The East Village and Alphabet City: Art, Punk Rock, Riots and the Counterculture
Hello! A New Yorker for almost 30 years, I’m a storyteller, comedian, history lover, and licensed NYC “Gold Star”(the top recommendation of the NY Dept. of Consumer Affairs) Tour Guide. Can’t wait to show you my beautiful city, tell you my favorite tales, and give you the REAL nitty gritty on this gritty city!
Pickup
I will meet you near the Astor Place Cube. Look for the lady with long platinum hair and an orange umbrella!
Description
Join me on an exciting adventure through Manhattan’s most rebellious neighborhoods- The East Village and Alphabet City! We’ll visit Astor Place and the Mosaic Trail- a guerrilla art installation by local artist “Mosaic Man.” We’ll talk about the “bad old days” of the 1970’s and 1980’s when the murder rate was high, and Keith Haring and Basquiat, partied with Madonna at Club 57. We’ll see how Andy Warhol changed nightclubs forever, the magnificence that was Yiddish Broadway, and visit “Little Ukraine.” From there we move onto once gritty, but now fashionable Alphabet City, where the Tompkins Square Park riots raged, Drag performance blossomed, and every kind of counter culture phenomenon found a home!