There has always been people of different backgrounds residing here but Glendale has had a history of Germans, Italians, and Irish people living here for decades. According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental, in 2006 west central Queens, which includes Glendale, had a demographic of 60% Caucasians, 22% Hispanics , 13% Asian , 2% African America, , and 3% as other. From 2006 to 2014 there has been an increase in minorities living in Glendale. According to the New York City Department of City Planning, in 2010 the population of district 5, the Queens community, 54.9% were Caucasians, 1.4 % were African Americans, 7.7% were Asian, and 34.7% were Hispanics. There are several private religious schools in Glendale as well as one public middle school. There is St. Pancras school, Redeemer Lutheran school, Sacred Heart school, and St. John’s which are private religious schools. Intermediate School 119 is the middle school I attended between 2006 to 2009 and it has 3 divisions within the school.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/data/nyc-health-profiles.shtml
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/neigh_info/qn05_info.shtml
The local businesses are reflected by the background of residence here and their culture. There are way too many pizzerias on almost every block. There are specific businesses tailored to Italian immigrants and clubs for people who love Italian soccer leagues and clubs. Unlike in other areas where a pizzeria may have employees or be owned by an non-Italian, the pizzerias here are owned by Italians and their Italian family and friend help run their business. The other businesses that are also on every block are bars and pubs. These businesses are either owned by the Germans or Irish and few are owned by the Polish. Other than pizzeria’s and bars there is the usual diners and deli’s around here. The biggest commercial real estate in Glendale is Atlas Mall. It is like the one of the malls you might see in Long Island or the suburbs. Atlas Mall has had it’s up and downs throughout the years because I have seen many stores come and go since it opened in 2007.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/realestate/glendale-queens-living-in-tucked-away- and-neatly-tricked-out.html?_r=0
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/neigh_info/qn05_info.shtml
Overall the housing and real estate in Glendale would be considered middle class. Many people are owners of the building in which they reside in for many years. Glendale is a small family oriented community that many not know about because it feels isolated from the rest of the Queens. There are hardly frequent transportation and ways to get here from other areas of Queens. For example, It takes me an hour and a half just get to Forest Hills and it takes that same amount of time to also get to Manhattan. It is a strange thing but Glendale is also surrounded by many cemeteries that might also isolates itself and make it unknown it to many others. One issue that I’ve seen over the years is that some families buy a two family house and do illegal construction to illegally convert the house. This is an issue also talked about in the District Needs Statement for Fiscal Year 2016 created by Community Board for district 5. The statement did suggest ways in which the issue could be resolved but there needs to be strict procedure for issuing violations to these people who are illegally converting their two family houses.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/neigh_info/statement_needs/qn05_statement.pdf