page_title: East Village, Manhattan
section_title: Growth
hierarchical_section_title: East Village, Manhattan / History / Rebranding and cultural scene / Growth
caption_attribution_description: The bulding at 66 Second Avenue (left) between East 3rd and 4th Street in the East Village neighborhood of lower Manhattan, New York City was once the entrance to a 5,000 seat theatre. Opened in 1926-27 as the Public Theatre, and designed by David M. Oltarsh &amp; H. Craig Severance in the Clasical Revival style, it presented Yiddish films and Yiddish vaudeville at a time when Second Avenue was known as the "Jewish Rialto". By 1953 it was a Hispanic movie theater, the Antillas. In 1957 it was rechristened the Phyllis Anderson Theatre and presented Yiddish theatre and Off-Broadway plays. In the '60s and '70s, it presented rock and roll and experimental theater. In 1977, it became the CBGB Second Avenue Theatre. The theatre itself was primarily around the corner on the south side of 4th Street. It was partly demolished in 1990, and in 1997 the remainder was turned into apartments. The building next door at 64 Second Avenue (right) was built as a rowhouse c. 1844-45, and a new Arts &amp; Crafts facade was designed by Louis A. Sheinart in 1927. Both buildings are located within the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District (Source: "East Village/Lower East Side Historic District Designation Report" and Cinema Treasures)
context_page_description: The East Village is a neighborhood on the East Side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is roughly defined as the area east of the Bowery and Third Avenue, between 14th Street on the north and Houston Street on the south. The East Village contains three subsections: Alphabet City, in reference to the single-letter-named avenues that are located to the east of First Avenue; Little Ukraine, near Second Avenue and 6th and 7th Streets; and Bowery, located around the street of the same name.
  Initially, what is now the East Village was occupied by the Lenape Native Americans, and was then divided into plantations by Dutch settlers. During the early 19th century, the East Village contained many of the city's most opulent estates. By the middle of the century, it grew to include a large immigrant population—including what was once referred to as Manhattan's Little Germany—and was considered part of the nearby Lower East Side. By the late 1960s, many artists, musicians, students and hippies began to move into the area, and East Village was given its own identity. Since at least the 2000s, gentrification has changed the character of the neighborhood.
context_section_description: The East Village became a center of the counterculture in New York, and was the birthplace and historical home of many artistic movements, including punk rock and the Nuyorican literary movement. Multiple former Yiddish theaters were converted for use by Off-Broadway shows: for instance, the Public Theater at 66 Second Avenue became the Phyllis Anderson Theater. Numerous buildings on East 4th Street hosted Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway productions, including the Royal Playhouse, the Fourth Street Theatre, the Downtown Theatre, the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, and the Truck & Warehouse Theater just on the block between Bowery and Second Avenue.
  By the 1970s and 1980s, the city in general was in decline and nearing bankruptcy, especially after the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis. Residential buildings in the East Village suffered from high levels of neglect, as property owners did not properly maintain their buildings. The city purchased many of these buildings, but was also unable to maintain them due to a lack of funds. Following the publication of a revised Cooper Square renewal plan in 1986, some properties were given to the Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association as part of a 1991 agreement.
  In spite of the deterioration of the structures within the East Village, its music and arts scenes were doing well. By the 1970s, gay dance halls and punk rock clubs had started to open in the neighborhood. These included the Fillmore East Music Hall (later a gay private nightclub called the Saint), which was located in a movie theater at 105 Second Avenue. The Phyllis Anderson Theatre was converted into Second Avenue Theater, an annex of the CBGB music club, and hosted musicians and bands such as Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, and the Talking Heads. The Pyramid Club, which opened in 1979 at 101 Avenue A, hosted musical acts such as Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as drag performers such as RuPaul and Ann Magnuson. In addition, there were over 100 art galleries in the East Village by the mid-1980s. These included Patti Astor and Bill Stelling's Fun Gallery at 11th Street, as well as numerous galleries on 7th Street.
caption: The Phyllis Anderson Theater, one of several theaters that were originally Yiddish theaters
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