Settlement Patterns

12/14/2017

I was born and raised on the South Side of Providence. Much like now, (and the times we are reading about), settlement patterns were oft times dictated by class status. Most of the houses in my neighborhood were two and three family homes, which were usually rented by tenants. Others were small one-family houses. I lived in the latter. There were many different languages spoken on my block, and so I grew up understanding and embracing other cultures. For lunch I ate papo secos and kale soup with my Portuguese neighbors, and for dinner, I had joloff rice and cassava leaf with my Liberian comrades two houses down. I learned that the family across the street from me, who had recently immigrated from Australia, spoke English as their native language (albeit with what I considered an indiscernible accent). And I was even taught French for a whole summer by their exchange student from Paris. It wasn't the nicest neighborhood, nor were the people always the friendliest, but we all learned to live amongst each other in harmony. As you travel a mile or so down the main road, the houses get bigger and more beautiful. The cars also get nicer, and the storefronts morph from liquor stores and bodegas, into pharmacies and high-end boutiques. Trees line the litter-free sidewalks, and people travel aimlessly on them - towed by small dogs - seemingly without a care in the world. It gets quiet at night there. All you'd hear were crickets. It was a far cry from what I was used to, a very different world. What is it like in your neighborhoods? What do the houses and businesses look like? The people? Are there fences? Do folks get along? Can you borrow sugar from your neighbor? What do the surrounding neighborhoods look like? Are there distinct sections determined by class status or racial classification? Tell me all about it. I want to know. Be sure to comment on the stories of others, but most importantly, respect the rules of our blogosphere.

44 Comments

Jaychele-Nicole S.

12/15/2017 10:09:37 am

I was born into an East-Side bred family. Up until i was one, I lived in the East Side of Providence which is where most of my father's side of the family still resides. My father wanted me to grow up somewhere that was safer. He wanted to avoid me waking up in the middle of the night due to gun shots, which I truly appreciate. My father ended up moving us to a deemed middle class-to-rich neighborhood. Our house is in Warwick, but close to Cranston and Providence as well. We may be the only colored family on the block, but I thank him for put me in a safer spot. When I was little and used to go trick-or-treating, our neighborhood would give out the best candy, full-size and all. The next block or so over, there is a circle of houses that could be classified as mini-mansions. There are also multiple cops that live on our street.

My mother's house, and area, is not as fortunate. We live closer towards Olneyville. My mom's house is an apartment with about 5 or 6 neighboring apartments. To be honest, it may be that I've only lived there for about 4 months, but I know none of my neighbors.

My dad's house has two floors, and a basement. My mom's house is a single floor. At my mom's, there are two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room. My dad's house is more extensive, containing a dining room, a kitchen, a huge yard, three living rooms, two bathrooms, and three bedrooms. My dad's neighborhood is more welcoming where I could go play outside and have conversations with my neighbors, and my mom is the opposite. The neighbors in my mom's area scare me, in all honesty. It may just because I don't truly know them.

Mr. Husband

12/15/2017 10:19:15 am

Family of color, not “colored” family. “Colored” is considered derogatory and offensive.

Natalie C.

12/15/2017 10:17:12 am

I have lived on my street since I was born. One of our neighbors had moved away a few years ago, but we still keep in touch with him, even though the man is very old, has many illnesses, and can't really go anywhere anymore. Our other neighbor is very nice, and she will usually come over to talk to my mom about something, or the other way around. Just two weeks ago, Walmart called her and asked if she could sing Christmas songs there, and she accepted. My mom and I went there to support her when her family couldn't go see her.

Most of the families near our house are nice, I guess. There is this one guy who is always coughing and hacking a few houses down, and it can even be heard from the end of the street. Sometimes it makes me wonder if I should be a little more concerned about my hygiene, and not getting sick. There are also kids on our street that are ALWAYS outside riding their bikes and screaming and being really annoying. They're usually out until around, one in the morning, and my family and I always wonder if the parents even watch them at all and if they even care about their children getting lost or hurt. Also, the street in front of us has a house that is always blasting music, especially in the summer. Every Saturday, they would be paying loud music and partying until midnight, and my mom would always have to call the police to tell them to quiet down. It gets really annoying.

There is an older man who lives toward the end of the street whose name is Sam. My mom always tells us not to have anything to do with him, because apparently he has molested young girls on our very street. There was one time when I was walking to a small restauraunt to get some empanadas, and he drove up to me, asking if I needed a ride somewhere. Of course, I said no. When I told my mom, she got furious, she didn't want me walking outside for a while for my own safety.

So, there are nice people on my street, and not-so-nice people. Some of them are just so suspicious that me don't even bother to try talking to them. We are pretty close with the houses closest to us, though. The surrounding neighborhoods are pretty suspicious. Every time we drive by, there's just this weird feeling I get that tells me, "Be glad you don't live here!" I don't know. But anyways, there aren't really distinct sections that are determined by class status or racial classification. There are people that we stay away from, but the neighbors that we are close to feel like family to us.

Nia H.

12/15/2017 10:20:06 am

I live in the South Side of Providence. On the street I live on, some of the houses are big, some are small, some have on family living inside and others have multiple families living inside.

On my street, there isn't really a mix of people. the people there tend to hang around and socialize with people of there own race. When me and my family go to dinner parties around my house, there is usually only one race there.

On Broad street, there is a bunch of Spanish restaurants, food trucks, stores, and at warm summer nights people are blasting Spanish music until 3 am. I think that this might say a lot about who settled here first. My dad said that when one person comes here, they invite all of there friends and family to come here and that cycle just keeps on going.

