Nightlife?

LOOK! IT'S THE REST OF MANHATTAN HANGING OUT AFTER DARK!

As a non Spanish speaking citizen of upper Manhattan, after dinner I am left wondering what to do with myself. Are there bars up here or anything to do for a 20 something non Spanish speaking guy?
I find myself having lots of movie nights and creating experimental martinis with friends. (The newest experient is a Ginger Apple Martini... strong but good.)

But other than what we provide ourselves with to do, I find that there is nothing else to do. It is really really boring up here after 9 pm.

The most unfortunate part about this entire situation is that it is too damn noisy in my neighborhood to go to sleep early if I choose to.

I end up heading down to Midtown or somewhere below that to hang out with friends and grab a drink. But like I have said before that leaves me in a bit of a pickle as to how I want to get home. Usually I do end up taking the 1 or the A running local all the way home. It is a pretty crappy ride all the way back up. But unless it is after 2 am you will usually have a good amount of company with you in the train car.

But really Inwood.. there is a lot of money to be spent if you would simply open a crappy little bar for us to spend it at. Maybe on the vacant corner-- a nice coffee house/cafe. Booze isn't totally necessary.

But if anyone knows where "it" is at in Inwood-- drop a comment. We'd all like to know..

Review: Japanese Outlet!

I used to live in Hartford Connecticut-- and when I lived there-- they had an amazing market called A Dong. Now, while A Dong had all things Japanese, as well as some chinese and korean imports it was also the size of the Fine Fare. If you cram that all down and take out the food aspects of the A Dong Groccer. You would end up with 'Japanese Outlet.'
Japanese Outlet is a cute little little store on Dyckman street, near where it intersects Sherman.
The store is exactly what it says it is-- a Japanese Outlet.
It is sort of a Japanese version of a dollar store. When i went there I was in search of things to make the new apartment homey, and since a lot of my color scheme is black and red- many of the accents from a japanese outlet would fit right in.
But when I got there I found that they mostly had little things-umbrellas, balloons, and almost all of them Japanese imports. I ended up getting; 6 Magnets, and chopsticks.
The staff is really helpful. They didnt have any magnets out when i went by, and i asked the lady behind the counter if she had any in stock. She smiled and went out the back door, and up a flight of stairs and came back with a big bag FULL of different magnets. I got a couple of magnets featuring wine bottles, as well as a frying pan, and a birthday cake-- they all stick to my fridge very well.
Anyway. It is what it is, a Japanese outlet/random stuff store.
I fly by there when ever i need something a little different than what the 99 cent store on Dyckman can give me. Cause honestly, a lot of the things at J.O. are better quality than a normal dollar store. They also have some cute tea pots and stuff like that as well as some specialty items that you would only find in a Japanese store- Especially cookware items.
It is a very unique establishment in this part of town.
So definatley stop by and peek in.

For what it is, its pretty great-- and they sell fresh cut flowers out front.
Worth the INK- Its the only place like it up here.
7 out of 10.

Not that I have been to a lot of japanese outlet stores, but I didn'd find what I thought i would there, which was some japanese art to decorate the new place with. Sort of dissapointed. But I have a feeling they have different items in stock all the time-- all the more reason to pop by and see what is new!

**
The shop is between Sherman and Nagel on Dyckman street. Pop on by.

The Best Place To Breathe In Manhattan

If you have not heard yet... Inwood is surrounded by parks.
It is so refreshing to get off the train and inhale. The air up here is just different. It isn't that thick, sugary, vomit-scented, times-square jello air. It isn't "the tide is obviously in and brought some used condoms up-stream" air. It is a clean scent that due to our elevation has somehow managed to keep all the 'New York' out of the breeze. So if you haven't yet-- just come up town, hang out at The New Leaf Cafe in Fort Tryon Park, have a glass of wine and BREATHE.

