Latino comming to Woodlawn Bronx New York

[RUBIES77]

Originally Posted by mead

Ha, a Mexican moving into Woodlawn. Yeah this should be entertaining. First off, nobody really calls it Woodlawn Heights, except for the government surveys. To everyone around here it is just Woodlawn. Ending a post with Gracias? Yeah you better not try speaking that Spanish stuff in this neighborhood, its not going to go over well.

Get ready for the icy-cold stares from the local Donkeys, and I mean just while you are on your own. To be honest I've only seen one or two mixed-race couples walk down Katonah. The range of emotions that you will receive will probably be from Curiosity (seeing you as an oddity) to outright hostility especially from drunken Irish guys at night. You have to realize that this place is basically Irishtown, and if you aren't Irish (or at least Italian/Albanian/Portuguese) you really aren't going to fit in. There are a couple of Mexicans that you will see in Woodlawn but they are all the chefs and dish washers at a few of the local establishments. None of them live here, you'll always see them waiting for the bus to the subway so that they can get back home, which is inevitably, not in Woodlawn.

Of course there are certain bars that you should avoid ever going into, you'll figure that out really quick. Some bars are geared towards Northern Irish (read: ex-IRA members) in Woodlawn and adjoining McLean. These places don't like Irish-Americans going in there, so I'm not exactly sure how they would react if you were to go in. Most of the Irish restaurants on McLean aren't going to appreciate your business, but you should be fine going to the local diners, pizza places, and chinese takeout joints as they cater to a more American, less Irish crowd (the diner on Katonah, the City Line Diner, just closed recently, so you'll have to wait and see what happens to that).

Does this woman actually have family connections to the area? Does she know people living here? The neighborhood is a little bit unusual and few houses are actually sold on the open market like in a normal neighborhood. Most houses in Woodlawn are generally sold thru friends and family connections.

While there are a select few apartment/co-op buildings that will let you in Wooldawn proper if you are not Irish, the majority of them will not. I am not originally from the area, but am Irish-American and in order to get my apartment I basically had to trace my genealogy back to the old country, down to the county & town, in order that the landlord would trust me enough to rent me the place. That should give you an idea of the type of place you are thinking about moving to.

Personally I'd advise you against doing this, there are plenty of places north of here in Eastern Yonkers that aren't as overwhelmingly Irish, so you're going to run into a lot fewer problems living there. Yonkers actually has a large Hispanic area, but its just not around here. Look west of the Sprainbrook, right north of Northern Riverdale. Lots of Mexicans and Dominicans living around there.

YOU READ AS OVERWHELMINGLY RACIST!

[amgor863]

How about Wakefield? I'm surprised nobody suggested it. I go there all the time, without any problems. Nice houses, good public transportation (subway, express bus and lots of local buses) and I think lower taxes. Re-Schools, St. Anthony is supposed to be re opening and I've only heard good things about it. Not sure about the public schools. Might want to check them out first. Alternates-- the East Bronx-- Clason Point, Parkchester, Throggs Neck (may be pricey and clannish--Ditto for City Island), Co-op City (if you don't mind waiting for elevators. lol), the west Bronx. The list is never ending. lol. Re--Yonkers-- okay, but high taxes, corruption and expensive cost of living make it not as desirable as other areas closer to the city. The rest of Westchester (with the exception of Mt. Vernon, New Rochelle_which I know they are considering and Ossining, Port Chester, too. I'm not sure how far these people want to be from the city) is no different than Woodlawn. Sorry, but just because folks are rich, don't mean they are going to be any more accepting. They just show their racism in different ways, if you know what I mean... Finally, if you want further from the city, you could try Beacon. It's mixed, a pretty nice small city, with access to Metro North into the city and a nice riverfront (thanks to folks like Pete Seeger--long time resident). Peace