Corona, Queens

This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Corona, Queens is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:

Corona, Queens, is a low-middle income, highly dense neighborhood in the former Township of Newtown in the New York City borough of Queens surrounded by Flushing, Jackson Heights, Forest Hills and Elmhurst. Corona's main thoroughfares include Corona Avenue, Roosevelt Avenue, Northern Boulevard, Junction Boulevard, and 108th Street. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 4, while the northern most part is included in Community Board 3.1

Contents

Community

Corona was a late 19th Century development in the old Town of Newtown. The name allegedly derives from the crown used as an emblem by the Crown Building Company, which developed the area; the Italian immigrants who moved into the new housing stock referred to the neighborhood by the Italian word for "crown": corona. The LeFrak City housing development is located within the southwest ending boundaries of Corona.

Over the last 30 years Corona has seen a dramatic ethnic demographic turnovers.citation needed In the 1970s what was predominately a Italian American neighborhood began to give way to a very large influx of Dominicans, though some parts of Corona near a park located in the southeast known to locals as "spaghetti park", have a small amount of Italian families. Spaghetti park was known as a quiet gathering place for Italian born residents who would play bocce. In the late 1990s, Corona saw a new wave of immigrants from Latin America. Subsequent to increasing crime, congestion and quality of life issues many remaining Italians in Corona followed the white flight trend and moved east to more suburban areas like Whitestone, Bayside and Long Island

Today, Corona is now around 65-70% Hispanic. Corona's Hispanic community consists of Mexicans, Dominicans, Colombians, Guatemalans, Bolivians, Peruvians and Ecuadorians. There is also a small number of Asian Americans, (particularly Koreans, Filipinos Chinese) and Pakistanis, as well as Italian Americans and African Americans.2

Corona is bordered on the east by Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, one of the largest parks in New York City and the site of the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs. Located within the park are Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, and the USTA National Tennis Center, where the U.S. Open in tennis is held annually.

Popular culture

The popular Lemon Ice King of Corona is located on the intersection of 108th Street and Corona Avenue. It appears in the opening credits of the TV show "King of Queens." Tony's Pizzaria on 104th and 46th Avenue, Angelo's pizzaria, on 103rd and 39th Avenue, La Cabaña a typical Dominican eatery five stores down from Angelos, Jardin De China located on Junction Boulevard between 37th Avenue and Roosevelt. Each of these establishments have become staples of the community.

Paul Simon bade "goodbye to Rosie, the queen of Corona," in his song "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard." F. Scott Fitzgerald referred to the Corona dumps as the "valley of ashes" in his novel The Great Gatsby.

Books about Corona's history and present include Roger Sanjek's The Future of Us All and Steven Gregory's Black Corona. Chapter 6 of Andrew Morton's Madonna describes Madonna's brief stint as a Corona resident in the late 1970s/early 80s.

Transportation

The IRT Flushing Line (7 <7>) train runs through the neighborhood with stops at 111th Street, 103rd Street-Corona Plaza and Junction Boulevard.

Notable residents

Corona was the home of famous jazz musician Louis Armstrong, whose house is now a museum, the Louis Armstrong House & Archives.3 Pop icon Madonna also lived in Corona from 1979-1980 as a member of the band Breakfast Club.

Omar Minaya, General Manager of the New York Mets, is a home grown product of Corona having, attended and played Baseball at Newtown High School in neighboring Elmhurst.

Hollywood actor and comedian John Leguizamo.

Hip-hop musicians Kool G Rap, DJ Polo, Styles P, Noreaga, Nu-Era, The Beatnuts, Disco Twins, Nu Sounds, King Charles and T Rapper D Disco Knights come from Corona.

Estée Lauder (1906-2004), founder of the cosmetics company that bears her name.4

References

  1. ^ Queens Community Boards, New York City. Accessed September 3, 2007.
  2. ^ 11368 Zip Code Detailed Profile, City-Data.com. Accessed April 18, 2008.
  3. ^ The House, Louis Armstrong House Museum. Accessed September 17, 2007.
  4. ^ Severo, Richard. "Estée Lauder, Pursuer of Beauty And Cosmetics Titan, Dies at 97", The New York Times, April 26, 2004. Accessed February 25, 2008. "Josephine Esther Mentzer was born at home in Corona, Queens, on July 1, 1908, according to several biographies, although her family believes it may have been two years earlier."

Wikipedia content modification information:

  • This page was last modified on 25 November 2008, at 14:51.

Wikipedia Authorship and Review

Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.

Wikipedia Usage Guidelines

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Corona, Queens".

The URL for this specific entry is:

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.