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Weekend Nightlife Crowds Worsen on the Lower East Side

Posted on: September 17th, 2012 by

Summer’s out and school is back in sesh – a familiarly bitter cocktail for complete disaster on the Lower East Side. It’s the same every year, but this time around, the  crowds seem much worse. Usual suspects in the spine of Hell Square (Bulgarian bar, Libation, etc.) are now matched by the newer class of burgeoning clubs south of Delancey. The DL, its crowd and sound system, is audible from blocks away; the sidewalk outside Hotel Chantelle is itself a mosh pit; and the recently-rebranded Leftfield also contributes its fair share to the noise pollution.

Horses, too. Deployed to allegedly control the crowds, their presence seems little more than photo ops and conversation piece for drunken revelers. Not to mention the piles of shit unloaded onto our streets.

So, as per usual, locals are forced to lay low on the weekends while B&T pretty much decimates the neighborhood.

Chime in – are the crowds worsening in your neck of the neighborhood?

  • http://scrambledbrains.net Mike McGranahan

    In my neck of the woods (by the Sixth Ward), the crowds aren’t worse, they’re just more frequent. Thursday-Saturday Hell Square is now week-round. Luckily I’m a night owl. (Or maybe I just tell myself that to cope.)

  • whawhat

    sad that all these tourists are completely oblivious to the fact that people actually live in these neighborhoods but i guess that is what NYC has become……

    • LES1995

      when did you move there? let me guess, 2007?

      • whawhat

        1995

  • discogarage

    Yes its worse – but what can we do about it? I would love a suggestion, calling 311 seems useless.

  • EV Grieve

    The East Village is still the same shitshow. Hard to say if it’s actually worse. But probably.

  • Mary

    Made the mistake of looking for parking on Saturday evening after a day in Philly. Took 30 minutes to loop Delancey to orchard to Stanton to Suffolk to Delancey since norfolk and essex were closed by the cops. Then another 20 minutes from Delancey to orchard to Houston to ridge where I finally found a spot. It’s become a complete nightmare.

  • Steph

    Worse. Definitely worse. And the douchebags running the Thompson LES are some of the worst offenders. I used to live in their block and had to move because of their pounding music from their three(!!) outdoor spaces. Total nightmare.

  • Joey

    Ludlow above Broome is as bad as it’s ever been. Horses are fine. You can’t pine for the dirty grittiness of yesteryear and complain about horseshit in the same breath. Anyway, I like to tell myself that it’s a trade off – avoiding everything above Broome Thurs – Sat (off to Brooklyn!), in exchange for having a variety of places to hang out, grab a bite, have a drink, Sun – Wed. It really is an amazing array of options within a 5 minute walk. So far the bargain is holding up, but tenuously. What are you gonna do. (Note: none of this applies to Libation or DL, which have no redeeming characteristics).

  • http://twitter.com/cire_e eric e. (esquared™)

    Those cops on the horses, they love being photographed by the tourists and b&ts, esp. the male cops when asked by a female weekender. Or they ask those females if they want to take a picture of them in their high horse.

    EV/LES is the new Times Square and Atlantic City.

    • http://shawnchittle.com/ Shawn Chittle

      It’s definitely worse. The “new” Meatpacking District. All that’s missing are lots of clubs, which thankfully are not all that common down here. Thankfully the buildings just don’t allow for such large spaces (so far, fingers crossed).

      However, my block is much, much better. Avenue A between 10th/11th is quieter than ever with the demise of Angels & Kings, Bar on A, and Diablo. It’s fantastic! Sure it’s “busy” with people, but that’s OK. It’s New York! It’s just not unbearably loud and the “woooo!” has all but subsided.

  • david

    A controlled release of free beer in other parts of the city could stem the mayhem, but it would need to be done right. I’m not sure the levee’s would hold.

  • Jackie Alperson

    The horses are a completely obnoxious waste of resources and just make it more of a scene. The DL needs to be shut down.

