Talk:Ridgewood, Queens

False Notable Residents being Added to the Ridgewood, NY Wikipedia Page
On this page I keep on seeing Eric West and Jeannie Ortega under "Notable Residents". Don't be convinced that these people are of any celebrity or "notable" status. Do try to understand that these so-called notable residents possibly have developed their own Wikipedia pages. If you see their names under the "Notable Residents" section of Ridgewood, Queens do try to delete them again.

(In response to the previous comment)

Jeannie Ortega is an established artist who can be looked up in various different websites to confirm. Her latest video "Beautiful day" which pays homage to her hometowns of Bushwick and Ridgewood can be seen on youtube. Those that do not want to include her on this page may be in part due to prejudice regarding the increasing number of hispanics in the area. This however does not take away from the talented Jeannie Ortega who has already made the R&B charts before and has been featured in radio stations such as hot 97.1. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rwoodqueens (talk • contribs) 20:26, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

Ridgewood in Brooklyn?
I have redirected Ridgewood, Brooklyn/Queens back to Ridgewood, Queens because Ridgewood is primarily considered as being in Queens.

I live in the disputed area. I live on the Brooklyn side, near Wyckoff Heights Hospital and one block from the Queens border. The area around here is called Wyckoff Heights, and is preferred over Bushwick or Ridgewood. But I understand the raging debate about Ridgewood. Ridgewood and Bushwick are so intertwined, and they will continue to be so. --Tinlinkin 10:01, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

I always thought Ridgewood covered both Brooklyn and Queens. A small section near Palmetto and Myrtle on the Brooklyn side. Can anyone confirm Elhombre72 21:47, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

I thought Bushwick is now called "East Williamsburg" ... LOL Cheezydee 23:58, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

@ Elhombre72 Palmetto St. is Ridgewood Queens all the way up until Myrtle and Wyckoff ave. That is the border between Ridgewood and Brooklyn. The confusing thing about it is the way Ridgewood/Bushwick is broken up from around Troutman ave. to Palmetto St. which is around 15-20 blocks. I believe that from around Troutman to Menahan or Grove St. Anything after cypress ave. is considered Bushwick territory with the zip code 11237 (even though Cypress ave itself is Ridgewood) then from grove to palmetto ave. which is only around 3 blocks everything after St. Nicholas ave and down is considered 11237 and from Palmetto st. through Cooper ave. (around 20 blocks) it's everything after Wyckoff ave. that has the 11237 Bushwick zip code so thats why theres so much confusion about what is Ridgewood and what is Bushwick but that specific part where you're talking about is in Ridgewood with the zip code 11385. Hope this helps man... and @cheezydee it looked like it was gonna get that way but that hipster movement seems to have stopped since the spike in violent crime all over NYC...

Former Queens resident comments
As a former Queens resident with family roots in Bushwick and Ridgewood, I'm also aware of the controversy.

Schweiwikist 20:13, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

Ridgewood Ny
Until we can distinguish or seperate Brooklyn Ridgewood from Queens shall we just call it Ridgewood, Ny.? —Preceding unsigned comment added by FlushinQwnzNyc (talk • contribs) 02:40, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

I agree. What I don't understand is why don't they just make it so that everything above wyckoff ave. be Ridgewood and everything below from wyckoff to broadway or flushing ave. be considered Bushwick. It would make things so much more simple and the people that live on the borderline of those streets by cypress ave and st.nicholas ave. between troutman and palmetto mostly consider themselves to be in Ridgewood anyway. I really don't get that whole zig zag pattern. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rwoodqueens (talk • contribs) 21:26, 1 September 2010 (UTC)

Picture description
Regarding the picture captioned, "A block of typical Ridgewood construction." That is indeed Grove Street looking towards Cypress Avenue. I spent the first 11 years of my life in the 2nd floor apartment that the camera is facing. The house number was 16-90. It was a shock to recognize it! Emelye Waldherr 3/17/09

Multi-culturalism / ethnicities
Until specific data is cited, it seems inappropriate to speak in terms of ethnicities lower than "Latino/Hispanic", Eastern European, and Middle Eastern. Even with citable data showing the existence of an ethnic group in an area, without threshold levels to qualify what is a noteworthy concentration, attributing ethnicities to a geography seems reckless, and I will delete all references to them.

