Not very long ago, Tompkins Square Park and the New York neighborhood of Alphabet City was home to many foreign refugees, many of them German.  It was also the ‘red light district’ of the city as recently as one hundred years ago.  By the 1950’s however the demographics of the neighborhood had changed, as the area became known as Loisaida.  This was a term of combined Spanish and English language, known as Spanglish, and it meant Lower East Side.  This was due to the large amounts of Puerto Ricans that began to move to this area of Manhattan.

During the 1960’s and the 1970’s this became an important site, culturally and socially not only for the Puerto Rican culture, but for the intellectual and artist cultures as well.  The Nuyorican Movement had begun, which was a number of poets, artists and intellectuals that were calling this neighborhood their home during this time.  Some of the well known and influential members of this group were Miguel Pinero and Miguel Algarin.  Some of the best restaurants, Manhattan coffee shops and neighborhood bars often were filled with the members of the group who would gather to discuss such topics.

By the 1980’s the Alphabet City was filled with many African American and Puerto Rican families as well as the young and mostly white struggling musicians and artists of New York.  The atmosphere was  creative and bohemian, the district was well known for the low rental rates.  The area was also filled with incidence of violent crimes and a lot of illegal activity surrounding drugs.  One of the many references to the neighborhood and to Tompkins Square is the popular musical “Rent“.

By the late 80’s the park had become the camping grounds for many of the cities homeless population and in the summer of 1988 a riot between the NYPD, the homeless and the activists broke out.  The neighborhood has undergone gentrification in the last twenty years.  This has resulted in the lowering of crime rates, the elevation of rental space.  The apartment buildings on Avenues A, B, C and D are now re-modeled and abandoned shops are now housing popular restaurants, retail businesses and nightclubs.  This is just one of the many interesting districts in the city of New York, rich with history, art and culture that has been influenced by all those who have Alphabet City their homes.

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