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The 411 on Jackson HeightsFrom The Peopling of New York City  Jackson Heights, a neighborhood in Queens, New York, is often described as an "urban melting pot," bubbling with many unique ethnic populations (Little India: East Coast, West Coast and In Between). When Jackson Heights was founded in 1909, native whites comprised 98.5% of its population; by 1990, however, the white population had fallen to 39.8% (Kasinitz, 170). By 2000, an estimated 11,420 Colombians were living in Jackson Heights, along with 9,303 Ecuadorians, 4,676 Mexicans, 4,643 Chinese, 2,680 Peruvians, and 2,663 Indians. Today, Bangladeshis, Koreans, Pakistanis, Filipinos, Jews, Italians, Russians, Argentineans, and Bolivians also call Jackson Heights home (Joe and Peter's Off the Beaten Track Guide to NYC). The neighborhood's boundaries are defined, by some, with Northern Boulevard to the north, Junction Boulevard to the east, 69th Street to the west, and Roosevelt Avenue to the south. However, by comparing two cognitive maps, one by a resident and one by a real estate agent, we can see that the boundaries are not firmly set and vary among different people. David J., a real estate agent in Jackson Heights, identifies Northern Blvd, Roosevelt Avenue, 72nd Street and 82nd Street as the borders of Jackson Heights, as seen on the left. These areas include the Historic District, where he sells the majority of his real estate, and Little India.  Lynn, a resident of Jackson Heights, has a much broader view of Jackson Heights than real estate agent David J., as seen on the right. For Lynn, Jackson Heights extends past Northern Blvd, into less affluent areas. While superficially this can be explained by the location of her supermarket, which happens to lie north of Northern Blvd, when seen next to David J.'s map, it clearly shows the dissonance between residents and realtors. For realtors, Jackson Heights is only defined by the affluent and industrious areas (in this case, the Historic District and Little India). For residents, Jackson Heights is defined more by the institutions they frequent. Little India is a prominent fixture in Jackson Heights, coloring 74th Street with traditional South Asian clothing, jewelry, and restaurants. Along Roosevelt Avenue is Little Columbia, home to numerous Latin American restaurants, bodegas, and shops. The diversity of Jackson Heights is commonplace to those who frequent the area. According to the Jackson Heights Beatification Group, "[i]t'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 Beautification Group). As Omar Rajwani, a teacher at the United Methodist Church, noted, there are more than "20 different types of food [one] can eat just by walking from church to home."  In the neighborhood, there are a variety of cultural, ethnic, and religious organizations, including a Jewish and an Islamic Center, the Jackson Heights Art Club, the United Methodist Church, and the Jackson Heights Lesbian and Gay Pride Committee, all of which reflect the diversity of its residents.  In fact, Jackson Heights is so well known for its diversity that the subject has been featured in The Onion, a famous online parody newspaper. In an article, The Onion satirizes the "culturally diverse” Jackson Heights through an exaggeration of a "tragic" accident: "The Q45 bus crashed into a power generator at a busy street corner after swerving to avoid a slow-moving group of elderly Chinese pedestrians. Police say that a Korean laundry, an Irish pub, a Senegalese restaurant, and a churro stand were also severely damaged in the resultant smoke and flames." The article goes on to relate how hard it was for the various gods to sort out the victims in their afterlife because they "hailed from 14 countries and professed an as-yet-undetermined number of religious faiths." The Onion reemphasizes that Jackson Heights is an area packed with countless individuals and businesses, representing a variety of countries, ethnicities, and religions. (To read this hilarious article, click here.) We analyze how this rich diversity is used to sell real estate in Jackson Heights to potential buyers, on the next page.
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