Review: Il Sole

This is one of the only sidewalk cafes/restaurants in Inwood. It has an Italian menu-- which you can see HERE. It is at 233 Dyckman street.. I eat there whenever I want to have the experience of feeling like I am in the meat packing district but don't feel like taking the train. However, there are some differences between a sidewalk cafe in the meat packing district and our Inwood's lovely Il Sole.

It isn't a large restaurant- so getting a table quickly is no trouble really. Sadly though, if you sit outside chances are some fat guy or guys is going to ruin your evening by smoking a huge cigar. It seems the management has neglected to enforce the New York smoking ban in eating establishments. Also if you sit outside on a warm summer night, you will have a lovely view of the gas station in all its florescent glory. But these are easily remedied by sitting just on the cusp of the patio and the inside. Tadah-- no more glaring lights and much less of a chance for smoke inhalation during your supper.

Now to get on to supper- I started out with a Mojito- which was actually really excellent and relaxing. My friend ordered the chicken Francais and I had the chicken Marsala. Our waiter was wonderful. He was really personable and took our orders with a smile and brought the food very quickly. When it arrived though, I was disappointed to see that though we had ordered different things- they looked almost the same. They were thin pieces of salty sort of dry chicken with a small side of pasta with different sauces. I have to say that it was almost too salty to eat. I have no idea if this is typical of their preparation, but it wasn't pleasant-- but thankfully it was cheap. The menu-- if you haven't looked already is VERY reasonably priced-- and for the ambiance that you get with out the hassle of leaving Inwood it makes for a nice night.

I want to go back though and order something else. I feel like the chicken was an accident somehow, or they had run out of fresh cuts of meat and had to use precooked frozen chicken. I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt. But by the second Mojito- I was kind of okay with the fact that the food wasn't absolutely delicious.

So.

Not worth the INK. But they make a good drink.

Il Sole is very cute for Inwood- but hasn't amused my taste buds yet.

6 out of 10.

Review: FINE FARE

So I am a sometimes picky eater. I am a "foodie." I like to have the freshest produce when I cook, and I need the best cuts of free range organic meat if I am going to bother putting dead animals in my mouth due to guilt caused by my semi-vegetarian past. So that being said...

Welcome to your neighborhood grocer! The Fine Fare; located on Broadway just north of Dyckman. The Fine Fare is open 24 hours a day which makes it the only place really to grab a bite to eat in the hood after hours- ( though there is a 24 hour buffet on the corner of Broadway and Dykman--but i have not yet eaten there- food that sits that long makes me nervous....)

So Fine Fare! As you can tell, this is a unique store. It has a rather cheeky decor, and I hope to one day own my very own gigantic chicken to place on my roof.
So you walk in and in front of you is a small case of 'freshly made sushi.' I have eaten this, and it is exactly what you expect the only sushi north of 181st street to be... The rice is dry and I worry about getting sick from eating it, but only because to me dry rice means that the sushi has had time to get a bit of air on it which is not good for raw fish.
Raw food originated because the upper classes could afford the best cuts of meat and when meat is served extremely fresh in a raw state it is quite delicious and safe to eat. However, if sushi containing raw meat has sat out to the point of the rice feeling a bit dehydrated, I am sure that within that time it could have come to contain some not so happy bits of bacteria and such. BUT-- so far so good! No puking- and I am happy to say that I do still once and a while have sushi from Fine Fare at 10 pm ( it gets a bit dry after midnight.)

But lets break it down- Important things about the Fine Fare;
-Cheap Roast chickens pre-packaged and pre-cooked; 6 bucks.
-An okay deli with a nice side case of luxury items. I.E. Cheeses and meats and Pate, oh my!
-Pretty good selection of tropical fruits
-Fish and lobster in the back
-nice selection of veggies, but the quality isn't consistent.
-Sushi case
-Everyone is Bilingual, but all to very different extents and abilities.
-good selection of ice cream :)
-A poor selection of organic foods.

So those are things I think are important in the store. If you have questions about other things that you think are important- please comment on this blog and I will edit and add in the answer to your query.

