On Friday, May 8th, we – Briana and Winnie – took the 6 train up Lexington Avenue to 110th St, a stop farther north than either of us had been in years. We spent time exploring and observing 108th Street, between Lexington and 3rd Avenues, and 3rd Avenue, between 108th and 109th Streets.
108th St Bet. Lexington and 3rd Ave
In our observation of our section of East Harlem, one interesting feature that we noticed was the abundance of parking lots within and even around our two blocks. On both sides of 108th Street, there were two large parking lots that were closed off by high reaching barbed wires. The spaces were occupied by a variety of cars, from more older abandoned looking ones to newer ones in better condition. There were about 4 trees on each side of the block, not including the ones in the small space in one of the two parking lots that resembled a small garden. There was a lot of garbage, but it was mostly tied up in bags and left on the edge of the streets for collection or contained within trash bins along the blocks; however, there was a decent amount of dog feces scattered throughout the sidewalk and streets. The buildings adjacent to the parking lots were all currently occupied and had an older, familial crowd that entered and left the buildings. Most of these residents were Hispanic. On these apartment buildings, the paint on the walls was chipped, especially around the windows. The buildings looked relatively more modern or expensive than those on neighboring blocks (on both Lexington Ave and 3rd Ave, there were complexes of projects in this area). Additionally, on both ends of the block were public parks, one with a middle school’s playground attached to the back. We noticed, however that in the school’s designated playground, there was no equipment or “jungle gym”-like features; it was just a concrete field for students.
It was a lovely day weather-wise that day, so the part of the park open to the public was filled with families. There jungle gym and the fountain spurting water were both full of children playing. Mothers sat on the benches around this area, chatting and watching their children. There was a man with an Italian Ice stand selling ices and ice cream. Although the park was attached on the back end to the schoolyard and on one of its other sides to a public housing complex, there didn’t appear to be any conflict, just people of all ages enjoying the day. On the other side of 3rd Ave from the park, there were storefront businesses, including a chain eyewear store, a grocery store, a bodega, a “We Buy Gold” exchange, a sporting equipment store, a Dunkin Donuts and a hair-braiding establishment. The inclusion of the higher-end eye center, the Dunkin Donuts and the sports store might show that the neighborhood is on the rise.
Cool post. Just like our blocks, yours also had parking lots/garages. One of the blocks we observed, 100th St. between Lex and 3rd Ave, also featured small four story buildings that weren’t public housing projects and were being renovated due to similar damage like the ones you observed. interesting to notice similarities like this with almost 10 blocks in between our two sites.