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Bklyn pinkhouses
Queens Jamaica
Bronx ednwald or Bronx river
Manhattan polo or Lincoln or Jeff
SI Richmond hill
Boy, living up to your name, aren't you?
There's no housing project on Staten Island called Richmond Hill. There are regular apartment buildings on Richmond Hill Road, but you could probably wave $100 bills around there at 2AM with no problems whatsoever.
I've visited a few projects in NYC during my travels there, mostly in the Bronx. I walked through the Bronx River Houses just because of their connection with the origins of Hip-Hop - I found Watson Ave. and the projects that surround it to be more intense. I also walked through the Patterson projects as a shortcut - again, no big deal. I walked right by Morisannia Air Rights and the buildings were god-awful, but didn't have any problems. Also, I walked by the massive Claremont Projec complex near Webster, where I ate in a little Puerto Rican cafe and talked to some of the local yute-dem. I could tell people in that area were poor based on how they dressed. Some of these kids were real shabby looking, so you could tell they were poor 'cause I know that it's very important for young kids in the hood to dress like they ain't poor even if they are.
The worst projects I been through in NYC were in East Harlem, right by the east river at like 102nd or something. My and my boy got lost in a maze of projects walking around in the Barrio and suddenly we were on this block, surrounded on both sides by projects, and we had two dudes following us, and they whistled and some guy up ahead of us appeared from within an alcove, saw us, and crossed the street where he signalled some other dudes who walked over to the street and mad-dogged us as we walked by. I looked back at some point and the two guys following us was like four or five. They were talking about us in Spanish, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. They walked with us all the way to the FDR, where we started walking south down to 100th St., where we doubled back. It was pretty unnerving.
But my most memorable experience in NYC's projects was in Alphabet City, where a friend and I met a guy at a bar and made friends with him. We chilled, had a couple drinks at a bar on Avenue B, and at 2:00am he invited me back to his project apartment for a drink. We decided it would be interesting to check out a project apartment, and the guy was real cool, so we accompanied him across Avenue D to a project somewhere around 10th St. At his apartment, he introduced us to his family and we chilled for a bit, drank a couple beers, chatted with his family, then split around 4:00am. One interesting thing he pointed out to us as we walked trough the project grounds to his building was all the litter on the ground, which I had noticed but didn't pay attention to. When he told us to look closer, I saw that the litter was actually thousands and thousands of bags from the needle exchange that had been emptied of their hypes and dumped on the ground with all the other implements still in them. He told us that junk was a major problem in the area still, and he obviously wasn't lying.
Anyways, after we left I had to pee, so I walked north to a nice isolated area to relieve myself, and found that I was surrounded by dozens of sleeping homeless people. At that point, we were kind of lost and didn't know how to get back to Avenue D to get a cab back up to our hotel at 101st and Amsterdam. Right then, a door opened and a flashlight was pointed right in my drunken face. Suddenly I was being drilled with questions by two NYCHA police officers that wanted to know what we were doing there. We were really drunk and didn't realize the amount of trouble we could have gotten in, so I politely asked if he could unlock the gate nearby so we could get through and reach the street just north of where we were (we could see it from there). The cops were puzzled and told us to leave right away, that we were trespassing and it was very dangerous for us to be wandering around the project grounds at that hour. So we walked for what seemed like hours until we finally found our way it of the projecs and on to Avenue D, but then we couldn't find a cab and had to keep walking west. On the way, we passed a few crews of young people who asked us if we were looking to score, and we said we were good, and they didn't bother us further. Eventually we caught a cab near Avenue C, and didn't get back to the hotel until sunrise. My impression of the project building was that it was well-maintained, the apartment (a two-bedroom) was much bigger than I had expected, and the dude's family was really nice. All in all, it was a cool experience, and I'm glad I had a chance to see the inside of a NYC housing project and meet some of its inhabitants, even if I did almost get arrested for tresspassing.
I've visited a few projects in NYC during my travels there, mostly in the Bronx. I walked through the Bronx River Houses just because of their connection with the origins of Hip-Hop - I found Watson Ave. and the projects that surround it to be more intense. I also walked through the Patterson projects as a shortcut - again, no big deal. I walked right by Morisannia Air Rights and the buildings were god-awful, but didn't have any problems. Also, I walked by the massive Claremont Projec complex near Webster, where I ate in a little Puerto Rican cafe and talked to some of the local yute-dem. I could tell people in that area were poor based on how they dressed. Some of these kids were real shabby looking, so you could tell they were poor 'cause I know that it's very important for young kids in the hood to dress like they ain't poor even if they are.
The worst projects I been through in NYC were in East Harlem, right by the east river at like 102nd or something. My and my boy got lost in a maze of projects walking around in the Barrio and suddenly we were on this block, surrounded on both sides by projects, and we had two dudes following us, and they whistled and some guy up ahead of us appeared from within an alcove, saw us, and crossed the street where he signalled some other dudes who walked over to the street and mad-dogged us as we walked by. I looked back at some point and the two guys following us was like four or five. They were talking about us in Spanish, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. They walked with us all the way to the FDR, where we started walking south down to 100th St., where we doubled back. It was pretty unnerving.
