Bowery Boogie | A Lower East Side Chronicle

Beneath the Manhattan Bridge is a charming spit of land known simply as Mechanics Alley.  With the buzzing clamor of traffic and subway trains high above, this narrow passage is bookended by Madison Street on the south and Henry Street on the north; however, the alley continues unmarked until its termination at Monroe Street.

As it happens, the all-knowing Google, Inc. is not 100% infallible. In doing some research earlier this week, we came across an embarrassing spelling error on a Google Map of the neighborhood.

Google Maps has no love for Doyers or Pell Street; the “street view” function is not available for any address in this narrow slice of Chinatown.  It’s almost as if the roving Google camera car got lost (or lazy) and never had the chance to catalog this section of real estate. But it’s probably for [...]

The proliferation of ATMs in the Lower East Side is simply astounding.  Common knowledge.  Yet despite the alleged crackdown on new third party cash boxes, it seems machines are still popping up daily.  Our compatriot EV Grieve also noticed an upward trend further north in the East Village.  So we started kicking around the idea [...]

View Larger Map It’s no secret that the influx of hotels on the Lower East Side (predominantly in “Hell Square”) is destroying the unique character allegedly being championed and sold to tourists. Before long, there will probably be a hotel on every corner, and little history left for consumption. Clearly, mega-developers and their money-driven egos [...]

For some reason, Google Maps has decided against updating its satellite feed of NYC. And glad are we they didn’t. The current map dates back at least a few years, so it’s cool to see a static image of recent city history. Especially for an area undergoing such massive structural and cultural shifts that the [...]