There’s a particular feeling that comes with getting home late.

The streets are still awake. The lights are still on. You know you’ll find what you need.

In this episode, Pao shares what it feels like to arrive in Jackson Heights after a long workday. The comfort of knowing something will be open. The ease of picking up food. The sense of safety that comes from moving through familiar streets alongside other people heading home.

What does it mean for a neighborhood to feel livable?

In this episode, Hernando reflects on Jackson Heights as a place designed for walking, aging with ease, and finding everything you need close to home. A calm, practical kind of love that only comes with time.

English Translation

There is one very important thing for my wife, which is the peace of mind she has from having everything close by. Transportation, grocery stores, supermarkets, pharmacies, hair salons, laundromats. She can walk 15 or 20 minutes from our home and find everything she needs.

That is one of the great virtues of living in Jackson Heights.

We have gone to restaurants, cafés, taken walks, visited museums, attended park events, and I have been very happy here. 34th Avenue is essential for walking, especially for those of us who are older. Roosevelt Avenue, with all its noise and bustle, is also a place where you can find absolutely anything, from a needle to heavy machinery.

But for me, 30th Avenue is the most special. From around 75th Street to 89th or 90th Street, it is a very pleasant, multifunctional place. You can find everything along that avenue.

I am very happy in Jackson Heights with my wife and my daughters.

Some neighborhoods feel like destinations.

Jackson Heights feels like an arrival.

In this episode, Francesco Biascheri, visiting from Bologna, describes the first moment he stepped off the subway in Jackson Heights and felt as if he had landed in another country. Or several of them.

Through colors, smells, languages, and food, Francesco reflects on what makes this neighborhood endlessly surprising, especially for visitors who think New York begins and ends in Manhattan.

This episode is in Italian.

An English translation is included below.

Every time my wife Valentina and I come back to New York, we like to visit Jackson Heights because within just a few blocks, everything changes. The language you hear changes. The smells change. The words, the food, the colors.

In the end, it feels incredibly rich. Maybe it’s a bit predictable for an Italian to always talk about food, but honestly one of the best things to do in Jackson Heights is to go and taste cuisines from all over the world.

There’s a place I love called Angel. It’s tiny, really tiny, just four tables, and it serves authentic Indian food that feels like a dream. And there are so many other gems like this.

So if you come to New York, don’t stay only in Manhattan. Come take a walk through Jackson Heights.