This lively downtown neighborhood has been a center of bohemian lifestyle since the early 1900s. Home to jazz clubs in the 1920s, to 1960s hippy havens and 1980s punk rock clubs, the East Village has always had an edginess that the West Village (a.k.a. Greenwich Village) lacks. During Dutch colonial days, much of the East Village was farmland owned by Dutch colonial Governor Peter Stuyvesant. Its18th century pastoral setting gave way to 19th century wealth followed by 20th century bohemianism and is now a 21st century playland filled to the brim with bars, lounges, cheap restaurants and haute cuisine, boutiques, vintage shops and more. The most special thing about the East Village is free: the authenticity and energy you will feel when you stroll its streets. Be sure to check out our self-guided tour of Greenwich Village (West Village) as well as ​ ​ our full list of self-guided NYC tours. ​ ​ We recommend that you start this tour in Astor Place. Astor Place is located on the western boundary of the East Village. Use this Google map link for directions to Astor ​ Place. If you are considering purchasing a hop-on, hop-off bus ticket, most companies ​ offer stops in or just nearby Astor Place. Read our comparison post on New York bus ​ tours. ​ Click here for a larger interactive East Village Tour Map ​ Stop A - Astor Place This short two block street, running east from Broadway to Lafayette Street is named after John Jacob Astor, who was the richest person in America when he died in 1848. He also lived down the block at Colonnade Row, included in this tour. If you ask most New Yorkers who Astor Place is named for, they won’t know. But if you ask them where The Cube at Astor Place is, they will easily direct you to the intersection of Cooper Square, Lafayette St., Fourth Ave and 8th St. At this intersection is a large pedestrian triangle called Alamo Plaza named after artist Tony Rosenthal’s 1967 sculpture named Alamo, ​ ​ ​ ​ a massive eight-foot-square steel cube painted solid black. The Alamo is more fondly ​ ​ known by locals as The Cube and is a popular meeting place. As of 2015, Alamo Plaza and the surrounding area are under a $16 million reconstruction by the city and the Cube has been removed until the project is complete. Stop B - The Mosaic Trail Throughout the streets of the East Village, starting at Astor Place and St. Marks Place, you will notice that the street lampposts are decorated with bits of broken china, broken tile, mirror shards, and any other colorful and free found objects that Mosaic Man can ​ ​ get his hands on. These posts make up the Mosaic Trail. (Here’s a map of most of the lampposts). Since ​ ​ the late 1980s, Jim Power, a Vietnam War veteran (nicknamed Mosaic Man by The Village Voice newspaper), has been creating these whimsical mosaics without any financial support other than donations of items to decorate the poles. Many of them commemorate important events in New York history, or people from the neighborhood. At first, he was a target of the city’s Anti-Graffiti Task Force, but now he is allowed to work his magic with official city permission. Two years ago, our guests on our East Village Food tour, had the distinct honor of speaking with Jim, about his mosaics and even got a group photo with him in front of his amazing Mosaic Wall. He later wrote about meeting us on his blog saying “This was just one of ​ ​ those great East Village moments.” If you see him around the East Village, walk up and say hi, and by all means, feel free to give him a buck. He gives his heart and hard work to beautify this part of the city. Stop C - Astor Place Theater and Colonnade Row 434 Lafayette St. ​ Home to the Blue Man Group performance troupe, ​ ​ the Astor Theater is located in what were once the private homes of some of New York City’s wealthiest families, like the Astors and the Vanderbilts back in the 1830s. Originally there were nine Greek Revival mansions known as Colonnade Row. Of the nine buildings only these four remain and were among the first buildings to gain landmark status in 1965 under the city’s newly created Landmark Preservation laws. Stop D - The Public Theater 425 Lafayette ​ St. at Astor Place Founded by Joseph Papp in 1954 to showcase performances stemming from his Shakespeare Workshop, The Public now stages a wide variety of top-notch performances by cutting edge playwrights. The Public is also the sponsor of New York’s annual Shakespeare in ​ the Park every summer where hundreds of determined Shakespeare fans line up ​ overnight to get free