I feel that they settlement pattern is that most of the Spanish, Asian, or African American people (basically the minorities) either live in apartments or really small houses. And a lot of the white people live in the big houses with just a family of 4 or 3.

Aliyah

12/15/2017 10:21:28 am

My neighborhood is very different. There is mostly Black and Spanish people with a few White people here and there, but we usually all get along. In front of my house there are two abandoned houses where people have broken in and done drugs in there, mostly weed, and that toxic smell fills my nose almost all the time. My street is filled with big houses, such as mine. But there are some small houses, but not that many.
At the end of my street there is a corner store and on the other end, there is a hair salon, Chinese food restaurant, and a school where my sister went.
Just about every house has a fence to separate you from the other person. Most of them are broken, like mine, but some are in good shape. Everyone else's drive isn't connected except for mine. My driveway and my Nana's driveway are connected. So I can go over whenever I want.
But our ends of the street is very dangerous because there have been a house fire, gangs, drugs, gun violence, and a drive-by shooting. So it isn't the best of neightborhoods.

Jaden H.

12/17/2017 12:06:37 am

I enjoyed reading your blog. Something that differs yours from mine is that in my neighborhood they're are not that many black people which is quite surprising. Good job!

Noah S.

12/15/2017 10:23:34 am

For my entire life I have lived in the same neighborhood on the east side of Providence. Within my lifetime, this area has been a pretty "nice" neighborhood by most standards, but "nice" really doesn't mean anything. Sure, the most crime that happens on a daily basis is somewhere around a speeding ticket, but no one is living an easy life. Everything is, as Mr. Husband describes, just quiet.
As strange as it may sound, this area is not a very friendly one. Most people try to mind their own business, and any times that there are interactions it is a bit awkward and unwelcoming. There are a few families who have lived within spitting distance of me that I've never talked to.
The houses of our neighborhood are definitely nice, and look like the stereotypical white person house. A few blocks over to Blackstone Boulevard is a line of mansions. That is our gild.
It is difficult to define how we live because we could be compared to some and seem rich, then compared to others and seem poor. Really, trying to create an economic comparison is impossible, because the data just ends up being confusing, and impossible to classify the rich from the poor from the middle class.

Tako P.

12/15/2017 11:11:38 am

I am surprised to hear you say that people dont talk much with their neighbors. The east side is usually really welcoming.

Julian G.

12/15/2017 08:08:39 pm

I think that, as you hinted at, the East Side is a perfect example of "gild." I mean, almost everyone who hasn't lived there thinks of it as the place where all the rich, happy people live, but, in truth, that's not all of it. I mean, of course, there are the nice cars and fancy houses, but there is certainly less credit given where it is needed. I think it is a really interesting and (probably) true point that you brought up about that fact.

Aiden M.

12/15/2017 10:53:17 am

My neighborhood is just your average middle class area. Most buildings are either short and small one family houses or tall and skinny two, three, sometimes even four family houses which are rented out. While my third floor neighbors are idiots and are very rude to both their children and anyone else, the rest of the neighborhood is decently mixed ethnically, racially, and religiously. A couple streets down take a couple turns and you have yourself a relatively big public elementary school. Go the other way and go left you have a corner store, houses, a church, a CVS and Walgreens (which always seem to be competing), a flower store and to the right from their is a couple of restaurants and a library. But coming back to my street. There are usually small wooden fences between each "yard" and if need be you can always borrow something from your neighbors. Unless their cranky.

Tako P.

12/15/2017 11:05:28 am

Where I live is the epitome of the suburbs. Deep in the depths of middle classness. I have always lived in the middle. I live in Oak Hill, on Lafayette street. It is about a 2 minute walk to to three sisters and 1min from Blackstone Boulevard. It is quite sweet. The houses on my street are medium sized. It isn´t a very diverse area generally, but we are kind. We often complain to our neighbors and argue about politics. I know most of the kids that live near me, especially my across the street neighbors, who I grew up with. There were 11 children total living there, in the biggest house on our street. I was not allowed in their house because they were orthodox, and they only offered me food when they learned that I was half Jewish. We made snow forts together and I learned about their culture. On the other side were two Russian twins that loved to play basketball and went to la salle. Their mother had a Lexus that she would park annoyingly near our driveway. I first learned of karma when the twins first learned to drive, and they crashed it. A block away lives the kids I babysit, Nora and Henry. There house is very nice and I recognize it because it looks like there is a pineapple on their door. Two streets over, deeper into Pawtucket, the projects are like, somewhere there. On the flip side, it gets wealthier and wealthier as you go towards the boulevard. I live close to Ela and Noah on one side, and Chris on the other, but we all live very close.

The bisnesses are very hippie near where I live. I live near Garden Grille, Wildflower, Three Sisters and The Olive Oil Store. There are a lot of gyms, as well.

I think there isn´t such distinct class difference in my neighborhood, because we are far from rich and we live right near people that are both lower and upper class.

Shawn Z.

12/15/2017 11:05:55 am

My neighborhood is mostly quiet. As far as I've seen, it is mostly white people who live in that neighborhood. There is one other Asian family, which my family was closer to in the past, when I was still in my old elementary school. No we don't interact, we know of each other's existence, but don't interact. There are also the family of my friends from elementary school, sometimes their parents recognize me when I walk home from the bus, and they wave and say hello. Sometimes in the summer, there will be fireworks late at night, which I'm not sure of the source, but close enough to here. There are also the times when people play music late into the night, for parties. There are times when one of my neighbors come for something, like this one time when he asked to borrow a ladder. Other then that, there is not really any interaction, it is a quiet place.

