CONTENTS

Preface  ix

Acknowledgments  xiii

Maps  xvi

1

Introduction  1

2

Selling Hot Dogs, Planting Flowers, and Living the Dream: The Newcomers  21

3

Diners, Love, Exorcisms, and the Yankees: New York’s Communities  71

4

Dancing the Bachata, Playing Bocci, and the Chinese Scholars’ Garden: Enjoying the City  137

5

Tar Beaches, Sidewalk Carvings, Irish Freedom Fighters, and Superman: Spaces in the Big Apple  169

Illustrations following page  215

6

From Washington Heights to Hudson Heights, from Soho to Soha: Gentrification  231

7

Assimilation, Identity, or Something Else: The Future of Ethnic New York  296

8

Conclusions  346

Notes  369

Neighborhood Glossary  395

Bibliography  401

Index  437