Washington Heights Case

Before I went to Washington Heights, I searched for some information from internet, and then I knew that the heights was a Greek and Cuban neighborhood in the '70s; then it was mainly Puerto Rican; now it's a Dominican neighborhood. It is named for Fort Washington, a fortification constructed at the highest point on Manhattan island by Continental Army troops during the American Revolutionary War, to defend the area from the British forces.

According to the map, I can clearly know Washington Heights is in the northern reaches of the borough of Manhattan and is connected to New Jersey across the Hudson River via George Washington Bridge.

After getting off at 181st street, I saw a lot of apartments on top of stores and so many people walking on the street, I thought it must be a very busy area. Then I went east to Broadway and then turned to south to go down. Along the way, I saw a lot of deli, pizza stores and fried food restaurants, the most impressed me were Wendy and McDonald's. Also, there were many health clinics next to fried restaurants. At the corners, there were often pharmacy and small barber shops, and stores were often small and clustered me to each other. One interesting thing that I noticed was streets and roads are tilted, I guessed the reason is that Washington Heights is on the high ridge. And one more interesting thing was that very few taxis come here. As for the languages in advertisement there, I saw English, Spanish and some I don't know. Also, Spanish was frequently heard being spoken on the streets. People there were mostly hispanic and white, very few blacks and Asians. The most prevalent type of buildings there, I thought, are apartments on top of stores on both sides of the street, and then conformed to the physical environment. As far as I knew from internet, the majority of the neighborhood's population is of Dominican birth or descent, and most of the neighborhood businesses are Dominican owned, driving the local economy, so the Washington Heights can be considered to be a good example for Cultural Diffusion.

After a forty-minute stroll on the streets, I turned back to explore Fort Tryon Park. It was absolutely amazing! I love the views, fresh air and wonderful scenery there. I thought this park has one most significant feature which is quiet. It does not have performances and sports like in Central Park but only for people to walk to relax. In the park. I strolled through enchanting gardens and saw masterpieces of medieval sculpture, stained glass, and finally I enjoyed unparalleled views of the Hudson River. May be because there were some monasteries, the park looked very solemn with many trees lined up , which can be probably considered that human activities often affect the environment. And then I got to go home.

On the way back to train station, I saw some sparse graffiti on apartments' walls, tailor stores and some laundromats I did not see

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