If you had to pick towns/neighborhoods that defined the classical character of each NYC borough, what areas would you choose? In other words, if you pictured "Brooklyn" or "Queens" in your head, what different geographical sceneries immedately appears? Disregard all the recent gentrification that is going on. I want to figure out the traditionally perceived identities of the five boroughs.
I know you're just kidding, but in case the question was confusing, I wanted you to pick towns in that specific borough that best represented its traditional image. For example, for Manhattan, some people may consider Times Square to define manhattan, some may say it's the lower east side, some may say harlem, some may say the Upper West Side. There's obviously not gonna be just one area. I just want to get a broad range of ideas.
I have no problem with your ranking though. LOL. Although I must say I would rank Queens a bit higher due to its abundance of authentic ethnic foods.
metamechanic, I know it's an impossible question, but your answer was exactly what I was looking for. I understand that a place as colorful as NYC could never be defined. I just wanted a wide range of different opinions on areas that people "consider" to be representative of each respective borough. Thanks for taking the time to answer my question.
soho: outdoor mall with random europeans and tourists; too many signs
williamsburg brooklyn: hipsters.. not the original kind; expensive stores in cheap buildings
lower east side: punky and drunky
staten island: not sure how you are supposed to get there....
bronx: too high up to get there
times square: hell/tourists
queens: not sure... never been
park slope: families in nice brownstones; a park
central park: nature and all its glory i guess.
standaman, what's your angle? Nothing wrong with your questions but it just seems pretty specific/insistent to be only random curiousity. Also, I think wikipedia has pretty lengthy write-ups of the specific neighborhoods.
Although it is indeed a very broad question, I will stick my neck out there and give my opinion on the subject:
New Yorkers' view of Manhattan - probably Greenwich Village / West Village.
The rest of the world's view of Manhattan and NYC is general: Times Square.
I would like to nominate Fort Greene as the prototypical / ideal Brooklyn neighborhood.
Thanks guys for bearing with my awefully vague question. Here's my story.
I shooting a photography project. I'm shooting "easily recognizable" NYC neighborhoods (hopefully some from all 5 boroughs) in dramatic sunlight conditions and making them look somewhat "anonymous." The general archtiecural forms will immediately give off a hint as to what part of NYC it is. However, through the high contrast of light and shadow some archtiectural details will be blurred and some will be accentuated. As a result I can create a wildly unfamiliar atmosphere of these familiar settings. My deadline is the end of this month so I don't have too much time to travel around. Through the question I was trying to narrow my targets to the most commonly familiar streetscapes of NYC.
Once again, thanks for all the help guys. I've gotten some great suggestions.
Maybe this isn't pertient to your particular photography thesis, but something you could explore that's totally fascinating, and very few people in NYC ever do, is how radically each Borough can subvert it's own stereotype.
For instance, Bronx is thought of as South Bronx, bombed out Hi-rise housing projects, etc, but you go a couple miles east to Riverdale and it's an exclusive sleepy residential community with winding roads in the hills over the Hudson. It could pass for the Connecticut suburb in the Ice Storm. Somehow standing on Manhattan ave. in Greenpoint always transports me instantly to Europe, and not just the Polish signage, something about the scale of stores, mix of retail products, I don't know but its totally the main street of a mid-sized Italain, Austrian, Polish town.
City Island, to the east of the mainland Bronx, a tiny New England fishing village that apparently has it's own accent (though I couldn't detect it.) And like the earlier post said Roosevelt island is a very weird, uber- planned socialist Scandanavian city. Totally 1960's time machine.
Maybe this is more a cinema thing than photography, but it'd be great to film those areas- pass them off as something totally else and then say "no I'm just playing with ya, It's actually the Bronx (queens, S.I., etc)." Then see your audience's heads implode.
For either Prototypical N-Hoods, or brownstones- Ft. Green, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope- near the park are the really fancy ones- like Chuck Schumer's. Manhattan- Greenwich Village, Upper East Side.
