Alphabet City

Alphabet City is a neighborhood within the East Village of Manhattan, New York City. It is called Alphabet City because the avenues there are named after single letters such as A, B, C, and D.

Alphabet City is bordered by Houston Street to the south and 14th Street to the north. Among the landmarks here include Tompkins Square Park and the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.

As in the case with many of the neighborhoods in Manhattan - and for that matter, New York City - Alphabet City has seen a succession of ethnic groups coming to make it their home. In the 1840s and 1850s, the area has inhabited mostly by a German-speaking community, and was popularly called "Kleindeutschland" or "Little Germany".

By the 1880s, the Germans were leaving Kleindeutschland, and in their place came other immigrants such as Eastern European Jews, Irish, and Italians. The living condition at that time was bad.

Church of the Most Holy Redeemer, Alphabet City, Manhattan
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_of_the_Most_Holy_Redeemer_street_facade_from_east.jpg
Author: Beyond My Ken


Public National Bank Building, Alphabet City, Manhattan
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Public_National_Bank_Building_106_Avenue_C.jpg
Author: Beyond My Ken