Kew Gardens Hills, Queens

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Adjacent neighborhoods include Hillcrest (east), Briarwood (south), and Queensboro Hill (north).

It is a mixed neighborhood of single family homes (detached or in rows) as well as two-story garden apartment buildings (mostly built during the years immediately following World War II), as well as some public housing projects in the Northeastern corner of the area. There are several homes in Kew Gardens Hills which predate Main Street, whose property was subject to eminent domain in the 1930s to widen 144th Street into the Main Street extension from North Flushing.

Main arteries through the neighborhood are Main Street, Jewel Avenue, and Kissena Boulevard. Main arteries around the perimeter of the neighborhood are Union Turnpike, Horace Harding Expressway, Kissena Boulevard and Parsons Boulevard. Highways to the neighborhood include the Long Island Expressway, Grand Central Parkway, Van Wyck Expressway, and the Jackie Robinson Parkway (Interborough).

The neighborhood contains a rapidly growing Orthodox and Haredi Jewish population and some Israelis, as well as smaller groups of Koreans, Chinese, Indians, Afghanis, and African Americans.

The commercial areas of the neighborhood include Main Street, Union Turnpike, Parsons Boulevard and Kissena Boulevard.

Scenes from the 2000 movie "Boiler Room" were shot in Kew Gardens Hills.

Kew Gardens Hills is home to Max & Mina's Ice Cream, named number 1 of the top 10 unique Ice Cream Parlors in America in Everybody Loves Ice Cream, the Whole Scoop on America's favorite treat by Shannos Jackson Arnold, Emmis Books, July 2004. [http://www.everybodylovesicecream.com/media/ELI.tenmost.pdf]

Kew Gardens Hills is also home to the Queens County Savings Bank building built in 1953 and modeled after Philadelphia's Independence Hall. The building also houses a full-size replica of the Liberty Bell.

There are two cemeteries in Kew Gardens Hills, Mount Hebron Cemetery and Cedar Grove, whose main entrances are located on the Horace Harding Expressway.

Education

Two university campuses are located in Kew Gardens Hills. Located in the northern portion of Kew Gardens Hills is Queens College, a liberal arts college that is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system. The CUNY Law School is also in Kew Gardens Hills, on Main Street.

Notable graduates of Queens College include native son Jerry Seinfeld, who was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1994. [Hevesi, Dennis. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F03EFDD1E3BF930A35755C0A962958260 " Commencements; Queens College Graduates Hear a Wistful Seinfeld"] , "The New York Times", June 3, 1994. Accessed July 8, 2007. "Mr. Seinfeld, after receiving an honorary doctorate in humane letters, told the graduates, who responded with knowing laughter: "I spent several wonderful years here. The best spot I ever got was in my junior year. It was right out here on Kissena Boulevard near Melbourne Avenue. I didn't even have to parallel; I pulled right in. It was a beautiful spot."]

Lander College, the men's college of Touro College, has a large campus on 150th Street at 76th Road.

Public schools located in Kew Gardens Hills include [http://schools.nyc.gov/SchoolPortals/25/Q164/default.htm?searchType=school P.S. 164] , [http://schools.nyc.gov/SchoolPortals/25/Q165/default.htm?searchType=school P.S. 165] , [http://www.rfkschools.org/ Robert F. Kennedy Community High School] , [http://www.johnbowne.org/ John Bowne High School] and Townsend Harris High School at Queens College.

Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim (76th Road & 147th Street) and Yeshiva Ohr Hachaim (71st Road & Main Street, a division of Touro College) are large yeshivas located in KGH.

Parochial schools located in Kew Gardens Hills include Roman Catholic Queen of Peace School, St. Nicholas of Tolentine, Shevach High School (Main Street at 75th Road), Mesivta Yesodei Yeshurun (a division of Ohr Hachaim), [http://ycqweb.org/ Yeshiva of Central Queens] (70th Road at 150th Street) and Yeshiva Ketana (Parsons Boulevard & 78th Road).

Religion

There are several dozen houses of worship in Kew Gardens Hills. The Roman Catholic Church Queen of Peace is located on Main Street at 77th Road.

This neighborhood has a large Orthodox Jewish population, including immigrants from Israel, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, France, Africa, and the Middle East. Many residents have also moved from neighborhoods such as Crown Heights in Brooklyn. The Jewish population in Kew Gardens Hills may have contributed to naming of three streets in the neighborhood. These include Haym Salomon Square (geographically a triangle), across from the Kew Gardens Hills branch of the Queens Borough Public Library, named for the Revolutionary; Rabbi Kirshblum Triangle named for the first Rabbi of the Kew Gardens Hills Jewish Center; and Freedom Square named in honor of Theodor Herzl's quest for a Jewish homeland.

A sizable Muslim and Sikh population exists in Kew Gardens Hills as well.

Notable residents

Notable current and former residents of Kew Gardens Hills include:
*Robert Chartoff (1933-), producer of the film "Rocky" grew up in Kew Gardens Hills, down the block from Simon and Garfunkel
*Fran Drescher (1957-), actress, from "The Nanny". [Firestone, David. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E0DB113BF93BA2575AC0A962958260&scp=1&sq=%22fran+drescher%22+%22kew+gardens%22&st=nyt "For Queens, a Place in the Sun; Hollywood Is Suddenly Zooming In, With a Vengeance"] , "The New York Times", September 18, 1994. Accessed January 27, 2008. "Ms. Drescher, who actually comes from Kew Gardens Hills, may be the most deliberately colorful of the lot, but she is hardly alone in celebrating the showbiz ascendancy of her native land."] She lived at 147-49 72nd Avenue, Ambassador Gardens, and then at 150-58 71st Avenue, and worked at the Main Street movie theater as a teenager.
*Bob Dylan (1941-), rock legend, once lived in the shadow of Queens College, near Reeves Avenue and 150th Street.
*Ashrita Furman, set more than 160 official Guinness records. [Kilgannon, Corey. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E6DE1E39F931A25755C0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 "Got Milk? Hula Hoop? It's a Record!; He's Guinness's King Of Strange Feats, All for Inner Peace"] , "The New York Times", June 12, 2003. Accessed November 2, 2007.]
*Art Garfunkel lived at 136-58 72nd Avenue.Haberman, Clyde. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940CE1D7143DF936A35751C1A9659C8B63 "NYC; 50-Something, But Feelin' Forever Groovy"] , "The New York Times", December 5, 2003. Accessed October 27, 2007. "Quite a few numbers that Mr. Simon wrote, both for Simon and Garfunkel and for himself as a solo performer, are punctuated with New York references. That is only natural, considering that he and Mr. Garfunkel both grew up in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens."]
*Martin Landau (1931-), Academy Award winning actor grew up in Kew Gardens Hills.
*Michael Landon (1936-1991), “Little Joe” from the hit TV show "Bonanza" and star of "Highway to Heaven" grew up in Kew Gardens Hills and attended Forest Hills High School. [ [http://www.astorialic.org/topics/timeline/1990.shtml HISTORY TOPICS: QUEENS TIMELINE - 1990s] , Greater Astoria Historicl Society. Accessed February 6, 2008.]
*Paul Simon (1941-), lived at 137-62 70th Road.

References