  • JS

    far worse. it’s sad. the LES is interesting that even on weekends, there’s great non-douchefuck bars to go to so long as you can wade through the bullshit to get there. even some above delancey. i hate these fuckers who descend on the neighborhood and ruin it thurs to sat evenings – DL, chantelle, beauty and essex, libation, foundation, etc. get OUT.

  • rogey_mac

    Thats why i left Ludlow St, constantly pushing people off my doorstep with the door! Don’t sit in a doorway if you don’t want to get hit by door? You know a neighborhood is on its way down when streetmeat vendors descend……

  • Rreality

    Ludlow between Houston and Delancy is the perennial beer mall. Kind of Bourbon Street with the Yankee version of WT, and this city’s usual crowd of ersatz-toney flocks seeking to slum it.
    In the mid-1990′s it was Ave. B for a short stint. But the EV and LES simply don’t have the saturation of public transportation or a critical mass of newer properties both necessary to work as a solid anchor for an influx that would permanently kill liveability for residents. The rivers of puke ebb and flow season to season, year to year, shifting six blocks down or four over, never really amounting to the deluge that would be apocalyptic. So far. It isn’t pleasant, but if you’ve lived here any length of time a basic rule you should have picked up on is anyone who lives on a north/south street or avenue is being kind of dumb to expect a serene night any day of the week.

  • LES1995

    hahahhahha this neighborhood used to be quiet in the 90s, 3bars on ludlow and a coffee shop on stanton and clinton. all of that is gone, move to bumfvck east new york or wilson L if you want that now. and all of you lifers who refuse to leave that hood and want to complain, get a life

    • http://www.facebook.com/raquel.algarin.79 Raquel Algarin

      Those of you who support the corruption of what was a real ‘neighborhood’ are misinformed….not one of you contribute anything worthwhile except bars, noise, copping drugs from kids on bikes and poluting what was once a great place to live!

  • http://www.facebook.com/laura.bong Laura Midge Millicent Fuctital

    there were 200 drunk kids in the back of my building last weekend most of whom were minors… some from frat at Cooper Union.. ridiculous… and the police never came after two calls to 911 and talking to a cop on my corner… he wouldnt even come to my building 10 steps away. My landlord does nothing. TOTALLY out of control.. Drunk rich brats everywhere.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jefflawrence Jeff Lawrence

    Try living on the Happy Endings block. I moved from above the 205 Club for peace and quiet. Now I got 5 clubs within a block of me. I don’t go to CB3 meetings anymore because they will have to restrain me.

  • rivlocal

    It’s only getting worse…Another club/lounge masquerading as a restaurant is applying for a liquor license at 106 Rivington St. (http://www.boweryboogie.com/2012/09/new-latin-bistro-lounge-for-106-rivington-street/). Brace yourselves as Rivington St btw Essex and Ludlow adds another offender to the long list of tacky and rude offenders ie Rivington Hotel Co-Op, Spitzer’s, 105 Riv, etc! Joey you obviously are new to NYC – it is not about yearning for gritty yesteryear but for days when NY actually had character and cool places where locals actually wanted to hang out in and not flee the neighborhood…A lot of us where here way before the gentrification…We have now become tourists in the neighborhood we grew up in or took a chance on when no one wanted to…

    • LesLocal

      I completely disagree with you. I personaly know the the guys who are bringing this restaurant to the neighborhood at 106 Rivington st. and can tell you from experience that they are nothing like some of these club owners who have literally changed my neighborhood. I vouch for them and respect them as they have done nothing but positive for the neighborhood since they opened up their Deli’s decades ago. To accuse them of something without even giving them a chance is completely wrong and unacceptable! You say you been in the neighborhood for a long time well I have been here for over 40 yeras so if you want to talk about change? then go ahead shoot

  • http://www.facebook.com/raquel.algarin.79 Raquel Algarin

    HELL YES! :(

  • john C

    Oh, please. I’ve been living on The Spine From Hell (Ludlow) forever. Time to move below Delancey methinks……

  • JRB3000

    I got to my car this morning on Ludlow/Broome only to find that someone puked on the side of it last night… I can only assume it was someone from Hotel Chantille or The DL.

    Thankfully I’m moving across the river this weekend and will only be a visitor from here on out.

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