STOOP

Stoop (noun): The streetscape of New York City has included outdoor steps, commonly called stoops, which provide access to the principal floor of a residence, since the early nineteenth century. Although stoops did exist elsewhere, "nowhere was the stoop as universal a feature or on so grand a scale as in New York." Stoops have been both a part of the streetscape and vocabulary of New York City for over two centuries... "You could sit on the stoop and you were away from everything. It was like you were just, you were in another world, you were free. Y'know you sat on the stoop you could watch right across the street the stoopball games, the stickball games, if I wasn't playin' I was watchin'. It was just a wonderful way of growin up for a kid and it made you want more outta' life. But if you could you would always stay.