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Since we published this extremely detailed map of New York City neighborhoods last week, readers have submitted more than 7,500 new submissions from across the city.
These introductions have brought 36 new neighborhood names to the map (you can see them now!): places like Starrett City, Beverly Square West, Lefferts Manor, Wingate, Broadway Triangle, pig town and The Hole.
(A 2004 New York Times article described The Hole as similar to a Wild West frontier town on the border between Brooklyn and Queens, with “dusty streets, stray dogs, ramshackle corrugated tin structures and even a few cowboys.”) Some horses were left of them.)
Names that represent immigrant enclaves, such as Loisaida in Manhattan, Little Haiti in Brooklyn and Little Yemen in the Bronx, have also appeared on the map.
Below, the 36 new additions to the map.
Updates show more divisions of larger neighborhoods with some compass direction added, such as Crown Heights. North, Southeast Annadale, South Village. It’s sometimes difficult to know whether directional modifications like these describe just, say, the northern part of an existing neighborhood or somewhere else entirely. Some make geographical sense, while others do not. some have more established history; others, less.
Take as an example a neighborhood established as This Elmhurst in Queens. For the most part it’s not east of Elmhurst (it’s north) and actually doesn’t even touch Elmhurst. They are separated by Jackson Heights.
South Midwood and West Midwood are north of Midwood. Both the West Village and the East Village have the “correct” address in relation to Greenwich Village (aka he Village), but they describe very different places. North Williamsburg and South Williamsburg (or Southside or Los Sures) are also not the same, but most of those who introduced them as neighborhoods still consider them part of all of Williamsburg. (Let’s not get us started on East Williamsburg.) Northern Little Italy, or NoLIta, is now its own place, stronger in some ways than the one to the north.
So does Crown Heights North Does it count as its own neighborhood, distinct from Crown Heights? What if West Chelsea? Or hell’s kitchen North? In our opinion, the goal is to be as inclusive as possible. If, according to our data, more than 1 percent of the people who live there use these names to describe their neighborhood, we add them.
So those three, and 33 more, are now on the map because enough people use them to describe their neighborhoods. We’ll see if they grow into more distinct places, as shown on our map by getting their own color, like South Slope (nee Park Slope), South Ozone Park (nee Ozone Park), and East Harlem (nee Harlem).
“West Bronx” is also on our list of additions, which makes sense, given what we hear from many readers in the Bronx: that they don’t use neighborhood names (with the exception of Riverdale) as much or in the same way . like the rest of the city, and often prefer a major avenue or landmark to an actual name. From a commenter:
Take it from someone who grew up in the West Bronx, who only knew the West and East Bronx. I remember feeling confused when the language changed to South and North, with Fordham Road being the dividing line and the “disappearance” of the West and East Bronx.
And other:
When the media made the Bronx famous for “burning down,” the term “South Bronx” was coined, presumably traveling from river to river. Little by little, this term was extended northward practically to Westchester.
Some argued that the district as a whole had a stronger sense of identity than the other four: da Bronx! – and “was not a victim of self-differentiation.”
It’s an interesting idea: part of the reason neighborhoods are divided into smaller units is to distinguish them from their surroundings and establish an identity of their own. Maybe that’s what makes the Bronx just the Bronx.
And ultimately, that may determine whether Crown Heights North will be as accepted as South Slope.
A final note. The map (like the city!) is a living thing and we will continue to update it periodically as people submit more data. So whether you agree or disagree with the neighborhood boundaries you see, draw yours here.