Beechhurst
Sunday, May 5th, 2019
5:29 pm – 7:09pm
Light Rain (turned to regular rain), windy, humid, high 55
Streets walked on
I started on 150th Street (I thought that this was part of Beechhurst at first, but then looking at Google Maps, it was actually part of Whitestone). I turned right on 14th Ave and walked until 157th St. I continued to walk straight until 11th Ave and walked a block to 154th St, where I finally reached the border of Whitestone and Beechhurst. I walked straight on 154th until the end (Powells Cove Blvd) and turned inside to 158th St (a dead end). I turned back and continued to walk on Powells Cove Blvd until 166th St (the first and last stop of the Q15/Q15A, a QM2 and QM32 bus).
Description of Location
On my way to Beechhurst (and walking through Beechhurst), I’ve only seen one school (PS 193Q), but it was still in Whitestone and at the end of the school block (10th ave), you see the end of Whitestone and the start of Beechhurst. While walking towards Beechhurst, you could see a lot of stores in Whitestone, but on the border of Whitestone and Beechhurst, there were two plazas (on Whitestone border) and only around four stores on the Beechhurst border.
Walking around, I could tell this was a residential area only and the majority of the houses were single-family houses that were detached, but there were still a lot of houses that are attached units (but each attached house was still a single-family). Each house had a lawn, but the detached house had a huge yard and backyard. Each of the detached houses also had either two garages, or just at least two cars parked inside their gated property. According to City Data, we can see that the majority of the residents drive their car alone to work.
The sidewalks were pretty narrow (trees on the sidewalks), but they were intact (not broken or cracked) and in the middle of the roads, you could see that each yellow line perfectly fine (if present because on most roads, the yellow line was nonexistent). There were also no cracks or potholes on the road. Even the FDNY stand was visibly recently painted as you could see its bright red paint barely chipped. There were no traffic lights whatsoever (only STOP) and since there were barely any cars on the road, I was even able to stand in the middle of the road without worrying about a car coming. Overall, you could tell that this area was very well maintained (my friend actually lives in Beechhurst and guided me around and told me that they redo the roads about every 6 months).
As I walked down Powells Cove Blvd, I saw a “beach” at the end of 158th St, a dead end. When I decided to turn and walk to look, these houses were HUGE and when walking to the “beach”, it was gated and stated “Beechhurst Property Owners-Assn.” which meant that the “beach” was owned by the people who lived in the Beechhurst Property Owners houses. This was the only time I smelled something other than rain, it smelled the beach with very salty water.
Walking back to Powells Cove Blvd, I even saw a car improperly parked, but since it is such a quiet and wealthy neighborhood, I guess it does not even bother anyone living there, but I know if someone were to park like that in Flushing, they would automatically get a ticket. (There were no police cars or even police stations od fire departments around the area I walked).
Walking closer to the end of my destination, you could see Cryder’s Point Apartment (2 buildings), Le Havre (around 32 buildings: Le Havre Facts), and another apartment (I couldn’t see the name of the apartment, but its address is 7-02 160th St). Le Havre apartments also had parking lots for each building. Overall, during my whole walk, there was no particular smell in the neighborhood (except rain), but that was about it. Near the Le Havre apartments (after walking down the stairs to get shelter from the rain), I noticed huge puddles forming, but only one small sewage drain.
Description of People
During my observation, I only saw three other people. One was short (I was not able to see the face, only the back), but she was picking recyclables from a person’s garbage (I assume it is an Asian grandma — not to be stereotypical, but I see them do this the most) and the other two I saw were white older males. Both were getting out of their car (I saw them at different times) and one looked like he was maybe in his mid-70s-80s while the other one looked like he was in his mid-40s-50s. The elder didn’t notice me at all and simply went indoors. On the other hand, the middle-aged man continuously stared at me (I am not sure if it was because I was the only other person on the street and I may have looked suspicious because it was the area of the Beechhurst Property Owners or if it simply looked like I did not belong in the neighborhood at all). And once again, according to City Data, the majority of the residents are white.
Reflexity: Description of Yourself
During my walk, I did not physically feel out of place (because I was literally the only one outside) except when that middle-aged old man continuously stared at me walking away from the “beach”; it felt like he was staring at me to see if I was going to commit a crime. From the overall neighborhood, I definitely felt out of place in terms of race and social class, guessing that the majority of the people living there were white and of the upper-class. I also felt like I did not belong there just because of how nice and luxurious-looking most of the houses were as I am used to seeing my neighborhood with attached units and somewhat run-down apartment buildings. However, this neighborhood felt safe to walk around and it was very quiet.
Critical Reflections: Moving from Description to Analysis
I chose this neighborhood because, in class, we have spoken about zoning and how Moses’ plan of separating them (industrial, commercial, residential) and I thought that Beechhurst was a great example of this, especially after finding out that the plazas and shops and (one, singular) school were all bordering the end of Whitestone while Beechhurst was only a residential area. In addition to this, we also spoke about public housing and how people were struggling to find places to live, but I wanted to see the other side of that — the side where families make more money than the median income, do not have to worry about paying rent and have their own mode of transportation.
From this visit, I learned that their main mode of transportation was a car (as they had very limited buses and that most of the houses had at least two cars parked in their gated property. A fact that was just reinforced from my visit was that wealthier areas (in comparison to the parks in wealthy areas) tend to be more well-maintained to keep up an aesthetically pleasing picture (big houses, no potholes, no cracks on the sidewalk or road). It also reinforced the fact that wealthier areas are safer as there were no police cars or policing happening anywhere.
A topic that I would like to know more about is: who is in charge of the maintenance of the area and if the people have a say in what they want to be repaired (if there would ever be a need to repair something)? For example, the grass on the sidewalk is so pleasing to the eye with its full-of-life bright green color and is kept relatively short (in comparison to my neighborhood, where some of my neighbors let it grow out and never tend to them); does the city maintain that look or does the person who owns the property in front of that sidewalk grass tend to it? On a somewhat different note, something that I am very curious about is if people in this neighborhood usually go outside and walk around to enjoy the view and breeze because I have “visited” this area once or twice before, but only by riding on the bus to the last stop. If I recall correctly, similar to my walk on this rainy day, there weren’t many people outside either way or any children playing in their big yards and backyards. My question is: why do residents of this area decide to not explore and enjoy their neighborhood (compared to an area deemed “unsafe” such a Pomonok, where you see children playing in the parks and running around on the grass or just walking with their parents)? I could always ask my friend who lives in this area or if I ever go back to the neighborhood and see another person outside, just greet them and ask!
