oneslashone:

Growing Up on the Lower East Side

I was born in 1992 and I grew up in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in a neighborhood called Alphabet City. Alphabet City is better known as the East Village now, but back in the 90s it was nicknamed Alphabet City because of the avenues A, B, C, and D.

I grew up on Avenue A and as a kid I would hear stories about how Alphabet City got it’s name because on Avenue A, you were considered “alive”, Avenue B you were “beaten”, Avenue C you were “crippled” and Avenue D you were “dead”. It wasn’t that bad though in the 90s, it was a lot worse in the 80s when it wasn’t safe to be out in the neighborhood after dark.I lived across the street from Tompkins Square Park, also nicknamed “Needle Park” because of all the young heroine addicts camping out in the park all day and night.

Growing up in the Lower East Side made me who I am. It wasn’t necessarily the ghetto-est place in the world, but it wasn’t posh as fuck either. It is now though with tons of yuppies and hipsters running around looking like Needle Park addicts even though they’re balling as hell. But I guess that’s another conversation.

The Lower East Side gave me my sense of hustle. Going to school with a bunch of Hispanic and Black kids and being one of the few Asian kids in the school meant that I had to go through the endless, “Yo, cheat from Gary. That chino nigga mad smart”.

But I guess it’s a compliment, eh? 

LES = HOME<3

(via garyhaze)