Eishika Ahmed, 18
Eishika lived in Jackson Heights until she was 16, in which her parents moved their family to Bayside, a residential and suburban neighborhood on the border of Queens.
Amrin: Hi I’m Amrin and today I am interviewing my cousin Eishika, who lived in Jackson Heights up until she was 16, and then moved to Bayside, a Suburban neighborhood also in Queens. Eishika, do you want to introduce yourself?
Eishika: Sure! My name’s Eishika, as Amrin said. I go to NYU, I live in Bayside, used to live in Jackson Heights, and [today I’m] just helping out with the project!
Amrin: So we can go straight into the interview! So the first question I’m going to ask you is, “what is your relationship to Jackson Heights and how did you come to call it home?”
Eishika: Well I lived there pretty much since birth or like since I was one or two years old so it’s pretty much all I remember, all I know. Prior to living in Jackson Heights I lived in some other neighborhood in Queens, but obviously I was 1 so I don’t remember it. But I went to school in that area, all my friends live in that area, so yeah I was all I knew for most of my life.
Amrin: Nice! Okay so how was the neighborhood like when you first arrived, which you might not remember (haha), so how was it just like when you were a child like during your childhood?
Eishika: I mean growing up it was really close knit I guess is how I would describe it, at least on my block. Like I knew my neighbors or like our families knew each other and we would play with like the kids next door or whatever. It’s changed a lot mostly because I think like gentrification contributed to a lot of it, you know there’s like a bunch of Starbucks near there now and I know it’s gotten a lot more crowded for sure and a lot more like people moving in from different parts of the city; so I don’t think it’s as close knit anymore but that’s how I remember it when I was growing up.
Amrin: You mentioned gentrification. Is that the biggest concern you have about the neighborhood or are there others?
Eishika: Oh yeah for sure that gentrification is probably my biggest concern, not even just about [Jackson Heights] but like about New York City in general. Like if you go on TikTok these days there are videos of like “come to New York City and make your dreams come true and live like a hipster” or whatever, which I think is dangerous because a lot of people come here and then they don’t realize like a lot of the negative effects of moving out people who are more low-income. So that is one of my biggest concerns.
Amrin: You also talked about gentrification affecting the sense of community, so what was that sense of community like for you before and after gentrification really increased?
Eishika: Well before like I said, we would play with the neighbors kids and there was like a park nearby so a lot of like after school evenings and stuff were spent at the park just running around. After gentrification or as it gradually happens, I guess families start to move out of the neighborhood. It got really really expensive actually, to live there. Like even my house there now is worth a lot more than it was previously, but yeah it definitely did get a lot more busy and less personal. There’s just more people that you didn’t know and more people that you couldn’t really talk to as much moving in.
Amrin: Were there any like ethnic or cultural groups that you interacted with a lot in comparison to others in the neighborhood?
Eishika: It’s definitely mostly an Asian and Hispanic neighborhood. In terms of like Asian [it] is a very big subgroup. I mean there’s lots of subgroups inside the Asian umbrella, so I don’t think there was one specific group. I mean there were definitely a lot of South Asians and Southeast Asians that I grew up with and also like in my school a lot of Southeast Asians and Hispanic people.
Amrin: Were there any groups that you didn’t really see a lot in the neighborhood that you didn’t really interact with?
Eishika: Not a lot of white people in my school at all from what I remember. And also not any on my block, like my two next door neighbors were both Asian and I think maybe there was like one white family at the very end of the block. Also not a lot of Black people either.
Amrin: On a lighter note, what is your favorite spot to eat in Jackson Heights? Do you have a favorite restaurant or anything?
Eishika: Yeah, Farine Baking Company [was] probably one of my favorite spots to eat. I went there a lot in high school with my friends and stuff.
Amrin: Is there a reason why you pick that one out of all the other many restaurants in the neighborhood?
Eishika: I really like sweet food in general. It had a lot of good desserts and it was also “aesthetic” I guess. Whatever that means. I like places with a good ambiance, let’s just put it that way.
Amrin: What kind of cuisine is it?
Eishika: Mostly American style food I guess, like burgers, fries, chicken and waffles, mac and cheese. That kind of stuff.
Amrin: Do you have a favorite meal or go to order from the restaurant?
Eishika: I liked their cookies and I liked their chicken and waffles.
Amrin: Okay so last question about Jackson Heights in general: how would you like to see Jackson Heights in 15 years?
