The Calloway Chateau happens to be about seven blocks from where I live, right on the other side of the Long Island Expressway. Having been in that area many times, it’s intriguing that I might have passed right by it and never even dreamed of the kind of the multiculturalism within. Although the Calloway Chateau is technically in Corona, it borders my neighborhood, Rego Park, and therefore has a mix of all dominant cultures in the area . Therefore I was not surprised of the different ethnicities that inhabited the building: Hispanics, Pakistanis, Indians, Ukrainians, Russians, and Guyanese, to name a few. What was interesting to me was that there was no clear majority of people in the building, as certain sections of neighborhoods in Corona and Rego Park tend to be inhabited by certain groups of people.The environment of the Calloway Chateau might be the closest we have ever gotten to the melting pot ideal, where different groups of people are tolerant of each other, share small parts of their culture, and invest in their community by helping with electronics, pipes, or sickness.
An example of this can be seen in this passage from Mehta’s article:
“As you make your way through the hallways, you notice that many of the doors of the apartments are wide open, as in a dollhouse. Within each one you can see people sleeping, watching TV, eating. Most of all, you notice the aromas of competing cuisines — the cumin and mustard of Indian cooking, the yeasty aroma of Russian bread, the sizzling pork chops of the Latinos.
The most basic kind of interaction in the building is the exchanging of food. On the Muslim holy day Eid al-Adha, the Pakistanis distribute choice cuts of goat meat — the liver and the testicles — to the Indians; on the holiday of Dewali, the Hindus give boiled milk sweets to the Muslims. An Uzbek lady who bakes and sells big rounds of salted bread to her own people for a dollar gives it free to the Abichandani family. “
This passage reflects the most organic kind of cultural mixing. Different cultures cohabit with each other, but there is no forced intermingling or pressure to assimilate yourself. When sharing does happen, it is small and of the culture’s own free will; it is a way to express camaraderie and gratitude to your neighbor.
The reason Ellick failed in his quest was because he had no specific plan to learn about Jackson Heights. Perhaps if he had tried to find a contact in Queens who would be willing to show him different third places of his or her own culture, Ellick could have had a better experience. It was obvious that by himself, Ellick was confused on the “conventions” of the neighborhood he was in and felt out of place. The use of the phrases “ethnic underworld” and “exotic environments” makes it seem as if Ellick is trying to discover an underground club scene where amazing rituals, dances, and “exotic” celebrations happen, when really these third places are where people of a certain background frequently go to in their neighborhood for respite or simply to meet others from their homeland to try to feel more at home in a new country.
