When the R train pulls into the 95th Street station in Bay Ridge, it has completed around a 90-minute journey across the city, from Forest Hills, Queens, through Manhattan and into Brooklyn.
Up the stairs is a vibrant community with its waterfront views and, of course, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge as an ever-present backdrop.
On Third Avenue near 93rd Street, NY1 bumped into hardware store owner Jose Navarro and neighbor Vicky Steckel, who have known each other for years, but disagree on politics.
“I would like to see a woman president, that’s what I want to see,” Steckel said.
Navarro supports former President Donald Trump instead.
“We need somebody to take care of the country. The country is destroyed all because of this president we have, now we want a woman, no way,” said Navarro, who has owned his store since 1976.
Despite the differences, the two say they agree to disagree.
“I’m still going to be his friend because that’s the great thing about having your own opinion and being able to continue as friends. I didn’t know. I just found out now that he was a Trump supporter. I still like him, because we have rights to your own opinion,” Steckel said.
A few blocks away, 81-year-old retiree George Kavalieratos is helping 97-year-old neighbor Peter Tomaras to the barber. Tomaras says he has voted Republican since 1960 and won’t change now.
When asked if he was supporting Trump, he responded, “Yes, that’s my buddy.”
Kavalieratos was concerned about safety in the neighborhood, but wouldn’t go as far as saying who he was supporting.
“It’s up to the people. If you don’t like it, it’s going to change. If you like it, it’s going to be the same,” he said.
Vietnam veteran Joe Amato thinks things were better when Trump was president, but he believes the country has become way too divisive.
“You have to try and get along, try and see the other guys’ point of view, and then you can learn. If you open up, he may say things that you didn’t realize, and you can grasp and you can educated in that respect,” Amato said.