Most New Yorkers are familiar with the unpredictable housing market and the neighborhood gentrification raging across the city. But as tumultuous as those changes have gotten, a small area in the Northeast Bronx has managed to weather the worst of it so far.
A house along Stillwell Ave. (Dennis W. Ho / amNewYork)
No one really uses the word “love” when they describe their feelings toward Great Kills, Staten Island. In fact, most residents speak with a blend of reservation and cautious optimism that it’s almost disarming at first. It’s not a dangerous place or a ghost town, but then again, it’s no Shangri-La, they say. It’s middle-class, medium sized, centrally located and even-keeled, through and through. What you see is what you get in Great Kills and the people that live here like it just fine.
The corner of Nelson Ave. and Amboy Rd. in Great Kills. (Phil S. Kropoth / amNewYork)