North and West of the City.

This is a personal project documenting the architecture and the sense-of-place found in Bergen County, NJ, an area just north and west of Manhattan. Growing up in New York, it was common to hear weather reports end with the caveat that things would be worse “north and west of the city.” It seemed like common knowledge to most New Yorkers that everything was worse once you ventured west of Manhattan. To my great surprise, I found myself years later living in the very area I had come to fear. What I found was a mostly middle class refuge surrounded by pockets of extreme wealth and poverty: a diverse community living in aging but well maintained homes next to modest apartment towers. In other words, a way of life that used to be pervasive throughout the metropolitan area but, thanks to rapid gentrification, is fading fast. These photos are my attempt to document this way of life.