I live in the most ethnically & linguistically diverse urban area on the planet
Queens, NYC, USA
I live in Queens — one of the five boroughs that make up NYC. With nearly 50 percent of its residents born outside the U.S., Queens holds the Guinness World Record for “most ethnically and linguistically diverse urban area on the planet.”
My neighborhood of Astoria is one of the two most diverse areas on Earth. The other is Jackson Heights — where I was today. Going there on the weekend is less than ideal due to the crowds. But I still soaked up some incredibly eclectic vibes.
On one block, for example, all the signs are in Bengali and then boom! Every store sign is suddenly in Spanish because I’ve crossed into a Columbian neighborhood.
Through it all, whenever I walked past a sketchy-looking storefront with no sign, you could bet there were young, trafficked Chinese women (in Covid masks) soliciting men inside for a “massage.” 😕
Anyway, I thought you might appreciate some photos I took along the way.
It always fascinates me when South Asian clothing stores use white mannequins.
More than 300 languages are spoken along Roosevelt Avenue.
Jackfruit (or Artocarpus heterophyllus) is the largest tree-borne fruit in the world — weighing up to 40 pounds or more. It’s grown in Asia, Africa, and South America and belongs to the same plant family as figs and mulberries. Under its thick, bumpy green rind is a stringy yellow flesh that you can eat raw or cooked in a variety of dishes.
“Stripers.”
I concur — but North America has certainly not cornered the market on mannerless-ness.
Summer’s near and the time is right…
I love vintage signs like “Playa Realty” and, if you look closely, you’ll notice the absence of an area code before the phone numbers on the yellow signs. That means they are at least 40 years old!
Nature provides many forms of rainbows.
Riding the R Train home (subway art by Boyoun Kim).
Fantastic pictures! And look, only 1 mask on the subway.
send that veggie stand over! what a wealth. Ah of course that is big city for you, jackfruit, I have never seen. Best we get is some guava.
Love your pics! So many languages and still everyone understands each other! I thought Brussels was quite diverse, my former boss lived in an apartment block of over 200 with not one Belgian born inhabitant, and I know Luxembourg has something like hundreds of nationals... our little hotel was run by a Portuguese-Spanish couple. but wow, one neighborhood. amazing!