Midtown

Walking through my childhood neighborhood of Midtown, I feel so nostalgic for all the amazing culture here. I was born here to two immigrant parents within proximity to the United Nations, which meant that our area was a hotspot of immigration and diverse institutions. My elementary school was always filled with the thrum of other languages and cultural practices, and that truly shaped who I am. 

I want to start this guide by focusing on one of my favorite parts of Midtown: the food. Hanging out with my friends or going out for dinner after school was a treat, and there are some amazing AAPI restaurants whose food is divine. People most commonly know K-Town, but walking down the street you will find many AAPI food spots including South Asian and Pacific Islander cuisine. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to advertise specific places, but many of you reading this guide will have eaten at least some kind of AAPI food, so definitely take a walk through Midtown if you ever need a place to go with friends!

I also want to highlight something that most New Yorkers avoid: yellow taxis. Even though public transit is amazing, we have all spent at least some amount of time in taxis. I have fond memories of the music the drivers would play, their accents as they’d ask me about my day, and the warm embrace of the cracked leather. Taxi drivers have always been immigrants. From the 1900s up until the 1970s, many taxi drivers were Jewish or Irish. As Asian immigration increased, so did the amount of Asian taxi drivers. By the 1990s, South Asian taxi drivers had become a major presence in our city thanks to the Hart-Celler Act of 1965, which lifted immigration quotas and made it easier for people to legally immigrate to America. As the Taxi Workers Alliance developed, they organized a general strike in 1998 for 24 hours. Something that was so cool for me to see was that the Taxi Workers Alliance still exists today. You can look at their current advocacy efforts on their website, and they now have 21,000+ members! Today, much of their advocacy is focused on the rise of ride-share apps like Uber, which have changed the conditions of taxi work. Now, ride-share drivers struggle with long hours and minimal pay, amongst other grievances.

There is so much that Midtown offers in terms of AAPI history. AAPI people are in their classrooms representing their cultures, running local businesses, and keeping our city running through public service. Below you’ll find some older photographs of AAPI businesses and areas in Midtown, along with some newer photos from my time in this area!