East 1st St, Bowery

1st has a pretty short run through the Bowery, but I like the street quite a lot. It starts at Bowery, and there all kinds of fun little bars and restaurants right here which is great. I go to Slainte all the time and on the weekdays, it's really mellow for a sports bar which I like (it is madness on the weekends). The east side of Bowery holds a big luxury building called the Avalon Bowery. The Avalon group has a lot of buildings in Manhattan and they're all really nice but ridiculously expensive. I mean, the rent is astronomical. My good friend lives in this particular one so I stayed with her when I was first moving to New York and looking for a place. I was very spoiled by her building and it made my search a little depressing in the beginning. The downstairs of Avalon Bowery holds the newish restaurant DBGB which is a Boulud burger joint -- it's just ok. But, it also holds a great boutique called Bllue and Cream and a darling little wine bar. It's one hell of a building.
Next door to the yuppie / rich people Avalon is the scariest bar in Manhattan: Mars Bar. A relic that held on from the fairly recent time when the Bowery was basically a massive crack haven, this bar has some of the craziest people ever hanging out in it. I'm too chicken to even set foot in here let alone have a drink. A lot of people were really upset that the Avalon went in here two really old buildings were destroyed for its construction. Normally, I would agree with the outrage but this building almost single handedly turned this neighborhood around. Walk in the Avalon and then walk into Mars Bar and decide for yourself which way you would prefer the neighborhood to be. . . .
The block across 2nd holds a tenement looking building, a little park, a few little shops and a super cool apartment building that actually used to be a public school. It also holds Prune, arguably the best little brunch spot in the East Village and one of the best spots in the city. It's delicious and almost too quaint to be real. I love this spot as do many other people so it's packed pretty much all the time. The rest of the block on the Prune side has a great run of little restaurans, a juice spot and a wine tasting bar. You really can't go wrong here because everything I've tried has been great. Across the street (next to the park) even has a Veselka stand. Veselka is a dynamite Polish diner and this little stand sells their most popular items to-go. How do you beat that, I ask?
East 1st is a really fun block. It has nearly everything you need and a great mix of people and energy. This will always be one of my favorite areas because it was my first and continues to be cool to me though I now know pretty much all the New York streets and neighborhoods. This street is about as New York as it gets in the best possible way.