Introduction

I read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald for my 11th grade English class. I have been assigned an independent project driven by my own interests, and I chose to explore the neighborhoods and locations of various settings in The Great Gatsby. My objective was to use photography to contrast the different neighborhoods and locations portrayed in Fitzgerald’s novel. For two days, I attempted to recreate the experience of living like Jay Gatsby, the main character of the novel.

My Visits

In order to "live like Gatsby," I visited some of the most Gatsby-esque historical mansions, preserves and parks that still exist on Long Island’s Gold Coast. These are some of the properties that resemble the fiction homes of Jay Gatsby and Tom and Daisy Buchanan in the novel. I also visited parks in the precise locations where Gatsby and the Buchanans would have lived if the novel were not fictional, including attaining a visual perspective of the precise views that Gatsby and the Buchanans would have had of each others' homes if the novel were not fiction.

I also visited Room 1839 at the Plaza Hotel, where Gatsby and Buchanan would have stayed at. The room is called the Fitzgerald Suite, and it is decorated entirely in Gatsby-esque and Buchanan-esque motifs and actual F. Scott Fitzgerald memorabilia. The room also had photographs of the actors and actresses featured in the 2013 The Great Gatsby movie, which featured Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby. For an authentic experience, I enjoyed high tea at The Palm Court, which features a decor worthy of The Great Gatsby. I toured the Yale Club of New York City, where Tom Buchanan and Nick Caraway met in Chapter 1 of the book. Tom and Nick are supposed to have been members of Yale's Class of 1915, both were part of a secret society, and Tom was supposed to have been a star football player. I also crossed the Upper Level of the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge to experience the drive that Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Nick Carraway, and Jay Gatsby took in their drive to the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.

To make sure I had a proper experience, I balanced all that opulence with a visit to the Valley of Ashes described in The Great Gatsby. This is a large area that used to be ash dumping grounds that is beside the Flushing River. It is a neighborhood that includes the towns of Flushing, Corona and Elmhurst. This also includes the "Iron Triangle" at Willets Point, Queens, where metal scrap yards and auto repair shops are. The industrial neighborhood is a polluted mess. It is dirty, loud, and dangerous, and resembles more of a warzone than part of an industrialized nation. This is the location where George Wilson's garage is in the novel. I traveled under the overhead subway tracks on Roosevelt Avenue. Chapter 2 of the book talks about the "ghastly creak" of train cars crawling along these tracks. The 2013 movie has a whole scene of a wild drive under these railroad tracks. I also drive around on the residential streets of Corona, filled with homes of immigrants and the working poor. It is also crime infested and among the most dangerous neighborhoods in New York. Against my better judgment, I wanted a contrast against the beautiful homes on the Gold Coast. I was honestly feared for my safety.