Mary Help of Christians Church (left) was built in 1917 by architect Nicholas Saracino, to accommodate the neighborhood’s Italian immigrants. The church was the center of community life. In later years, the church began hosting a popular flea market in its parking lot every Sunday. The church bells served as a daily alarm clock until just a few years before the church was sold and then demolished, over neighborhood outcry, to make way for Steiner East Village luxury condos. In 2016, the condos were built according to zoning regulations, which prevented them from rising significantly above the former Church. The disposition of religious property is an ongoing threat to neighborhood identity and character.

Allen Ginsberg lived at 437 E. 12th Street (second building from the right) when he memorialized his view of Mary Help of Christians Church from his tenement window in the poem “May Days, 1988”. At the time, the plain building mid-frame was a convent, whose sisters used to run across the street to ring the church bells!

The East Village's rich heritage of neighborhood-serving local shops continues at this location to this day, with a tailor occupying the storefront on the left and a cool graphic t-shirt shop on the right. In the early 1900s, conversions of first floor tenement homes into commercial storefronts became common practice. The hard-won 2008 contextual rezoning of the neighborhood helps preserve the history and character of these tenement buildings, by limiting new as-of-right buildings to no more than 7 stories.

Thanks to the efforts of community organizations, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the East 10th Street Historic District in 2012. These buildings were the first set of homes to be built in the neighborhood, predating Tompkins Square Park! Originally designed as single-family homes in the 1840s, they were later broken up into tenements to accommodate the many waves of immigration flooding into the neighborhood. The M8 crosstown bus now serves the trolley's route.

The beloved Tompkins Square Library forms part of the East 10th Street Historic District and was individually landmarked in 1999. Historic districts provide similar protections as landmarking, preserving only how the buildings look from the street. These buildings still face the threat of a complete redesign, often by building upwards and out from the back, into yards designed to bring light and air into the surrounding apartments. Vigilant neighbors help ensure rules are followed.

Originally a settlement house founded in 1928 by Liby Carson and Christine Maccoll, the Christodora was considered a skyscraper in its day, with a 16-story art deco brick structure and a hotel on the top floors that helped to fund the settlement’s activities.

By the 1960s, it was occupied by several activist groups including the Black Panthers. When the real estate market boomed in the late 1980s, the Christodora was converted into 90 condos, quickly becoming a catalyst for anti-gentrification protests. In the Tompkins Square Park riot of 1988, a violent demonstration against a new curfew in the park, rioters threw bricks at the building shouting “Die, Yuppie scum”!

One of the first schools to adopt a progressive education model, this Charles Snyder built 1906 French Renaissance Revival building boasted then-unique innovations: a ground floor auditorium serving the entire community and professional open-air performances. With the neighborhood’s population declining in the 1970s, it became home to non-profit organizations including C.H.A.R.A.S. / El Bohio, a lively community center teeming with studios and cultural events that fostered the early careers of artists including Spike Lee. The occupants were evicted after the city sold the property to a developer in 1998. A proposal to demolish the building prompted a concerted neighborhood effort to landmark it, which was achieved in 2006. The future of the now derelict building remains uncertain.

The iconic candy store with its plexiglass windows was opened over 40 years ago by Iranian émigré Ray Alvarez. It continues to be a neighborhood staple in the face of rising rents and the arrival of chain stores, including a Starbucks just a few feet away. Its survival has not been without challenges: neighbors have rallied to help Ray stave off eviction notices on numerous occasions. The shop continues to attract both visitors to the neighborhood and residents alike.

Converted from an abandoned school building in 1980, PS 122 launched the careers of numerous East Village performance artists through its annual Avant-Garde-Arama. The building was recently renovated and rebranded as Performance Space New York, now housing Mabou Mines, Movement Research and the Brujas, a feminist skate collective. PSNY looks over a vibrant corridor of boutique shops on East 9th Street.

Veselka began as a newsstand / candy store, serving the Ukrainian community by also offering soups and sandwiches. Family-owned to this day, it grew into a 24/7 scene where locals and tourists continue to flock for delicious food served in a chaotic yet homey setting. Diverse local shops like this one highlight the veins of immigration still running through the neighborhood, drawing subsequent generations to revisit their roots. Efforts are now underway to define a Special District for the East Village, to help protect local businesses and preserve its unique streetscape. Text by Ariana Kalliga and Laura Sewell