Fair Lawn High School: Fill & Download for Free

[NB: Comment all you like, but this is meant to be funny. So don’t work up a sweat—uhhh! Not in CT, please, unless you’re playing polo.]****************************************Yes, I’m here as as a native and lifelong (more or less) resident of God’s Little Green Acre of good taste, Connecticut, to straighten out all the myths and snobbery about different boros.So consider me la dernier cri in taste.I’ve spent decades in NY, and my father in law, grandfather in law, and grandfather helped design and build the Crotona reservoir system and the first subway system.Let’s face it: by Connecticut standards, no one in NYC is more qualified to make a fair and objective critique than I.Manhattan was once interesting and attractive, within my lifetime. People who weren’t excessively wealthy and/or tourists lived there. There was architectural history.No longer so. It’s overpriced, ugly, and filled with exactly the kind of people you won’t want to meet.Queens is the for-real boro, although not as cute-ified as Brooklyn (thank Christ). Don’t go there unless you’re an immigrant or very hard worker. Don’t go there if you can’t get along with non-Caucasians. Actually, the motto of Queens should be “Did we invite you here? No? Then go home.”Brooklyn - either totally trashed, or turned into a setting for the (cringe) show “Girls.” If you like precious, ironic, and the folly of thinking you’re unique, Brooklyn is for you. Outrageously expensive for stupid crap. Annoying people who come for a respite after college in the midwest. Heavily parent subsidized. Much imagined suffering. Home to some of the most dangerous areas in NY.Native Brooklynites are an endangered species. Many have moved to LI or NJ. The distinctive patois of both originated here. When you hear someone’s going to “lor” school, as my daughter is, someone in the family probably came from Bensonhurst. Bensonhurst natives have been known to spend time trashing LI, until a relative points out, uh, not for nuthin, but ya know Brooklyn IS part of LI?Bronx. The worst parts of the south Bronx have been torn down or burned down. That’s not to say it’s paradise. Get north of Fordham Road and much of it is great. Again, not advised for the racially sensitive or to swing your fuckin’ Hermes bag around the D train. Robert Moses, Master Planner, hated the Bronx and made the mess of freeways running through it.Staten Island - I’d never been there before a couple summers ago. The Verrazano was clogged, so my daughter said, “Take Hyland Blvd.” (the east side). If you appreciate medium size, immaculately tended brick houses with even more manicured lawns, and some of the handsomest Italian guys I’ve ever seen, good food, and low crime, oh wait!!!! I’m giving it away. No, stay away from Staten Island. You’ll hate it. If you like Manhattan or Brooklyn you will despise Staten Island.Let’s not forget NJ and LI. They’re too big to be boros, but they might just as well be.When I took my 13 year old daughter to NJ for the first time when I was going to grad school at the medical campus of Columbia Pres., we’d only gotten a few miles into New Jersey, which is now the wealthiest state in the US. She gasped. We stopped for pizza, strolled around some of the smaller downtowns. Her reaction? “I think it’s like Greenland/Iceland—they make the really nice place sound awful so people won’t go there.”Long Island - parts I love, parts I can’t figure out. It’s the birthplace of shopping. Gorgeous, safe beaches (Long Beach) with old, quiet, dignified houses. A college classmate bragged to my daughter that he could leave his bicycle on grandpa’s front lawn without a lock all summer and it would never be disturbed. Why? Well, everyone knew that was Bellantonio’s house, and you’d lose a lot more than the bike if you stole it. Good food. Too many stores. Because I say so, I will cut off comments about the Hamptons & worse. I need some happy thoughts, and Lizzy Grubman isn’t one.Don’t take the Friday afternoon Cannonball to the Hamptons unless you have a taste for loud, tasteless, drunk, screaming, overpaid morons sitting up close and personal. It’s the more aspirational version of the 5:20 MetroNorth on Friday in the screaming/bar car.Connecticut? Welcome to your idea of Connecticut. It stops at the Fairfield county border. The rest is mostly slum, a huge deficit, the home of racial profiling, and the least amount of shoreline open to the public of almost any coastal state. Like rural poverty? You’re home.Some day I’ll tell the one about the evening the class valedictorian of my daughter’s HS class was pulled over by the cops for DWV. Driving While Vietnamese. That will soon be Dr. Bui, Harvard Med. ‘2020. A mighty 4’10″, she gave the moron cop a tongue lashing. “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? VALEDICTORIAN? THIS YEAR’S HS CLASS OF 432? FULL SCHOLARSHIP? AND YOU PULLED ME OVER BECAUSE YOU WERE SO DUMB YOU THOUGHT I WAS SPANISH??? NO. YOU PROBABLY DON’T KNOW. YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T GO TO HIGH SCHOOL.”

