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Photo: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Most of this park is on the Lower East Side (and indeed the part of the East Village this far east is often also still called the Lower East Side or Loisaida), but the portion of it in the extreme East Village contains one or two baseball diamonds, some basketball courts, a playground or two and a well-tended path along the river that provides very worthwhile views in good weather. Popular with joggers, cyclists, picnickers, ball players, kids, and people taking a stroll.
East River Park, also called John V. Lindsay East River Park, is a 57.5-acre (20 ha) public park located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. What remains of it is still administered by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Bisected by the Williamsburg Bridge, it stretched along the East River from Montgomery Street up to 12th Street on the east side of the FDR Drive. Its now-demolished amphitheater, built in 1941 just south of Grand Street, had been reconstructed and was often used for public performances. The park included football, baseball, and soccer fields and a running track: Now only the tennis, basketball, and handball courts and some bike paths, including some parts of the East River Greenway remain. Its East River shoreline still makes fishing a popular recreational activity at all hours of the day.
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Not much to see, but a nice park nonetheless and historically significant for its long reputation of political demonstrations and radical thought. The Grateful Dead played their first East Coast show here in 1967, and the first Hare Krishna gathering outside of India took place here in 1965. The park has a curfew — it closes at 1 AM.
Enjoy a day of self-indulgence with a very authentic Russian feel. Then nosh on bagels and cream cheese, or an authentic Russian meal in the restaurant. Maybe after all that shvitzing (that's Yiddish/New Yorkese for "sweating"): a huge bottle of seltzer, or fresh carrot juice is the thing you'll want most.
The eastward extension of 8th St./Astor Place past 3rd Ave. There are many bars, restaurants, and shops (many with a street vending presence) on the block between 2nd and 3rd Aves. There's always quite a mixture of folk walking up and down the street and within the area not to mention the slew of students from Cooper Union and NYU, which has plenty of dormitories and facilities nearby. Be warned that it can be unpleasantly crowded with slow-moving tipsy people at times, but it is a good place for people-watching.
The oldest continuously existing free lending library in New York, it was designed in 1884 as a "Freie Bibliothek u. Lesehalle" (free library and reading hall) when this neighborhood was part of Kleindeutschland (Little Germany) and now serves as a branch of the New York Public Library. Another part of this lovely red brick building, constructed as a "Deutsches Dispensary," features reliefs of heroes of German culture such as Goethe but stopped functioning as a clinic several years ago.
A varied program of unique films, both repertory and new, most playing for only one or two screenings. Many of the films shown here can't be seen anywhere else (for better or worse). It also plays host to several film festivals yearly.
The only street in Manhattan that actually runs due east to the compass. There are several 18th- and early 19th-century buildings along this street, which runs from a bit south of 9th St. and 3rd Ave. to 10th St and 2nd Ave. At the corner of 10th St. and 2nd Ave. is St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, a historic landmark and a very active church today, with an old and lush graveyard to the north, on and near the corner of 11th St. and 2nd Ave. Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch governor of the colony of New Netherland before the British took possession and renamed it New York, is buried in a crypt in the east wall of the church. On the other end of Stuyvesant St., at the triangle between 9th St., Stuyvesant St., and 3rd Ave., a small garden and a compass fountain were constructed a few years ago for beautification and in order to show that Stuyvesant St. does go due east to the compass.