Queens Apartment
Rental Info:

Elmhurst is one of Queens' oldest towns, settled in 1652 by British colonists to replace a settlement at Maspeth that had been destroyed by Indian raids.In 1898 when Queens became part of New York City, the name Elmhurst was adopted for the area because of the many elm trees in the vicinity. Sadly, many of Elmhurst's landmarks were razed to accommodate the opening of the subway in 1936. At the end of the Second World War, Elmhurst evolved from an almost exclusively white, middle-class suburban community with a large Jewish and Italian population to the most ethnically diverse neighborhood in the city. At last count immigrants from 112 countries settled there. Queens Blvd is the kind of road you'll find in Queens that makes driving easy but walking a hazard. This is a busy, dense area and please be careful when you cross these wide boulevards. LaGuardia Airport has flight paths overhead, so you can indulge your love of aviation as much as you want.

Corona: Named by a developer to entice Italian immigrants to move from the Lower East Side, it means "crown on the hill." Early factories made china, portable houses, and from 1893 into the 1930s, Tiffany glass. Before the Second World War the area was wholly residential, but closeness to the airport brought commercial development to Ditmars Blvd. From 1943 to 1971 the great jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong lived in the neighborhood at 34-56 107th St., which is now a national landmark. People watch out for each other, which you'll need in some of Corona's less safe areas. Corona used to be largely Italian (Martin Scorsese was born here) and now houses several Hispanic communities. Dominicans and Colombians predominate, along with Puerto Ricans. Corona is also home to a Muslim community comprised of Pakistanis, Indians, Arabians, and African-Americans, among others. Shopping can be found along Junction Blvd. between Roosevelt Ave. and the Long Island Expressway.

Jackson Heights: The "Jackson" in question was an early builder of the area, John C. Jackson. The area quickly built up after the turn of the century and in 1922 double-decker buses began offering service from 82nd St. to 5th Ave. in Manhattan. With the opening of the subway to Roosevelt Ave. in 1933 the population increased rapidly. Walk down 74th St and enter the subcontinent: Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Peruvians, Bolivians, Argentinean, Colombians, and Chilenas have made this corner of Queens home. Many immigrants make Jackson Heights their first home in the US, so (like all of Queens), this is the world's crossroad. Enjoy the diversity. Jackson Heights is the Indian/Asian part of town, and has a large Hispanic population (a spillover from Corona) as well.