Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TOMPKINS SQUARE PARK
ALPHABET CITY
Subway L to First Ave; N, R to 8th St; #6 to Astor Place.
MAP
Named after the avenues known as A-D, where the island bulges east beyond the city's grid
structure,
Alphabet City
was not long ago a notoriously unsafe patch, with burnt-out build-
ings that were well-known dens for the brisk heroin trade. Now it's one of the most dramat-
ically revitalized areas of Manhattan: crime is down, many of the vacant lots have been
made into community gardens, and the streets have become the haunt of moneyed twenty-
somethings and daring tourist youth. These avenues have some of the coolest bars, cafés and
stores in the city.
COMMUNITY GARDENS
Subway L to First Ave; N, R to 8th St; #6 to Astor Place.
MAP
In the 1970s, huge parts of the East Village burned to the ground after cuts in the city's fire-
fighting budget closed many of the local firehouses. Green Thumb, founded in 1978, helped
locals transform vacant lots into vibrant green spaces, turning the rubble-filled messes into
some of the prettiest and most verdant spaces in lower Manhattan. Of particular note is the
East 6th Street and Avenue B
affair, overgrown with wildflowers, vegetables, trees and
