When "Rent" opened in 1996, the mostly unknown actors playing the show's young East Villagers were about the same age as their characters.

East Villagers kind of miss the place.

Don't cede this institution to East Villagers.

In Manhattan, East Villagers study the markets, party, quarrel.

Patrons run from intrepid young uptown couples out for an adventure on the wild side to flannel-shirt-and-bandana East Villagers.

Mancora caters to East Villagers, and a raucous subset of them at that.

Mary and her friends are hip slackers, "attention-deficit-disorder-suffering East Villagers."

It's a nice little effect, as if to mark the modern East Villager as a linear descendant of those in the play's ragtag group.

His first professional experience came when he was offered the editorship of a local newspaper, The East Villager.

Along these lines, East Villagers sometimes identify themselves as East Siders.