Now for the not so happy portion of this blog...
When you are feeding your community it is your job to make sure that you are giving them food which is safe to eat.
On several really upsetting occasions I have felt as though the Fine Fare does not have it's customers best interest at heart.
The first incident- I was making pasta for some friends for a small dinner we were having, and I went out and purchased some Pasta sauce (aisle 1). When I got home, I opened it and the inside of the lid was COVERED in mold as was the surface of the sauce. I was mortified. I went back immediately with my receipt and walked up to the first employee I could find and popped the top open for them. Thankfully they empathized with me and told me to just go on back and get a new one and i didn't have to ring it up again or anything- just grab a new one and be on my merry way. The next jar was just fine. Phew.
The second incident..
I like Popsicles. A LOT. So, a friend and I went to get some "FEAR FACTOR PUSH UP POPS." Long story short; Melted icky old disgusting. While they were fear factor pops.. they were a little more frightening than I think they were intended to be. I called the customer service number and received in the mail a coupon for 6 dollars worth of any ice cream product from their company.
Well, I went back and picked out my ice cream, and then I also got another item bringing my total to; one free ice cream product, and some other products worth 6 dollars and 45 cents.
This is where language barriers suck. I tried to explain my coupon for free ice cream and the woman at the register just did NOT understand what I was trying to say, and I was really nice about the whole thing. So, at the end of all this, calamity and a few people helping both of us out--they only charged me 45 cents for everything. I tried to give her money in the correct amount for what i owed, but she wouldn't let me, and I basically walked out of the store with 6 dollars worth of free food, and one free ice cream product. What you can take away from this story-- is that the people at Fine Fare really are nice people and want to help you, sometimes it just doesn't turn out exactly how you expected though.
And the third and final,, sort of an incident---
Like I said- meat makes me sad. I like to eat chicken every now and again, but Fine Fare simply does not have good cuts of chicken. They look gross, and it is hard to find a cutlet that is not hiding a bone in it. Sometimes they don't even have boneless cutlets and so you have to resort to getting a breast with the rib plate in it. So, I usually just don't eat their chicken. The beef looks alright. But like i said-- the store is never stocked consistently so don't fall in love with anything for too long.
Now checking out can be a process- the lines can be long sometimes. But usually I can get in and out of the store in less than half an hour.

Ahem.. so anyway.
So yea..
"Fine Fare-- it isn't Whole Foods."

Icky lighting. Inconsistent stocking. A few luxury products.
Oh-- and they have some nice wine and beer.

Worth the INK- just cause you need to know what's up.
6 out of 10.
But it IS the best grocery store in the area.

This... is the other option...the "SELECTO SUPERMARKET" on Sherman...

*shudder*

Review: the UPS store

I work as an actor and a writer, and i need to do things quickly and mail things often. Thankfully there is a UPS store here for me. They have Internet access for people who need to use a computer, and they have all the things you would expect them to have as a UPS store. The one thing they have which is an added bonus is; nice employees.

The staff is made up of two or three 20 somethings who all speak Spanish and English. But they are some of the nicest people I have ever met. They all do their job very well, and do it quickly. UPS has all their prices set so there is never any confusion over what something is going to cost. The prices are all decent too- and it is right next to the subway station and the Fine Fare on Broadway and Dyckman (200th).

So if you need to make copies or cut an 8x10. Head over there- they will treat you well and help get you in and out fast.

Total INK!

10 out of 10-- Ive never had a problem and it is always fast.

THE EMPTY CORNER

STARBUCKS STARBUCKS. PLEASE GOD LET IT BE A STARBUCKS.

So the south East corner of Broadway and Dyckman is vacant. I think that we need to fill it with something useful and wonderful and something that everyone should pass on their way to the subway in the morning. What better way to start your day than with a trip to Starbucks. So here is what I have done, and i urge you all to do! I have written several letters to Starbucks through their website. They have a section where you can request locations. How great is that?? So please if you want a Starbucks at 200th street-- visit the Starbucks website to help us get a decent cup of coffee in the morning. http://www.starbucks.com/

Review: Park View Cafe Restaurant

My good friends who live west of Broadway and whom I used to stay with on visits, brought me to this restaurant when I was thinking about where to live in New York.

