North Shore of Staten Island, NY Walking Tour

Filming dates: Wednesday October 1st, Friday October 3rd, Tuesday October 7th, 2025

I walked around several neighborhoods of Staten Island's north shore. This is by far the longest walking tour video I had ever filmed! Only at 1 hr 30 mins (1:33:14). These are the neighborhoods included in this video: Castleton Corners, Westerleigh, Mariners Harbor, Port Richmond, Rosebank, Clifton, Stapleton, St. George, Brighton Heights, Tompkinsville, New Brighton, Randall Manor, West Brighton, Sunnyside (Staten Island). Yes, there's another Sunnyside in Staten Island after the popular neighborhood in Queens.

I did went to Mariners Harbor last year for a short video to film the Goethals Pond Complex near a local Home Deport. That was requested by one viewer who commented this idea. Then, another viewer recommended me to come back and see the Bridge Creek on Western Avenue. Although, that is a tricky route to walk on. I'm not sure to walk there on Goethals Road North, because of mild traffic and less careful walking while crossing to Western Ave as my concern. So I might have to film there, when I start driving soon.

Most of the neighborhoods in Staten Island's north shore have working class residents making up the majority of the population, whereas half of the demographics are middle class residents. I checked the racial demographics of each neighborhood.

Westerleigh has a shifting community of Italian Americans, Mexicans, other Hispanics/Latinos, Orthodox Jews, Irish Americans, Arab immigrants, and some Chinese immigrants.

Mariners Harbor is mostly Hispanic and working class. They have some Blacks living there, some Italian-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Polish residents, and others included.

Port Richmond is like a "Little Mexico" community with Mexicans living there, including Italians, Irish-descent people, Puerto Ricans, Other Latino groups, some Poles etc.

Rosebank is located at the northeast shore of Staten Island with Fort Wadsworth, Von Briesen Park, Shore Acres, and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge connecting with Brooklyn. Rosebank has similar demographics compared to Bensonhurst and Dyker Heights. There are Italian-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, a growing number of Chinese residents, and some Arab residents.

Clifton and Stapleton are small neighborhoods with an impoverished community of small project buildings, working class residents, poor residents, and some middle class residents living in nice houses. There are Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Mexicans, Ecuadorians, Colombians, some African Americans, Jamaicans, West Africans, some Arabs, Indians, Sri Lankans, and Italian-Americans.

St. George is the less grimmy, more inner urban style, a little ghetto, and slow growth of gentrifying type neighborhood in Staten Island. This neighborhood has the Staten Island Ferry, Empire Outlets with only less stores, the September 11th memorial (remembering 9/11), North Shore parks, the hidden SIR BallPark Station left abandoned, National Lighthouse Museum, some art murals that look pretty cool, and good restaurants. The St. George Theatre is the performing arts theater with plenty of shows and plays for visitors to see.

The old SIR BallPark Station that is apparently abandoned now due to a budget crisis and limited use. It was used from 2001 to 2009 for the Staten Island Yankees playing baseball at the stadium Staten Island FerryHawks. The station closed down in 2010 from limited use and a budget cost crisis.

St. George has some changes and less gentrification as of now. Although, it's not a hipster-type gentrification. It's economic gentrification to improve the neighborhood and attract businesses. This neighborhood also attracts moving residents to luxury apartments like the Staten Island Urby Apartments on Front Street and Navy Pier Court. This apartment complex has pretty good restaurants that residents and other people should check out. St. George also includes a hood enclave called Brighton Heights.

Tompkinsville is a hilly-top neighborhood with residential sidewalk hills and road hills, giving people some sort of a Pittsburgh vibe or West Virginia vibe. There are Catholic residents, Italian-Americans, Albanians, Latinos, Sri Lankans, and Arabs living here. Tompkinsville is bounded with Silver Lake Park, shared from West Brighton.

New Brighton and Randall Manor are working class suburbs mixed with middle class suburbs. It's like working class residents living in middle class houses and urban apartments. This expanded area has Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Italian-Americans, Irish Americans, Poles, some Russians, Ukrainians, Mexicans, some Jamaicans, and other Latinos.

Randall Manor has the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden with a campus of small museums, beautiful gardens, sculptures, statues, older buildings, an art gallery, an art lab, a wedding venue that includes several other events, and the snack bar Harbor Eats.

West Brighton is like a real north shore neighborhood around the Mid Island area of Staten Island. I would call this neighborhood as one part of the real Staten Island. You know the drill of demographics by know if you're reading. There are more middle class residents, working class people, and some lower class people on the West New Brighton side (north side). The south side is more suburban than the north side. On Forest Avenue, there are Italian-owned businesses, a mixture of luxury businesses, newly built restaurants, and some fast food restaurants. Of course, there are Italian Americans, some Italian immigrants left, Mexicans, Chinese and Asian-Americans, Jewish residents, Irish Americans, some Arabs, some Greek Americans, and Eastern Europeans. There is the Staten Island Zoo, which I went twice as a young kid growing up. The Brooks Lake, Clove Lakes Park, and the large-sized St. Peters Cemetery are located in West Brighton.

Last but not least, there is the small Sunnyside enclave neighborhood near the I-278 Staten Island Expressway with bus routes, Victory Boulevard, Clove Road, several delis, some cafes, Catholic churches, the Italian restaurant Road House, and Oliver Tree Marketplace. Wagner College also is in this area.

Staten Island has four colleges: College of Staten Island (CSI) with the main campus and St. George campus, St. John's University, and Wagner College.

Background song: LiQWYD - Night Out