In researching my neighborhood, Long Island City in Queens, it would be interesting to take a look at old pictures of the neighborhood. Photographs of the buildings and architecture would be especially helpful. Since Long Island City is considered to be an “up-and-coming” neighborhood in the borough of Queens, there have been many changes within the neighborhood over the past few years. The area used to be the center of many manufacturing businesses and is now gentrifying into a residential and commercial neighborhood with several art galleries. Manufacturing sites tend to be more industrial due to the fact that the buildings are equipped with heavy machinery. Residential and commercial areas are built differently. These changes can be found in old pictures. You may also be able to interview people who have resided in that neighborhood prior to its gentrification to get their take on how the neighborhood has changed. There are probably many photos of Long Island City when it was industrialized back in the late 1900’s on the internet. You can also ask around and see which residents have been living there through these changes if they have any photographs and their input on what has changed in the area. Photographs along with memories of actual residents in Long Island City would be good resources to use in explaining the development and evolution of the neighborhood over the past decade or so. Since I am from Queens, I have a very unique position in doing ethnographic research compared to the rest of my class, which consists of mostly out-of-state and international students. The neighborhood I live in is a few towns east of Long Island City. In terms of blending in order to gather information about the area, I am also from Queens so I would be considered an insider. However, depending on the person, some may also view me as an outsider since I don’t live within that neighborhood. My unique place allows me to glide by and in a sense blend in with everyone else being that I am from Queens too. However, since I am from a different neighborhood, I can observe the various differences this neighborhood has with my own as well as Manhattan.
