New York metropolitan area: The Apex

[nygirl1]

Now I'd like to try and showcase some of the skylines and "skylines" around Manhattan. We are going to circumnavigate Manhattan counter clockwise so we'll go Bronx, Westchester to Jersey and then Brooklyn to Queens.

Inwood, Spuyten Duyvil and south riverdale in the Bronx


Bronx apartment towers




New Rochelle









White Plains

[nygirl1]

Now moving west of Manhattan to Jersey






Fort Lee, Jersey






Cliffside Park, Jersey





West New York, Guttenberg, Jersey





Newark
























Converted residential cluster in Jersey City





Journal Square, Jersey City



Jersey City

[nygirl1]

We'll end this tour off moving east through Staten Island toward the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens...hope you enjoyed.

Something in Staten Island I don’t know if it’s a skyline




Brooklyn





















Williamsburg, Brooklyn


Long Island City and Brooklyn



Long Island City, Queens













Coney Island, Brooklyn







Far Rockaway, Queens

[sterlippo1]

brilliant, thank you so much for all the hard work required to get all these posted. ....it's ok though if you had a little bit of Manhattan skyline in there though you certainly were in many areas that had good views but i get why you didnt

[nygirl1]

We're up to another best of tour. This time we'll head to the suburbs north of the city in Westchester County. The most desirable and often wealthiest suburbs of the city. When I first started doing these tours I initially wanted to go through the entire county but after mapping it all out it was just too overwhelming and I limited my tours to the southern half of the County which has cooler neighborhoods than the northern half anyway. The northern border of the county isn't even the farthest reaches of the New York Metropolitan area however, the areas north of where I'm showcasing generally become rather sparsely populated. All the best cities lie in the south, you have the Hudson River and Long Island Sound communities and the center of life in the county, White Plains. The way we'll do this will be similar to the the way we did Brooklyn. We'll begin at the Hudson river and travel south toward the major cities of the county's southern border. Then we'll creep up the Long Island Sound and dip into the county's south center. And with that I give you the northern suburbs.....


An introduction to our tour:


The Pelhams

Along the Sound Shore of Westchester county, this quaint and sleepy town is quiet, affluent and desirable for young middle class families. Pelham residents enjoy a short trip into the hustle and bustle of Manhattan on the Metro North lines but live in a small town atmosphere in a forested nook along the Long Island Sound….
















Ardsley is an affluent and quaint suburb of New York City in the hilly south central part of Westchester County. The area is predominantly white but maintains a large East Asian community as well, served by Metro North this area is a desirable location for New York City’s white collar upper middle class. The town stretches all the way from the interior of the county to the Hudson River. This particular area of Ardsley is the wealthiest and is referred to as Ardsley-on-Hudson.

Ardsley












Ardsley-on-Hudson









Tarrytown is an affluent village on the banks of the Hudson River between Sleepy Hollow and Irvington served by the Metro North Railroad. The village sits at the eastern side of the Tappanzee Bridge which spans the Hudson. It is predominantly white but has a growing Latino community. First settled by Dutch fur trappers and fisherman the village was a stop on the Underground railroad as it had become a center for abolitionist sentiment during the 19th century. By the end of the 19th century industrial barons and wealthy New Yorkers began to move into the area.

[ChiTownCity]

Originally Posted by nygirl1

Cool glad your coming out to the Big Apple. Where abouts?

I love the look of the Fordham/Tremont area in the Bronx, so if I can find a good place then it'll be between there and washington heights in uptown .

[nygirl1]

We will begin the tour along the Hudson River in the northern most section I've covered.



