Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Far Rockaway is exactly what I'm talking about. I'm from Atlantic Beach, which is on a barrier island to the south of Long Island proper. To exit the village, you have to cross the Atlantic Beach Bridge, and at the north end of the bridge, you can either continue straight into Lawrence (also an affluent Nassau County town) or bear left into Far Rockaway. Bearing left was what I literally never did for 25 years until a few months ago.
Before we lived in Atlantic Beach, we lived in North Woodmere, which also borders Queens (specifically Rosedale) via a little bridge over Hook Creek. Rosedale is much less desirable than North Woodmere, certainly with a higher crime rate, but I didn't mention it because I don't think I'd go so far as to call it a "bad area."
Oh okay, yeah I'm not too familiar with the bridges in that area but Far Rockaway also borders LI by land so I was confused. Interesting that you've never ventured there for such a long time!
Rosedale is not a particularly bad area but aesthetically it doesn't look super nice. That's actually a very common thing in NYC, a neighborhood can be safe but dumpy looking.
Atlanta, particularly before gentrification took full force ten years of so ago, was really like this. Before the Old Fourth Ward really took off as a prime residential district, going from Five Points in the heart of Downtown Atlanta along Edgewood Avenue to the elegant, tree shaded Victorian environs of Inman Park took you through extremely blighted old commercial and industrial district, then like clicking a switch, lush and lovely Inman Park. The same can't quite be said anymore. Another transition also within the Old Fourth Ward that is still a huge switch is Boulevard north of Atlanta Medical Center when it crosses Ponce de Leon Avenue and becomes Monroe Drive. South of Ponce de Leon Avenue, Boulevard is blighted and has an unsafe reputation, north of Ponce de Leon, Monroe Drive meanders through quiet, sylvan, and sought after, upper middle class neighborhoods. West of downtown, drive northward on Northside Drive near the Georgia Dome and you will see the blight and boarded up homes of The Bluff, Vine City, English Avenue and other down on their heels westside communities; then, cross the bridge over I-75 and BOOM, you are in the "bonny hills of Buckhead", Beverly Hills, east. Keep heading north up Northside Drive a few more miles past Peachtree Battle Avenue and you are even in the heart of "The Buckhead Mansion District" home of some of the most expensive homes in America, yet a couple of miles further south or west, you are in one of America's worst slums. Going back to Atlanta's eastside along the same Boulevard, Grant Park in Southeast Atlanta is an already gentrified community of turn-of-the-century homes expensive and sought after, but further south down Boulevard literally over the railroad tracks lay struggling communities in the shadow of Atlanta Federal Penitentiary and former public housing projects. New Orleans also comes to mind as a city where million dollar homes are around the corner from "crack houses".
Last edited by Clayton white guy; 02-20-2017 at 10:20 AM..
Palo Alto and East Palo Alto. While crime is lower today EPA had the highest murder rate in the country in 1992. Palo Alto is home to Stanford University and full of multi-million dollar homes.
This is one of the best examples I can think of too. It's like night and day once you cross from one city into the other.
Newark NJ/ South Orange NJ border. Newark is anything but deprived of crime, drugs, and unmaintained homes. But once you cross the South Orange border, you see well-maintained, old mansions.
+5 for you. Good one!
Here's what Jersey Guy refers to. I am posting the border of South Orange and Newark into Google Street View via South Orange Ave. "Drive" on street view to either side, you will see exactly to what this poster refers to.
Sunset Blvd crossing from West Hollywood to Beverly Hills is quite a contrast.
I thought both were relatively nice areas?
I know that other parts of Hollywood can be sketchy. I know that WeHo is super gay and a hub for nightlife so maybe that late night element contrasts sharply with Beverly Hills?
I know that other parts of Hollywood can be sketchy. I know that WeHo is super gay and a hub for nightlife so maybe that late night element contrasts sharply with Beverly Hills?
The elegant "Kalorama" district (where the Obama's are moving to) and Mount Pleasant (gritty Hispanic district) - although the latter may be gentrifying - I'm not sure
"Culmore" a run-down, 1940s era apartments with a population that's 100% Central American - near very busy "Baileys Crossroads", is just around the corner from "Lake Barcroft" a scenic area by a lake, traditionally home to Pentagon officers
"The Dip" a black housing project, is next door to "Old Town Alexandria" a very expensive area, full of Ivy League WASPs
In Baltimore, gentrified "Bolton Hill' and the Symphony Hall - MD College of Arts district, are very near the "Upton" area, traditionally the heart of black community life, where the Freddie Gray disturbances happened.
Pennsylvania has many closely contrasting areas, since zoning/land use is a local municipal (sub-county: city, borough, township, etc. some 3,000 local municipal jurisdictions) responsibility, and school districts are formed from assemblages of municipalities as well.
The many hollows of the greater Pittsburgh area breed local social contrasts. I've seen Appalachian coal camps within a rifle shot of the back border of Fox Chapel Borough (home to such folks as Teresa Heinz Kerry, if anyone remembers her from 2004), to say nothing of notable contrasts between Pittsburgh neighborhoods themselves.
York County, PA also illustrates many close contrasts in its jumbled low hills. On the York Heritage Rail Trail you can ride a bike for ten minutes passing through scenery changing from rowhomes and projects to McMansions.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