It is called the Park View Cafe Restaurant and it sits one shop in on the north side of Dyckman and Broadway over looking the Ring garden.

Sidenote..... The Ring Garden could be very very cute and wonderful. It is the only key garden in Inwood, but it is so full of plastic chairs and is always cluttered with garden tools and crap that it is so messy that no one would even bother to sit around in it when it is open. With a little professionalism on behalf of the gardens it could hit full potential and truly be the "gem" it is described as being by the Ring folks. Anyway.. back to Park View.

So, things to know about this place. It is a diner atmosphere with good light and great music. They play a lot of Cole Porter and 30's and 40's standards. The wait staff is sweet and attentive and know all the regulars.

But the thing you must know-- is that the food is EXCELLENT.

The menu is amazing, and goes above and beyond most menus because when they say "Greek burger," it truly is topped with the biggest piece of delicious Feta cheese you will ever eat. The presentation is always amazing too and the french fries are similar to Burger kings--- which in my book is sort of great.

My favourite thing to get there is a chicken sandwich. It is always well cooked and not chewy, and comes on a really nice piece of what i recall to be foccacia.

The coffee is always good too.

It is honestly hard to complain about anything.

I did order the buffalo wings once, and I don't really care for the way that they cooked them. They were not as meaty as I had hoped- but they were okay. The blue cheese that came with them was thick and chunky and exactly what it should be for diner buffalo wing fare.

So really, this place is amazing and comfortable to stay in for a while. Good service, nice music and tasty food. That is all i really need up here-- and i have not found that anywhere else above 180.

It is not 24 hours, but it does deliver. So if you are in the area, stop by and pick up a menu. You will not be sorry you did.

Totally worth the INK. 9 out of 10.

Horrible Getting Home

As I had said in a former post- The A is not running up to Dyckman.

Well, I was having drinks with a buddy down in midtown which lasted till 2:30 am. So, we are all done and I am ready to hop on the 1 train to head up town.

I waited for the 1 train until 3:30 am.

It was horrible.

I should have known something was up when I saw an abnormal amount of people in the station. I waited at 50th street as three '2' trains went by, and finally took the fourth to 96th so at least I'd feel like I was making progress.

So. Let me tell you about the 2.

Firstly, the two goes to a part of town which many people consider "unsavory." So naturally the moment I get into the train car, a fight broke out between two drunk girls sporting their best muffin tops over the sides of their jeans.

Then--- as we passed oh... 72nd I think... A guy comes into out car with a big bag on. He announced he was selling two 40 oz. for twenty bucks and then went around whispering something about some other drugs that he was selling. Classy.

So I got off on 96th finally, and there is about oh,,, 400 people waiting to get on the one train, which has not showed up for an hour or more. There are about 10 cops waiting on the platform as well, perhaps to keep us from killing each other and falling off the crowded platform in the ridiculous heat.

People were passed out on the ground and if not committing to their exhaustion, then they were bitching loudly to whomever would listen. Some even bitched to friends who didn't exist.. crazy folks- love em.

I let myself start my lucid dreaming. I wonder about the mole people who I hear live in the subway. I wonder if they live above ground ever, or if they live under new york in a mutant village of outcasts like in a cartoon... I wonder if they eat the rats. Because if they do- they are actually very wonderful people- not that they are not anyway. But because they are an important part of the ecosystem which I learned about in 10th grade with Mrs. Kneeland. Mole people would keep the rats in control. I bet them rats are spicy.

So. Finally the train comes, and we all clap and fight each other for a seat.

The moral of the story is. Just take a damn cab. It is about 20 bucks but you go RIGHT UP the west side highway! And some cabbies take credit cards now.

But the one comfort I DO take in riding the crappy MTA with 400 people at 4 am, is that i was totally safe with all those people around. No fear of muggings. Woot Woot.