Jaileen V.

12/15/2017 11:12:55 am

As you might remember, I used to live in New York City. In NYC, its mostly apartments. My apartment went up to the 10th floor. I lived on the 6th floor. In my neighborhood was a hospital like 5 mins away by walking, a public library right before that, and many different restaurants nearby. Everyone in my apartment building knew each other, and my cousin lived on the 4th floor. There were many other apartments near by. There was a charter school right in front of my building and I used to go there. There was a YMCA right next to the school. East of my house was IHOP and Popeyes. West was McDonald's and Burger King. I grew up here for 8 years. I also went to Catholic schools in there neighborhood as well like Our Lady Of Lourdes. The school in front of my building was before known as Promise Academy Charter School. In New York, most streets are named by numbers instead of names, so my address contained so many numbers. In New York, my neighborhood was Harlem, Manhattan. I grew up around many Hispanic and Black people. Most of my friends and classmates were black or Latino. Then when I turned 7 I moved to Providence, Rhode Island. Now my current house is surrounded by many Hispanics and Asians. I also now almost everybody that lives near me. My house is small but larger than an actual small house, so medium sized. Near my house are many different Dominican corner stores. I have lived in many different neighborhoods but the one I liked the best was my New York house.

Luke K.

12/15/2017 11:13:09 am

My neighborhood is a middle class neighborhood, it is fairly nice and has plentiful plant life. Most of the houses are small to medium sized houses, and they all are pretty nice houses. There are no businesses in my neighborhood, its is purely residential. There are fences in about half of the houses. In my neighborhood, there is not much interaction between the people living there. My family and I are good friends with the people that live across the street from me. So yes, I am able to borrow sugar. The surrounding neighborhoods are similar to mine. The neighborhood is not section into different races since almost everyone is white.

Yoeslyn A.

12/15/2017 11:15:34 am

I live in South Elmwood, so the south side of Providence. My neighborhood has always been on the calmer side, since a lot of “ older “ people live there, but not too old. But that’s only on my street. In the rest of the neighborhood, there’s a lot of kids that I have yet to talk to. The houses are mainly one family houses, but there are a few two family houses. They aren’t big at all, a medium to small size for the most part. There is a mix of white people, latinos, asians, and black people in my neighborhood. I would say for the most part there’s latinos. My neighbors are extremely friendly, for example they greet each other. But that always depends on a section. Some people are quiet and some people are social. On the other street, however, there were problems in past years with too many kids being at one basketball hoop. The kids in my neighborhood are so quiet, I don’t even know how many live in my neighborhood. Each house has at least a fenced back yard. The surrounding neighborhoods aren’t that much similar. They mostly consist of two or three family house. There’s not really different district sections, as my whole entire neighborhood is mixed with different classes and races as a whole. There’s very few things in a close walking distance, only a restaurant, a gas station and a nail salon. But if I were to take my bike, I can access a Dunkin Donuts and an Armando’s Meat Market.

Kellin. E

12/16/2017 12:00:38 am

I️ really enjoyed reading your blog about your house. Im surprised that you said that you can’t really hear kids on your street since a lot of “older” people live there. Like you said in your blog as well, I️ need to socialize with my neighbors more.

Max. J

12/15/2017 11:16:49 am

I have always lived in the Northern end of Providence, in the Elmhurst area. Our neighborhood is a mix of medium to small sized one family houses, and some medium sized 2 family apartments. My neighborhood is mostly residential, with a few businesses mixed in if you walk down the street to the right. My house is a one floor bungalow. It is fairly small, but we have a nice backyard. There is not much interaction in our neighborhood, but we are on fairly friendly with the people directly next to us. We have a fence. There are not super-defined class or racial difference, though where I live is mostly white. We don't really have a strong sense of community, as we don't talk to our other neighbors much.

Julian G.

12/15/2017 08:02:25 pm

Until I was nine, I lived in a two-story house, nestled on the border of Roger Williams Park in South Elmwood. Most of the surrounding houses were apartments or one-family homes, and were very close together, so we grew close with our neighbors. We would have Domin-Irish-Span-Ameri-Cambodian potlucks at our neighbor Jim's house, and would have a neighborhood block party every year. Clearly, there weren't really distinct sections by racial distinction, and no one (obviously) was very wealthy in our neighborhood.
Down the street toward Elmwood Avenue was La Roca, a very good restaurant, and well worth the considerable wait. The other way was Roger Williams Park, and to the right was the highway.
Of course, every neighborhood has its kinks that it needs to work out. In my old house, one of our windows had a bullet hole, leaving the glass spider-webbed and cracked, and we would come home with some frequency to a drug deal outside of our house, and often wake to muffled gunshots. However, it was overall a pretty nice neighborhood, with a close community. If we traveled South or West less than a mile, we would be in Cranston, and up North was Elmwood.
Our house and arms were always open (which occasionally resulted in bad things; i.e, 3 bikes stolen in 4 years.) Even our decrepit fence served as more a memento of our neighborhood than a safety precaution. It had been painted years before by our street as a whole, and, although it began to rot and fall apart, we simply could not bear to change it.
Overall, my old neighborhood was relatively nice, kept together by the close bonds of our neighbors. I made many of my closest friends there, and it didn't matter if the color of our skins were different or the languages we spoke at home were different. My old neighborhood was like a big mix, a people smoothie, if you will. But a sweet, happy smoothie, that no bullets could shoot through.