I started reading some answers. Many people believe Manhattan is NYC. They forget the other 4 boroughs, and the adjoining areas of Long Island and northern NJ. Most of LI and northern NJ residents were long-time residents of New York, before it got so cute-tified and hideously expensive. They lived there when it was a real city.Initial caution: don’t expect your GPS on your phone to work when you’re in midtown or on the subway. The density of tall buildings, and being underground cut off your signal. Carry a paper map that’s detailed as well.Essentials: a smallish backpack, comfortable running shoes, a paper map that’s detailed of the 5 boroughs, comfortable clothes. I see from another question you posted you’re going in September. That’s a GREAT time to visit NY. You may still have some very hot, humid days (over 90 degrees) but after the first week, temps start to fall into more moderate and drier days. Bring a jacket and/or a combination jacket with hood and raincoat.While the most highly promoted tourist attractions are very expensive and wouldn’t be within your budget, they’re almost never worth the cost. The only expensive entertainment in NYC worth the money, to me, is the Metropolitan Opera. That would eat up a week’s worth, so just listen on the radio. But do visit Lincoln Center, and you’ll recognize it from many American movies, from The Producers to Moonstruck. It’s gorgeous, and you can see the Chagall paintings from the exterior.See Lincoln Center at night.DO NOT EAT AT CHAIN FOOD PLACES. YOU CAN DO THAT AT HOME. THERE ARE ZILLIONS OF PLACES TO EAT IN NYC, AND MOST OF THESE ARE MUCH CHEAPER AND MUCH, MUCH BETTER THAN CHAIN FOOD. The only exception I make is Starbucks, because you need coffee in NYC, and I’m very fussy about my coffee—I want to know what it’s going to taste like.Many people suggested you get a metro card—these are available at neighborhood stores (learn to call them bodegas, Spanish for little stores), or at a subway stop.Rides are $2.75, and most of the subway is VERY VERY safe during the day and evening, and the bus drivers in NYC (many of whom are imposing ladies with preacher’s voices) will put down any trouble on her bus in a second. Don’t expect to see trouble. I go out much less often that she does, and I haven’t seen anyone causing any trouble for decades. Buses have letter designations which indicate which borough they serve primarily. M = Manhattan, BX = Bronx, B = Brooklyn, Q = Queens. Maps are available on your computer and easily available in midtown.As you’re from a country which has very clean, tidy subways, you probably will be shocked by the condition of NYC subways. Unlike London, NYC never closes the subway, as people are returning home from jobs at 3 or 4 AM, and some start their jobs at 4 or 5 AM. It’s always necessary. It’s also very old. My ex-husband’s grandfather worked on the design of the subway—during the first decade of the 20th century. Sometimes you may end up in a station that looks like it hasn’t been changed since then. It also serves a city that has continued to grow from 7M to 8.5 M at most recent count. Most people don’t have cars, as traffic is horrendous, parking unavailable or hideously expensive, and the likelihood of your car getting dented, scratched, or being in an accident is high.My daughter’s seen a drunk get onto a crowded bus, start to mouth off, and within seconds 2 nondescript passengers did the superhero routine. They flipped on their NYC Transit Police windbreakers and had a chat with Mr. Trouble. He got thrown off the bus, but not before a few passengers “accidentally” whacked him with stroller wheels, umbrellas, purses, etc. The bus driver got a round of applause. On the subway, since everyone will be linked to their iPhone or android, the minute anyone starts acting up, the entire car becomes the paparazzi. My daughter reports that almost immediately someone in the car will part anyone bothering you, and they’ll be 30 or so photos of the person and complaints sent to the police, so the harasser will be greeted by a large, angry group of NYPD at the next stop. When you see things like this, it’s like a TV episode in which the cops are there for the average guy, and fearless about stopping problems.You can also use the Metrocard for the Roosevelt Island tram. If you played with Playmobil toys as a child, and liked the odd shaped cars and transport, you’ll love the tram. It’s new, bright red, and almost all windows. You cross part of the East River and come down on Roosevelt Island. Roosevelt Island was once the place where residents with contagious diseases were sent. It’s now a weirdly peaceful residential area, with a large park dedicated to FDR at the south end. Roosevelt Island I believe is part of