During my visit to the location, I learned more about the East Village even though I currently live there. I did some research on it beforehand, and as I was walking around, some of my research began to come to life. The East Village has many different, diverse components to it. It was historically a place where immigrants from Germany, Ireland, Poland, and Ukraine flocked to because of its low prices. And that is still somewhat evident, there is a strip of various Eastern European businesses. During the 1950s and 60s, beatniks and then hippies moved here and called it “East Village” to separate it from the lower East Side. Later, it became a haven for the punk movement in the 1970s. Sadly, it is fairly hard to see a lot of the rich culture that was once here, as many believe the neighborhood is becoming gentrified. Prices are have gone up significantly, and many of the people and places that made this neighborhood what it once was have been driven out as a result. However, others like writer Peter Felder say they still see the “heart and soul of the neighborhood in the delicious restaurants, divey bars, longtime residents, drunk college kids and drunk adults, and creative types who live there.” In all, the people I interviewed seem to think very highly of the neighborhood. I think that as a group, we should incorporate the historical aspects of immigration, hippie/punk movement, and possibly gentrification and its affect on the culture.