Benjamin M.

12/15/2017 11:45:55 pm

I really enjoyed reading what you wrote, it was very good. I too used to be very close with my neighbors and play with them and I agree with you when you said "and it didn't matter if the color of our skins were different or the languages we spoke at home were different." Also, I like when you said "My old neighborhood was like a big mix, a people smoothie, if you will. But a sweet, happy smoothie, that no bullets could shoot through." Good job Julian!

Yoeslyn A.

12/17/2017 04:29:17 pm

It's funny how we live in the same area, but had way different experiences. I agree 100% with La Roca being a really good restaurant. Yet, I was never really close to many of my neighbors. I used to love block parties when I was younger. Even though some parts of your neighborhood wasn't the best, as you described, It was still uplifting to hear that part when you said: But a sweet, happy smoothie, that no bullets could shoot through.

Wilder R.

12/15/2017 10:50:39 pm

My community or well neighborhood is really mixed . There is different cultures and Religions. People always tend to go to where they have stuff in common . I have seen that people are just awkward about talking to other people . I try to talk to people but they just either stare at me or say nothing at all but if it was someone that is from Guatemala or like Spanish then they would start talking to me since they know I’m Hispanic . People in my neighborhood have looked at us and believe that we shouldn’t be here but it Is okay because we know we are good people . There are people who are fighting non-stop across the street and it is very scary because you can be sleeping really deeply and they would wake you up and the sirens of polices would not help you on getting back to sleep. People in my neighborhood aren’t so nice to each other . There is lots of corner stores owned by spanish people who I get along with but there have trouble communication with because they don’t know how to speak Spanish. My neighborhood you can’t really borrow anything from unless they offer it to you . They would be like hey do you need this . It was like that before where you could borrow sugar and milk for example . There is only one neighbor who we could get along with the most . That is our neighbor to the right . They would always greet you everyday like a simple good morning but the people in front of us , they would just stare at you and try to do it but better . If you go farther down maybe half a mile or so then they would turn into houses that people would rent . More stores like stop and shop and the dollar store and a liquor store, Wendy’s and a CVS . The houses would just start to be on the road instead of going into a street on a street to go to your house . I just don’t see why people wouldn’t get along if it’s just a normal human and not a weird alien unless they see me as a weird looking creature.

Benjamin M.

12/15/2017 11:36:49 pm

I have lived in three different houses in my life. The first two were up until I was eight, on the same street. The first one, I was born in and it was at the edge of the street, on a deadened. Later on my family moved to a house on the same street, but down a hill, and a new family moved into the house we moved out of. They were our neighbors and my family was extremely close to theirs. Our families were alike, age wise. Their older brother was about the same age as my older brother. There was also a younger boy and a couple of years older sister, in their family. My brother, sister, and me spent a lot of time with them. There was a large backyard between the two of our houses, and we played a lot together. I also remember playing on the hill which we owned, and building ramps and rolling down with skateboards, bikes, and more, and getting hurt very often. The neighborhood was nice and our two families got along very well. At the corner, there lived an older couple, who my family also spend time with. I could go in anytime and say hi, or ask for anything I needed. I remember bringing my bike to him and he would always fix it for me, or put more air in the tires, etc. I remember going into his garage where he had a really nice and old car, in which he was fixing up. They were also grandparents of children my age at the time, who would visit their grandparents very often, and I also grew up with. I remember between the grandchildren of my neighbors, my neighbors, my sister and I going far into the woods and playing games, and hiding. We had our own secret area, and it was very fun. I can name many more memories, but overall they were all so kind and the neighborhood was quiet and friendly. We all got along together and I felt 100% safe. I lived on this deadened street up until I was about eight. I then moved to house, still in Providence. The neighborhood where I currently live are nice and I always feel safe. It is quiet and my neighbors are friendly. We aren't as close as we were with our other neighbors at our other house, but we still interact with our neighbors. To the left of our house are a family of two kids an their parents. The dad is a police and the kids are home schooled. I see them very often and I say hi or sometimes even play basketball or something with them but not that often. Yes, I can ask for sugar from them. My family knows all of the surrounding neighbors, and always greet each other, when seen. Also, I am not that close with the other houses near me to ask for something, except for the house to the left of mine. But, overall we know our neighbors and are friendly to each other, but we aren't that close, for the most part. On my old street, one of my neighbors were Guatemalan and the other older couple were white. On my current street, of the houses I know, they are either white and I know of one family of color. I believe my family is the only Hispanic family on our street. I have a large backyard and it is fenced all around. My dad built a fence because of my dog who we let out to go outside to run around and what not. Also because I have a mini soccer field in my backyard with two nets and a lot of grass space, and I kick the ball over one side's goal sometimes, and it would go onto the other side, so there is now a fence covering one of the goals and there was originally a wall behind the other. Overall my neighbors are pretty diverse. There is a Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, Stop and shop, Subway, gym, McDonald's and more near my house. All in all, I have always lived in Providence, on a nice street, and I have always felt safe where I live.

Jannessa Y.

12/16/2017 05:46:59 pm

My experience in my neighborhood is completely different from yours. I was never close to anyone and I kept to myself. It's nice that you were able to be close to your neighbors.