The famed village of Sleepy Hollow sits perched up over looking the Hudson River in southern Westchester County. The area which was settle in the 17th century by Dutch Planters grew gradually but remained largely agrarian. It is the location of local legend, The Headless Horseman after the story written by one of the greatest American literary figures, Washington Irving who is buried in Sleepy Hollow. The quiet riverside community bases itself around quaint, centuries old streets built by farmers and the maritime industries. The area is working-middle class and is predominantly white but has sizeable Black and Latino communities with a growing Ecuadorian enclave. Sleepy Hollow is home to the picturesque cemetery that bears the same name, the Hudson Valley writer’s center, the old Dutch church and the Rockefeller state park preserve. The legend of Sleepy Hollow is set in Dutch Tarry Towns foggy glen of Sleepy Hollow at the turn of the 19th century. The stories protagonist is Ichabod Crane a school master, madly in love with the one of the village’s wealthiest's daughter. He is pursued by the ghost of a Hessian soldier who had his head blow off by a stray cannon. He rides freely on horseback through the village terrorizing the Dutch post revolutionary Hudson Valley.

[nygirl1]

Heading south now into the Hudson river communities of Irvington and Dobbs Ferry


Irvington is an affluent suburban community along the Hudson River in southern Westchester County. The community which is upper class and upper middle class is served by Metro North. It was settled by Frederick Philipse granted the property by Van Der Donck as part of the Bisightick Tract and confiscated after the revolutionary war and sold to local patriot farmers. By the middle of the 19th century the railroad was built through the growing village. The name was changed to Irvington in the middle of the century in honor of Washington Irving who was raised in the river community. Wealthy New Yorkers were attracted to the quiet, picturesque slower paced life of Irvington and moved into the area in droves in the later half of the century. Spectacular Mansions and estates were built all throughout the area but less than half remain today. In town there are loads of restaurants, shops and cafes leading toward the rail station which is accompanied by the river and waterfront parks. A memorial for Washington Irving now stands along Broadway which links all the Hudson River communities as well as a statue of Rip Van Winkle in town. The area is home to scenic Hudson Park and the old Croton trail way which runs along the croton aqueduct and spills out onto Matthiessen Park which it borders with neighboring Tarrytown.







































Dobbs Ferry is an old Hudson River village. A strategic location during the revolutionary war Dobbs Ferry was named after a Hudson river ferry service that played a vital role in the war on behalf of the Continental troops let by George Washington. Today it is well to do, middle class and ideal for growing families sitting in desirable location along the Hudson just outside the city. Dobbs Ferry is serviced by Metro North Rail and enjoys a quiet and safe atmosphere in leafy southern Westchester county overlooking the Palisades.

[nygirl1]

Continuing south along the river


Hastings-on-Hudson is an artsy Hudson River community in southern Westchester County. The area boasts spectacular views of the Palisades and the Hudson River flowing toward Manhattan. The village had been purchased by a Dutch Carpenter from the British crown and leased to French Huguenots, Dutch and English farmers. The area was a virtual no man’s land during the revolutionary war during which it was ravaged. After the war it developed around the quarry industry. This middle class residential community has attracted artists and taken on the image as a haven for free-thinking artists for the past decade. It has well preserved historic homes and a brilliant foliage during the Spring and Autumn months.

[nygirl1]

Now we move south towards the border with The Bronx and city of New York.


Yonkers has been settled since the late 17th century. For eras it was used for planting but soon enough the village, which sits on the Hudson river just north of the Bronx border, developed an industrial port. It was home to some of the regions wealthiest Dutch and British families. The area boomed with industry of all types after the revolution and thrived during the 19th century. In the later decades of the 1800’s it was incorporated as a city. The nation’s first golf course is built in Yonkers. The city’s golden era lasts only long enough to decline in the shadow of Greater New York City. It was the site of elevator manufacturing, a carpet mill and Brass era automobile factories. After world war two the city couldn’t compete with cities elsewhere and industry dwindles. Yonkers is home to an old, large, Irish and Italian community and hosts large St. Patrick’s day and Columbus day parades. There is also a large Slavic community within Yonkers with pockets of Polish, Czech, Russian, Ukrainian and Croatian communities. The city is split into 4 parts; The north east and northwest and southeast and south west. On the south west side, Yonkers is predominantly Latino, African American and West Indian. On the city’s south east side are the Irish and Italian. The north east also houses Italians, Irish, immigrants from the former Yugoslavia and the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods. The north west is generally an equal mix. During the 1980’s with job losses on the rise in the city of New York, wealthy families began fleeing to the Yonkers neighborhood of Crestwood. Enticed by it’s urban atmosphere, distance from Manhattan and excellent transportation system the cities fringe neighborhoods became desirable for those wanting to live a quieter life outside the city yet still be able to live an urban lifestyle. The city had a dark side in the form of institutional segregation in both housing and education. The city schools hadn’t been integrated until 1988. By the end of the decade the city was in the national spotlight for refusing to build promised municipal public housing on the east side. The federal courts found the city in contempt and it’s backwards and racially corrupt city government revealed to a larger audience.

