What do the ghettos of your city look like?
I apologize if this has been done before. I did a quick forum search but couldn't find a thread - just a random post or two in other discussions.
In St. John's, they tend to be simply the most plain and dilapidated of our numerous rowhouse developments and they're also almost always public housing.
I don't think it would really be an exaggeration to say that most of our ghettos are reasonably clean, safe places to live with friendly but struggling families.
However, there are some that are quite problematic. Here is an example of just such a ghetto from downtown. Note the garbage strewn about - some of it is a result of Hurricane Leslie but not much. It's usually quite messy here. Also note the car parked on the lawn. Another sign of ghettotude.
These houses are only a single floor high on the other side, built into a steep part of the hill. From the other side of the street, which is a through-street and not a dead end, they look nice enough.
In the Ghetto by
SignalHillHiker, on Flickr
The sides of the houses are surrounded by broken beer bottles and childish notes scrawled in pencil, such as, "So-and-so is a ***** and is gonna get her face beat in!".
In the Ghetto by
SignalHillHiker, on Flickr
And here is an example of the type of people associated with ghettos in St. John's. They're called skeets. This video parodies their ways of talking, the types of activities they engage in, the clothes they wear, etc. They're infamous in St. John's as an entire subculture that the more sophisticated mainstream can't relate to at all... the opening scene is filmed steps from where I was standing to take the first picture above.
• Video Link
We also have some rather interesting ghettos with that typical British design: rowhouses built around a common, semi-private courtyard.
Here is an example, which, unexpectedly perhaps, is only steps from the one photographed above:
From the street, they look like typical, unattractive rowhouses:
In the Ghetto by
SignalHillHiker, on Flickr
There is a small lane leading up between two of the houses to a common courtyard:
In the Ghetto by
SignalHillHiker, on Flickr
Places to play, sunbathe, dry laundry, etc.
In the Ghetto by
SignalHillHiker, on Flickr
In the Ghetto by
SignalHillHiker, on Flickr
(The houses in the background are in the first ghetto I posted pictures of).
In the Ghetto by
SignalHillHiker, on Flickr
EDIT:
An aerial view of both from Bing:
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In The Ghetto: Canadian Style
To me, it's just a part of town where you're likely to end up if you're on the margins of society, an area where upper middle class people would never go and certainly would never live, etc. Areas where it's very likely that if that's where you're born and raised, you'll never get out of there.
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