Dimes Square is a so-called "microneighborhood"[1]ofNew York City, located between the Chinatown and Lower East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan. The exact perimeter and nature of the neighborhood is debated.
The term Dimes Square has become a metonym for a number of associated reactionary aesthetic movements centered in the area. Media associated with the area include the podcast Red Scare, pirate radio station Montez Press Radio, and print newspaper The Drunken Canal.[2] An online Dimes zine named Byline was also established in 2023 by Gutes Guterman and Megan O'Sullivan [1][dead link].
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]
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.[2] In 2022, Times journalist Julia Yost identified the neighborhood and associated podcasters such as Dasha NekrasovaofRed Scare as the center of a post-ironic revival of traditionalist Catholicism in New York and among online intellectuals.[4] As the Covid-19 lockdowns receded and the neighborhood became more mainstream, the Dimes Square transgressive art movement digitized and enjoyed newfound infamy online.[5]
The American indie-pop band Bleachers reference Dimes Square in their 2024 song "Jesus is Dead", from their self-titled album, Bleachers.[6]
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