Kellin. E

12/15/2017 11:55:38 pm

I️ have always lived in the city of providence. I️ have moved many times since I️ was born but I️ always stayed in Providence. I️ recently moved into a new house that is close to Silverlake. I️ haven’t talked to any of my neighbors yet, since i’m new to the neighborhood, but I️ can see that there are different races on my street. There is a mix of white people, black people, Asian people, Latinos, and others I️ have yet to see. So far, the most I️ have seen are latinos to the left of my house and to the right. The street in which I️ live in, has 2-3 story family houses and one-story family houses too. I️ haven’t seen that much “older” people yet, except for the building for them that is around my area. I️ have a lot of access to playgrounds and stores around my area. There is a store to the left and right corners of my house. There is also a Walgreens down the street and many other things.

Sam H

12/16/2017 12:10:04 pm

The neighborhood I live in is in Providence, in a north/northwest area. In my neighborhood, or at least my street, I feel a strong sense of community. Aside from a few families, everyone gets along. We moved in fairly recently but I have met some kids on the block. We had a block party over the summer, which was a really interesting and fun experience because I got to see all the people on my street. From the block party, and living in my neighborhood in general, I was able to realize people in my neighborhood fall into two different "groups." One is the old people. There is a decent number of old people in my neighborhood, and I have noticed they are all basically white. Then there are the younger families, like mine, or at least the families younger than the old people. This group is much more diverse and it is a really great mix of people. White, black, Hispanic. I have not seen any people of Asian descent in my neighborhood yet. In my neighborhood, the houses are mainly medium or small sized houses and 2 family apartments. I have generally felt safe in my neighborhood. The one time I didn't was when I was walking my dog at night and I heard gunshots nearby. However, this isn't a common occurence in my neighborhood. In my neighborhood, I can walk to Subway, Dunkin Donuts, a pizza place, a gas station, a corner store, LaSalle high school, a liquor store, and a park. Though my neighborhood is safe, other neighborhoods nearby are less safe. For example, I live in walking distance of a public housing project where the people are less fortunate. This reminds me of how lucky I am to live in a nice neighborhood.

Sam H

12/16/2017 12:14:38 pm

I forgot to mention that yes, we have a fence in the back, as does everybody else.

Jannessa Y.

12/16/2017 05:43:10 pm

I’ve always lived in Cranston, Rhode Island, but close to Providence. My family and I moved to another part of Cranston when I was at the end of sixth grade. We didn’t move very far away from our first house, but the neighborhoods are pretty different.

I lived on the first floor of a two-story apartment for the first twelve years of my life. In this neighborhood, there were mostly two or three family apartments. At the corner of the intersection at the end of the street, there is a small store. It was a quiet neighborhood, except during the summer. Sirens and red flashing lights were common in this neighborhood and it would always be the same house, the one across from mine. My dad is a very sociable person, so he made a few friends and knows a few people that lived on that street. We, however, weren’t close enough with anyone to be able to borrow things. I never really paid attention to the people on my street, so I can’t say whether we got along or not. As you probably know, I am incredibly shy and quiet so I didn’t make an effort to get to know anyone.

We shared a driveway and backyard with the neighbors on the right. The only fence there was was the one separating us from the people in the back and the people on the right. What’s odd is that we were closer with them than the people we shared land with. I don’t know much about the surrounding neighborhoods because I never ventured outside of my backyard unless I was in a car. There were a mix of ethnicities in my old neighborhood. I’ve seen whites, hispanics, and other Cambodians. There didn’t seem to be any class or racial distinctions.

The neighborhood I live in now is on a hill. It is also quiet. The houses are all small to medium sized single family homes. I live near a lot of businesses. There are two salons, a small market, some fast food restaurants, a few gas stations, small auto shops, and a shopping plaza. Some kids on my street walk home from nearby public schools and my family could easily access a field and playground. A few streets over is the company Taco. The people on street are pretty friendly. Whenever we pass by each other, we call out greetings or sometimes have a short conversation. By we, I mean my dad while I sit in the car awkwardly. I would say that everyone gets along nicely. Even though everyone is friendly, I don’t think we could borrow sugar from anyone. Everyone has a fence that boxes in their yard. The surrounding neighborhoods are similar to mine, from what I’ve seen. My current neighborhood is also diverse. There are whites, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. I don’t think there are any racial or class distinctions. This neighborhood seems safer and friendlier to me than my past one. Sometimes I hear things that sound like muffled booms, and I tell myself that they are fireworks and try not to think about it. If I think about it, it wouldn’t make sense because people don’t usually light fireworks when it’s raining. These muffled booms were present in my past neighborhood, too.

Karime L.

12/16/2017 08:40:13 pm

I was born in Providence and have lived here for all of my life. I live in between Johnston and Cranston in an area known as Silver Lake. It’s not filled with big houses but they are big enough. Most of them are one family houses. For the exception of the apartment right next door to my house. In my immediate neighborhood, there are 2 parks. One is larger than the other filled with a playground, a baseball field, mini skate park, basketball court amongst other things. It’s across from a Dunkin Donuts and really close to my old elementary school. The smaller one is less than a minute away if you drive. It has the standard playground and basketball court. None the less, when I look out my window there are always kids flooding the basketball court. The majority of the people who occupy the streets and houses that fill the neighborhood are Hispanic or black people. If you go all the way down the street it’s a long road full of businesses and bodegas. Most are family owned businesses and aren’t nation wide businesses like Walmart. There are almost 5 bodegas on that street and 3 pizzerias. There’s a store where you can buy Spanish food and on the complete opposite side of that part of the street there’s a Chinese restaurant. On one side there’s a liquor store and the other it’s Family Dollar. If you go a little further then the Family Dollar on that same main street there are more 2-3 family houses. There’s also a CVS, not bodegas, and a Walgreens.

