My name is Anjali and I live in Woodside, Queens. It’s a predominantly Irish neighborhood but, it’s also a diverse place with other ethnicities as well. The street I live on is called 50th street, Fitting street. The Fitting name had just been added a few years ago. The area is a working, middle class neighborhood. I live in a two story home, along with a basement, that’s part of a landmark so the houses are all connected. Behind the houses on my block, are parking spaces. Each house owns four parking spaces: two outside and two garage spaces inside under the houses that are connected to the basement. The outside garage space can also be utilized as a place where teens and kids can play and ride their bikes, skateboards, and walk their dogs. Some people have parties or barbeques. There are also trees, plants and other naturally occurring vegetation.
The residents living on the second floor have balconies with ladders so they have easy access to the roof. The residents living on the 1st floor would have to access the roof by using the 2nd floor ladder. People use the balcony to suntan, read, get some fresh air and grow their plants. To access the space there are two public entrances for the vehicles to enter and exit. One entrance is located near the beginning of the block and one near the ending of the block. Each of them are a couple houses away from the corner of the street.
Skillman avenue is the avenue I live on. There’s a Keyfood store, a Martial arts dojo, a cafe, a salon, a laundromat, some pubs, a few deli stores, a Chinese take out store and a Japanese restaurant. The area is slowly getting gentrified . Some of the delis were replaced by snazzy, trendy cafes.
Some residents have attics in their houses. It’s visible from the outside where the top of the house, where the attics is, would have a window. Some of the houses would appear to have an attic with the extra roof, but without a window.
There’s a small porch in front of every home. The trash buckets are placed in a corner. Some people use the space to plant their gardens. Some people use the space to have barbeques, lounge around, and engage in various activities. Some people have a combination of both garden and lounge area. A majority of people on my street have pets such as dogs and cats. Some people have unusual pets like chickens and other farm animals. There are some apartments located at the end of the block and the rest of my block contain two story houses. Some houses have more rooms than others and are designed a bit differently interior wise. There’s at least one large tree in front of every house that gives my block a homey and fresh feeling from the beautiful oxygen. The neighborhood looks beautiful when there’s sunlight shining upon my block. The road is currently being fixed because the workers were fixing the potholes.
