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Old 09-07-2013, 03:01 PM
 
Location: SW FL
895 posts, read 1,696,130 times
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I recently took a trip to NY and visiting Arthur ave in the Bronx was like breathing a breath of fresh air. I felt like I was in a real authentic neighborhood from the 1970s or so. It really seemed to maintain its local roots and still seemed like it had a fair amount of working class people. My question is what neighborhoods are left in nyc that have cultural diversity, aren't too yuppie/hipster centric or pretentious, and has defined character of its own? I'm sure this is asked a lot but I am curious about what people think. Future destinations for me include Pelham parkway and Brooklyn heights.
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Old 09-07-2013, 03:17 PM
 
Location: Newark, NJ/BK
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Well, the BX and most of Queens have not gone through gentrification, so those are the two boroughs where you are most likely to have that old school NY feel. As for BK, there are many hoods that have the old school flavor, but there's definitely changes happening or have happened in the last few years(Crown Heights, Bed-Stuy, Bushwick, Southside Williamsburg). The most pure NYC feel neighborhoods are either far from the "action" (Midwood, Bensonhurst) or just flat out hood (Brownsville, ENY). With Manhattan, you gotta go Uptown to get that old school NY, though it's going through changes also. LES/Alphabet City has the old school feel in spots, but it's so mixed with the gentry/yuppies.
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Old 09-07-2013, 03:35 PM
 
25,556 posts, read 23,809,039 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by njnyckid View Post
Well, the BX and most of Queens have not gone through gentrification, so those are the two boroughs where you are most likely to have that old school NY feel. As for BK, there are many hoods that have the old school flavor, but there's definitely changes happening or have happened in the last few years(Crown Heights, Bed-Stuy, Bushwick, Southside Williamsburg). The most pure NYC feel neighborhoods are either far from the "action" (Midwood, Bensonhurst) or just flat out hood (Brownsville, ENY). With Manhattan, you gotta go Uptown to get that old school NY, though it's going through changes also. LES/Alphabet City has the old school feel in spots, but it's so mixed with the gentry/yuppies.
Staten Island hasn't gentrified, either. Nor has any apart of South of East Brooklyn. Overall, Inwood and Washington Heights haven't gentrified, and only parts of Harlem have.
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Old 09-07-2013, 03:47 PM
 
Location: Newark, NJ/BK
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Originally Posted by NyWriterdude View Post
Staten Island hasn't gentrified, either. Nor has any apart of South of East Brooklyn. Overall, Inwood and Washington Heights haven't gentrified, and only parts of Harlem have.
I always forget about Staten Island lol.

I mentioned places in BK that are not near the gentrification action going on. I have no experience of Washington Heights or Inwood, so Harlem's really the only place I was thinking of when I mentioned Uptown.
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Old 09-07-2013, 05:43 PM
 
Location: Ridgewood, NY
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I agree with the combination assessment of njnyckid and nywriterdude but if you're looking for an area that has absolutely no ties to the new sterile NYC, those neighborhoods are becoming less and less common as time goes on... Again, it's something you really have to look around and be involved in to understand...

Case in point, I work in Bensonhurst near Bay Ridge... One would think that the area is safe from those people "totally just looking to blend in"... You'd be wrong. I saw a number of them biking on Bay Parkway the other day heading to work and I saw a few other hipsters near McDonald ave close to 60th st. These people are effectively killing off every single ethnic/blue collar/working class neighborhood as time goes on...

Apparently, my neighborhood is next on the "cool" list. I have no doubt even though I truly hope I'm wrong that eventually this neighborhood will soon follow the paths of each and every other neighborhood before it... It won't completely change the way a Williamsburg did because the reality is no neighborhood in this city changed the way Williamsburg did, but pockets will have that flavor and the overall lingering effect will be that those decent hard working folks just looking to get by in this city and make a living will eventually be priced out as has happened with every other neighborhood, leaving only the upper middle class/high income earners, section 8/welfare abusers, and those currently overpopulating this city to no end...

Apparently, areas like Ridgewood, Maspeth, Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Belmont, etc. absolutely "NEED" that kind of change.
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Old 09-07-2013, 06:00 PM
 
Location: Between the Bays
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Arthur ave doesn't seem very authentic to me. Italians are the minority.
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Old 09-07-2013, 06:11 PM
 
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Honestly, the only truly authentic neighborhoods in NYC were gone as soon as Minuit bought Manhattan from the local American Indians back in the 16th century.
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Old 09-07-2013, 07:54 PM
 
Location: SW FL
895 posts, read 1,696,130 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by G-Dale View Post
Arthur ave doesn't seem very authentic to me. Italians are the minority.
I came across many people speaking Italian in the street, generations old restaurants, etc. I don't really know what you're talking about. There is a mixture of hispanics, blacks and a few fordham students here and there but overall I think it's predominantly Italian.
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Old 09-07-2013, 08:05 PM
 
Location: Between the Bays
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Originally Posted by Rcsligar View Post
I came across many people speaking Italian in the street, generations old restaurants, etc. I don't really know what you're talking about. There is a mixture of hispanics, blacks and a few fordham students here and there but overall I think it's predominantly Italian.
We'd have to check out the census data but my money would be on it being predominantly hispanic. Middle village in queens is much more italian.
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Old 09-07-2013, 08:05 PM
 
Location: Bronx
16,200 posts, read 22,928,658 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rcsligar View Post
I came across many people speaking Italian in the street, generations old restaurants, etc. I don't really know what you're talking about. There is a mixture of hispanics, blacks and a few fordham students here and there but overall I think it's predominantly Italian.
I have not visited Arthur Avenue and rest of the Fordham Road area in a good while and yes I am Bronx Native, but from what I remember the area has a good mix of Italian, Hispanic, Albanian and Fordham University residence. If I recall a business man in the area wanted to turn Arthur Avenue into a Bronx Soho. I have to find the article. As for NYC and its hip trendy areas, Nearly All of the Bronx, Most of Queens, Half of Brooklyn and all of Staten Island retain their classic NYC authentic flavor. The hip trendy NYC neighborhoods are culturally and aesthetically bland even if it is multi ethnic, everyone in these hip trendy neighborhoods all act the same.
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