This ethnographic study on the ongoing change towards rhoticity in New York City English (NYCE) amidst Manhattan Lower East Side residents, demonstrates that women, youngsters, and middle-class speakers lead the /r/production. As only white, Jewish and Chinese speakers -and not African American and Puerto Rican ones- partake in this change, this underlines the role of ethnicity in variation and change patterns and shows that the shift toward rhoticity in NYCE has speeded up and is no longer confined to formal speech.