Jamaica Estates, Queens

Jamaica Estates World War II Memorial

Jamaica Estates Historical Plaque

Jamaica Estates is an upper middle class and wealthy neighborhood located in the New York City borough of Queens. Within Queens Community District 8, Jamaica Estates is served by Queens Community Board 8. It is bounded by Union Turnpike to the north, Hillside Avenue to the south, Utopia Parkway and Homelawn Street to the west, and 188th Street to the east.

History

Jamaica Estates was created in 1907 by the Jamaica Estates Corporation, which developed the hilly terminal moraine's 503 acres (2.04 km²), while preserving many of the trees that had occupied the site. The company was founded by Ernestus Gulick and Felix Isman, both of Philadelphia.

Jamaica Estates now has significant Modern Orthodox Jewish American and South Asian American populations. The latter has been particularly affected by the wave of mortgage foreclosures that began in 2008. The only apartments and multi-family housing lie near the southern border within a few blocks from and along Hillside Avenue. The shopping corridors are along Hillside Avenue and Union Turnpike.

In 2007, following the damage of the roof of the Historic Gatehouse in Hurricane Isabel, the restoration and beautification of the Gatehouse and Malls was completed.

The Jamaica Estates Association, founded in 1929, continues as an active, vital civic organization representing the community. An Historical Plaque was unveiled April 23, 2010, on the Midland Mall by The Aquinas Honor Society of the Immaculate Conception School and by the sponsor of the plaque, Senator Frank Padavan.

Education

Fresh Anointing International Church

The New York City Department of Education operates public schools:

• Holliswood School (PS 178) in School District 26, at 189th Street
• Abigail Adams School (PS 131) in School District 29 in Jamaica Hills

Private schools include:

• The Mary Louis Academy, an all-girls Catholic college-prep school, is located on the corner of Edgerton Boulevard and Wexford Terrace.
• Immaculate Conception School is on the corner of Midland Parkway and Dalny Road
• Yeshiva University High School for Girls is just east of the Estates in Holliswood
• United Nations International School Queens Campus, for students in grades K-8, is located on Croydon Road; intended for the children of UN diplomats and employees, enrollment is now open to everyone. The school first opened in Lake Success, but relocated in 1950 to Parkway Village.
• From its 1975 founding to around 1980, The Japanese School of New York was located in Jamaica Estates, at 187-30 Grand Central Parkway.

Transportation

The New York City Subway's IND Queens Boulevard Line serves the station at the line's Jamaica – 179th Street terminal station (E F trains), as well as the penultimate 169th Street local station (F trains). The neighborhood is also served by the Q1, Q2, Q3, Q17, Q30, Q31, Q36, Q46 local bus lines. Numerous express buses (QM1, QM5, QM6, QM7, QM8, X68) to Manhattan also stop on Union Turnpike.

In contrast to much of Queens, most streets in Jamaica Estates do not conform to the rectangular street grid and follow topographic lines, the most notable example being Midland Parkway. Many of the named streets have etymologies originating from Languages of the United Kingdom, such as Aberdeen, Avon, Hovenden, Barrington, Chelsea, and Chevy Chase Street. However, unlike Forest Hills Gardens, which is a similarly wealthy Queens neighborhood with an atypical Queens street layout, the street numbering system does conform to the rest of Queens, employing the "dash" found in the Philadelphia grid street numbering system familiar throughout all other parts of the borough.

Notable residents

• Margaret Bergmann Lambert, German high jump champion of the 1930s (as Gretel Bergmann), later United States champion in high jump (1937 & 38) and shotput (1938).
• Joseph "Run" Simmons, the "Run" of Run-D.M.C., lived in the area for some time before moving to New Jersey.
• Bob Saffer was a songwriter who wrote the campaign songs for presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He composed songs sung by Nat King Cole, Gene Autry, Frankie Lymon, and other renowned artists, but he was most proud of "Stand Up for the Flag of America," written at the time of the Iran hostage crisis in 1979.
• Lennie Tristano, the blind bebop pianist and teacher, lived at 86-67 Palo Alto Street, Holliswood. He has been credited as the first to record "free jazz."
• Donald Trump grew up in the neighborhood, on Midland Parkway.

In popular culture

In the film Coming to America, the fictitious address of 24-32 Derby Avenue was the home of Cleo McDowell. Even if this street were to exist, the address would have to be numbered at least 169 or higher; this would correspond to 169th Street, the westernmost numbered street bordering the neighborhood.

External links

• Jamaica Estates Association Webpage
• Images of America Jamaica Estates, Arcadia Publishing, ISBN 0-252-06921-8
• Real Estate Information Website For All of Jamaica Estates, Queens NY