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East Village Quotes

Raw memories from one of New York's most storied neighborhoods.

The East Village comes through here as a place people genuinely grew up in, from childhood skateboarding memories to a first tattoo picked up in a neighborhood parlor. It shares creative energy with our Art quotes page.

I don't see a lot of movies that portray the East Village as well as I think they can.

Quotes by Adam Rapp

The East Village is where I cut my teeth as a kid. I ran around here on a skateboard.

Quotes by Wylie Dufresne

These are such First World problems, but there's a certain claustrophobia to New York. You don't escape in the East Village, but it at least feels full of camaraderie and youth - or full of camaraderie and youth in an...

Quotes by Timothee Chalamet

I grew up in the East Village with a lot of old people in my building, and I'm not sure if they lost their sense of smell over the years, but they always seemed to smell like they poured a...

Quotes by Sarah Hyland

Anywhere Else Quotes

So, we just kind of created our own thing and that's part of the beauty of Athens: is that it's so off the map and there's no way you could ever be the East Village or an L.A. scene or...

Quotes by Michael Stipe

I went to this tattoo parlor in the East Village and I got an outline of a violin on my lower back. They call them tramp stamps now.

Quotes by Katherine Moennig

When I'm in town on Sundays, I sometimes go down to the Central Bar in the East Village to watch English football. But my natural inclination now is to get in the car with my wife and kids and get...

Quotes by Joe Scarborough

When I first started the show, I was known as the 'cop nerd.' I was in the 9th Precinct in the East Village every day. I'd be at work wearing a fake bulletproof vest with foam in it, then I'd...

Quotes by Jason Wiles

A great day in New York would be to wake up, get a cup of coffee and head up to Central Park for a nice walk. Then I'd go down to the East Village and stroll around. After that, maybe...

Quotes by Emmanuelle Chriqui

Art Quotes

I was a real East Village girl.

Quotes by Drea De Matteo

I went to an art school in Brooklyn and painted Fine Art, if that's what you'd call it for eight years in New York, until I saw the first underground comics in the East Village Other.

Quotes by Bill Griffith

I'd spent my first 12 years in New York in an East Village walk-up. The upstairs neighbor was the cowboy from the Village People.

Quotes by Amy Chozick

Frequently Asked Questions

What childhood memories of the East Village appear in these quotes?
One speaker describes cutting their teeth as a kid in the East Village, running around the neighborhood on a skateboard long before any creative career began.
Is getting a tattoo in the East Village mentioned here?
Yes, one quote recalls getting a violin outline tattooed on the lower back at a East Village tattoo parlor, jokingly referring to it using the term tramp stamp.
How is New York's atmosphere described alongside the East Village?
One quote contrasts New York's broader claustrophobia with the East Village specifically, describing the neighborhood as full of camaraderie and youthful energy despite the city's tighter feel.
Do these quotes compare the East Village to other creative scenes?
Yes, one compares the East Village to an L.A. scene or a San Francisco equivalent, arguing that another city's creative community formed its own identity precisely because it stayed off the map.
What overall impression do these East Village quotes give?
They paint the neighborhood as gritty, creative, and formative, shaping the people who grew up or spent early creative years there in ways that stuck with them long afterward.

Other quotes weigh New York's claustrophobia against the East Village's camaraderie, or compare it to scenes in other cities that never quite replicate its identity. For related city and culture reflections, browse our Back quotes and Beauty quotes collections.