Manhattan, and very quiet and safe to walk around, although there’s not much to do except take in the quiet and views.Roosevelt Island Tram - Midtown, east sideYou can take the Staten Island Ferry at the very south tip of Manhattan for free, as long as you like, as many rides as you like. A railroad runs around the perimeter of Staten Island. I like Staten Island a great deal, and admire the perfectly tended houses and lawns on the very Italian east side. You can get good food at almost any restaurant in this part of the boro. It’s just about impossible to get bad food.I love the Staten Island Ferry. If you’ve seen Working Girl, you have to ride it.Unless there are specific landmarks you want to see in Manhattan, it has experienced so much growth, so many old brownstones have been torn down, and so many huge apartment towers have been built, it’s not very interesting. Even high buildings are now lost, with no view, due to overbuilding of high rises.Things I’d visit there:Central Park - run around the reservoir.The Museum of Natural History - always fascinating - it’s a pay what you can admission, but cheap enough to pay full admission out of $76. Even if you never fancied yourself a science person, it’s hard not to be enthralled by their exhibits. If you’ve ever seen the Katharine Hepburn movie “Bringing Up Baby,” it’s the museum shown in the beginning, where Cary Grant is attempting to finish his dinosaur and marry the very uptight Miss Sparrow. There is a gem exhibit that is dazzling. They also have recreations of ancient sealife.Museum of Natural History. Below, the gem stone collection (also has world’s largest meteor).The Metropolitan Museum of Art - 5th Avenue. One of the largest collections of art in the world. It’s so huge, study it on line before you go to NYC. What kind of art do you like best? Traditional painting / European / American? Textiles? / Ancient art ? Modern art? Chinese art? My favorite is the Astor Chinese Garden court, which Brooke Astor, the late philanthropist, had built in memory of her ancestors who were missionaries in China.* [In close competition with the Temple of Dendur, which is an entire temple from Egypt, which was to have been destroyed for a construction project. It’s set in a wing on the north side of the building which is nearly all glass. YOU MUST SEE THIS FIRST.Temple of DendurThe Temple of Dendur | Roman Period | The MetThe Astor Chinese Garden Court | China | Ming dynasty (1368–1644) | The MetHere’s a link to current exhibits:Current ExhibitionsThere’s also a gorgeous branch at the northern tip of Manhattan, the Cloisters. Here’s information on that. The Met CloistersYou can’t pick a better time to visit than September.A bus ride down 5th Avenue. I used to take the M104 from where I went to graduate school at the Columbia medical campus at 168th st. It began down Broadway, went across the top of the park, and then after a beat-down day at school, it was wonderful to look up into fantastic apartments on 5th, with chandeliers, lovely furnishings, and into a different world.Chinatown - Canal St. near the Brooklyn Bridge, very south Manhattan. While there are fewer Chinese run stores (stores in the loosest sense) — they are wide open to the public, with a display of jewelry, imitation status purses, souvenirs, etc. Fruit is sold on the street, at very low prices. Taste dragonfruit. Have a bag of cherries. There are countless restaurants, most of which serve a meal for under $10.Some people scream you aren’t getting a real Hermes or Chanel purse for $30. Well, duh! Of course not. But if you do see a purse you like, and it’s cheap, buy it. It’ll impress the people back home, and when it falls apart in a year or 3, toss it. I have genuine David Yurman jewelry, including several necklaces and bracelets. They tend to stay attached to my neck and wrists. I had one pair of earrings, and lost one—$300 worth of earrings. After that, I only bought them in Chinatown. For $10, I’d get earrings I’d ask my friends to guess which of my jewelry was the fake and which was the real, and they would NEVER guess right. Of course it isn’t real blue topaz, with real gold trim and solid silver. But if I lose one, I’m out $5, not $300. Buy some cheap jewelry if you like.If the owner wants you to go into the back room, this pretty much means she thinks you’re not a member of the NYPD which has periodically closed these stores down. This hasn’t happened in a while. Obviously, people buying $30 Hermes bags aren’t the same people who buy $30,000 Hermes bags. Who loses out? No one. The best bags are in the back room, where sticky fingers and casual passerby don’t handle them. Don’t be afraid—it’s an honor. And you can say no there just as easily as you can looking at the cheap