[UPDATE BELOW] A 13-year-old girl is dead after being run over at the base of the Williamsburg Bridge in Manhattan. The unidentified sixth grader was hit around 2:30 p.m., and the FDNY tells us she was in cardiac arrest when they arrived on scene at Clinton Street and Delancey. She was rushed to New York Downtown Hospital, where she was pronounced D.O.A. The NYPD press office did not have any information about the accident yet, but there were reports of heavy traffic backups on the bridge. more ›

In Priceline's world, the Lower East Side is the 46th best spot in the United States to celebrate New Year's Eve. In a "news release" the company sent out, spotted by EV Grieve, they say their "top destinations list is based on thousands of hotel booking requests made by customers for the New Year's weekend." The neighborhood comes behind places like Orlando, Minneapolis, and Miami's International Airport Area... but then again, that neighborhood has less hotel rooms to offer. more ›

Following the release of Mayor Bloomberg's hit list of 19 schools that "just don't do the job," it behooves the ones who survived to shape up or face the impending municipal axe. Or, cut back on reporting things that would get you there. Parents and former employees of the Lower East Side's Marta Valle High School are claiming Principal Mimi Fortunato is attempting to play down the number of violent altercations and lax attendance policy to avoid closure. "See how I get a drink?" one truant student told a Post reporter outside the school. "If there was discipline, I'd be in class." more ›

Remember The Low Line, the out-of-left-field underground park some guys are proposing be put in the abandoned trolley terminal beneath Delancey Street? Well, it is still being talked about! But parks don't generally produce money (quite the opposite) and the MTA, which owns the terminal, can really use some extra dough. So its actively seeking any ideas that anyone might have for the suddenly hot spot beneath the LES. So they went and made a real estate porno: more ›

Less than two years after it opened Zagat Buzz is reporting that Paul Sevigny and Nur Khan's briefly inescapable hotspot Kenmare has closed. In its place a new concept will launch in the coming months. But where will the skinny models go and not eat now? more ›

You read that right. BabyCakes, the vegan bakery in the Lower East Side, is so psyched over Queen Bee's impending bundle of joy that they're baking a literal bun in the oven. Yes, it gets bigger every week, and no, you sadly cannot eat it. more ›

This is arguably the best thing to ever happen inside the Lower East Side venue Arlene's Grocery: Jim Carrey, along with "his band," performed a set on Friday night. It included Radiohead's "Creep" (which he introduces as his new theme song) and Smashing Pumpkins' "Bullet With Butterfly Wings." He didn't seem to publicize the concert, though earlier that day he Tweeted: "Tonight at midnight, NY time, on www.jimcarreytrulife.com 'Something happy for a hard day' Let's all find a #UnitedStateOfGrace?" You can check out some amazing photos (and everyone's favorite font Comic Sans) from Friday night's show right here, and video below: more ›

We're just a few short months away from not being able to drink anywhere, ever on the Lower East Side. Last night around 10 p.m. White Slab Palace, which always struck us as being considerably more low-key than most of the neighborhood fare, even on the weekends, was shut down by the NYPD per a court order. But White Slab wasn't serving to minors, as other bars in the LES have done recently to spur the wrath of the SLA. It was closed for not having a liquor license a few months ago, despite owner Annika Sundvik receiving a permit in the interim, the Lo-Down reports. more ›

Travel back to the East Village circa 1967 with this newly released vintage footage, taken before overpriced cocktail dens and a well-heeled contingent saturated the area. This is the year that the East Village that we know now became known as the East Village, no longer being considered a part of the Lower East Side (it was June 5th, 1967, the NY Times declared that the area "had come to be known" as the East Village). Dangerous Minds writes: more ›

Guests are invited to furnish their private suburban backyard by selecting from the folder of supplementary add-ons. Things like a play pool, Slip ‘n’ Slide, packed cooler, hammock, a BBQ with meat selection, keg, a garden hose, sparklers, beer cozies, trampoline, hula hoops, water balloons, lanterns or popsicles and more. more ›

The war on underage drinking on the Lower East Side has taken an interesting turn. With bars being shut down for serving minors left and right (and some of them going to court over it) you never can be too careful. And so The Magician, once "Blogger High's Peach Pit," has taken its vigilance to an interesting extreme. more ›

The five people arrested after Tuesday night's melee outside Tammany Hall (which sent five cops were to the hospital) appeared in court yesterday to blame the violence on police. "Everyone was leaving the club peacefully," said Luis Pena, who is charged with assault, riot, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Then the police "came, rushed the door and just started throwing people out." more ›

A high density of bars and nightclubs combined with manic out-of-town revelers and wary locals gives the Lower East Side an electricity all its own. It also provokes scenes like the one late last night at the intersection of Rivington and Orchard around midnight. Nightclub Tammany Hall was hosting an album release party for rap group Smif N Wessun. more ›

A 49-year-old mother of two was discovered dead, wrapped in a plastic sheet, in her boyfriend's Lower East Side apartment yesterday afternoon. The body of Felicia Cruz, a home health aide, was discovered in the 101 Stanton Street apartment by police around 1:30 p.m. after she hadn't shown up for work, authorities say. Last night Cruz's boyfriend of five months, 58-year-old Miguel Pena, was charged with murder. more ›

Over the weekend we told how Culturefix, an arts space/boutique/bar on the Lower East Side, won a relative victory in court after it was targeted by the NYPD as part of the latter's recent bar blitz. And today the Lo-Down brings more to the story while pointing out an interesting wrinkle in the relationship between Community Boards and the State Liquor Authority. See, though Community Board 3's SLA committee recommended against renewing the bar's liquor license last week...it did so days after the license had already been renewed by the SLA, one of the bar's owners tells us. more ›

Our hopes that we would taste the brilliant zing of Jeffrey's spicy Italian sausage in our meat sauce once more have been forever crushed. The Lo-Down is reporting that after three months of financial limbo, Jeffrey Ruhalter is closing his family's butcher shop in the Essex Street Market for good. more ›

A man was fatally shot on Pitt St. between Rivington and Stanton in the Lower East Side last night around 12:30 a.m. 23-year-old Jonathon Alston was standing outside the Mini Munchies pizzeria at 85 Pitt Street when "two or thee men ran up and shot him in the head," the Daily News reports. A witness tells the Lo-Down that it was a graphic scene, "with a long deep red trail of blood making its way through the cracks of the sidewalk and onto the street." more ›

Now where will we go for our $2 PBRs? The NYPD shuttered longtime Lower East Side mainstay Welcome to the Johnson's last night. The dive bar was cited for illegally serving alcohol to minors. More and more, it seems that if you throw a dart at a map of LES bars, it's bound to have been shuttered at some point for that reason. more ›

Recently Lady Gaga documented her return to the Lower East Side, traveling back to her old digs at 176 Stanton Street... and now she digs even deeper to her roots in this mini documentary, Inside the Outside, which aired on MTV. more ›

As soon as the weekend rolls around, our beloved Lower East Side transforms from a delightfully eclectic, easily navigable neighborhood into a grotesque, vomit-flecked parade of sub-humanity. We've seen gals pop squats next to al fresco diners, been offered cocaine out of a plastic lunchbox, and seen punches thrown in the falafel line. What surprises us in a video that Bowery Boogie filmed of a drunk, shirtless woman (she keeps her bra) isn't the way she's acting but the restraint of the NYPD to not flip their Tasers to "Bridge & Tunnel Strength." more ›