On the right side of our street, there’s a family of either Guatemalans or Mexicans. The people who live one house down, and at the end of the street, and the people who live across them seem to be family since they are always walking to each other’s houses. My parents were invited to the neighbor on our right’s wedding reception and besides the occasional “hi” and “how have you been,” you wouldn’t ask them for sugar. There are place all around us, so if they’re closed, we won’t be having sugar until the morning where my mom will usually go buy some.

Sometimes there will be some internet thing going on where my mom, sister, and me will look out the window at whatever caught our attention. Whether it’s two people fighting or a crash. However it’s only once in awhile and usually in the summer. People will occasionally get robbed. Recently we haven’t heard of any kind of robbery from our neighbors, but we have been robbed before. Due to that, my dad got cameras and they’ve been pretty helpful.

Nobody is really separated by class but I have noticed there are very few white people who occupy the neighborhood. I’m not sure what race our neighbors in the apartment next to ours are because there are so many people who have been in and out of that house it’s hard to keep track. The man who used to live across the street from us is Italian and used to do some work for us, but he moved out and a Hispanic family moved in. Walking around the neighborhood you will notice that more than 50% of the people who live here are Hispanic.

Aryana S.

12/17/2017 10:32:24 pm

It must be very difficult to live in a neighborhood where there are lots of robberies. I can't imagine having that feeling that some stranger was at your house taking all of your things. Having a camera can help you feel much more comfortable, but the thought of robberies will never escape your mind. It must be very tough.

Jaden H.

12/16/2017 11:56:03 pm

When I was born, up until now I have always been in providence. Where I live it is usually quiet but on some days it will be loud like maybe on some weekends or any special occasions you will hear music from my neighbors house. My neighbors on the left side of my house are actually Asian. They speak a different language that I do not recall the name of but I know that they are from Laos which is a country in Asia. They are very interesting if you ask me. The man that lives next door to me is always working on something outside. One of his inventions was actually an aquarium that he built himself for his many many fish. In the summer my dad and I would always head over there and just look at the fishes and listen the mini waterfall that it had. They also eat very different food than I do. I am used to eating Dominican food so they would always have cookouts with their type of food and I enjoyed it very much. So yes, I feel like our relationship with our neighbors on the left side of our house is strong and if we were to ask for something such as sugar I would be sure he would not decline. With our neighbors on the right-side it is the complete opposite, they don't really communicate with us but i do notice that they like to garden and they have the most adorable son. They built him things such as, forts, an outside projector to watch movies and things of that nature. But if we were to ask them for any sugar I feel like it would be as successful as with out left-side neighbor.
My neighbor hood like I mentioned before is fairly quiet. At night when I go to bed I can actually hear crickets! I like the silence and all but sometimes its gets too quiet if you know what I mean, and one gets rather lonely. I have no kids that are my age in my neighborhood so i'm alone if In go outside or something. Near my house there are some businesses. There are some Spanish bodegas of course, there is a hair salon, a smoothie place, a phone store, a jewelry store, and a party and decor store. There are also some restaurants close by as well.
My neighbor hood is not really separated by class or race. Its all a pretty good mixture of everything. Something I did notice is that there is only one black family that just moved in about a month ago into my neighborhood.

Jaden H

12/17/2017 12:02:13 am

Also, I don't have fence in my backyard but it is really big so it is in our future plans to get one. Something else that I forgot to mention is that in our backyard we have a grape vine and we sit under it in the summer to just relax and eat grapes.

Joshua. B

12/17/2017 12:27:28 pm

I have lived in a variety of places, when I was born I lived in Providence more specifically Warrington Ave, then I lived in a huge house in Warwick, with a really big back yard, after I lived in a small house in Warwick with a small back yard, and now I currently live in West Warwick. My neighborhood is really good. It is a rather quiet neighborhood, mostly filled with one race. Whites and Italians. Although, at the edge of my street there is a house with adopted kids. There is one white girl about our age and also a white boy about our age. There is also a Hispanic boy and his baby brother younger than us. I family and I get along with all of our neighbors, they are really friendly. It is so safe that I sometimes ride my bike around the neighborhood or got to the baseball park fields. The houses in my neighborhood don't seem like rich houses but they also don't seem like poor houses. They seem of good qualities. The houses are sectioned of by backyard. The front yards are open and without fences. During the summer nights, I often see and hear ambulances and fire trucks going down my street. There are many senior citizens in my neighborhood too, so that may explain the fire trucks and the ambulance.

Chris D.

12/17/2017 05:55:54 pm

I have lived in the Oakhill neighborhood for as long as I can remember, nestled between the Blackstone Boulevard and West River View. I live not ten blocks from Providence, I live in a residential area, but further down on Hope Street there are many stores and restaurants. I live in a very nice neighborhood, not filled with super rich people like the boulevard, but still people that have a large two or three story houses, often with a two car garage and spacious yards. I live in one such house, a three story split level house with a large yard and an in-ground pool. Down the hill there is a park with a basketball and tennis court, and there is another park down the street the other way. Even further down is Three Sisters, one of the best ice cream places I have ever been to.
One of the biggest downsides of our neighborhood is the fact that while we live so close to one another, we don’t really form a community. I can count the number of times I have spoken to my neighbors with my fingers,(not counting saying hello) and the number of real conversation we have had on a single hand. The most we have ever gotten to a real community was when our neighbor across the street let us use their basketball hoop.
I have always felt safe in my house. We have an alarm system, and have never been robbed from as of yet. Sometimes at night we hear people screaming and swearing, but usually at each other. Once when I was younger we found a hole in a window and it seemed that someone had thrown a rock at our house.

