Alphabet City, formerly considered a dangerous slum, is now a trendy part of the East Village in lower Manhattan. Its name comes from Avenues A, B, C, and D, the only avenues in Manhattan to have single_letter names. It is bordered by Houston Street to the south and 14th Street to the north. Some famous landmarks include Tompkins Square Park and the Stuyvesant Townhousing project. It is home to a number of artists, musicians and students, although a less bohemian population has been moving in since the late 1990s as the neighborhood has started to become gentrified.
An East Village Wisdom (arguably no longer true):
Avenue A, you're All right.
Avenue B, you're Brave.
Avenue C, you're Crazy.
Avenue D, you're Dead.
The television police drama NYPD Blue takes place in Alphabet City.
The B is one of only two New York City Subway lines that have two or more stations with the same name (the other being the R): It has two "Seventh Avenue" stations, one in Brooklyn and the other in Manhattan.
On March 1, 1998, the B and the C switched northern terminals, severing the historic connection between the B and Washington Heights.
B trains were extended through Grand Street station and over the north tracks of the Manhattan Bridge into Brooklyn, replacing the Q Diamond as the Brighton Express to Brighton Beach.
It is bordered by Houston Street to the south and 23rd Street to the north where Avenue C ends.
Young urban professionals or "yuppies" now dominate the area around Avenues A and B. Avenue C is still a transitional area, but rents are rising quickly and many long-time residents and businesses are being priced out of the market.
Avenue D, home to a number of large low-income housing projects, seems destined to remain affordable for the foreseeable future, although plans have been floated in city hall which call for the eventual destruction of the housing projects and redevelopment of the waterfront along East River Park.
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