Jackson Heights: An enclave of enclaves

43rd Anniversary Edition The mosaic that is Jackson Heights

Diverse community faces challenges and keeps evolving

by Mark Lord

Chronicle Contributor

“We’re a vibrant, visually interesting community,” said Petra Gelbart, a longtime resident of Jackson Heights. “It’s like visiting 20 different countries.”

In fact, the neighborhood is the most diverse community in the whole world, according to Councilman Danny Dromm, who said that no fewer than 167 different languages are spoken there.

Quite an accomplishment for a piece of land that never even appeared on a map of Queens County prior to 1900. Back then, it was a vast marshland, with the first buildings not going up until around 1911.

And those buildings consisted of approximately two dozen two-story row houses, erected just north of Roosevelt Avenue, according to Daniel Karatzas, author of “Jackson Heights: A Garden in the City,” and board member of the Jackson Heights Beautification Group.

By around 1920, full-scale development began, which caused land value to appreciate and rents to skyrocket. Of course, the stock market crash and Depression put a halt to all that, leading to a period of financial difficulties that lasted until after World War II.

Things began looking up for a while, with demands for housing in Jackson Heights on the rise. Then a new setback occurred — the New York City fiscal crisis of the 1970s, a time also marked by soaring crime rates in the area.

Another reversal happened a decade later.

The Beautification Group was formed in 1988, rekindling community spirit through walking tours and various activities aimed at improving the neighborhood.

Since the early 2000s, the area has been a desirable destination, attracting residents with a wide variety of backgrounds.

Among them was Gelbart, a native of the Czech Republic who moved into the neighborhood in 2008. A college professor and music therapist, Gelbart is the mother of three children, now 16, 14 and 5 years old.

“We wanted a diverse neighborhood,” she said in a recent telephone interview,” explaining how she wound up living in Jackson Heights.

“It was an affordable option,” she said, adding, “I really liked the strong arts program” at one of the area schools.

And her husband, referred to by Gelbart as a “foodie,” was further drawn to the neighborhood by the wide variety of international edibles readily available there.

Gelbart’s family is now in the process of moving to a new apartment. “We have no interest in leaving” the area, though she admits that it doesn’t always live up to her “idealistic notion that all groups were friends.”

Instead, she said, “I found quickly that we’re living next to each other but not together. People tend to stick to their own culture groups.”

Finding it difficult sometimes to feel a part of the community as a whole, she decided to do something to encourage more integration.

The result was “Music Brains,” a program she started in the spring that found her teaching music in Travers Park, welcoming area residents “from all walks of life, regardless of their ability to pay.”

She also plans to begin teaching intercultural classes in the science of music.

“As a neighborhood, we’re diverse but there is a good bit of segregation that goes on,” she said. “Plenty of people for years have been trying community-building efforts. We need to get people to talk to each other in the same space.”

Overall, though, she’s content enough to tell people “if they don’t come to Jackson Heights, they’re making a huge mistake.”

Dromm, who has lived in the area for 29 years, would likely agree.

In a recent telephone interview, he highlighted a few of the reasons. “You walk down the street and you bump into someone you know,” he said. “It’s a small town in a big city. People are kind, giving, talkative. I’ve always found acceptance.”

It wasn’t always that way.

Among the area’s early attractions were the garden apartments that were built around private parks, appealing to city dwellers in search of little green spaces to call their own. According to an article by freelance journalist Manmeet Sahni, they were restricted to include only members of the white middle class. Jews and African Americans were banned until the mid-20th century, when the previous residents began to move to the suburbs.

Beginning in the late 1970s, the area saw an influx of immigrants from South and Central America and Southeast Asia.

Located in the northwest region of the borough, and bordered by North Corona to the east, Elmhurst to the south, Woodside to the west, northern Astoria to the northwest and East Elmhurst to the northeast, the neighborhood was home to a population of just over 108,000 in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Today, members of the earlier immigrant communities — Italian, Jewish, Irish — live in relative harmony with the newer arrivals, from countries including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Tibet, Nepal and Thailand.

“You can see the immigration patterns by looking at the shops,” Dromm said. “There are very few storefront vacancies,” suggesting these newer arrivals are hoping to live the American dream.

Karatzas indicated in a recent telephone interview that Jackson Heights has “no major touristic sites,” but he is proud of how well it functions as a neighborhood.”

He also pointed with pride to the area’s Historic District, which was established in 1993, between 76th and 88th streets, Roosevelt Avenue and Northern Boulevard. The district was listed on the national Register of Historic Places in 1999.

Another area of interest is Diversity Plaza, a public space that opened in 2012 at 37th Road between 73rd and 74th streets. It serves as a town square, where cultural celebrations are held, as well as rallies, protests, music performances, art exhibits and

JACKSON HEIGHTS

gatherings for civic activism.

The spot is sometimes referred to as “the mecca of immigrant communities.”

In fact, according to Dromm, it has been “a huge success bringing together diverse communities within the South Asian community. Folks in their homeland might be at war with each other, but here they interact with each other.”

Named after John C. Jackson, a descendant of one of the original Queens families and an entrepreneur, Jackson Heights has had some headline-making moments.

One involved the expansion of the local Travers Park. According to Dromm, the area was sorely lacking in park space. “I purchased the Garden School’s playground and I closed Marching in Jackson Heights’ first LGBT Pride Parade in 1993 are Maritza Martinez, left, Daniel Dromm and Brendan Fay. PHOTO COURTESY NYC COUNCIL

Among the happenings in Jackson Heights’ Travers Park are music therapist Petra Gelbart’s Music Brains events for kids. Joining her here at one are, clockwise from top right, her sons Patrik on the viola and Niklo on ukulele, her daughter, Julie, and other participants including Daniel, Ezekiel and Tiffany Van-Dien. PHOTO BY HELENA SAFAROVA