Back in the 1990s, the Lower East Side wasn't filled with condos, hotels, and pricey restaurants. The below video was shot twenty years ago along Ludlow Street, and shows a very different neighborhood, one described as "thriving, out-of-the-way artist community." Your guide back in time is Ronnie DeMonarco, who declares, "To this day, only the curious come down here." Check out a cameo from Mercury Lounge (and its old signage) at the end—one of the only businesses shown here that remains.

Here's another one—also shot by Corey Shaff—showing the art space 2B. According to Vanishing NY, it "occupied an abandoned gas station on Avenue B and 2nd from 1986 - 1995, when it was evicted to make way for a condo building with a Duane Reade."

[Bowery Boogie via Vanishing NY]