The East Village and Alphabet City: Artists and the Counterculture

Step off the typical tourist path and dive into the rebellious heart of New York City. On this walking tour through the East Village and Alphabet City, we’ll explore the neighborhoods that shaped NYC’s counterculture, music scene, nightlife, theater, and immigrant history. We’ll start around Astor Place and the famous Mosaic Trail, a guerrilla art installation by local legend “Mosaic Man.” Along the way, we’ll talk about the gritty 1970s and 80s, when crime was high, but creativity was even higher. This was the era when Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat partied alongside Madonna at Club 57, and when Andy Warhol forever changed nightlife culture. We’ll also explore the legacy of Yiddish Broadway and visit Little Ukraine. From there, we head into Alphabet City, once raw and dangerous, now vibrant and fashionable. Here we’ll discuss the Tompkins Square Park riots, the rise of drag performance, and how every form of counterculture found a home in these streets.