Research about the East Village (25 Questions + Research)

25 Research Questions:

1.When and how did the East Village make its name? What was it called before?

2.What are some interpretations to the future of the East Village?

3.What immigrant groups had settled in the East Village? What was the sequence?

4.What class of people had lived here before 1960s? Why did they choose to live here? What did they do to live their life?

5.What made those immigrants group leave the East Village?

6.Who lives in this neighborhood now? And why do they choose to live here?

7.How much is the average rent in this neighborhood? Why is it cheap or expensive?

8.What is the main function or major business of the East Village now?

9.What is the major immigrant group in this neighborhood now? How did they end up here?

10.What was the previous major problem of this neighborhood of this neighborhood? How did that happen?

11.What is the current major problem of this neighborhood? How did that happen?

12. Who hang out here now? Why do they choose here?

13.Who used to hang out here? Why did they choose here? And why did they left?

14.What are the most popular streets of this neighborhood? Why do people go there?

15.What are the most popular cites of this neighborhood? What do they offer to attract people?

16.What is the stereotype of this neighborhood?

17.Has the stereotype changed over years? How? Why?

18.What is the style of this neighborhood now? Who brought it here?

19.What was the previous style of this neighborhood? Why did it end?

20.What is the physical boarder of the East Village? Where do people think of when they refer to the East Village? Why do they have such an impression?

21.What is the daily life like in the East Village?

22.What is the night life like in the East Village?

23.Was there any significant event happened in this neighborhood? Why are they important to this neighborhood?

24.What are the most popular events in this neighborhood? Who would participate? Why are they popular?

25.How do people like and think about the East Village?

Brief history of the East Village:

The East Village now is roughly bordered to the North by Stuyvesant Town, to the East by the East River, to the South by Houston Street, and to the West by Third Avenue. Nevertheless, about one hundred years ago, it was a farm land that was owned by Dutch people for over seven generations until a great number of German immigrant population arrived. Through approximately 1850s to the early 20th century, this area was known as the third biggest german urban residence besides Berlin and Vienna, and the first foreign language neighborhood in America that was called Klein Deutschland, which means Little Germany. After the German immigrant group gained some wealth, they moved to other neighborhoods. Meanwhile, other immigrant nations, such as Ukrainians, moved in to this neighborhood.

Until the 1960s, the East Village was always considered as the northern corner of the Lowed East Side, but it started to make its name and artistic reputation since the gentrification happened. In the early 1960s, a lot of artists, musicians, and poets moved into this neighborhood because of its low living standard. They made this neighborhood more and more popular with their hip and edgy artwork and literature, and also popularized the name of the “East Village.” In the mid of the 1960s, the term the “East Village” was already widely accepted by public and major media.

Community:

German immigrants from the 19th century to the early 20th century

From the 1840s, a great population of German immigrants moved to New Yorker to look for a better life. By the time of the 1850s, the Lower East Side was once know as Little Germany. The advantage of the German labour was that they were educated and had skills of making crafts. Based on that condition, over sixty percent of the bakers, cigar makers, cabinet makers, and barbers at that time were German or at least had German origin. Most of the German immigrants lived in tenements, which was really cheap and had terrible living conditions. A large family usually had to live in a very small space. Parents often had to work long hours in poor working environment, sometimes at home, to support the whole family. Living and working in such a difficult situation, german workers were very actively participated into asking the employers to promote the wage and working conditions. In fact, many of them considered themselves as communists and socialists.

Traveled all along to New York, German immigrants also brought their culture with them. Within their very limited leisure time, they built up a lot of organizations and clubs to the purpose of entertaining and socializing. Music and beer played a big role in their daily social life.

At the beginning of the 70s, the German population in the Lower East Sides reached its peak, and started to decline since then. On June 15, 1904, General Slocum disaster called an end of the golden age of the Little Germany. In this tremendous disaster, 1021 passengers lost their lives on their way to the annual picnic organized by St Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church due to an accident fire happened on the boat. Most of them were women and children. This disaster caused a great loss to the social foundation of the community of Little Germany.