Jackson Heights
From Decoding New York
| Introduction |
| Jackson Heights |
| * Evolution |
| * Here v. There |
| * What's Real |
| Astoria |
| * Evolution |
| * Here v. There |
| * What's Real |
| Comparison |
| * Photo Gallery |
| * Sources
|
In the contest for New York's most diverse neighborhood, America's first garden and cooperative apartment community is impossible to overlook. Some go beyond city and even national limits, as did resident Celeste Chapin in a letter to the New York Times, proclaiming without hesitation, “the award of most diverse neighborhood in the world goes to Jackson Heights". The claim’s hyperbole seems to dissolve with a walk through the streets of Jackson Heights. Home to both Little India and Little Columbia, Jackson Heights has been described by journalist Janice Fioravante as, “comprised of people from 70 countries -- Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, as well as nations in Asia, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean -- speaking 40 languages”.
Jackson Heights did not exist before the 20th century. The neighborhood was constructed by the Queensboro Corporation under President Edward Archibald MacDougall at the turn of the 20th century. Jackson Heights was conceived and built with residents in mind, influenced by the “Garden City” movement which began in England in response to the packed tenements and general uninhabitability of contemporary cities. Garden cities were designed to balance residences, industry, and agriculture with special attention given to making such neighborhoods livable and pleasant. The apartment complexes built by Queensboro feature distinctive interior gardens which provide calm, parklike settings for all the residents.
Jackson Heights was for a long time home only to upper middle class, white professionals. Beginning in the 1960s, immigrants from all over the world began moving to Jackson Heights. Jackson Heights Beautification Group has said of its neighborhood, “it's not uncommon to hear four or five languages (English and Spanish, but also Russian, Bangla, Korean, and others) in the course of a walk". Jackson Heights, with its architectural beauty, all but unmatched diversity, rich history, and world famous cuisine embodies and typifies the best of New York.
Jackson Heights is generally placed between Northern Boulevard and Roosevelt Island to the north and south, and Junction Boulevard and 69th Street to the east and west.