David R

12/17/2017 07:07:18 pm

My neighborhood is in south providence, about a 7 minute drive from the school. My neighborhood can be very dirty and littered on. Many people drive by and throw garbage. People also tend to speed a lot. The houses are average houses. Some small, others regular sized. The majority ethnicity in my neighborhood is black and latino. There are also several ca accidents in my hood every year. There are fences on the houses seperating drive ways and backyards. The people generally get along. There is one neighbor that I can borrow things from or talk with in general. Their daughter went to CP. The rest don't associate with us much but there is a house owned by a black family with kind heated and welcoming people. There is another home/ apartment owned by a black family, but they usually just drug deal and drink at night, but they don't cause trouble. I've lived in the same house all my life, and I probably will until I'm an adult. It is owned by my parents. Down the street there is a church where prostitutes stand in front of and do their thing. I was always afraid of them when I was younger because I thought they would hurt me. That street is called Cranston street. There are several bodegas on Cranston street and other latino owned businesses. Going all the way down Cranston street there is a seven eleven. Farther down there is a high way leading to Providence place mall. Before that there is a drug rehab center and many of the homeless people sleep near there. There are many homeless people near my neighborhood.

K.palavra

12/17/2017 07:09:01 pm

As some of you know I used to live with my donors around where Moses Brown Wheeler and Brown University. We were all pretty friendly with our immediate neighbors but I didn't really no anyone else. even though I lived on college hill I really grew up in Fox Point. There was my school and the boys and girls club where I spent a lot of my time. Around there are a lot of different cultural businesses like the Portuguese bakery and the Asian noodles or the Indian tea in Sahara. A lot of the kids from my school lived around there so we would hang out. At the club there was this one worker who was really old named Johnny he had lived in the neighborhood for along time. Almost every day there would be someone from the community there to talk to him. Nowadays i live on the east side of Pawtucket. Here I don’t really know anyone but the my neighbors and I are friendly. Around me is a corner store a boys and girls club and a fish market But near me its mostly houses or 2 family apartments.

James N.

12/17/2017 07:44:18 pm

Up until recently, I've always resided in a pleasant, if fairly small, two-story family home in Cranston. Our neighborhood was a nice enough area, where houses were spaced out well and you could see actual trees and real, live grass. As for those who lived in these houses, if I'm being perfectly honest with myself, we didn't really know them. We had a couple of close relationships with our adjacent neighbors (who tended to be white), but really, I lived in a place where I didn't know the people around me.

Over the summer, we made the decision to leave Cranston, in hopes of greener pastures (actually, we were looking for better local education options than what we had there), and with the help of a man named Cooky, we were able to achieve this. My new home is much more spacious and modern (we had to replace basically every appliance when we moved in), and I'm finding it actually quite charming. The Elmhurst area makes for a nice breath of fresh air, with decent diversity and friendly enough neighbors (who we still don't quite know yet), and I think it's probably superior to Cranston in this regard.

Aryana S.

12/17/2017 10:38:57 pm

I live in Providence, near the Roger Williams Park. In my neighborhood, there are lots of languages being spoken. Obviously English, but also Spanish, French, and the language I speak-Farsi. The people who live next to me are from Haiti, and they are very sweet people. The lady, the one that lives next door is always kind to me. She will make sure I am fine at all times. When my family goes to Iran for a month, they always take care of our garden. And yes, we can ask them for sugar if we need it. There's a house in front of us, but we don't really talk to them. The other house next to us also has some very nice people. They are a nice couple. My street is a dead end, and at the end of the street is the park. I can ride my bike down the street during the summer. However, on the other end of the street is Broad Street. The houses aren't very big, but they aren't too small. My house is a medium sized. All the houses have gates that surround the perimeter. As I said before, broad street is on the other end, and there are lots of businesses there. There's restaurants, hair salons, and a tattoo shop. There are also corner stores. On the other side of the street there is the zoo (on the dead end side). When I was younger, I would walk to the zoo in the summer with my mom. The different neighborhoods do show a difference in class. If you go down like 6 or 7 blocks, near CVS, there are HUGE houses. That is where my piano teacher lives. In my neighborhood, I don't really have any friends. My only friend that lived next door moved all the way to Florida.
I feel safe in my neighborhood, but occasionally there are some police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances that come. Three houses down from me some of the kids would get abused. I was much younger, but I remember police cars coming and mom saying that they were going to take the kids away. Once a house caught on fire. Other than that I have never been bothered by anybody in my neighborhood.

Annie S.

12/17/2017 10:45:12 pm

In my dad’s neighborhood, where I live, the buildings are mostly houses and some apartments. If you go down the street you get to a shopping plaza and a road with lots of stores. In the other direction there’s a park. My house is two floors, an attic, and a basement but it wasn't very open until my uncle, my mom, and one of my brothers moved out. I was never social so I don't know my neighbors very well despite living there my whole life. Around the houses there are fences that open up at the front and leave the front yard open.

