East 14 St, East Village

East 14th (well, 14th in general) is not my favorite area. In fact, I really don't like it. It's too busy and too commercial to have any sort of neighborhood energy. And, Stuy Town is such an ugly looking complex that the street really had no hope for any aesthetics kudos when that went up. It was a notoriously bad part of town for a long time and it's one of the few East Village streets that just hasn't ever been taken over by the hipsters, students and artists, so it remains gritty and unpleasant.
The block of East 14th between 3rd and 2nd is pretty gritty looking with a ton of things going on. It's an incredibly busy block and most of the buildings have been there for many moons and look a little worse for the wear from the outside . . . and the inside in some cases. The north corner of the block houses (what a surprise) an NYU dorm that was built on the site of a prostitution house. Nothing like a bunch of night lady ghosts running around when you're trying to do a late night cram session, eh? Next door to that is a really shambled looking hotel that is actually cheap by New York standards but really questionable as far whether you may make it through the night to enjoy the rest of your stay. Across the street is a pretty decent little falafel place called Chickpea and next door to that is the building where the people that launched Bettie Paige ran their bondage photo studio. I'm not positive if they actually shot The Notorious Bettie Paige here, but they did a fantastic job in replicating it if they didn't. The rest of the block has a number of hole in the wall restaurants and bars. Some of them are great -- like King's Head Tavern and Blind Pig -- but, it's hard to work up the desire to frequent them because 14th is such a nightmare and there are a lot of tourists that mill about in them because of their proximity to Union Square. It's a shame because they could be great local hangs if it weren't for their location.
The block between 2nd and 1st is really commercial. Between the Nose and Throat hospital, the Synagogue and the Trader Joe's there is equally as much bustle as the previous block. But, it has even less of a neighborhood vibe. The thing I will note on this block to see, however, is the Crocodile Lounge. I prefer it's sister, The Alligator Lounge in Williamsburg, but this place is pretty fun too. They give you a free pizza that is actually pretty good with every beer you order so it gets mostly a hipster and student clientele, but I've never had a bad time here and you walk away with barely a dent in your pocket book when all is said and done.
The block between 1st and A houses the last stop on the L train before you get into Brooklyn on the south corner and the apartment complex called Stuy Town on the north. Stuy Town has some of the biggest apartments I have seen downtown but they're not cheap. I think they start around $3200 / month for a one bedroom at the far end of the universe. They are palace sized (for Manhattan) however, so I get the appeal despite the neighborhood being a little less than quaint. Allen Ginsberg died at 404 E 14th which is right across the street and he was pretty poor if that gives any indication about what this area used to be like. Things get pretty shaky east of 1st. It's one of the few streets that has remained really gritty in Alphabet City that has absolutely no cool factor to it even now. Approaching Avenue A is what used to be called The Gashouse District where only the poorest people would live because the fumes from the plants were so bad you would probably die from staying there long enough. There was a notorious gang that lived in the area, aptly named the Gashouse Gang, that would travel to other neighborhoods to commit there crimes because there was no one worth enough to steal from or kidnap in their own territory. I just read about them in The Alienist and they were pretty fascinating and incredibly dangerous.