Review: Todo Barato

Welcome to TODO BARATO- Or as Alta Vista Babel Fish Translator informs me; ALL CHEAP.

These words ring true as I shopped for curtains for my new apartment.

I have pretty big windows, and was kind of mortified at the prospect of finding nice cheap curtains to cover them with.



I had tried target but wasn't happy with their selection of curtains, and then I was walking around the hood looking at what we had when I found this emporium of everything cloth. Curtains and rugs, and sheers- OH MY! It was great. So, i spent a good time looking at all the wonderful colors, and checking to make sure the seams were well made so it could endure the kind of torment all my personal belongings seem to go through. The people were very helpful and very personable, and I got two curtains for 15$ each, and two curtain rods for 10 each. They are pretty fricken amazing I must say.


The only problem with the store is that some of the curtains are a bit dated and overly textured. They seem a bit thick at first glance, but when you get them away from all the other intensely colored curtains, you can tell what they are really going to end up looking like.
The employees are bi-lingual, so as long as you speak English or Spanish you will be just fine :)So if it is curtains of any kind you need I TOTALLY think TODO BARATO is the best place to go. Target is a close second if you want to pay way more for something that may not look as good. But hey, check those tassels.. that is class :)

Todo Barato: Totally INK. and an 8 out of 10. -- I didn't fancy the shower curtains much.

The shop is on Dyckman between Nagel and Sherman-- near the Dunkin' Doughnuts.

Review: Nagle's Hardware

Moving into a new place is never an easy thing to do. It always comes with lots of surprises. But thankfully I found Nagle's Hardware. This store is great. It is packed full of everything floor to ceiling you could almost ever need. But more than that- the people who work there are WONDERFUL!



I have needed the strangest things from metal piercing screws, to picture ledge hangers. But most recently-- Steel wool, and roach traps.



I was on the phone with my friend the other day when a GIANT roach crawled onto my bed. I had been in the apartment for quite a time and so his arrival was rather unexpected. Needless to say I did not scream like a girl. No, I stabbed it through the head with my handy dandy pen.



This did however prompt an entire assault on every corner, nook and or cranny of the apartment. But where did I turn in this time of need??? NAGLE'S HARDWARE! Located on Nagle and Thayer street (199th).

I went in and no sooner than i had stepped into the over crowded shrine to all things manly i was being helped by someone who immediately found me; Steel wool for any openings around pipes, ducts, or cracks, some INTENSE roach spray poison, and glue traps galore!



Well, to all those who helped me at the store-- I have not seen a ugly giant roach since. All dead.

Granted I don't think anything could live in the apartment after what I did to it. I basically bug bombed the place for 2 days and stayed with a friend till the fumes had settled.



But Yes, if you need to get something for any sort of handy project or home project-- look no further. Nagles is totally worth the INK. 10 out of 10.



Way to go.

Review: Splendid China

I was so excited to find that my neighborhood was brimming with Chinese food take out joints. I think it is great to pop in to a take out place and hit them up for some beef and broccoli after a long day. Due to SPLENDID CHINA's close proximity to my apartment, I decided I was going to try their food first.

I walk in with a growling tummy excited for the cheap but savory food which I have grown to love. The restaurant has a small area for about 4 people to sit and wait for their food, or eat in if they do so desire. The two people behind the counter were Asian men in what appeared to be their very early 20's. I was excited to support the place as it was also the GRAND OPENING for SPLENDID CHINA! Lots of banners had been up ( they have been taken down since and now the restaurant appears as it does in this photo.

One of the young men came to the counter and asked how he could help me. I told him I would like some beef and broccoli-- which is very very moderately priced- and that Id like to try their wonton soup. Two of my favourite take out dishes. I waited about 7 minutes at the most at the one table when he came back and told me to choose what soda i wanted which came free with my meal. They had root beer so i was THRILLED. I paid for the food, which was very very cheap and felt heavy as a waddled home.

