Flushing is not where I grew up, and for much of my adolescence served as little more than a transportation hub to other places. But now I do live there and I would like to learn more about my neighborhood. The first thing that comes to many peoples’ minds when they hear “Flushing” is Main Street, the “Chinatown” of Queens. I have heard from many people that Queens is the most diverse borough in the City, and the area around Main Street is certainly a testament to that.
Along Main Street there are plenty of Chinese shops, specialty stores, restaurants, and supermarkets. But there is also evidence of western culture as names such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Old Navy, Macy’s and many others stand alongside and stand out from their Chinese neighbors. The streets are as crowded as Times Square on any given day, and driving around the area is an ordeal in itself. The intersection at Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue is a nexus of traffic lights, buses, all manners of cars, and pedestrians of the most reckless kind. Along the side streets and away from Flushing life is less hectic and more culturally distinct. There is a large Korean presence amidst the long stretch of Northern Boulevard and east of Main Street there are scatterings of Southeast Asian communities.
As of now, Flushing bears little resemblance to its origins. Dutch and English colonists first settled in Flushing during the 17th century and it remained a predominantly white neighborhood until the 1970s, when a Chinese community established itself there and was subsequently bolstered by incoming Taiwanese and other Chinese immigrants.
Flushing is a neighborhood that stretches far beyond Main Street. I know this myself because I live 20 minutes away from Main Street in an area more akin to a suburb. Besides the commercial draw of Flushing’s Chinatown there are some natural landmarks worth noting, such as Kissena Park and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, which was the site of 1939-1940 World’s Fair. These quiet and often overlooked areas of Flushing beyond Main Street are worth a closer look, as is the history of how Flushing became the cultural melting pot that it is today.