Dimes Square

40°42′53.9″N 73°59′29.6″W

The restaurant Dimes, which the term is named after

Dimes Square refers to the "microneighborhood"^[1] of New York City located between the Chinatown and Lower East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan. The exact perimeter and nature of the neighborhood is debated, though survey data from The New York Times lists it as roughly the five blocks on either side of Canal Street between Allen Street and Essex Street.^[2]

The neighborhood's name, a play on "Times Square", refers to Dimes, a restaurant located at the intersection of Canal Street and Division Street on the Lower East Side. According to Marisa Meltzer of The New York Times, the nickname has transitioned from a term used "jokingly" to one used "semi-seriously".^[3]

The term Dimes Square has become a metonym for a number of associated reactionary aesthetic movements centered in the area.^[4] Media associated with the area include the podcast Red Scare, pirate radio station Montez Press Radio, and defunct print newspaper The Drunken Canal.^[5][6] An online Dimes zine named Byline was established in 2023 by Gutes Guterman and Megan O'Sullivan.^[7]

Ben Smith cited the neighborhood's emergence as a lockdown-flouting cultural hub during the COVID-19 pandemic in a 2021 New York Times piece.^[6] As the Covid-19 restrictions receded and the neighborhood became more mainstream, the associated transgressive art movement digitized and became increasingly prominent in online culture.^[8] In 2022, Julia Yost, an editor at First Things, a conservative religious journal, argued in an op-ed in The New York Times that the neighborhood and associated podcasters such as Anna Khachiyan and Dasha Nekrasova of Red Scare are the center of a post-ironic revival of traditionalist Catholicism.^[4]

Sovereign House, an event venue linked to Peter Thiel, is considered a meeting point for the Dimes Square scene^[who?], and has hosted a 2024 election night party, religious conservative speakers, and speakers such as Steve Sailer, a far-right proponent of scientific racism.^[9][10]

The American indie-pop band Bleachers reference Dimes Square in their 2024 song "Jesus is Dead" from their self-titled album Bleachers.^[11]

Canadian journalist and poet Sam Forster has performed at numerous venues associated with the Dimes Square scene.^[12]

In 2020, two blocks of Canal Street were closed off for an Open Streets permit, resulting in what Hannah Goldfield of The New Yorker described as a "circus", "every night a music festival in the piazza."^[13]

Notable people

• Betsey Brown – Actress and director^[14]
• The Dare – Singer, DJ, and music producer^[15]
• Anna Khachiyan – Cultural critic, writer, and co-host of the Red Scare podcast^[14]
• Dasha Nekrasova – Actress, filmmaker, and co-host of the Red Scare podcast^[4]
• Peter Vack – Actor, writer, and filmmaker^[16]
• Ivy Wolk - Actress and comedian^[17]
• Sam Forster - Gonzo journalist and poet^[18]