Around Getty Square, uptown Yonkers and the foggy waterfront






















Yonker’s south west side









The Irish south east








The Italian south east







Different locations throughout the north side

[nygirl1]

Now we'll move east along the border toward the city of Mount Vernon


Mount Vernon is a small city in southern Westchester County. It had been settled by Dutch planters as early as the middle of the 1600’s. The city was named after the plantation that the first president, George Washington, spent his last years while the neighborhood of Wakefield in the Bronx just to the south of Mount Vernon was named for the plantation that Washington was born on. The area grew slowly. It wasn’t established as a city until the middle of the 19th century though it developed mostly out of successes made in Yonkers and New York City, Mount Vernon had light industry. In it’s hey-day when the film industry was still in the New York City area actors and actresses settled in Mount Vernon’s Chester Heights, most prominently along the Esplande. When the film industry moved to southern California so did former Chester Heights elite. The city experienced terrible segregation along the lines of the Jim Crow South. During white flight when Bronx Jewish, Irish and Italians were moving into Mount Vernon they met with African Americans who had already been settling the area and establishing a working class community. Eventually other areas of Westchester were settled by the former and the latter defined the city that believes for the next several decades. Today the area is predominantly African American, however Mount Vernon is also very diverse. The city is home to several ethnic backgrounds including Brazil, Afro-Caribbean, Indian, Turkish, Jewish, Italian, Korean, Trinidadian, Puerto Rican and west African. Chester Heights remains middle class with lush tree lined streets and large homes. The south side has degenerated and currently has an awful gang problem. Mount Vernon is split into four sections; Downtown, the south side, the northside and the east side including Chester and Vernon Heights. Downtown is centrally located and centers itself around Grammatan and Fourth Avenue, the heart of it’s retail industries. The north side of the city is middle class and characterized by its laid back but urban atmosphere, large brick co-op apartment complexes and tree lined avenues. The north side of the city is where all of it’s diversity lies. The south side and Vernon Heights are predominantly Black and Latino. They are both nearly total residential and sit on rolling hills.

Downtown Mount Vernon




















The North Side

















The South Side














Chester Heights


















The Esplande









Vernon Heights

[nygirl1]

We'll take a quick dip north of Mount Vernon before heading toward the Long Island Sound to the neighborhoods of Bronxville and Tuckahoe


Bronxville is an affluent village in southern Westchester county and is one of the most desirable New York City suburbs. It is also one of the wealthiest areas in the United States. The community had long been settled by farmers before the population boom moved in with the railroad. Throughout its entire existence, Bronxville, has been an affluent area. The Kennedy family has resided in Bronxville as well as the widows of Civil war generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee. Tucked away under oak tree’s and rolling hills the neighborhood is quite appealing with it’s bustling bistro’s and café’s, high end boutiques, stunning housing stock and quiet atmosphere.