Eishika: That’s an interesting question. 15 years. I think I would like to see it a lot better than it is now because of Covid, it’s a lot emptier than it was before. Especially at the beginning of the pandemic, it was like really empty all the time, which was sad to see. I think I’d like to see it just as diverse as it’s always been, like I definitely wouldn’t want to lose like a lot of the culture that’s made Jackson Heights what it is. So I would want to keep it as diverse and as representative of New York City as a whole as it is right now and it’s always been. And that includes diverse food spots and not just diversity of people but like the food and the different things you can find there.
Amrin: You mentioned culture in Jackson Heights. Do you see any of your own culture in the neighborhood?
Eishika: Oh yeah I mean I’m Southasian and Jackson Heights [I think] is like one of the most populous neighborhoods probably on the East Coast or at least in the tri-state area for South Asian people in general. I read an article that talked about demographics, and besides New Jersey (New Jersey also has a lot of South Asian people), I know Jackson Heights is a hotspot.
Amrin: Great. Okay so now we’re going to move on to more specific questions that are catered to you just about moving from Jackson Heights to Bayside. So what was that like, the whole I guess difference between the two neighborhoods?
Eishika: It was kind of stressful at first, sometimes it still is. I remember we moved like the last day of my finals, like finals were over and then I went home and we had to pack and well we already packed and stuff but you know we had to move everything out. It was a huge adjustment, I was really really sad for like many months, especially the first weekend there because all of my friends lived in Jackson Heights and (well Amrin lives here! Hey Amrin! And a couple of my other cousins) but a lot of people that I went to school with [were in Jackson Heights]. I went to a K-8 school, by the way, so my entire childhood was spent with the same people and they all lived in Jackson Heights. So coming here was kinda like pulling the rug out, I guess. There’s [also] no subways here so it was hard to get to school for a bit and actually it still is because I go to school in Manhattan. It was definitely a big change.
Amrin: What do you think was the biggest difference between Jackson Heights and Bayside?
Eishika: Definitely like the loss of people and how sprawling it is here. Like in Jackson Heights you would have stores on every single block and like lots of activity, people always walking around. You never really felt alone. Here, like I said it’s a lot more sprawling, there’s like the stores are clustered together so you kind of have to walk a bit from the parts where all the houses are to the parts where all the stores are, so it’s a bit less accessible I guess. And without easy transportation, it’s not really a convenient place for a lot of people to come and go so I think in general it’s easier to feel a lot more isolated here [Bayside].
Amrin: So you’re saying that it feels more isolated, so do you think Jackson Heights had a better sense of community?
Eishika: Yeah I think so I mean I could be biased because I lived there for like 16 years and so obviously I might have a better sense of community there. Maybe if I lived [in Bayside] for like the same amount of time maybe I think that’d like Bayside also had the same sense of community. But I think it is a lot easier for a community to be built when you’re around people all the time, like how can you not kind of be engaged when you’re around people all the time, whereas if you live in a neighborhood and suburbs, you have your own house in your own backyard and then you’ll see like your neighbors on your either side but you won’t really have that same interaction.
Amrin: So you mentioned diversity and culture in Jackson Heights that was very prominent, do you have that same experience here in Bayside?
Eishika: Honestly no. Both of my neighbors on either side are white. I think it definitely is a lot less diverse here or at least on my block from what I’ve seen or like the small little part that I live in. There are parts that are busier and I guess like have more diverse people, people of different cultures I guess. Like when I walked to the really huge park that’s like a couple blocks away during the summer, there’s a lot of people there from a lot of different backgrounds but talking about just my block compared to what I lived in before, yeah definitely a loss of culture.
Amrin: Okay so Bayside / Oakland Gardens right, that’s a very suburban area it’s very far away from like everything but Jackson Heights, that’s kind of like a very urban center so what was your experience like with these two worlds? Which one do you prefer?
Eishika: Well me I always prefer more urban areas than suburban ones. A big part of it is because it was just what I’m used to and I grew up there. I get really bored easily. I feel like without just constantly having people around, I feel like there are always like things to observe in busy neighborhoods and places to go. And like I said it’s a bit of a walk to get to like the cluster of stores, so if I want any food or even the Starbucks is like a 20 minute walk away so it’s definitely like I said a lot easier to feel isolated, so I do prefer urban centers because of that.
Amrin: Okay Last question! Which neighborhood would you call home?
Eishika: Probably Jackson Heights if I had to pick between them. Bayside has only been my home for like a year and a half now so I don’t know if I can call it home yet but yeah probably Jackson Heights.
Amrin: Okay thank you Eishika, for all of your input about Jackson Heights, it is very appreciated!
Eishika: Thank you for having me.
