what's the prettiest neighborhood in NY? (Riverside: estates, park, area)

[RUBIES77]

Another pretty area:


Living In | Dongan Hills, S.I. - Slide Show - NYTimes.com

[john_starks]

uptown baby

[r small]

Inwood Hill park?

[geoking66]

Isn't it Fort Tryon? But yes, parts of Upper Manhattan are very beautiful (especially northwestern Harlem), but it's so littered with housing projects that detract from it.

[RUBIES77]

New York's City #1 borough. Here is a video for all people to watch, so they can see the improvements we have made..........and what is yet to come.


Staten Island Borough President's Office

[RUBIES77]

Hope this works. This is Brady's Pond on Staten Island, a borough of NYC.


Webshots, the best outdoor photos!

[RUBIES77]

information for those many people that know very little about it, and belief erroneously what people with I.Q.s of 75 and below tell them.


Staten Island Neighborhoods

[Entangled]

Originally Posted by bg7

Forest Hills Gardens - thats well worth a mention.

It's interesting, because it looks exactly like Shaker Heights in Cleveland, save the sidewalk. There are some parts of Ridgewood NJ that remind me of FHG as well. Not as unique anymore.

[tungt88]

Originally Posted by Entangled

It's interesting, because it looks exactly like Shaker Heights in Cleveland, save the sidewalk. There are some parts of Ridgewood NJ that remind me of FHG as well. Not as unique anymore.

I'd argue that having the sidewalks alone make a massive difference. I live not too far away from Forest Hills Gardens, in a "suburban-lite" neighborhood, and while I can't speak for FHG, I will speak for the section of the area I live in: the clean, well-maintained sidewalks around the houses in my area encourage the following:

• long walks at twilight/nighttime from residents (walking the dog, or [just as common] walking for the sheer pleasure of walking through a comfortable, tree-lined, safe neighborhood)
• runs, jogs, and bike rides from residents
• conversations when residents bump into each other
• a shared sense of community resulting from shared experiences of such walks/runs/jogs/bike rides

Now I won't exaggerate the "sense of community"; it's not like I necessarily say hi to every passerby on the street (neighbor or not), but others in my neighborhood do, and there isn't great pressure to exchange social pleasantries should you prefer not to do so. There's the sense of a comfortable area that all can share and enjoy, to the mutual benefit of all. There are times that I deliberately get off at the 71st/Continental subway stop at Forest Hills, just so I can take the 20 minute walk back home; after a few minutes on busy Austin Street, I continue to walk down, and the hustle is replaced by a soothing calm: that of suburbia without the overly restrictive social isolation, a suburbia with sidewalks. Mostly Tudor architecture paired up with gently rolling foot and bike traffic ...

The feeling is reinforced when I pass by the Little League/soccer fields, and the children's playground next to the school; brings me back to my own childhood, and, if anything, artifically enhances those memories (in a positive way). I wonder how many of those kids playing on those fields will, when they grow older, appreciate how fortunate they are to grow in an neighborhood that, in many ways, combines some of the very best of suburbia and the city ...

Now this may all be too "Jane Jacobs" for you, but it's the feeling I get -- having lived in both the suburbs and NYC, I feel very fortunate to live where I do: quiet, yet not too quiet; out of the way, but not remote; sketches of quaintness, yet lacking rusticity; togetherness, without personal intrusion.

[bowtieguy88]

I have a thing for HUGE classic prewar buildings- I saw Upper East Side, notably between 72nd and 98th. Those HUGE apartments are stunning. 2. Bedford Stuyvesant- Brownstone on Brownstone. 3. Clinton Hill-mainly Clinton/Washington area.