My mom’s apartment is near another park and is down the street to a few food stores. It’s walking distance unlike the other apartment she had so we live in similar neighborhoods. I don’t know many of her neighbors but there is a blind man that drives and a little girl living across the hall. From what I've seen the diversity there is mixed.

My mom used to live in Pawtucket and lived next to a graveyard. I lived with her for a while in fourth grade. The was only one other person renting an apartment and one house right next door. It was very loud at night from the highway and there were lots of restaurants and stores and not many living spaces nearby.

Jenelvis R

12/18/2017 05:10:32 am

When I was younger I used to live in Providence on 9 St James St off of Glenham St. The house was a duplex with a gate surrounding it and a small patch of grass in the front. The people who lived in the other part of the duplex were African and mostly kept to themselves. We rarely talked to them. Where I had lived, was populated with many Puerto Ricans and Dominicans . The street was a dead end and there were many kids who lived on my street. Almost everyday we would all play together until our mothers yelled at us to wash our hands and to come eat supper. There has always been so much violence in our area and my mother got sick and tired if it. She did not want my brother and I to be surrounded by that type of environment. We then moved to East Providence which is populated with many Portuguese and Cave Verdeans. We lived on 29 Woodward Ave. The house was another duplex. Our neighbors were Portuguese and the rest were Cave Verdean. I went to the local elementary school and from first to fifth grade I had always been the only Dominican in my school. The change was pretty drastic because I had always been surrounded with people who were like me, spoke the same language as me. The language being Spanish. Three years ago my mother decided to buy a house in Woonsocket. The house is very big with a big yard in the back and front. There is a lot of privacy for the property. However, the house was bought very cheap due to the area were we live now. Our whole street is white. They are also older than the age of fifty. There are no kids around my area for me to interact with. We do not see any violence, drugs, or anything like that until you leave our street and take a left. There is violence, drugs, drug dealers, prostitutes, pretty much anything you can think of. My mother does not let me go to the corner store by myself because she is scared something is going to happen to me unlike when we lived in East Providence when I would walk to school by myself.

Adrian M

1/12/2018 09:45:06 am

I was also born and raised in the South Side of Providence. In my neighborhood there is a big of trash on the streets. There a many broken down houses and many Hispanics as well. My house is the only house with fences on my street and the others are just open. My family and the neighbors do get along but it's mostly because we barely talk. When I walked to school or go to the basketball court I usually see Dominican kids playing basketball. Sometimes I would play with them but only if I have someone with my to go against them with. Other than the people at the community garden across the street and the homeless people yelling, my street is peaceful.

Ra'Nyah DC

1/12/2018 09:50:03 am

My neighborhood is a quiet place where everyone is nice to each other. There are businesses down the street from my house. There are about 9. The people are really nice in my neighborhood and I also live down the street form Annie and Julian lives 2 houses down. The people do get a long in my neighborhood but we do nit get along with my landlord who lives right next to us. I do not think that I am that close to the people on my street to go and ask for sugar. There are no feces that I know of in my neighborhood. There are no selections in my neighborhood because we barely talk to each other.

Tyler G.

1/12/2018 09:53:12 am

I have'y lived in the neighborhood that I live in now for that long. We moved just a couple years ago. The neighborhood is dominated by white people. There are also a lot of elderly people who live around me, but as they pass away there seem to be younger families moving in. It is a pretty nice neighborhood, and the people are friendly. The people who live closest to me all have children around my age and they all get along, but I think that's mostly because they go to the same school. They are the kind of neighbors that you could ask for some sugar :) As you move down a certain way down the street off of my house, it gets a bit more "run down". I used to live in Providence, though. That was a whole different experience than where I live now. I lived in a 3rd floor apartment. A lot of my family lived in the same neighborhood for a while, but as my mom's generation got older most of them were able to move. Where I lived I was right down the street from my old school. Our street was very bumpy and cracked and messed up. I was never aloud to ride my bike around the neighborhood or anything. I only had one neighbor that I could really hang out with because their kid went to my school and we had known them for a while. Now, I am aloud to go on walks and bike rides around the neighborhood by myself. i am even aloud to walk to Subway and our local ice cream shop Diggy's, which aren't very close.

stephanie

1/12/2018 10:51:06 am

through out my life i live lived in many houses. my first one is the one at china, i remember that it was a three story owned house. the neighbor was pretty chilled back. because this is in the country side, the land we lived on was huge, the nearest house was about a few hundred meters away. after i moved to the another house, (not important) then to another(also not important) then to ANOTHER (not important) then i moved into the house i currently live in. the neighbor is quite crowded actually. its mostly white people, and not many other race, tho the people that live next to me is Hispanic. all is not most are owned and not many are rented. also its near a school so there is constantly kids around the place.

Karena P.

1/12/2018 10:53:45 am

My neighborhood is simple. My family is one of the only asian families living on that street. My whole street is full of Hispanics. We really do not talk to anyone. One time my neighbor stole one of my brothers bikes and we were really mad. On day we saw they guy riding it to the corner store but we really did not do anything about it. But I guess the buildings around are pretty good. They renew them a lot. Stores look well built except for one store. They sell very weird things. One time my sister bought something and went home to expired food. Everyone on the block do not get a long as much. Everyone is quiet. Mostly you see people walking around to get to places or either riding a bike. I live next to a car place, a phone store, two corner stores, Mcdonalds, Shells gas station, and like 1 minute away is a plaza. There is like usually like Three houses that have parties including my family. I live on a main street and there are some accidents that happen like once in a while. But not including that my neighborhood is kind of quiet.

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