Greenwich Village and the East Village have always been at the centre of New york's excitement. Both have been places for people with different and creative ideas. Both have an active nightlife with plenty of bars, restaraurants and clubs.
In the early 1900s the charm Greenwich Village attracted bohemians - writers and artists. By the 1920s, the streets of the Village were filled with other peole, curious to see how these odd Villagers lived. The artists and writers began moving out, some to the East Village. Today, the Village has many elemets: students attending New York University ; an active jazz scene; and in Washington Square - it's centre - street performers, police. Drug dealers, joggers, roller skates, and just about everyone else. When bohemiams moved to the East Village 1920s, they found an area similar to the Lower East Side. There were many immigrants, much dirt and grime. The East Village has changed very little. Over the years it has been a centre for many movements - for the beat poets of the 1950s, the hippies of the 1960s, and, more recently, for New York's punk scene.