I don't how much dislocation you can get out of the alternate blurring and articulation of details- but I'm not much of a photographer, you probably know how you're going to pull it off. It seems like a strategy for dislocation would be to contrast the image people have of these neighborhoods from films, casual tourism etc, with the reality of how they are actually occupied in present day New York.
For instance people in films always have huge apartments, like in 'Friends' and that's always just taken for granted. The few times a film shows a twenty something wage slave living in a realistically small apartment, then it becomes a major comic or tension driving element of the story. The irony is that its much closer to the banal truth.
^
^
^
^
gvg, you're advice is greatly appreciated. Your idea of the stark contrast between the stereotypically perceived imagery of NYC and the banal (or should I say charming) reality is a great subject that I might explore in a future project. I actually remember being surprised when I first moved to NYC two years ago. Who knew that the dark, destitute apartments you see in movies where deranged psycho killers dwell, are considered the average home in NYC.
New York niggaz got crazy game
But outta town niggaz is all the same
Brooklyn niggaz get crazy loot
That's because when it's beef they ain't scared to shoot
Harlem niggaz know how to play
Mack the 600, gettin crazy pay
Niggaz outta Queens got shit on lock
Strapped with the glock, runnin up in yo' spot
Define the 5 NYC boroughs
If you had to pick towns/neighborhoods that defined the classical character of each NYC borough, what areas would you choose? In other words, if you pictured "Brooklyn" or "Queens" in your head, what different geographical sceneries immedately appears? Disregard all the recent gentrification that is going on. I want to figure out the traditionally perceived identities of the five boroughs.
1. Manhattan :
2. Brooklyn :
3. Bronx :
4. Queens :
5. Staten Island :
thanks
Manhattan: borough #1
Brooklyn: borough #2
Bronx: borough #3
Queens: borough #4
Staten Island: borough #5
you're welcome
I know you're just kidding, but in case the question was confusing, I wanted you to pick towns in that specific borough that best represented its traditional image. For example, for Manhattan, some people may consider Times Square to define manhattan, some may say it's the lower east side, some may say harlem, some may say the Upper West Side. There's obviously not gonna be just one area. I just want to get a broad range of ideas.
I have no problem with your ranking though. LOL. Although I must say I would rank Queens a bit higher due to its abundance of authentic ethnic foods.
east side.... thug side.
west side....money side
southwest side...hispanic/latino.....
downriver.....wanna be ganagstas/rednecks
suburbs
detroit that is...
nyc.....hmmm........whooohaaaaa....as busta rhymes would say
metamechanic, I know it's an impossible question, but your answer was exactly what I was looking for. I understand that a place as colorful as NYC could never be defined. I just wanted a wide range of different opinions on areas that people "consider" to be representative of each respective borough. Thanks for taking the time to answer my question.
Queens:
Howard Beach, 95% Italian
Brooklyn is Bass
Manhatten is taxed as hell
Who goes to Queens?
Where is Statan Island anyway?
Whitey get shot in the Bronx
too much booty too much booty too much booty in those pants
soho: outdoor mall with random europeans and tourists; too many signs
williamsburg brooklyn: hipsters.. not the original kind; expensive stores in cheap buildings
lower east side: punky and drunky
staten island: not sure how you are supposed to get there....
bronx: too high up to get there
times square: hell/tourists
queens: not sure... never been
park slope: families in nice brownstones; a park
central park: nature and all its glory i guess.
i love how Staten Island is completely ignored
Thanks again for everybody's input.
If you had to choose the top three neighborhoods, regardless of borough, that had the most beautiful collection of brownstones, what would they be?
standaman, what's your angle? Nothing wrong with your questions but it just seems pretty specific/insistent to be only random curiousity. Also, I think wikipedia has pretty lengthy write-ups of the specific neighborhoods.
Although it is indeed a very broad question, I will stick my neck out there and give my opinion on the subject:
New Yorkers' view of Manhattan - probably Greenwich Village / West Village.
The rest of the world's view of Manhattan and NYC is general: Times Square.
I would like to nominate Fort Greene as the prototypical / ideal Brooklyn neighborhood.
