New York's East Village: signs of life amid the eerie calm

Famous neighbourhood, which lost power and saw many of its residents evacuated, slowly getting back on its feet
    • Jump to comments ()
East Village, New York
At the north end of the East Village, a major electricity substation exploded during the storm. Photograph: Empics

If it were not for the constant wail of sirens, it could almost be Christmas in New York's East Village.

Like much of downtown Manhattan, the streets of the famous neighbourhood were eerily quiet, almost every shop was closed and only a trickle of pedestrians walked the streets.

But, of course, this was no public holiday. This was the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, which has wreaked havoc in New York and paralyzed a good deal of the city and left swathes of it without electricity.

Many have simply left. All along the streets people tugged small suitcases and hauled backpacks as they headed to other parts of New York where electricity was flowing and – despite a dearth of public transport – life has pretty much gotten back to normal.

Trent Anderson, 34, was one who left. After two days without power, no cell phone and no internet, he trekked uptown on foot to recharge his phone. It was only then, nearly two days after Sandy hit, that he realised the extent of the damage it had wrought across the north-east: a sign of how rapidly one can go from a hyper-connected world to one where information is very scarce indeed.

"I read about it all this morning. On Monday I didn't think it was too bad, then I walked around the neighbourhood and now I heard this morning about what happened in New Jersey," he said, referring to the devastation in the neighbouring state just over the Hudson river. Now he is heading to stay with friends in Brooklyn. "There really is not much to do around here without power," he said. After all, his downtown tech company's office was closed and without power, too.

But, in fact, there were signs of life in a neighbourhood once famous for its edgy artistic scene and rampant drug problem, but which is now undergoing a wave of gentrification. Indeed, a few hardy restaurants opened. If those staying behind fancied Ukrainian food, then Veselka's was serving takeout, or they could buy into the Mexican buffet at La Palapa or grab a slice of pizza at Stromboli. Even the famed Luke's Lobster Roll was open, dishing out pricey $15 lobster rolls and crab sandwiches.

So, too, were a few grittier options. The Niagara bar had a row of grizzled-looking drinkers propping up the darkened inside, and a sign on the door that read: "Cash only, obv."

Not everyone was leaving. Diane Ward, a 76-year-old who has lived in the area for 45 years, stayed put to look after her cat. She had just gone to a local home supplies store that was hawking candles and batteries on the street. "I bought some candles," she explained. "It is depressing inside when you are living by flashlight. Candles are much nicer."

Ward had no power, but she did have water and gas and so could wash and cook. She was not enjoying herself but with her daughter nearby she was finding a few upsides to the sudden turning back of the clock to a power-free age. "My 11-year-old grandchild was playing gin rummy last night by candlelight and he said: "We have to do this more often." It was nice," she said.

Elsewhere, an impromptu soup kitchen had been set up by a local artistic collective to feed the hungry with warm meals. Next to the roaring grill two volunteers also peddled a stationary bike that powered a generator that allowed queues of people to recharge their phones. "This is great. It is just what I needed," said Julian Gomez, a local resident whose phone had run out the previous day.

Indeed, evidence of the seriousness of the situation was all around. At the north end of the East Village, just off 14th Street, is a major electricity substation which exploded during the storm, cutting out power to many.

Video of the explosion had gone viral on the web, but seeing it in person was something else, explained local artist Jaime Apraez, 63. "I was watching when the explosion happened. I saw the light. It was like a firework," he said.

Apraez watched as the waters flowed in from the East river and rushed through the outer edges of the neighbourhood, surpassing even the worst fears of weather forecasters. "It was like a weird tsunami," he said.

The remnants of that massive storm surge were still visible. Across Avenue C in the east of the neighbourhood, groups of men stood around car after car with its hood open. They were trying to fix vehicles which had been swamped in the deluge. A few fallen tree branches still littered the sidewalks and pumps were trying to drain the flooded basements of homes and restaurants.

But the oddest sight in all of the East Village could be seen by simply crossing the north-south avenues that bisect the neighbourhood. Any pedestrian glancing northwards up into the rest of Manhattan could see the distant twinkle of traffic lights: a sign that just a dozen or so blocks away the city was almost back to normal.

Today's best video

Today in pictures