THE SWINGIN' LOWER EAST SIDE

IT'S ALL HAPPENING DOWNTOWN

If it's what you desire, you can live on Manhattan's Lower East Side in a bubble of funky but chic lifestyle choices. It lacks for nothing but a pleasing view, and even this you can get from the high floors of the glass-fronted Hotel on Rivington. The area is dense with vintage clothes and electric guitars. You'll find spicy grapefruit margaritas at Barrio Chino, hot dogs at Dash Dogs, and ice cream at II Laboratorio del Gelato. Drinking is a central theme, notably at the East Side Company Bar and the semi-secret speakeasy Milk & Honey; Fat Baby; and Max Fish, the Ludlow Street bar that remains the meeting place for musicians, artists, skateboarders, and bohemians now considered tribal elders. Below Delancey, where Chinese gangster boys with one single long fingernail draw on strong cigarettes, is Brown, a cozy and fecund restaurant; Girls Love Shoes; and the Sweet Life, where anything that can be dipped in chocolate is. At the periphery of the area, galleries Maccarone Inc. and Reena Spaulings Fine Art form New York's latest art enclave. Whatever your pleasure may be, so be it. "Williamsburg was only ever a place for out-of-towners," artist Nico Ponce de Leon Dios believes. "Manhattan never stopped being cool."

ATTRACTIONS AND HOTELS

BLUE MOON HOTEL

100 Orchard St, 212-533-9080.

THE HOTEL ON RIVINGTON

107 Rivington St., 212-475-2600.

LOWER EAST SIDE TENEMENT MUSEUM

108 Orchard St., 212-431-0233.

RESTAURANTS

BARRIO CHINO

253 Broome St., 212-228-6710.

BROWN

61 Hester St., 212-477-2427.

CLASSIC COFFEE SHOP

56 Hester St., 917-685-3306.

CREPERIE

135 Ludlow St., 212-979-5543.

DASH DOGS

127 Rivington St., 212-254-8885.

DOUGHNUT PLANT

379 Grand St., 212-505-3700.

ECONOMY CANDY

108 Rivington St., 212-254-1531.

88 ORCHARD

88 Orchard St., 212-228-8880.

EPICERIE CAFE CHARBON

168-170 Orchard St., 212-420-7520.

ESSEX

120 Essex St., 212-533-9616.

GUSS' PICKLES

85-87 Orchard St., 516-569-0909.

IL LABORATORIO DEL GELATO

95 Orchard St., 212-343-9922.

'INOTECA

98 Rivington St., 212-614-0473.

KOSSAR'S BIALYS

367 Grand St., 212-473-4810.

LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES

37 Canal St., 212-777-7518.

PALADAR

161 Ludlow St., 212-473-3535.

PAUL'S BOUTIQUE

99 Rivington St., 212-529-4184.

THE STANTON SOCIAL

99 Stanton St., 212-995-0099.

SUBA

109 Ludlow St., 212-982-5714.

SUGAR SWEET SUNSHINE BAKERY

126 Rivington St., 212-995-1960.

THE SWEET LIFE

63 Hester St., 212-598-0092.

THOR

105 Rivington St., 212-796-8040.

TIDES SEAFOOD

102 Norfolk St., 212-254-8855.

TINY'S GIANT SANDWICH SHOP

129 Rivington St., 212-982-1690.

ZUCCO LE FRENCH DINER

188 Orchard St., 212-677-5200.

NIGHTLIFE

THE BACK ROOM

102 Norfolk St., 212-228-5098.

CAKE SHOP

152 Ludlow St., 212-253-0036.

EAST SIDE COMPANY BAR

49 Essex St., 212-614-7408.

FAT BABY

112 Rivington St., 212-533-1888.

MAX FISH

178 Ludlow St., 212-529-3959.

MILK & HONEY

134 Eldridge St, 212-625-3397.

THE ORCHARD

162 Orchard St, 212-353-3570.

RUSH HOUR

134 Ludlow St, 212-979-9211.

TONIC

107 Norfolk St, 212-358-7501.

SHOPS

ANNIE O.

105 Rivington St, 212-475-2600, x240.

DULCINEE

127 Stanton St, 212-253-2534.

DV

149 Ludlow St, 212-529-2111.

EDITH AND DAHA

104 Rivington St, 212-979-9992.

FOLEY & CORINNA

114 Stanton St, 212-529-2338.

FOLEY & CORINNA MEN

143 Ludlow St, 212-529-5043.

FROCK

148 Orchard St, 212-594-5380.

GIRLS LOVE SHOES

85 Hester St, 917-250-3268.

LAS VENUS

163 Ludlow St, 212-982-0608.

LV2

113 Stanton St, 212-358-8000.

PIPPIN VINTAGE JEWELRY

72 Orchard St, 212-505-5159.

SHOP

105 Stanton St, 212-375-0304.

GALLERIES

MACCARONE INC.

45 Canal St,

212-431-4977.

REENA SPAULINGS FINE ART

371 Grand St, 212-477-5006.

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 178

RESTAURANTS

ALIAS

76 Clinton St., 212-505-5011.

CLINTON ST. BAKING COMPANY & RESTAURANT

4 Clinton St., 646-602-6263.

PUNCH & JUDY

26 Clinton St., 212-982-1116.

71 CLINTON FRESH FOOD

71 Clinton St., 212-614-6960.

WD-50

50 Clinton St., 212-477-2900.

NIGHTLIFE

151

151 Rivington St., 212-228-4139.

SHOPS

ALIFE RIVINGTON CLUB

158 Rivington St.,

212-375-8128.

EDWARD HELMORE