Interesting series of Q&A on The NY Time’s City Room last week. Joseph Berger, a an education and regional columnist for The New York Times took questions on NYC’s ethnic and immigrant neighborhoods.

Some highlights:

Favorite Italian neighborhood: Bensonhurst, because real Italians live there. He says the Little Italys of Manhattan and the Bronx have Italian shops and restaurants, but few actual Italians. The population of Bensonhurst is shifting too, as working class families are sending their children to better schools and when the children return, concrete yards just ain’t good enough for them. The Chinese, who have an appreciation of rowhouses, are replacing the Italians. Bensonhurst is a quick subway ride to Sunset Park’s Chinatown.

Most colorful ethnic neighborhoods: Brighton Beach for its Russian population, Richmond Hill for its Guyanese and Ditmas Park for its diversity.

In response to a question on any Irish enclaves left in Hell’s Kitchen: Pretty much….no.

Mr. Berger states that Hell’s Kitchen has not been solidly Irish since WWII. In the 50’s and 60’s it became a blue collar community of various types of immigrants. But the place that was the backdrop for the ethnic gangs of West Side Story is no longer that diverse. “What gangs and drugs couldn’t do, gentrification is doing.”

Interesting fact: The neighborhood around Lexington and 28th became Indian because of a spice store. Kalustyan’s came first. The restaurateurs followed. I wonder if Sahadi’s influenced the Middle Eastern immigrants on Atlantic Avenue.