[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2449/...2b9774f7_b.jpg [/img]



















Tuckahoe is a racially diverse middle class neighborhood in southern Westchester County served by Metro North rail. The area built up around a quarry that provided marble unique to the area. This marble was used for construction on St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York Public library, Washington Square Arch and even parts of the Washington Monument in the capital. The area has recently undergone substantial redevelopment projects but remains today, a quiet residential nook outside the Westchester cities in the New York metropolitan area.







[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3520/...6d426847_b.jpg[img]

[nygirl1]

Jumping south again toward the Long Island Sound's shore and the city of New Rochelle



New Rochelle has been settled since the late 17th century, the earliest non native settlers were French Huguenots seeking religious freedom. The settlement grew into a large village with steady fifty year French migration. French, the dominant culture and language was widely practiced and used. For years it remained a quaint, Long Island sound farming community. As the city of New York grew exponentially dude to the first major waves of immigration, “nativist”, middle class generations old American families fled for Westchester and many settled in New Rochelle. The French populations began to move out of the area but still dominated social and political influence within the community. By the turn of the 20th century New Rochelle was established as a city. It was considered an affluent, small sized satellite city of New York throughout the 20th century. It has recently revitalized it’s core downtown and is still currently in the process. Today the city can be considered racially and economically equal, boasting Iona College and The college of New Rochelle it is also a college town. The suburban neighborhood of Wykagyl is white collar consisting of reformed-Jews and White Anglo Saxon Protestants. This wooded community features large gorgeous Tudor homes and quiet streets. It is one of the wealthiest area codes in the nation. There is a massive working class community and for the most part, New Rochelle is a single family community dwelling community. Middle Class. New Rochelle is served by commuter rail (Metro North) to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan.

Downtown in New Rochelle
















Quiet Huguenot Park on the north side










Wykagyl area







West side of New Rochelle

[nygirl1]

Now we'll move north east along the Long Island Sounds shore to what Westchester refers to as the Sound Shore communities..


Larchmont settled in the 17th century by British and Dutch colonists the area remained mostly made up of wealthy estates and large manors. It initially developed as a resort community for the wealthy elite of New York City. The cottage community grew and developed more gradual than other areas of Westchester. The village like it’s neighbors is a magnet for French-Americans. Today the community is vibrant and affluent, middle-upper class.


































Mamaroneck was settled by Englishmen first in the middle of the 17th century and remained a largely planting based society. It developed into a town split into villages as the rail lines reached it mid 19th century. With its access to the shore it developed as a resort community and the summer location for Manhattan’s wealthiest. If the area seems sort of ‘Norman-Rockwellish’ it’s because Norman Rockwell resided in the area before retiring in New England. Today the area is a thriving commuter rail town, home to a sizeable French American population but enjoys healthy diversity. It is one of New York Cities most desirable suburbs.






















Harrison does not lie on the Long Island Sound shore but sits in close proximity and is more in touch with communities to it’s south than the city of White Plains and south central neighborhoods. Harrison was settle late in the 17th century and named after the English man who first settled it. It grew with the railroad and industry developed in its central village. Harrison is split into 4 distinct areas to its north east is Purchase, West Harrison serves as a White Plains suburb in the North west, the south is the village’s downtown and then the residential zone south of downtown. Harrison is a desirable New York City suburb, upper middle class.

[nygirl1]

continuing north east along the Sound brings us to the communities of Rye and Port Chester and the state border with Connecticut


Rye is a quiet little city in the south of Westchester County. The city is home to the historic amusement park, Playland, which features one of the oldest wooden roller coasters. The area had been settled since the middle of the 17th century. Rye is home to an upper class community that enjoys the quiet oasis that feels much more like it were far out in the country side rather than 15 minutes from the next dense community in the metropolitan region of New York City. Rye is heavily wooded and has a small core offering fine restaurants, antique shops, book stores, café’s and boutiques.






