I only recognize NYC as having 2 boroughs.
Thanks guys for bearing with my awefully vague question. Here's my story.
I shooting a photography project. I'm shooting "easily recognizable" NYC neighborhoods (hopefully some from all 5 boroughs) in dramatic sunlight conditions and making them look somewhat "anonymous." The general archtiecural forms will immediately give off a hint as to what part of NYC it is. However, through the high contrast of light and shadow some archtiectural details will be blurred and some will be accentuated. As a result I can create a wildly unfamiliar atmosphere of these familiar settings. My deadline is the end of this month so I don't have too much time to travel around. Through the question I was trying to narrow my targets to the most commonly familiar streetscapes of NYC.
Once again, thanks for all the help guys. I've gotten some great suggestions.
Maybe this isn't pertient to your particular photography thesis, but something you could explore that's totally fascinating, and very few people in NYC ever do, is how radically each Borough can subvert it's own stereotype.
For instance, Bronx is thought of as South Bronx, bombed out Hi-rise housing projects, etc, but you go a couple miles east to Riverdale and it's an exclusive sleepy residential community with winding roads in the hills over the Hudson. It could pass for the Connecticut suburb in the Ice Storm. Somehow standing on Manhattan ave. in Greenpoint always transports me instantly to Europe, and not just the Polish signage, something about the scale of stores, mix of retail products, I don't know but its totally the main street of a mid-sized Italain, Austrian, Polish town.
City Island, to the east of the mainland Bronx, a tiny New England fishing village that apparently has it's own accent (though I couldn't detect it.) And like the earlier post said Roosevelt island is a very weird, uber- planned socialist Scandanavian city. Totally 1960's time machine.
Maybe this is more a cinema thing than photography, but it'd be great to film those areas- pass them off as something totally else and then say "no I'm just playing with ya, It's actually the Bronx (queens, S.I., etc)." Then see your audience's heads implode.
For either Prototypical N-Hoods, or brownstones- Ft. Green, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope- near the park are the really fancy ones- like Chuck Schumer's. Manhattan- Greenwich Village, Upper East Side.
I don't how much dislocation you can get out of the alternate blurring and articulation of details- but I'm not much of a photographer, you probably know how you're going to pull it off. It seems like a strategy for dislocation would be to contrast the image people have of these neighborhoods from films, casual tourism etc, with the reality of how they are actually occupied in present day New York.
For instance people in films always have huge apartments, like in 'Friends' and that's always just taken for granted. The few times a film shows a twenty something wage slave living in a realistically small apartment, then it becomes a major comic or tension driving element of the story. The irony is that its much closer to the banal truth.
meta... that's 3rd bass..... you know mc serch is in detroit now.... i'm supposed to dance at his daughters bat/bar mitzfa' thingy...... dopeness....
shit makes me cry when i hear that 80's/90's hip hop.... ....wtf happened.... ohh i forgot...puffy fucked it all up....and master P
^
^
^
^
gvg, you're advice is greatly appreciated. Your idea of the stark contrast between the stereotypically perceived imagery of NYC and the banal (or should I say charming) reality is a great subject that I might explore in a future project. I actually remember being surprised when I first moved to NYC two years ago. Who knew that the dark, destitute apartments you see in movies where deranged psycho killers dwell, are considered the average home in NYC.
Manhattan keeps on making it
Brooklyn keeps on taking it
Bronx keeps creating it
and Queens keeps on faking it
-bdp
brooklyn is overrated.
A site that is stereotypical Bronx is Co-op City, pretty seasily identifiable.
New York niggaz got crazy game
But outta town niggaz is all the same
Brooklyn niggaz get crazy loot
That's because when it's beef they ain't scared to shoot
Harlem niggaz know how to play
Mack the 600, gettin crazy pay
Niggaz outta Queens got shit on lock
Strapped with the glock, runnin up in yo' spot
boogie down
crooklyn
QB
shaolin
the city
I love how people who DONT live in any of the Borroughs have such strong opinions about them...
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.