Koreatown, Queens | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Koreatown, Queens | |
| Coordinates:40°45′53″N73°48′40″W / 40.7647°N 73.8111°W /40.7647; -73.8111 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  New York |
| Counties | |
| Agglomeration | New York metropolitan area |
Koreatown, Queens (Korean: 롱 아일랜드 코리아타운), in theNew York City borough ofQueens,[1][2][3][4][5] is one of the largest and fastest-growingethnicKorean enclaves outsideKorea. It is largely oriented aroundNorthern Boulevard.
The core of this Koreatown[1][2][3][4] originated in theFlushing neighborhood of theNew York Cityborough ofQueens. This Koreatown has continued to expand rapidly eastward alongsideNorthern Boulevard through the Queens neighborhoods ofMurray Hill,[5]Auburndale,[6]Bayside,Douglaston, Little Neck.[1][2][3][6]
In the 1980s, a continuous stream ofKorean immigrants emerged in Flushing, many of whom began as workers in themedical field or Koreaninternational students who had moved to New York City to find or initiateprofessional orentrepreneurial positions.[1] They established a foothold on Union Street in Flushing between 35th and 41st Avenues,[1] featuring restaurants andkaraoke (noraebang) bars,manicure andpedicure salons, grocery markets, education centers andbookstores, banking institutions, offices,consumer electronics vendors,apparelboutiques, and other commercial enterprises,[2] and a Koreatown was conceived in Flushing.
As the community grew insocioeconomic status and population, Koreans moved eastward along Northern Boulevard, buying homes[5] in moreaffluent and less crowded Queens neighborhoods, and into the adjacentNassau County, by the early 21st century.[2] This expansion has led to the creation of an AmericanMeokjagolmok, or KoreanRestaurant Street, around theLong Island Rail Road station in Murray Hill, Queens, exuding the ambiance ofSeoul itself.[2] The eastward pressure to expand was also created by the inability to move westward, inhibited by the formidable presence of the enormousFlushing Chinatown centered onMain Street.[1]
According to the2010 United States Census, the Korean population of Queens was 64,107,[7] representing the largest municipality in the United States with a density of at least 500 Korean Americansper square mile; while the Korean population of Nassau County had increased by nearly two-thirds to approximately 14,000 over one decade since the 2000 Census.[8] Along with the two Koreatowns ofBergen County,New Jersey (inPalisades Park andFort Lee) and theManhattan Koreatown in New York City, the Queens Koreatown as asatellite node for an overallKorean American population of 218,764 individuals in theNew York City Metropolitan Area,[9] the second-largest population of ethnic Koreans outside Korea.[10]Korean Air andAsiana Airlines providenon-stop flights fromSeoul toJFK Airport[11][12] in Queens.
Koreatown lies at the northern edge of thehumid subtropical climate zone, according to theKöppen climate classification,[13][14] similar toSeoul,South Korea;[15] Koreatown has a moderately sunny climate, averaging between 2,400 and 2,800 hours ofsunshine annually.[16]
Koreatown residents can enjoy anurban oasis atFlushing Meadows-Corona Park. Numerous branches of theQueens Library are readily accessible to the Koreatown community, as are branches in Nassau County. The two-county region is served by numerouspublic,magnet, andprivate schools, including the highly soughtGreat Neck School District in Nassau County.
Flushing Hospital Medical Center in Queens located on Main Street
The (7 and <7> trains) of theNew York City Subway have their eastern terminus atFlushing – Main Street station; as of 2016[update], it is the 12th busiest subway station in the subway system.[17] The intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue, at the western end of Koreatown, is the third-busiest intersection in New York City,[18] behind onlyTimes Square andHerald Square in the borough ofManhattan. Numerous other public bus and rail connections also serve Koreatown at the Main Street/Roosevelt Avenue intersection, including 22 bus lines, and thePort Washington Branch of the Long Island Rail Road.[19] Koreatown is also readily accessible by automobile from several majorcontrolled-access highways, including theGrand Central Parkway and theWhitestone Expressway/Van Wyck Expressway.
The Korea Times, a news organization based in Seoul, carries a significant presence in the neighborhood. All of the major New York Citydaily newspapers are also found ubiquitously in Koreatown, includingThe New York Times,Newsday, theNew York Daily News, and theNew York Post.
The Korean Airnut rage incident, which occurred on December 5, 2014, at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, made news headlines around the world, as did the legal case begun in 2015 againstHeather Cho, former executive of thechaebol, held inQueens County Court as opposed to the Seoul High Court, per the insistence of flight attendant Kim Do-hee, the plaintiff.[20]
According toThe New York Times, a "Kimchi Belt" stretches along Northern Boulevard and the Long Island Rail Road tracks, from Flushing into Nassau County. However, a prominent Korean food chef stated that "Queens is the closest you can come to authentic Korean food."[6] Koreatown features numerous restaurants that serve both traditional and/orregional Korean cuisine. As noted above, the development of this Koreatown has led to the creation of an AmericanMeokjagolmok, or KoreanRestaurant Street, around the Long Island Rail Road station in Murray Hill, Queens, exuding the ambiance of Seoul itself.[2]Korean Chinese cuisine is also available in Koreatown.[6]
Korean andEnglish are both spoken prevalently in Koreatown.Retail signs employing theHangul alphabet are ubiquitous.
As the population has grown, Koreatown has concomitantly gained increasing economic and political clout. Upscale Korean-owned shopping centers continue to open along the Northern Boulevard corridor. In November 2012,Ron Kim was elected as the first Korean American to theNew York State Legislature, representing the40th district.[21]
A significant array ofsocial services toward assisting recent as well as established Korean immigrants, is readily available in Koreatown.