tickets for same-evening performances. Next door to The Public is Joe’s Pub, an intimate live music and dinner venue. http://www.publictheater.org/ ​ Stop E - The Village Voice 36 Cooper Square ​ This Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper was launched in 1955 by American author Norman Mailer and 3 other journalists. It has always been known for its groundbreaking investigative journalism and exposes as well as in depth local reporting. Though the Voice’s offices are now in the Financial District, no other newspaper is associated with the East Village the way the Voice is and fittingly their name still adorns the building. Once sold for a dollar, the paper is now free and can be found in newspaper boxes around the city. They also have a great website ​ with listings of local activities, restaurants, bars, theater and gallery listings and more. Stop F - Merchant's House Museum 29 E. 4th St. bet Lafayette St. and Cooper ​ Square This is the only 19th century family home preserved in its entirety, inside and out, in New York City. Built in 1832, this elegant red-brick and white-marble row house was lived in by the same family for almost 100 years. Visiting the museum gives you a glimpse of domestic life in the city in the 19th century. For information on visiting the museum click here. ​ ​ Stop G - Former site of CBGBs 315 Bowery bet. 1st and 2nd St. ​ This is the birthplace of punk rock and it all started with The Ramones, a group of long-haired, leather-clad guys from Forest Hills, Queens. Other bands that got their start at CBGBs are Blondie, the Talking Heads, Patti Smith and dozens of other punk/new wave bands. CBGB’s was originally named Hilly’s On The Bowery when it ​ ​ was opened in 1974 by Hilly Kristal as a spin-off to his successful West Village venue where performers like Bette Midler and Jerry Stiller appeared. Kristal wanted a more music-oriented crowd and changed the name to Country Bluegrass Blues and Other ​ Music For Uplifting Gormandizers which became known by the now famous acronym ​ CBGB and OMFUG. By the 1990s the surrounding neighborhood, particularly the ​ Bowery, had become heavily gentrified with new luxury boutique hotels and restaurants. Rents sky-rocketed and CBGBs wasn’t turning a profit. It was forced to close in 2006. The site is now a John Varvatos menswear boutique. Knowing that the site would be a shrine to CBGBs, the store covered its walls with original memorabilia, posters and albums of the bands that performed at the club. Step inside the shop, they are very welcoming of people who want to say they stood on sacred ground. Just for fun, here’s a video of Blondie performing at CBGBs in 1977. Stop H - George and Ira Gershwin home 91 2nd Ave bet 5th ​ and 6th Sts. This was the childhood home of these brothers, two of the great song composers of all time. Their individual and collaborative pieces include the overtures Rhapsody in Blue, Strike up the ​ ​ Band, and musical Porgy and Bess. ​ ​ ​ Stop I - New Middle Collegiate Church 112 2nd Ave bet. 6th and 7th Sts. ​ The congregation was founded in 1628, and is one of the oldest continuous Protestant congregations in North America. The church was built in 1891 and known for their Tiffany stained-glass windows. Stop J - Fillmore East 102 2nd Ave ​ bet. 6th and 7th Sts. From 1968 to 1971, the ground floor of this building (now a bank) was the Fillmore East, the East Coast counterpart to hippie/music promotor Bill Graham’s Fillmore in San Francisco. Though only opened for four years, dozens of the best musicians and bands of the 1960s and early 1970s appeared on its stage including: Jimi Hendrix, Tina Turner, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Chuck Berry, Miles Davis and so many more musical legends. On the corner is one of Mosaic Man’s lampposts with the names of some of the bands who played here. Stop K - Ukrainian Museum 222 E. 6th St. bet. Bowery and 2nd Ave ​ This is the largest museum in the U.S. committed to Ukrainian cultural heritage. It opened in 1976 and offers several annual exhibitions and public programs. ​ ​ Stop L - McSorley's Old Ale House 15 E. ​ 7th St. bet. Bowery and 2nd Ave This is one of the oldest ale houses in New York, opened in 1854, and has served up its home-brewed ale to notables Abraham Lincoln, Babe Ruth, and Theodore Roosevelt. The décor – from sawdust on the floor to the long wooden bar that serves only beer – is like a time capsule. Whether or not you order a pint of beer, step inside to see the hundreds of photos and memorabilia on the wall.