But my most memorable experience in NYC's projects was in Alphabet City, where a friend and I met a guy at a bar and made friends with him. We chilled, had a couple drinks at a bar on Avenue B, and at 2:00am he invited me back to his project apartment for a drink. We decided it would be interesting to check out a project apartment, and the guy was real cool, so we accompanied him across Avenue D to a project somewhere around 10th St. At his apartment, he introduced us to his family and we chilled for a bit, drank a couple beers, chatted with his family, then split around 4:00am. One interesting thing he pointed out to us as we walked trough the project grounds to his building was all the litter on the ground, which I had noticed but didn't pay attention to. When he told us to look closer, I saw that the litter was actually thousands and thousands of bags from the needle exchange that had been emptied of their hypes and dumped on the ground with all the other implements still in them. He told us that junk was a major problem in the area still, and he obviously wasn't lying.
Anyways, after we left I had to pee, so I walked north to a nice isolated area to relieve myself, and found that I was surrounded by dozens of sleeping homeless people. At that point, we were kind of lost and didn't know how to get back to Avenue D to get a cab back up to our hotel at 101st and Amsterdam. Right then, a door opened and a flashlight was pointed right in my drunken face. Suddenly I was being drilled with questions by two NYCHA police officers that wanted to know what we were doing there. We were really drunk and didn't realize the amount of trouble we could have gotten in, so I politely asked if he could unlock the gate nearby so we could get through and reach the street just north of where we were (we could see it from there). The cops were puzzled and told us to leave right away, that we were trespassing and it was very dangerous for us to be wandering around the project grounds at that hour. So we walked for what seemed like hours until we finally found our way it of the projecs and on to Avenue D, but then we couldn't find a cab and had to keep walking west. On the way, we passed a few crews of young people who asked us if we were looking to score, and we said we were good, and they didn't bother us further. Eventually we caught a cab near Avenue C, and didn't get back to the hotel until sunrise. My impression of the project building was that it was well-maintained, the apartment (a two-bedroom) was much bigger than I had expected, and the dude's family was really nice. All in all, it was a cool experience, and I'm glad I had a chance to see the inside of a NYC housing project and meet some of its inhabitants, even if I did almost get arrested for tresspassing.
The ones in East Harlem - that's East River.....pretty tough. You were really lucky. I wouldn't advise wandering around projects aimlessly though unless you had a "tour guide," so to speak. Many times they can smell if u not from the hood and it might not end well. Just looking out.
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"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
The ones in East Harlem - that's East River.....pretty tough. You were really lucky. I wouldn't advise wandering around projects aimlessly though unless you had a "tour guide," so to speak. Many times they can smell if u not from the hood and it might not end well. Just looking out.
I'm wondering why the 5 guys that were following them ended up not doing anything. Did they just want to scare them out of there or figured out they weren't worth robbing. I'm asking because a similar thing happened to my parents. In the early 80's they were somewhere in alphabet city trying to look into some luxury apartments that just got built when all of a sudden they were surrounded by four guys, one on each side of them, one ahead of them and one behind them. Anyway, nothing happened. They followed my parents a couple more blocks and then just left.
My friend had a similar experience. He was walking through the Cypress Hills Projects in East NY when he saw that a bunch of sketchy personalities were sizing him up and approaching. He was wearing a hoodie with the big pocket in the front, so he put his hands in the pocket to make it look like he had something fatal. The thugs saw it and wanted no piece of it, so they left him alone
How are the Campos Plaza apartments, particularly the one on 14th Street and Avenue B? Seems like a pretty safe area - I've been in there a few times (a friend lives there) and I've never had any problems. Just wondering if it's safe late at night?
I'm wondering why the 5 guys that were following them ended up not doing anything. Did they just want to scare them out of there or figured out they weren't worth robbing. I'm asking because a similar thing happened to my parents. In the early 80's they were somewhere in alphabet city trying to look into some luxury apartments that just got built when all of a sudden they were surrounded by four guys, one on each side of them, one ahead of them and one behind them. Anyway, nothing happened. They followed my parents a couple more blocks and then just left.
I think they just wanted to see who we were and what we were up to, and make sure we knew not to try any ****. They might have thought we were there to score. For like an hour that afternoon we had been lost in the projects of East Harlem - there's so many of them - but that was the only time it was a bit freaky, cause the street there was real quiet at the time and we were the only ones on it, so anything could have gone down and nobody would have seen nothing. As we rounded the corner on to FDR, me and my friend looked at each other and just busted out laughing, shaking our heads like "damn, that could have really sucked."
How are the Campos Plaza apartments, particularly the one on 14th Street and Avenue B? Seems like a pretty safe area - I've been in there a few times (a friend lives there) and I've never had any problems. Just wondering if it's safe late at night?
This whole area is safe at night. It is still New York, but it is certainly as safe as just about anywhere downtown.
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