house-hunting in Queens: concrete and culture
I know, I've been pretty quiet online lately since coming back to the U.S. Part of the reason is that I'm currently living with my in-laws who do not have internet in their house (they're an older retired couple who have lived computer-free their whole lives and have no reason to change that). When I do get internet, I've been house hunting and researching real estate online which has become a whole 'nother giant timesuck.
We're currently house hunting in Queens, which truly is one of the most diverse places in the world. As I was telling nojojojo , in a single day of house hunting, I've come across Indian families making dal, a Tibetan family watching the Dalai Lama read sutras on TV, a house filled with 20 Mexican day laborers, to a Korean calligraphy studio, to a basement apartment of 3 Eastern European guys that must have grown up with servants waiting on them hand and foot. It's really fascinating to look at how people's cultures and backgrounds influence their choices of design / living spaces. There was a Mexican family that had this bright red on the walls, with the door frames they had painted this vivid yellow and purple stripe. Now, even reading that description, I would think this would be a clash, but in their house it totally worked because it evoked the bright colors of a fiesta.
What I've also found to be really interesting is also how people's cultural backgrounds shape their aesthetic choices with the environment. One of the things that many people have been complaining about is how many new immigrants tend to buy typical suburban houses and then pave over all grass until it's a sea of concrete. Growing up in America, personally, I find this hideous, but to many Asians, having a green lawn is completely pointless. The whole idea of the green grass lawns comes from idealizing vast English estates with fields of green as a marker of status and beauty. But if those English estates are as foreign to you as the statues of Easter Island are to many, the little tiny green patches of grass that you don't use for anything seem pointless. You have to mow it, fertilize it, take care of it, and yet, most of the time, you don't use it for anything. At least if it is concrete, you can park on it
You can also see this concrete aesthetic with those who grew up under the gray blocks of Communism. There was an article a few months back in the NYTimes about Queens neighborhoods getting annoyed at Bukharan Jews (Jews of Central Asia, like Kazakhstan) who would not only get rid of their lawns, and small little Cape cod houses, but build these huge McMansions with giant exterior walls that you couldn't see into from the street. So these quaint little suburban grass lawned streets would become a block full of brick walls and iron gates with no greenery visible on the outside. They quoted one of the house owners as saying that he was making use of the his property to the fullest extent because behind those stone walls he had himself a charming garden that he would have private parties with his family and friends. I remember him saying that lawns were stupid because no one actually sat or played on their front lawn.
We're currently house hunting in Queens, which truly is one of the most diverse places in the world. As I was telling nojojojo , in a single day of house hunting, I've come across Indian families making dal, a Tibetan family watching the Dalai Lama read sutras on TV, a house filled with 20 Mexican day laborers, to a Korean calligraphy studio, to a basement apartment of 3 Eastern European guys that must have grown up with servants waiting on them hand and foot. It's really fascinating to look at how people's cultures and backgrounds influence their choices of design / living spaces. There was a Mexican family that had this bright red on the walls, with the door frames they had painted this vivid yellow and purple stripe. Now, even reading that description, I would think this would be a clash, but in their house it totally worked because it evoked the bright colors of a fiesta.
What I've also found to be really interesting is also how people's cultural backgrounds shape their aesthetic choices with the environment. One of the things that many people have been complaining about is how many new immigrants tend to buy typical suburban houses and then pave over all grass until it's a sea of concrete. Growing up in America, personally, I find this hideous, but to many Asians, having a green lawn is completely pointless. The whole idea of the green grass lawns comes from idealizing vast English estates with fields of green as a marker of status and beauty. But if those English estates are as foreign to you as the statues of Easter Island are to many, the little tiny green patches of grass that you don't use for anything seem pointless. You have to mow it, fertilize it, take care of it, and yet, most of the time, you don't use it for anything. At least if it is concrete, you can park on it
You can also see this concrete aesthetic with those who grew up under the gray blocks of Communism. There was an article a few months back in the NYTimes about Queens neighborhoods getting annoyed at Bukharan Jews (Jews of Central Asia, like Kazakhstan) who would not only get rid of their lawns, and small little Cape cod houses, but build these huge McMansions with giant exterior walls that you couldn't see into from the street. So these quaint little suburban grass lawned streets would become a block full of brick walls and iron gates with no greenery visible on the outside. They quoted one of the house owners as saying that he was making use of the his property to the fullest extent because behind those stone walls he had himself a charming garden that he would have private parties with his family and friends. I remember him saying that lawns were stupid because no one actually sat or played on their front lawn.