A stoop can be a small porch, platform, or staircase leading from the sidewalk to the entrance of a building. The word stoop is derived from the Dutch, stoep, which is quite fitting: the architectural concept was imported to New York from the Netherlands by Dutch colonists.
Because they occupy a space between the street and private apartments inside, stoops were very important in the lives of ordinary New Yorkers. They were a place to escape from the stifling heat and close quarters of the tenement apartments, but they served many other functions: people used them as observation posts, political stumps, gossip centers, stages for showing off to the neighbors, and places to watch the world go by.