Furthermore, calling a neighborhood of full white-to-light-brown Christians (even the Egyptians are Coptic) "multi-cultural" seems totally ignorant, and insensitive to what constitutes true diversity. At the very most, Ridgewood is multi-lingual. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Noremacmada (talk • contribs) 23:24, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Ridgewood has a large number of ethnicities and cultures which should all be accounted for
In response to the last thread posted I question whether there is an agenda in deleting the term multi-cultural. Culture is simply another word for backgrounds. Do people actually question that there are a large number of different backgrounds in Ridgewood??? If so I find that very hard to believe. If we talk religion as you seem to be focusing on, we have muslims, jehovah's witnesses, catholics, pentecostals, jews, mormons, etc. need I continue. If we talk about nationalities then there are many people that come from Egypt, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh especially crossing Onderdonk nearer to the Bushwick area. There are also many Filipinos, Chinese, Koreans, and Vietnamese people that live in Ridgewood that are not accounted for through the simple demographics of latinos, europeans and middle easterners. This is not including the Europeans which range from Polish, Albanian, Romanian, Italian, Yugoslavian as well as the Hispanics which range from Ecuadorian, Dominican, PuertoRican, Mexican, Columbian etc. Using the term multi-cultural allows for all the demographics to be covered in what is supposed to be an accurate portrayal of this neighborhood. Rwoodqueens (talk) 21:21, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

response
Without question there are numerous instances of unique ethnic groups in Ridgewood. The question is how large are the numbers? The data is unavailable; the Census does not track those data. Therefore, citing ethinic level data would require original research, and would violate wikipedia's original research policy.

Furthermore, as to the points about "religions," there are no mosques in Ridgewood and there are two synagogues, one next to a cemetary; the rest of the houses of worship all recognize the lord, Jesus Christ, as the Mesiah who died to save us of our sins and that He shall rise again.

The neighborhood, comparitively speaking, is pretty homogenous. There are very few African-Americans or South Asians, and only a sprinkling of East Asians. There are native born whites, imigrants from countries in Latin America to which Europeans immigrated, and European (and near East) immigrants.

Foodwise, you can get Polish, Yugoslavian, Romanian, Italian, German, Comida Criolla, Mexican, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, and American. And if you wanted to write about the avaiablity of these cuisines, cited from Yelp or some other website, of course, then I would be willing to tolerate a section espousing the multiculturism of cuisine in Ridgewood. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Noremacmada (talk • contribs) 18:36, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

response 2
Once again you seem to be focusing a great deal on the Europeans in your response similar as to your correction on the wikipedia page. Look, i'm not here to stir up controversy but typically people do the sort of thing you did in removing the term multi-cultural to remove any chances of making an area more diverse.

The truth of the matter is that this neighborhood is diverse and maybe in your section of Ridgewood it may be strictly European with a sprinkle of hispanics but if you are in the heart of the neighborhood by Fairview, Woodward, Onderdonk and seneca and cypress there is great diversity on these blocks with the dominating group being hispanics, then middle easterners/europeans and then those that hail from South Asia. Are you denying the fact that there are a small amount of Koreans, Chinese, Tibetans in the area? If middle easterners account for 6 or 7% of Ridgewood then those from South Asia account for 3-4%/ In a neighborhood of over 100,000 people i'd say 3-4000 is pretty significant.

Also, you seemed to address every single european food restaurant and yet interestingly left out a number of different hispanic restaurants in the area. I would be willing to compromise with you along the way but you have to be fair and address everything and not just what makes the neighborhood seem more desirable. In the neighborhood there are a plethora of Dominican restaurants, Puerto Rican restaurants, Middle Eastern restaurants, Columbian, Salvadorian, and a few Guyanese places opening up along the myrtle strip and moreso towards the Bushwick border still in Ridgewood. If you take a look at your neighborhood past Fresh Pond Rd. there is a whole world out there beyond simply the Europeans in the area. Let's do the right thing, and give proper due to all of them and not just the Europeans. That is my issue. Rwoodqueens (talk) 20:44, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

response 3
Yeah...ask those South Americans on Cypress, Seneca, Onderdonk, and parts of Woodward what race they are: they'll tell you white. Ridgewood is not a diverse neighborhood. It is now and always has been a Catholic neighborhood. Not that change wouldn't be good, but it is misleading to call it diverse when its really not, and really, anyone who does moving there expecting peoples would be disappointed and may even feel a little like an outsider. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Noremacmada (talk • contribs) 02:46, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

response 4
Reading you're responses and seeing your persistance to eliminate any legitimate diversity in the area while including as many different white groups as you possibly can indicates as plain as day that you are clearly prejudice to the new influx of people moving in, and would rather live in an area dominated by Europeans and "Native-born Americans" (has anyone even heard that term before until used by noremacanda)... What relevance does native-born americans have to this thread. If we are not including the different hispanic and asian demographics because according to you it doesn't make sense to mention all of them, then why would native born americans not be included in the white percentage... to be honest the native born american white percentage is very small in Ridgewood.

