The Wall Street Journal checks in today with a piece titled "New Crowd Descends on East Third Street."
Let's jump into it!:
A once-seedy slice of the East Village is turning into a new night-life Mecca, drawing crowds of late-night revelers to increasingly trendy nooks.
The stretch along East Third Street between Avenues A and D has long appealed to culinary and night-life entrepreneurs. Now, the area is teeming with newly opened bars and restaurants, more of which are venturing farther east toward the grittier Avenue D.
Surely there are repercussions from this new-found popularity?
"The rents have gone way, way up, so that the people who made this community vibrant in the first place can't afford to live here," said Susan Stetzer, district manager of Community Board 3, who lives on East Third Street.
Still, it's good that Nuyorican Poets Café is doing well. But there's always a but.
Despite those signs of success, some ponder the impact of the changing demographics on the neighborhood.
"It's a weird vibe when people come here for events who have no context of the economics or politics of the Lower East Side—they just come for events." said Steve Cannon, a poet, playwright, novelist and retired professor at City University of New York, who founded A Gathering of Tribes in 1990.
Next week... East Fourth Street!
[Image via The Wall Street Journal]