bags.FruitOf course they’re not the real thing, but if you lose it, you won’t be out $30,000.Purses a plentyYou MUST haggle for the price, or you’ll lose half the experience. Ask them for a price. Then offer 2/3 the price. They’ll scream. If you’re pleasant enough, and if they are pro-Anglophiles, you may get a better discount than most. Count on this technique to get you anywhere from $10 - $5 dollars off a knock off purse you love.The Highline. The highline is an elevated park on the west side which had been an unfinished highway for many years and decayed when the city was near bust in the 1970’s. In the past decade, it was made pedestrian friendly and planted with beautiful flowers, grasses, etc. There are benches and sculpture. Take an early morning walk on this and watch the sun rise over Long Island. Note: it’s closed at night.The Bronx, of which many visitors are terrified, also has many attractions, including the Bronx Zoo (I’ve never been, but my daughter tells me there’s a tram that takes you over the animals, so that they can run more freely.)New York Botanical Gardens, across from Fordham, are always lovely. If you’re not a member, admission is fairly pricey—about $22. If you’re a student there’s a discount. Lovely gardens, a fairy book conservatory, and this summer, blown glass sculptures by Dale Chilhuly. It’s a very restful oasis in the middle of the busy Bronx. The south Bronx, while less dangerous than it was, is still better avoided by the tourist. Take the A train from midtown, or the Q12 bus to get to Fordham Road.New York Botanical Garden ConservatoryMost of the Bronx is hispanic, or bilingual. There are thousands of food places to choose from. If you like Mexican food, you’ll get the real thing. Many people living there are immigrants who fled their native central American countries in fear that their small children would be taken from them and made a part of the drug cartels. Mostly, they are friendly, quiet, and pleasant. They did not come here to leech off the system: these are families who care deeply for their children, and gave up their entire lives for the sake of the kids. Don’t expect West Side story and switchblades.Brooklyn:The best part of brooklyn is the Brooklyn Bridge, IMHO. When I was a young adult, NY was so poor that few people moved there, except people really dedicated to getting into a profession that could only be done in NYC. We’d walk across the bridge and not see another person.Now, it’s almost always packed with hipsters and Lena D. wannabes. There are stands that sell every stupid organic, horrible kind of food hipsters love (must have at least 3 adjectives in its name) . If there are landmarks in Brooklyn you want to see, fine. If you want to look at the hipsterized debaucheries that are fashionable, go to Williamsburg and Greenpoint, etc. You’ll be in the company of people who are almost 100% from places far from NYC, whose families support them, and they live the lives of 11 year olds with lots of money to spend. Anything in hipstersville is priced at 4x its worth, and usually disappointing the minute you get it. Unless you a fan of….that….show…[which I detest]….there’s not a lot to do in Brooklyn. There ARE beaches, and they ARE on the Atlantic. There’s also the Russian section in Brighton Beach, but I go to Forest Hills, which is also very Russian.Queens: There are more different ethnicities in Queens than in any other place in the world. While you might think that stores under the elevated subway would be the worst stores, in Queens, to have a store under the 7 tracks is status. It means customers have easy access to you, and you’ll do better. Stores line the streets below the 7 train for its entire length. Once you get off the train, you’ll see the fancier stores ARE right underneath the grimy 7 train. It’s the main promenade.Don’t tell anyone, but this is the best, fastest paced, most fascinating boro there is. Get on the 7 train out of Grand Central and stop in Woodside, and see the Irish stores and pubs. Jackson Heights is very Indian and Pakistani. See the beautiful saris, and visit the cheap fabric stores if you like to sew. The fabric isn’t poorly made, just low priced, and what variety! If you like curry, or Indian food in general, this is the place to be. Jackson Heights is extremely safe, most people are bi-, tri-lingual or more. Most restaurants offer very reasonably priced food, no more than $15 for the buffet.Here’s your stop.One of many fabric stores, all at reasonable prices.The fancy sari shop.Typical buffetOn to Corona! Corona looks shabby, and is home to mostly Mexican and Ecuadoran refugees/immigrants. Not that much English is spoken there, but usually someone will translate, or you can made your needs known. Every