![]() Here, you'll find hawkers selling Chinese newspapers, fruit stands, bakeries, Asian specialty stores, noisy traffic and construction. Main Street - yes, it is the main drag - and the blocks just west of it are home to the highest concentration of Asian businesses and restaurants in the neighborhood. While Flushing is often discussed in blanket terms, it actually breaks down into several smaller residential neighborhoods-within-the-neighborhood, with downtown Flushing as the anchor. That was followed by many new Chinese immigrants from different regions and provinces, an immigration that has continued into the present. Taiwanese immigrants came first, picking Flushing instead of the Manhattan Chinatown to create a higher standard of living and better housing quality, according to the book New Immigrants of New York. The area developed and grew denser throughout the 19 th and 20 th centuries but it wasn't until the 1970s the Chinese community established a foothold here. That township remained until Queens became part of New York City in 1898, and the Flushing name was assigned to the present-day neighborhood. When the English took control of New York in the 1660s, Flushing was one of the five original towns of Queens County. For that reason, the neighborhood is claimed to be the birthplace of religious freedom in the New World. Colonists signed the Flushing Remonstrance in 1657 to protest religious prosecution, and in response the Dutch West India Company allowed Quakers and others to worship in Flushing freely. ![]() The area ultimately attracted English colonists seeking religious freedom, and one resident, John Bowne, started holding Quaker meetings inside his house at a time the religion was actively repressed in most of the New England colonies. Named after nearby Flushing Creek, it was discovered by Dutch settlers in 1645. (And yes, we'll tell you where to get great dumplings.)įlushing is a large, narrow neighborhood bounded by Flushing-Meadows Corona Park to the west, Utopia Parkway to the east, the Long Island Expressway to the south, and Willets Point Boulevard to the north. This in mind, we explored this oft-hyped northeast Queens 'hood to get you the inside scoop on everything from new developments, existing house stock, the dining-and-drinking scene to the prevalence of shopping malls in Flushing. ![]() All of this construction promises to transform the fabric of a neighborhood that is very much in transition. The Chinese-immigrant population of Flushing has long surpassed that of Manhattan's Chinatown, and while the neighborhood is known as a stronghold for incoming immigrants, it's also a place of incredible change, particularly as outer-borough real estate hype starts to seep further into Queens. Residential and commercial real estate development is booming here, and the nearby mega-development Willets Point is nearly underway. By now (we hope), any New Yorker with a dim sum habit knows to take the 7 train to the end of the line to land square in the middle of New York's most vibrant Chinatown. ![]()
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