Port Chester is a village on the Long Island Sound on the south shore of Westchester. The village is part of the town of Rye, not to be confused with the city of Rye. It has been settled since the middle of the 1600’s and carried a small maritime residential community. The community slowly grew around a modest downtown off a light shell fishing and boat building industries. It is home to a mostly working class Hispanic community but has recently seen steady growth in its Brazilian population. Port Chester is quiet, there’s not much to it but it’s visually appealing. Walking through it’s core in late spring and early summer you can smell rodizio style Brazilian Barbeque emanating in the air. The area is serviced by commuter rail road Metro North to Grand Central Terminal.

[nygirl1]

Now we're heading back into the interior of the county, north west of the sound and cities of Mount Vernon and New Rochelle...the neighborhoods over here are called Scarsdale and Hartsdale


Scarsdale was a royal manor during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. By the end of the 1700’s the manor was broken up and Scarsdale developed. It officially became a town by the 1790’s and for the first half of the 19th century remained mostly a farming community. The town blossomed as rail connected it to Harlem. Scarsdale is home to the upper crust of high society in the White Plains region. This charming area is defined by it’s large pre war apartment complexes, high end retail and slow paced life settled under the trees in the hilly south central Westchester County.





























Hartsdale is an upper-middle class hamlet outside of White Plains in south central Westchester County. The area was settled by wealthy British Colonists who utilized the hilly terrain for tenant farming. Some revolutionary war skirmishes occurred in Hartsdale. After the Americans won the revolution the wealthy loyalists fled leaving their land to be confiscated and sold to the tenant farmers who remained—most of which were descendents of the Hart family. The land continued into the 19th century as a farming town until the Harlem Railroad bought deeds to lands running through the area. Like other Westchester boomtowns, rail drew new families and industries. The popular east coast Ice Cream parlor, Carvel began in Hartsdale where an Ice Cream truck driver broke down and sold his in tire stock before it melted—he later bought the plot adjacent to the hotspot and built the franchise from that location. There is a significant Japanese population downtown. Today this is a desirable Westchester community, quiet and secluded but not lacking in urban amenities.

[nygirl1]

Heading north of the Scarsdale, Hartsdale area brings us into south central Westchester and the city of White Plains


White Plains saw its first non-native settlement when in the late 17th century puritans migrated to the area from neighboring Connecticut. It became the county seat of Westchester in the middle of the 18th century. New York delegates whose signatures made it to the Declaration of Independence received the documents at the courthouse in town. The revolution would later sweep through the same area. White Plains like the rest of Westchester saw a population boom as the railroad built through it. In early 20th century White Plains, downtown develops into a major suburban shopping center. The region grew further as the parkways build through it. The image of a new, modern, center for retail and commerce, transportation hub is enhanced. White Plains role was served as a major shopping city and commercial hub in popular and growing suburban Westchester. It was the capital of the northern suburbs of the city. The 1960’s urban renewal plans destroyed portions of downtown and featured the Galleria and new department stores as well as new residential space. The area became a magnet for businesses leaving New York City during the era. The area only continued to see steady growth and its image as a retail hub that is constantly progressing with the times. It’s the successful former Manhattan businesses that still thrive in White Plains as well as retail companies investment to the area that drives White Plains. The city enjoys a year round farmers market, broadway theater, sidewalk café’s, restaurants, bars, large prewar brick apartment complexes and the success of locally ran businesses and. It is served by Metro north, is in south central Westchester and considered a successful, satellite city of New York.
























[imghttp://farm3.static.flickr.com/2711/4028018585_e284b69ee3_b.jpg[/img]

[nygirl1]

Ending our tour in an area north of White Plains heading into the center of the county is Valhalla


Valhalla is a small hamlet in south central Westchester County north of the city of White Plains. The area features the Kensico dam in Valhalla park and is serviced by the Metro North lines. The community is mostly white, middle class. It is quiet, ordinary but off the beaten path.

[Dylan Leblanc]

Nice, I enjoyed seeing some of the surrounding skylines.

[nygirl1]

Just realized how poorly my descriptions are worded. I really rushed them...I'll revise them later.