East Village and the Lower East Side

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. But upon walking around, what becomes obvious is the funky pastiche of ethnicities whose imprints are visible in the neighborhood's restaurants, shops, and, of course, people. Not incidentally, the East Village, and more specifically its gone-but-not-forgotten shrine CBGB, is best known as the birthplace of American punk: a walk through the quietly homogenized but still evocative St. Mark's Place will elicit echoes of this once-gritty scene. The Lower East Side, the historic "Gateway to America" for many seeking a better life, has seen waves of Irish, German, Jewish, Hispanic, and Chinese immigrants: a legacy of tough times and survival instincts that has been movingly captured in the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. Today a hip arts and nighttime scene exists side by side with buildings and cultural centers staunchly rooted in the past.