Help me learn about Staten Island neighborhoods?

May 28, 2009 8:51 AM

Help me learn about Staten Island neighborhoods?

I spend most of my time in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn. I go to Staten Island every now and then, and have always enjoyed it. I'd like to learn about the different Staten Island neighborhoods in general. I don't mean the crime statistics or the home sales and these sorts of things (which I'm getting via Google). Where can I get more general profiles about SI neighborhoods that might be fun to explore and the types of things each offers?

posted by aletheia to travel & transportation (5 comments total)

I think you should start by going to do and see things in Staten Island. Explore the island for yourself a bit.

Go to a Staten Island Yankees game.
Go to the staten island zoo
Go to one of the main social centers of the island, the staten island mall
Go to historic richmond town
Go to snug harbor cultural center

Staten Island always gets treated as the ugly step-brother of New York City, but if you explore the island, it does have its own charm.
posted by Flood at 9:33 AM on May 28

Yeah, as I said I've been there for many things (some of what you've mentioned, along with the Tibetan museum, the botanical garden, even that Sri Lankan area). I guess what I'm looking for is some information to tie together the bits and pieces that I've seen at the neighborhood-by-neighborhood level.
posted by aletheia at 10:21 AM on May 28

Forgotten NY has some neighborhood tours with plenty of pictures.
Wikipedia list of Staten Island neighborhoods
The Staten Island Historian
And finally, an (almost) self-link: Our Haunted Island, my sister's collection of Staten Island ghost stories and haunted houses. (Sound file of cawing bird plays upon page load.)
posted by Soliloquy at 10:42 AM on May 28

Here is some random info about SI neighborhoods:

The area by the ferry is kind of ghetto. People get killed there. But, if you take the train right to the stadium there, the stadium itself is nice and you can get tix to minor league Yankees games for ~$8. The walk by the water is nice by the stadium, but I wouldn't venture out further than that.

The neighborhood where the muddy cup coffee house is located is kind of the hipsterish area in SI. The muddy cup is a really cute coffee shop with couches and board games and books, with a performance area in the back where they sell beer and local bands come to play, and they have open mic nights and stuff. The bars near the muddy cup sometimes have bands playing too.

The area by the New Dorp train station is nice because it's a walkable distance between restaurants and bars, so that's good for a nice day.

The Clove Lakes park and the Great Kills park are nice places to go for a run or for a walk on a nice day.

Danny Boys and a couple of other bars near it on Victory Blvd are guido-filled, but definitely packed and playing loud hip hop and dance music, if you're into that kind of thing.
posted by KateHasQuestions at 12:47 PM on May 28

Just ask someone who knows. :) I lived there for a while, and I can tell you that you just sort of have to know people there, and what they're doing where.

I'd dispute the "people get killed there" aspect of the area immediately around the ferry. It (St. George) is a working class neighborhood, and Staten Island's largest police precinct is right across the street from the ferry bus terminal.
posted by Citrus at 7:50 AM on May 29