuyvesant is entombed in the church’s graveyard. The church itself shares space

with several arts organizations, including Danspace and the Poetry Project known for its

Annual New Years’ Day Marathon Reading -- 24 hours of poetry readings by such

luminaries as Eric Bogosian, John Cage, Yoko Ono, Amiri Baraka, Patti Smith and Philip

Glass.

Stop Z - Renwick Triangle 114-128 E. 10th St. bet. 2nd and 3rd Aves.

James Renwick, Jr., architect of the world-renown St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth

Avenue, designed this charming building in 1861. It stands on the triangle at the

intersection of 9th Street and Stuyvesant Street.

Stop (a) - Webster Hall 125 E. 11th St. bet 3rd and 4th Aves.

When it was built in 1886, this hall was called the "Jewel of the Village". It has evolved

over time from a party hall for special occasions such as Jewish weddings or balls, to a

concert venue (called The Ritz until 1990) for rock/punk/emo/techno bands and over

the years has hosted everyone from U2 to Guns N' Roses. To check out if your favorite

band is playing anytime soon, here is the Webster Hall calendar.

Stop (b) - Grace Church 802 Broadway bet. E. 10th and E. 11th

Sts.

Also designed by James Renwick, Jr., when he was only 24

years-old, Grace Church is considered to be the earliest example

of neo-gothic architecture in the City. http://gracechurchnyc.org/ 

Stop (c) - The Strand Bookstore 828 Broadway at corner of

E.12th St.

Almost as famous as Bloomingdale’s “Little Brown Bag” are the canvas bags from The

Strand, open since 1927 and whose slogan is "18 Miles of Books". This huge,

independent bookstore has almost any book you want. They carry new, used and rare

books at great prices. The Strand is one of New Yorkers’ favorite shops and a must-visit

location for book lovers.

Written by Courtney Shapiro.