In the kitchen, like a kid on Christmas opening a box full of excited puppies, i unwrapped my food. I noticed first that they had not given me chopsticks... which I was disappointed in because I think chopsticks make everything taste better. Then I opened the Styrofoam container that was stapled shut. . The meat was weird looking and shriveled. It looked like it was made of the cheapest most fatty meat they could find. The broccoli was limp and pathetic looking. But no matter-- I was starving and couldn't wait to dive on in. I stabbed the fatty meat and put it my mouth and began to chew it. The brown sauce that is supposed to be the most delicious part of the meal and the primary flavour and marinade was underwhelming. The meat, as i expected was very very fatty, and didn't have the texture good beef should have. It was like eating hot wet dirty shoelaces. I began to salt the food in preparation to enjoy the broccoli. But sadly, it was not enjoyable. It felt and tasted like it had either been cooking all day, or frozen for weeks prior to its journey to my mouth. It was soft and tasted as though it had been about to flower or had begun to before it was thrown in a wok.

The rice that came with it was fine, it wasn't anything to call home about-- but on the plus side- there was A LOT of it. On the 'not so hot' side, there was more rice than there was B&B. So, I knew it wasn't going to be an awesome meal but i would end up full.

Next up, some wonton soup. The broth was nearly flavourless. Now understand me-- I am not a smoker, i have very refined taste buds and enjoy naming all the spices in any dish i know. But this was most certainly a diluted chicken broth with no added salt or seasoning. But the wontons floating in this yellowish water were not too bad. They were pretty doughy. Its as through the wonton dough prior to folding was not rolled thin enough. But they had a pleasant sort of taste and I was beginning to salt everything till it tasted like something at this point anyway.

But I shouldn't have expected too much. You see, it was about 6 bucks for all this, and i swear it must have been two and a half pounds of food. So, I ate, and was full. But couldn't think about keeping the leftovers for later- just not worth it.

So-- is SPLENDID CHINA worth the ink? or is it Rinky-Dink? on a scale of 1 to 10 Splendid china earns a 3. All that is guaranteed is that you will be full at the end of the meal- everything else seems a little to sketchy to count on.

UPDATE!!!

On the other side of the block is a Chinese restaurant... I went in,, got the same order, and had the same results. Now that i view to photos side by side i see why. Apparently someone has a monopoly on the Chinese food take out game in Inwood. NOT THRILLED. And not worth the ink. But I shall keep consuming Chinese take out till i find "THE ONE." ...stay tuned....

Trains in Inwood

So-- The trains up here are usually great.

They run local on the weekends and local after 11 give or take a few minutes.
But the one issue up here is; often they will shut down the A train for a weekend from 207 to 168th street.

Now I woke up all refreshed and spunky this morning- in fact as i entered the A terminal at Dyckman I commented to myself on what a perfectly nice day it was- when suddenly I was greeted by several different people with sour looks on their faces. "You gots to to get on the shuttle- there aint no service."
So we all scamper as fast as we can to the corner by the park to catch the shuttle (Broadway and Thayer) cause we hear the bus coming.
Now, ladies and gentleman.. I do not mind a bus, they are great for getting across town and such when you need to go from 84th CPW to E 84th. But taking a bus down from 200th to 168 is a miserable thing. For some reason people like to request stops at ridiculously close intervals, so what should have been a 10 minute trip MAX, becomes a 20 minute trip.

Now when one has to be somewhere promptly- because if he is late it means he need not come at all -- it can make what was going to be a 25 minute trip into midtown into an excursion worse than a diarrhea induced panic attack.

So the bus finally reaches 168th and all 80 of us packed on it scurry down a little hole to get on the A train which is running local.

Thank God I am moderately neurotic and like to wake up all fresh and perky and get places early. Or I would have been at least a half an hour late where as I would usually be half an hour early. I was right on time.
So i suppose the moral of this story is that when you live so far from your place of work- you need to allow yourself an excessive amount of time to account for the MTA's inability to inform the public of train changes.