The reality is that this is a foreigner/immigrant neighborhood and has always been one. From when 40s and 50s when the Germans were fleeing Hitler's regime, to the 60s and 70s when Italians (and not Brooklyn italians, but actual Italians) moved in with the Germans, to the 80s and 90s when New York born PuertoRicans began moving to the area as well as Black folk and South Americans. In the early to mid 2000s a group of Polish immigrants began settling here as well as Albanians, Serbs, middle easterners and those from South asia as well began replacing mostly the Italian and German population as well as some of the Black population. Finally, from about 2006-07 a growing number of Domincans, even more Middle Easterners, a very small group of hipsters, and a small number of people coming from Guyana and Haiti have begun to reside in this neighborhood specifically past Onderdonk or in the Fresh Pond buildings by Madison. I preach in those buildings many a time, and see the constant shift in demographics in those buildings which are rapidly becoming more diverse.

For evidence of the diversity: http://www.bestplaces.net/zip-code/new_york/ridgewood/11385#

and I quote: "The 2010 Ridgewood (zip 11385), NY, population is 100,203. There are 22,518 people per square mile (population density)." "Race in Ridgewood (zip 11385), NY 60.08% of people are white, 2.49% are black, 6.01% are asian, 0.33% are native american, and 31.09% claim 'Other'.

45.18% of the people in Ridgewood (zip 11385), NY, claim hispanic ethnicity (meaning 54.82% are non-hispanic)."

This was as of January 1st, 2011 Doing the math you have 45.18 that claim hispanic ethnicity. 31.09 of those that are in other are hispanics born outside this country which do not qualify as either black/white/native american/ or asian. then you have 2.49& Black folk which in a neighborhood of 100,203 means that 2,946 black people live in this neighborhood. A little more than an insignificant number I would say. Then you have the 6.01% asian groups. From that group around 4% are middle easterners while the other 2% are from Asia with the dominating groups being from China and Korea. Both groups account for over 2,000 people in this neighborhood as well. And then you have the small but stable Native American (not white) group where about 340 of them live in this neighborhood. Now finishing off the math 45.18+2.49+6.01+0.33= 54.01%. 54.01% are not European or you're classification native born white. While the other 46.99% are mostly European take a look at the stores in the neighborhood if you don't believe me, and probably the same amount of native white born americans as blacks in the area which you continue to disreguard...

Rwoodqueens (talk) 14:12, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

response 5
Your source also says mean education expenditure in Ridgewood is $0. Better get some more reliable numbers. Census should be out in June. Oh wait, 2010 census didn't ask about race. So why are you trying to pidgeonhole everyone into a racial category? You must be a racist.

Don't lie and say Ridgewood is something its not: a diverse neighborhood, like Jackson Hieghts. Both you and I know that, at its most diverse, Ridgewood's diverse enough so that you can do your confession in English, say your prayers in Spanish, and take your Communion in Polish...all at the same Roman Catholic Diocese. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Noremacmada (talk • contribs) 03:46, 2 March 2011 (UTC)

response 6
Funny thing is you bother to respond only after someone has done the changing for you, while I was away... I ask anyone reading this to check the previous responses, who is the one that sounds more racist... I've been the one pleading with you to include the races that are actually in the area... there are articles and videos that talk about how so many arabs have made Ridgewood home especially towards their place of worship on woodward and grove st. That area is dominated by hispanics and arabs... There is a strong bengali presence as well after woodward and east of himrod st. I work in the community, I live here, and I've seen the changes of this neighborhood. You on the other hand, seem to simply want to focus on the Polish and generalize all the different hispanic communities as one minimal latino group...

Ridgewood is a diverse area... Its not like Bushwick where 93% of the area is either black or hispanic or Middle Village where over 75% of the area is white... Ridgewood has native born americans both black and white (i uncluded that because you seem to focus solely on the white groups in Ridgewood as you did in your responses)... there are many different hispanic and european groups such as Dominican, Ecuadorian and Puertorican and Polish, Albanian and Italian... there are many arabs, and a number of bengalis, koreans, chinese, filipinos in Ridgewood which if you are unwilling to accept, you can see through the different shops in the area...

Believe me, walk past Fresh Pond Rd. and Ridgewood does not end... it actually goes all the way to wyckoff believe it or not...

74.73.71.125 (talk) 17:35, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

respose to response 6
Look you are the one who tried to say native born black are not same american as native born whites. You made that distinction.

Furthermore, about the Coptic egyptians...HAVE YOU BEEN READING ANYTHING IN DISCUSSION OR ON THE ARTICLE? Arabs are listed as one of the 4 main groups that populate Ridgewood. As far as the coptic Christian and their church on Woodward, I believe I made reference to them well before you.