sign is in Spanish. There are specialty stores for the quincenaras, and food is available everywhere. Ladies at the foot of the 7 train stairs sell food they have made at home, to support their families. The best tamales I’ve ever had have been from the “churro” ladies under the tracks. Cost: $1 each. Other foods are sold, and you will see Mamis and grandmothers (abuelas) everywhere selling the delicious cinnamon and sugar covered churros, a cookie. These run from 25 cents each to 50 cents. Buy from these ladies, get genuine Mexican food, and help support a hard working family. Can you imagine staying up all night, cooking enough food to fill a grocery cart, and then staying up all day to sell it? While grandmother watches the kids? Tell me again immigrants are lazy. The papis have long ago gone to work—my daughter sees them on the 7 train when she goes to work extra early, between 5 - 6 AM, the men dressed in work clothes, wearing an expression of exhaustion. Always.Looks aren’t everything. It’s shabby, but this is Main Street. Everyone shops here.Family is very, very important in Corona. Here’s papi, buying a piragua (flavored ice) for his m’ija (daughter).One of the first things a male central American bill buy with his hard earned wages is a pair of boots. See the sign above that says “Botas.” Here’s the display.lso fancier places to eat, sit down restaurants, bakeries with smooth tile floors, pretty tables, and the latest futball game on the large screen TV. Again, these people immigrated not to get benefits (most of them don’t, as they are afraid of deportation), but to work like dogs so that their children are safe and have a better life.Then there’s world famous Flushing. Flushing is the new Chinatown. Most signs are in Mandarin, and not everyone is fluent in English. My favorite place to eat is the food court in the New World Mall. The court is lined with vendors selling various Chinese dishes. Dumplings are always a safe bet, as are soups. Almost any kind of popular Chinese dish is available, and meals are very, very cheap. My daughter and I can get so full we can’t walk for $10 each.New World Mall, with J-Mart, the odd supermarket, on the first floor. People are using umbrellas on a sunny day because dark skin is undesirable in the Asian population.The ground floor is J-Mart, the most culturally removed supermarket you’ll ever go into. While you may not find a lot of food you want to buy, it’s fascinating to see the differences. Check out the live fish. There is also a section for glassware, teapots and miscellaneous, if you have souvenirs to buy. J-Mart is not the cheapest place in the world, but you can buy a beautiful cup for $5. If you have very old relatives who remember the days of scrubbing clothes on a washboard, J-Mart also carries bars of laundry soap. If you have relatives who like tea, this is the place to get it. There’s an entire aisle devoted to tea.People may not seem friendly, and to an American ear, Mandarin has a very harsh tone. My daughter’s coworkers were having a conversation on the way out of work in the elevator. She asked one after they parted if they had been arguing. “No, we were talking about making supper…..” her friend said, puzzled. Don’t be put off by the intonations.That’s all for now….I have some things to do…. but yes, you can have a great time for $76 a day. If your visit includes covering transportation, you can even take a car service (these days much more popular than cabs). Load the Uber app onto your phone. I’ve used these several times and never had a long wait, a rude driver, or anything but a good experience.ONE LAST CAUTION—FOR SOME REASON, PEOPLE FROM SILICON VALLEY THINK THEY DO NOT HAVE TO TIP WAITERS, BELLMEN, HOUSEKEEPERS, AND CAR DRIVERS.THINK AGAIN. WAITSTAFF MAKES $2 AN HOUR, BECAUSE UP UNTIL RECENTLY, ANYONE WHO WASN’T A BOOR KNEW TIPPING WAS EXPECTED AND ESSENTIAL. EVEN IF SERVICE IS SLOW, YOU DON’T LIKE THE MEAL, UNLESS YOUR WAIT PERSON IS OPENLY HOSTILE AND RUDE TO YOU, YOU TIP.IF YOU DON’T, YOU CAN EXPECT TO HAVE THE STAFF, AND POSSIBLY THE MANAGER, FOLLOWING YOU DOWN THE STREET YELLING AND ASKING WHY YOU STIFFED THEM FOR A TIP. 15% is minimum, 20% for good service, a little more for very attentive, excellent service.IF YOU DON’T LIKE TO TIP, YOU CAN EAT AT A CAFETERIA, A FAST FOOD PLACE, OR IN YOUR ROOM. Few native New Yorkers or people from the Metro area EVER give a thought to tipping—it’s just what you do. Nothing will mark you as an out of town person as fast as leaving no tip, and then having the restaurant staff follow you down the street screaming at you. Nothing personal. I just know there’s some debate about it, and some people are unaware that waitstaff are paid nearly nothing.Hope you find this helpful.

