IntroductionJackson Heights is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. The economic hub of the neighborhood is situated along Roosevelt Avenue at the very southern portion of Jackson Heights. The past several decades has seen this neighborhood become one of the most ethnically diverse in the city, home to ethnic enclaves made up of immigrants predominantly from Latin America.
Historical BackgroundThe neighborhood of Jackson Heights, Queens in 2012 is far from what it was intended to be when realtors first set eyes on the area in the early twentieth century. Edward MacDougall of the Queensboro Realty Company intended to make Jackson Heights an exclusive community for white, nonimmigrant Protestant suburbanites in close range of Midtown Manhattan (Miyares, p.462). Originally, the development of Jackson Heights was modeled as a “garden apartment community” which was an adaptation based off of the garden city model. This garden model synthesized the town and country together with housing units embedded in a green and natural environment. MacDougall designed housing complexes with gardens in the front and back with walkways throughout. To create a more elite atmosphere, some of the large apartments came complete with an enclosed private English garden with gated entrances, fountains and statues.
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The earliest buildings of the Jackson Heights development were built along the only major transportation route of the time which ran alongside Northern Boulevard. However, the construction of the Number 7 line on elevated train tracks opened up the whole area for further urban development. This line improved commuter access to Manhattan, which MacDougall took advantage of when he convinced railroad developers to have a transfer stop at 74th Street and Broadway which connected with the new Number 7 line (Miyares, p.468). MacDougall’s grand developments were initially successful and popular among elite white Protestants in part due to the booming economy of the 1920s. These communities were so exclusionary that there were written rules prohibiting sale or rental to blacks, Jews, or Catholics. Excluding Catholics was written as a euphemism for the exclusion of immigrants (Miyares, p.472).
After initial success of the neighborhood development, a series of events over several decades lead Jackson Heights to become the opposite of what MacDougall originally envisioned: one of the most ethnically diverse middle-class immigrant neighborhoods in the country. The turning point for Jackson Heights came with the fall of the stock market in 1929 and the resulting halt in real estate transactions through the 1930s. Apartments became vacant as tenants defaulted on their payments and the quality of retail surrounding the buildings declined. The housing market improved during and after World War II, however Jackson Heights never regained its former prosperity. Instead of upper-class tenants and apartments with parks and tennis courts, Jackson Heights became filled with lower-cost, higher density rental apartments through the 1950s and 60s (Miyares, p.473). As the concern shifted away from exclusivity to just making sales, the previous upheld exclusionary covenants became meaningless and ethnic diversity increased. The first of the formerly excluded groups to move into the neighborhood were Jews and Irish Catholics (Miyares, p.473).
After initial success of the neighborhood development, a series of events over several decades lead Jackson Heights to become the opposite of what MacDougall originally envisioned: one of the most ethnically diverse middle-class immigrant neighborhoods in the country. The turning point for Jackson Heights came with the fall of the stock market in 1929 and the resulting halt in real estate transactions through the 1930s. Apartments became vacant as tenants defaulted on their payments and the quality of retail surrounding the buildings declined. The housing market improved during and after World War II, however Jackson Heights never regained its former prosperity. Instead of upper-class tenants and apartments with parks and tennis courts, Jackson Heights became filled with lower-cost, higher density rental apartments through the 1950s and 60s (Miyares, p.473). As the concern shifted away from exclusivity to just making sales, the previous upheld exclusionary covenants became meaningless and ethnic diversity increased. The first of the formerly excluded groups to move into the neighborhood were Jews and Irish Catholics (Miyares, p.473).
After the 1965 Immigration Reform Act, which radically transformed immigration policies in the United States, Jackson Heights saw a dramatic increase in its number of immigrant residents, most of which with Latin American origins. More specifically, “commercial establishments along Roosevelt Avenue between 74th Street and 90th Street (primarily Colombian) and 82nd Street (primarily Cuban) began to take on a distinctly Latin flavor” (Miyares, p.474). The diversification of Jackson Heights continued to grow in the 1980s and 90s as the neighborhood’s population grew by 25 percent and immigrants arrived from other Latin America countries such as Mexico, Ecuador, and Dominican Republic as well as Asian countries such as China and India. By 2000, 63 percent of Jackson Height’s residents were foreign-born while that number was only 32 percent for the rest of New York City’s boroughs (Miyares, p.477). Today, Jackson Heights is not characterized by a specific ethnicity that dominates the landscape; instead, the neighborhood encompasses multiple ethnicities and races that cohabitate and creates one of the most fluid and hyperdiverse areas in the city.
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Methods
The purpose of this project is to examine how Roosevelt Avenue serves the needs of its large immigrant population through the use of space for economic and personal endeavors. When interpreting a landscape it is important to consider how the place-specific socioeconomic and spatial structure influences the patterns of the area (Domosh, p.349). We aimed to do this as we walked the blocks of Roosevelt Avenue. The study area begins at the intersection of 74th Street and Roosevelt Avenue at the Roosevelt Ave subway stop of the Number 7 elevated rail line and ends at the intersection of 86th Street and Roosevelt Avenue.
Data was recorded in field notebooks starting at the 74th Street intersection and walking towards 86th Street. Data collected for each store front included the type of business, the address of the building, a photograph, and a description of how the space was utilized. In addition, the culture or ethnic group denoted by signs and/or flags was also recorded when available. Data was entered into Microsoft Excel and assigned a category based on field observations. The categories include immigrant services, restaurant/bar, retail/clothing, beauty/salon, nightlife, medical services, grocery, electronics, daycare/preschool, and bank. The address data for each building was then geocoded in ArcMap 10.0 and symbolized by business type.
Data was recorded in field notebooks starting at the 74th Street intersection and walking towards 86th Street. Data collected for each store front included the type of business, the address of the building, a photograph, and a description of how the space was utilized. In addition, the culture or ethnic group denoted by signs and/or flags was also recorded when available. Data was entered into Microsoft Excel and assigned a category based on field observations. The categories include immigrant services, restaurant/bar, retail/clothing, beauty/salon, nightlife, medical services, grocery, electronics, daycare/preschool, and bank. The address data for each building was then geocoded in ArcMap 10.0 and symbolized by business type.
Roosevelt Avenue: Flickr Photo Map
Cover Photos & Flickr Map by Corrin Turkowitch
Sources
Domosh, Mona. “A Method for Interpreting Landscape: A Case Study of the New York World Building.” Area. The Royal Geographical Society. 21.4 (1989): 347-355. Web. 12 May 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20000059.
Miyares, Ines M. "From Exclusionary Covenant to Ethnic Hyperdiversity in Jackson Heights, Queens." Geographical Review. 94.4 (2004): 462-483. Web. 12 May. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/30034291>.
Miyares, Ines M. "From Exclusionary Covenant to Ethnic Hyperdiversity in Jackson Heights, Queens." Geographical Review. 94.4 (2004): 462-483. Web. 12 May. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/30034291>.