And some more fact checking: north of Myrtle, Ridgewood ends at Cypress. The "Ridgewood" you are describing has a 11237 zip, believe it or not.

response 8
type in 1089 Wyckoff ave and see what zipcode you get? anything past I believe it is either palmetto or madison, Ridgewood ends on Wyckoff. Ridgewood only ends on cypress for about 8 blocks and the other 30-40 blocks end either on St. Nich or wyckoff. I've seen the zig zag pattern that separates Bushwick from Ridgewood and I know the neighborhood very well... And my whole thing about mentioning their place of worship was to show you that simply because this neighborhood is majority christian doesn't mean anything because christian can have so many different denominations... christian simply means you believe in christ...

And there is a strong bengali/pakistani presence like I've said before once passing woodward ave. It's not just the arabs that are classified as middle easterners, its other ethnicities as well...

can we just drop this topic already, it seems as if you are bent of classifying this neighborhood as majority white blue collar neighborhood and I see it as a diverse blue collar neighborhood based on what the demographics tell me... going back and forth isn't going to do anything...

198.61.20.166 (talk) 00:57, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

I agree Ridgewood is very diverse and all cultures should be accounted for. I would add the Italian street festival that happens. It has been going on since 1995 which is quite some time and located on Freshpond Road in the heart of Ridgewood so it should be included. Tay1210 (talk) 18:37, 29 March 2021 (UTC)

Distinguishment between Native born American blacks and Native born American whites
Furthermore, breaking up native born americans into native born black and native born whites...WTF was that all about? Is someone less of a native born american because of his or her race or gender? A native born american is a native born american, regardless of the color of the body he or she has. Any dude or chick that is born in Rw, grows up in Rw, goes to school in Rw, and experiences the formative years of life in Rw is going to act and think in way that reflects that shared exeperience, regardless of race. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Noremacmada (talk • contribs) 03:59, 2 March 2011 (UTC)

response 2
http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2011/02/an-attempt-at-unraveling-ridgewood-queens.html

Read this full description of the neighborhood, not just polish and hispanic... the reality is that this neighborhood is a quiet haven for all different types of people... Hispanics and and European (mainly polish) may make up about 85% of the population but within that 85% are roughly 20 or more different hispanic and European ethnicities and then you got the other 15% which ranges from Southern Asians, to Middle Easterners, to the small group of artsy transplants spilling over from Bushwick along the border... Ridgewood pretty much has everything... Like I've said before diversity is not as clear cut as Jackson Heights, but it is like Jackson Heights with the high volume of different backgrounds in the area...

Rwoodqueens (talk) 18:37, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

response 3
Interesting link....I think its so amusing that the real estate industry is pushing Ridgewood again after they ran out of money in 2009. I say good luck to them. The fact of the matter is that >95% of the apartments are rent stabilized with rents the reflect the tendancy of people to remain in Rw. Rw won't ever get real hot because no one leaves and even if the did the landlord couldn't legally raise the rent. Point blank: the prices they are charging for Matthews Flats and Stier houses far exceed the cash flows from rents. To be a landlord of an existing building in Rw at these prices is NPV negative. '''Furthermore, the neighborhood is largely landmarked, for better or worse, making the demolition of existing building and their replacement with condo towers impossible. A developer would have to be stupid to get involved with Rw, especially when so many cheaper sites exist in Bushwick.''' Rw has just too much against it to ever be anything other than the half of Bushwick, a real blue collar neighborhood, that was never redlined.

Good luck talking up Rw the real estate industry though. I promise not to do for this page what I did for Bushwick's page. --Noremacmada (talk) 23:33, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

response 4
Not really encouraging the change that you're describing because I hate it probably just as much or more than you do... The reason why I posted that link was to show the diversity that it did mention of the neighborhood. The asian population, the european, hispanic population. the black population and the others that we are currently talking about... fact is Ridgewood is diverse and the numbers don't lie... Just like woodhaven is diverse as well but white folks don't want that circulating either... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.61.20.166 (talk) 01:03, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

Needs map
Article needs a map. 173.89.236.187 (talk) 05:51, 13 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Are you willing to provide one, or will WikiMiniAtlas or Google KML do? Epic Genius (talk) 20:24, 13 May 2015 (UTC)
 * ✅ Epic Genius (talk) 20:36, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

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Neighborhood of Queens Section
In this section of the article the median income for Ridgewood here says $42,049. However, in the Demographics section it claims that in 2017 the median income is $71,234. This can be problematic because the numbers are very different in amount. Tay1210 (talk) 18:26, 29 March 2021 (UTC)