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East Side Quotes

On Manhattan's East Side, its art and its contrasts.

This page gathers quotes referencing the East Side of Manhattan, from a company headquartered there to a reflection on leaving architecture for a life spent obsessing over Upper East Side bathroom details. Another quote traces the Tiffany lamp's origins to a link between immigrant settlement houses downtown and wealthy industrialist patrons uptown. See more city history in our City quotes collection.

Twenty years ago I wanted to move to a nice place so our Charley would grow up a nice boy and learn a profession. But instead we live in a jungle, so he can only be a wild animal. D'you...

Quotes by Abraham Polonsky

At the outset, at least, all three groups had something else to recommend them, as well: They were headquartered 3,000 miles away from the East Side of Manhattan.

Quotes by Tom Wolfe

When I think how art education is eliminated whenever we get a budget crunch in the schools, I have to stand up and say that even when there was dire poverty ten blocks away from Tiffany Studios in the Lower...

Quotes by Susan Vreeland

The Tiffany lamp is an American icon bridging the immigrants, settlement houses, and the slums of the Lower East Side and the wealthy industrialists of upper Manhattan, the Gilded Age and its excesses.

Quotes by Susan Vreeland

American Quotes

I moved to New York to work in theater, so my range of motion was really from where I lived - which was downtown, in the Lower East Side - to Midtown, where the theaters are. So I got to...

Quotes by Stark Sands

U.S. academics and Upper East Side New Yorkers like to think of the United Nations as a place where foreign ambassadors have intellectual discussions about power and world peace.

Quotes by Richard Grenell

I think the Lower East Side inspires me. That whole neighborhood, a lot of the people that I worked with, seeing what we've gone through in life, being given an opportunity to understand who I am; my identity, my culture,...

Quotes by Luis Guzman

I grew up in the Lower East Side of New York.

Quotes by Liev Schreiber

I played football for a team called the East Dragons on the east side of town. We only had six regular season games. And six games I played tail back and I had 18 touchdowns in six games. That's when...

Quotes by LeBron James

Boy Quotes

I realized that I loved using computers to create something, but being an architect just wasn't going to keep me interested. The idea of a life spent obsessing over bathroom details for an Upper East Side penthouse was pretty depressing.

Quotes by Joseph Kosinski

The very first time I did standup, I went to an open mike on the Lower East Side at a place that doesn't exist anymore. And it was one of those open mikes that wasn't really just for comedy.

Quotes by Jessi Klein

My grandparents used to tell me stories about their trip to Ellis Island from Russia and life on the Lower East Side of New York.

Quotes by James Gray

My earliest recollections are of the teeming East Side where I was born. This Hester Street and its surrounding streets were the most densely populated of any city on Earth; and looking back at it, I realize what I owe...

Quotes by Jacob Epstein

I remember my own life as a small boy, son of Jewish immigrants, in a janitor's flat on Orchard and Stanton streets on the Lower East Side of New York City. My father made pants and doubled as janitor of...

Quotes by Jacob K. Javits

City Quotes

Everybody ought to have a lower East Side in their life.

Quotes by Irving Berlin

I'd been brought up on the Upper East Side in a WASP society, which was death on crutches.

Quotes by Harry Mathews

I moved up over Lower East Side and I was adopted by eight foster parents; I lived all over New York City with these parents, man, till I was about ten years old.

Quotes by Gregory Corso

I had the advantage of reading the book, and when the script was first submitted to me, it was just another gangster story - the east side taking over the west side and all that.

Quotes by Edward G. Robinson

I choose to be American, I choose to live in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, I choose to have Puerto Rican/Jewish neighbors, and I choose to maintain my Chinese identity.

Quotes by Eddie Huang

Creativity Quotes

I think the Social Office is really the office where East meets West. For those that don't know, the East side is typically the First Lady's side of the house. The West side is typically the President's side of the...

Quotes by Desiree Rogers

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 'East Side' refer to in these quotes?
The quotes here refer specifically to the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, covering both the Upper East Side and the historically immigrant Lower East Side. They touch on business headquarters, architecture, and the neighbourhood's connection to the Tiffany lamp.
Why is the Tiffany lamp connected to the East Side?
One quote describes the Tiffany lamp as an American icon bridging immigrants and settlement houses on the Lower East Side with the wealthy industrialists of upper Manhattan during the Gilded Age. It frames the lamp as a symbol connecting two very different parts of the same city.
Is there a quote about leaving a career for architecture on the Upper East Side?
Yes, one quote describes realising that using computers to create things was more interesting than a life spent focused on Upper East Side bathroom details as an architect. It reflects a personal career shift away from architectural work.
What does the quote about art education and poverty say?
That quote points out that art education is often cut during budget crunches, despite there having been dire poverty just blocks from Tiffany Studios during its most celebrated period. It uses that historical contrast to argue for preserving art education.
Do these quotes describe a specific company's history?
One quote notes that three groups were headquartered 3,000 miles from the East Side of Manhattan, using geographic distance from that neighbourhood as a point of comparison. It reflects how the East Side has long served as a symbolic centre for certain industries.

A related quote points to the poverty found just blocks from Tiffany Studios during the same era, adding context to art education debates today. For more on creative history, browse our Creativity quotes page.