Call the street I grew up on the one I lived on from age 4 or so to age 12. We moved from Brooklyn to a suburban NJ subdivision when it was literally 9 houses off a truck route, in the middle of empty fields, woods, peach orchards and corn fields. The houses were modest, typical frame houses, each slightly different, but basically the same. Ours was a “split level” ranch with 3 bedrooms and an attached garage on a grass lot of maybe ¾ of an acre, next to a similar house, and across the street from a row of 5 more. Our house bordered a dirt field of a few acres, that merged into a small farm. That field included a pile of dirt left over from construction that was high enough and large enough to climb and sled on. We also sledded on the streets, but not much as they were dead flat. The nearby woods offered better hills, but dangerous trees and roots. There were some creeks and marshes in those woods and in the borders of the farm fields and we were in those often, all year round. The farmer, whose actual name was Smith, used to drive his tractor down the street to fill up his water trailer at the fire hydrant to water his fields or fill up his tanks to spray insecticide. We would walk up to his house to buy fresh vegetables and fruit. The kids would play in his peach trees when we weren’t in the dirt field or nearby woods. As a couple of years went by, he sold the farm and by the time we left that town, all the land had been built into more houses like ours, only somewhat bigger, but the lot sizes were about the same. We added on to our house a bit and did landscaping, but none of the homes were anything like today’s McMansions.My elementary school was about a half a mile away and we walked to school along that 4 lane blacktop road, no sidewalk along that road, no crossing guards that I recall. Later, we walked to the corner to get the yellow school bus to middle school. That main road saw a fair number of trucks but was never really that busy. In fact, one of my brothers once wandered out into it, lay down and fell asleep, panicking all the moms in the area and giving some poor trucker close to a heart attack. We were very much a neighborhood of free range kids, on foot or on bikes.Over time, the main street, that truck route, grew a pretty large Catholic church with a parochial school, while in the other direction the far end of the dirt lot became home to the Synagogue I would walk to for Sunday school and services. As noted, there were a lot of kids; it was classic post war baby boomers. We played in the yards and in the streets and fields. At dinner time you could hear various parents or siblings yelling down the streets for kids to come on home. In the summer we played in sprinklers in the yards. One or two families had cheap, small free standing pools, but those were rare and didn’t last. Eventually, people in the area built a swim club nearby with pools and lockers and tennis courts and all the rest, a short drive away. That cut down on summer time street life because many kids went to daytime camp there and the adults socialized there. It’s not clear to me which families joined or didn’t, but I guarantee you it was not expensive, though more well to do families could and did buy bigger cabanas, or two instead of one. When the subdivisions started to grow, we played in the construction sites and partly built houses, that was fun, the new houses even had basements! We built forts and tree houses out of scrap materials wherever we wanted to. We used chunks of scrap dry wall for chalk to draw all over the streets. As the neighborhood grew, more people moved in and out of the older houses and it seems to me that overall socializing, among kids and adults, decreased. I don’t really know why, or if that’s even really the case, but it’s what I recall. Maybe the swim club and church and the temple and bowling alley and all that, starting to sprout, pulled away from neighborhood life, such as it was. Unlike cities, there were no stores of any kind in walking distance, except a convenience store you could get to by a fairly short bike ride. Kids were also kept busy doing yard work. I remember hours of mowing, raking, weeding the lawn. We had septic tanks and the crabgrass and dandelions did grow heavier over there! We weeded them by hand, one by one – no spray. Kids were also put to work washing the car on weekends. Those were the days when a car had to be washed and waxed regularly if you didn’t want it to rust. Parents (ALL adults were married parents on that street) socialized with pretty typical 50’s era and 60’s era cocktail and holiday parties, but there was some social segregation among the adults based on religion, income and ethnicity (Italian vs. Jewish vs. Polish; Manhattan commuters vs. poorer white collar or blue collar) It was a heavily Catholic area, and the exceptions stood out, to their, admittedly minor, detriment. It was all white, of course. When we moved, we sold to the first African American family in the area; For Sale signs sprouted up in front of houses that had been occupied less than a year. That was 1965, as I recall. This is a long answer, I hope it speaks to what you were looking for.