Oh that and apparently now there are tornadoes in new york city, and since the MTA cant cope with ANY AMOUNT OF RAIN... hail a cab when you it drizzles.

You can also find out more about service changes at the MTA website: http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/

Thankfully living where I do- You are never far from the 1 train as well. Which feeds into the Bronx and has a nice Target store just over the canal in Marble hill.

The 1 train is located at Dyckman and Nagel.

Just moved in

Hey Everyone-

So I just moved into a studio in Inwood Manhattan.

I started this blog so I could tell you just how it is up here in the "Hat" of Manhattan, the Singers Slum, the end of the A, the place I now call home. :)

Inwood is the area loosely defined as Manhattan above 190th street.

Some Historical Highlights

(source: The Encyclopedia of New York City)
1626: The Indians may sold Manhattan Island to Peter Minuit in Inwood Hill Park for trinkets.
1748: Dyckman Farmhouse was built by William Dyckman; burned down by the British, the house was rebuilt in 1783. Today, it is the last Dutch farmhouse in Manhattan.
1965: Malcolm X was assassinated while addressing a rally at the Audubon Ballroom.
1990: The Dominican Community in this area was the largest in the US.
1992: Guillermo Linares was the first Dominican elected to public office in the US as Inwood's City Council Member.
Today: Inwood Hill Park (196 acres) contains the last remnant of primeval forest in Manhattan.

But to those of us who live here it is where we come home to after a long day and a long train ride (on weekends and after 11- otherwise it is 20 minutes or so to midtown)

I live east of Broadway, and am a minority in my neighborhood. As a white non-Spanish speaking male, I have had a bit of culture shock since I have been here.

The way people communicate and spend their time here is so much different than anywhere in Manhattan.

There is a large sidewalk culture that exists in front of every building. In our building the super reigns as king over the sidewalk and all the kids who live here call him "Papi" or "Abuelo."

He has been great to me, and I can't quite tell if he thinks I am a total moron for not knowing Spanish and such- but he has always helped me out when ever i needed to install A/C or locked myself out.

BUT DAMN it is noisy.

People never go to sleep, and a lot of the people have very little volume control in this neighborhood. Since I don't speak Spanish well, I never know if they are yelling at each other because they are happy, or because they are angry.

Recently New York introduced "Silent Night." An operation meant to keep the city quiet in residential areas so people can get a little shut eye. All you need to do is call 311-- which i have done but it doesn't seem to do much.

After the first month here though, I did manage to somehow block out the noise. Most of it is conversation. But every now and again strange things will happen that are more disturbing than just noise.

The other night while walking home a group of about 25 10-15 year old kids were beating the crap out of this one little kid and his friend. But the kid kept coming back, and it was right out side my apartment. That was a 311 night... lol..

But mostly the neighborhood is good. The language barrier is sometimes annoying and I have been searching for a laundromat that will consistently charge me the same rate. But I like it enough. The main reason for moving here for me was the vast green spaces in the area and its relative distance from mid-town.

I have access to the top of the west side river trail, which is an amazing pedestrian and bike path stretching from Dyckman to the Battery. It is one of my favourite things about the area. That and Fort Tryon and Inwood hill park are amazing and unique sites in Manhattan.

The apartment is a good sized studio with nice thick walls, and a sunken living room. Ill try and post some photos at the bottom of this. The problem is is that it is noisy with a door that leads right into the main entry vestibule... - its not really a lobby, and its not really a hallway. But the kids play hand ball in it, and it echoes like in cartoons. It is basically a split level apartment. Technically it is the first floor, but there are people who live below me, so it is really a second floor apartment-- and it is nice to be off the ground a bit. But yea,, the noise sucks. SUCKS.

But anyway----

My goal is to take you on a journey around my neighborhood and let you know what it is really like for a little white kid living uptown.

So check back, and you will hopefully meet my neighbors and see what is up up in Inwood.This is the finished product after moving in. Cozy, huh? :)