I'd strongly agree with dhammer and jeremy. The East Village has become a happenin' place in recent years, but is still quite gritty. If you liked the UES, you probably won't like the East Village. Their stereotypes are pretty much polar opposites: the UES is rich white Republicans who wear pearls, while the East Village is leather-jacketed punks with heroin needles hanging out of their arms.

Both extremes have softened tremendously in recent years (heroin is almost gone from Ave B). And young urban professionals ("yuppies") are invading both neighborhoods. But the UES yuppie crowd has a much more clothes-from-catalogs post-frat flavor, while the East Village attracts more of the self-consciously artsy yuppies commonly known as "hipsters."