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The Neighborhoods of Queens (Neighborhoods of New York City)
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| List Price: | $35.00 |
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Product Description
This up-to-date, intimate portrait of the 99 neighborhoods of Queens is a wonderful tribute to the borough’s past history and present diversity. Detailing the history, people, and cultural activities of each neighborhood, the book is generously illustrated with more than 200 photographs, both contemporary and historical, and over 50 new maps that chart the precise neighborhood boundaries.
With two airports (La Guardia and JFK), Shea Stadium, and Aqueduct Racetrack, Queens is a destination for millions of travelers and visitors each year. But those who live in the borough’s neighborhoods know that it offers much more: parks, bridges, colleges and universities, museums, shops, restaurants, and other institutions and sites that testify to its more than 350-year history. From Astoria to Woodside, with points in between, Queens, the most diverse county in the country, offers a cornucopia of cultures, sights, tastes, and sounds.
With input from residents, historians, demographers, politicians, borough officials, shopkeepers, and many others, The Neighborhoods of Queens captures the unique character of each neighborhood. The book features practical tips (subway and bus routes, libraries, fire departments, hospitals), quirky and unusual neighborhood facts, and information on famous residents. For anyone who lives in Queens, visits its neighborhoods, or remembers it from earlier times, this book is an unsurpassed treasure.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #777472 in Books
- Published on: 2007-11-28
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 300 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
"[A] handsome book. . . . Maps and photographs, historical and contemporary, illustrate a lively introduction to the people and cultures of Queens's 99 neighborhoods."-New York Times Book Review (paperback row) (New York Times Book Review )
About the Author
Claudia Gryvatz Copquin is an award-winning freelance journalist who immigrated to Queens from South America with her family in the late 1960s. She now resides on Long Island.
Customer Reviews
It's got everything I could have hoped it would have
Great product for the price. A short history for each neighborhood is
followed by nostalgic yesteryear, and as it looks today images, of important areas or structures--lots of photos.
For example, a recent photo of Jamaica Avenue and 163 St--after the el was taken down, the exterior of the old
Valencia theatre as it is today and the AirTrain structure at LIRR's Jamaica Station.For ex-Richmond Hillites, you are treated to photos of Jahn's, RKO Keiths theatre, and an interior shot of Triangle Hofbrau.The "Queens Timetable" as an appendix, offers some 17 pages of major historical events that occured in Queens from 1609 to 2007.
There are a few things I would question as to accuracy. It is mentioned that a part of New Hyde Park is geographically part of Queens County. Nowhere could I find justification for this, but I suppose this is nit- picking. Each neighborhood has a street map and as an appendix, each has a complete demographic review.
Disappointing
Having grown up in Queens, I greatly looked forward to reading this account of its varied neighborhoods. I was disappointed to find that the authors made a half-baked effort in the maps they provided:
1. there is no indication where subways run under and above most of these neighborhoods;
2. there are very few landmarks shown on the maps and those that are given were selected for a reason known only to the authors (i.e., seem highly arbitrary)
Also, the history of at least one neighborhood, Jackson Heights, leaves out the fact that in the late 1970s/early 1980s it was known, according to Time magazine, as the "cocaine capital of the United States." This omission makes me wonder what other relevant information has been left out about the other neighborhoods.
Conclusion: while you'll get some information about each of Queen's 99 neighborhoods, don't expect it to be necessarily comprehensive or accurate.
mixed review
I found the old photos enjoyable but the captions and maps wrong, at least for Douglaston and Little Neck. The authors moved Douglaston east a quarter mile to Marathon Pkwy and then moved part of Douglas Manor into Little Neck. A photo of Great Neck Estates misleads the viewer into thinking they are looking at the Douglas Manor waterfront. The biggest surprise is that Kenneth Jackson lent his name to such a poorly researched book!
