Jackson Heights

From The Peopling of New York City: Indian Communities

The community of Jackson Heights is bound by Northern Boulevard to the north, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to the west, Roosevelt Avenue to the south, and Junction Boulevard to the east. East Elmhurst, the area immediately to the north, is sometimes regarded as a northward extension of the neighborhood.

• Transportation

Jackson Heights is also where the IRT Flushing Line (7) train meets the IND Queens Boulevard Line and numerous bus routes at the 74th Street-Broadway transportation hub. Victor Moore A. Bus Terminal is the largest subway stop in Queens with six train lines and four buses. The Q33 bus goes to LaGuardia Airport's main terminals and operates 24 hours a day.

• Shopping

Although many Chinese, Koreans, Greeks, Colombians, and Pakistanis live nearby, Jackson Heights is called “Little India” for a reason. Jackson Heights is a "concentration of business" for the Asian Indian community. Ethnic shopping there plays a significant role in the economy. With a myriad of groceries, sweet shops, restaurants, tailors, clothing shops, and even travel agencies, “whatever you can buy in New Delhi, you can also buy on 74th Street" ( Foner). At these shops Indian immigrants can buy an assortment of different food, clothing, cosmetics, jewelry, movies and music that reminds them of their homeland. The food stores and shops are especially crucial to the lives of these Indian immigrants. Certain stores also cater to the religious needs of its customers by providing a selection of idols, or religious paintings, such as the one below, and other items used in rituals. Roosevelt Avenue is also lined with various mainly Hispanic retail stores. The majority of 35th and 34th Avenues and most side streets between 37th Avenue and Northern Boulevard are residential.

Sweet shops like these are very common in Indian neighborhoods. Sweets play an important role in Indian festivities.

Indian Sweets, including laddoos, gulab jamuns, rasgullahs.

A depiction of Ram, Sita and Hanuman, divine characters from the Ramayan, a Hindu epic.