Ridgewood, Queens (apartment, homes, living in)

[Wes927]

Near Cypress Ave (where the shooting took place) is just barely in Ridgewood: if at all. Definitely "Bushwick" down there if not officially.

[anon1]

The truth of the matter is if we are being 100% honest things like that happen not only towards the Bushwick area but other places as well. We cant be blind to Ridgewoods faults. Yes Ridgewood is a good area but its not perfect. We cant just dismiss anything past Seneca ave. just because we already consider it Bushwick territory. Ridgewood runs from the heart of Fresh Pond Rd. to in some cases Cypress and St. Nicholas ave. Its quiet but problems such as gang activity, and other violent acts occur in all places. maybe not as frequent but it still happens. Due to the mix of cultures in Ridgewood there are tensions between races and because of this gangs such as (ABI, RFW's and trinitarios, etc.) are always lurking. Oh and a 2008 look at Ridgewood's demographics is a little bit different than what others have said on this post. Nowadays, this is how Ridgewood is broken down throughout, not just Fresh Pond Rd: 45-50% Hispanic (Mostly Puertorican, Dominican, and Ecuadorian but there are others), 35-40% European (Mainly Albanian, Polish, Yugoslavian, Romanian and a fading German population), 5% Black, 5% (Asian mainly chinese, korean, and filipino but there are a few patches of others as well) and then there's the remaining. But that is Ridgewood. A working class neighborhood, with a wonderful mix of culture and different backgrounds.

[NJ Chutzpah]

Are you sure about 50% hispanic?

I go there all the time, and it is mostly white people on the streets all the time

The high school is half hispanic, but they are probably getting them from other areas

What the source of your information?

[Moderate Guy]

Originally Posted by makossa

Can we get something going on about Ridgewood, Queens? Looks like an awesome place to live. Is it diverse? Is the area vibrant/alive?

That area seems a lot like parts of Brooklyn. One issue might be reliance on the L train which apparently does not adequately serve the needs of residents.

[DoomDan515]

Originally Posted by NJ Chutzpah

Are you sure about 50% hispanic?

I go there all the time, and it is mostly white people on the streets all the time

The high school is half hispanic, but they are probably getting them from other areas

What the source of your information?

If you talking about Cleveland, a lot of the hispanic kids that attend that school are from Bushwick. I would know this because I graduated from there 2 years ago.

Ridgewood [near Bushwick], has a lot of Puerto Ricans, and some Dominicans aswell [but I doubt they make up 50% of the neighborhoods population]. Bushwick is "supposely" 67% Hispanic, and usually whenever I go there that's all I see. I also highly doubt that blacks make up 5% of the population here, since when I first moved here the only blacks I usually ever see around here are the MTA workers.

[TarHeelMan]

My wife graduated from there (Grover Cleveland). I tease her about it because of my "lofty" Brooklyn Tech education, which usually earns me a .

We lived on Starr St. between St. Nicholas and Cypress, and while it was a decent area to live in, there were definitely some seedy elements to it. A guy used to pimp his girlfriend out a few buildings up the block. Some other shady dealings used to go down, especially as you got closer to the park further up Starr St., but a nice neighborhood nonetheless. The corner of Cypress and Starr used to be a congregating point to watch the fireworks on July 4th, because of the elevation of that particular point.

[ecraw]

The artsy transplants are slowly creeping into ridgewood. It will be another greenpoint soon. The old ny nbes are dying out fast. Is there a starbucks yet? Goodbye to the days of the mom and pop coffe shop.

[TarHeelMan]

I noticed that right before I left for North Carolina. I saw a lot of them on Wyckoff Avenue, especially in the area before you hit Flushing Avenue. This was in 2005, I can only imagine what it would look like now.

[ecraw]

Ridgewood was once almost exclusively Italian. There were a few blacks and latinos. It has changed in the last 15 years or so. The kids of the old timers moved to staten island and long isand. You see the hippy out of town kids, some hispanics ,and a few blacks. Bushwick is predominantly balck and hispanic and people in ridgewood were always been careful to try and preserve their area. Nowadays it's entirely different ridgewood is becoming more like bushwick with exception of a few blocks.

[DITC]

Yes and they all supported Obama for reasons inclusive of "helping the small business" as if their trust fund selves are in touch with the common NYer. These psuedo creative types move in and take over the neighborhood with their hip ness. As a result businessman Pop is by himself with no clientele because Betsy Sue is too busy making her organic wallpaper and Dexter is a freelance graphic designer - the newcomers have no use for good ol Pop and his honest, friendly way of business. Pop loses business fast due to little or no demand and has to leave. Pop gets replaced by starbucks or some generic America garbage. So all these people in favor of small business actually put Pop out of business, and pave the way for corporate America even though they claim to be anti corporate America.

Originally Posted by ecraw

The artsy transplants are slowly creeping into ridgewood. It will be another greenpoint soon. The old ny nbes are dying out fast. Is there a starbucks yet? Goodbye to the days of the mom and pop coffe shop.