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From what I'm catching here, the neighborhood is basically it's own city. I'm looking at pictures of Downtown right now and it doesen't even seem like somewhere in America - comparable to a wealthy Chinese city.
The way I see it, the commute to Manhattan probably wouldn't be an issue. I honestly wouldn't want to work in Manhattan if I ever were to move to New York.
[Please excuse the fact that the following questions probably have completely obvious answers, as you're being questioned by someone who has never visited NYC before]
Is Downtown a nice area? How about the "neighborhoods" surrounding Downtown Flushing? It is a congested, commercial, primarily Asian district. Further east in Flushing is more "suburban."
I've also always wondered, where exactly is the Flushing Meadows area? Adjacent to downtown Flushing. Home of the US Open Tennis and CitiField (NY Mets baseball team)
And then of course off topic, but what about St. Albans? Far away from Flushing in SEQueens. Middle/working class black residential neighborhood. Larger homes in the Addesleigh Park section, which was once the home of several black jazz musicians and athletes.
Downtown Flushing is Asian but certainly not wealthy. Storefronts selling ethnic food and signs written in a language other than English seem very "American" to a native New Yorker. We have other neighborhoods like that besides Flushing. Flushing Meadows "area" as you called it is the site of the 1964-65 Worlds Fair which is now a park. The tennis stadium, Queens Museum of Art, NY Hall of Science, and the Queens Zoo are located in this park. In pictures, you usually see the Unisphere from the World's Fair.
I agree with people who mentioned Flushing's diversity. Flushing is such a large neighorhood with so many different areas and people, you can't really make a blanket statement. As we all know, downtown Flushing is very congested with apartment buildings/projects and has a large Asian population. On the other hand, the areas that border Bayside and Kew Garden Hills are more suburban, with a large Jewish/White population with (large) single family homes. Personally I lived in Flushing right off the LIE (closer to Kew Garden Hills) for a few years and it was just way too suburban and quiet for me. You never saw people outside and it was weird for me.
To answer your offtopic question about St. Albans, I was born and raised there and it's a good area. I love it because it's suburban but you always see kids out playing (especially since I was down the street from a big park), people having barbecues/parties, etc so it keeps the neighhood alive. It's quiet and I honestly can't recall anything really bad happening in the almost 20 years I've been in the area. It's working/middle class neighborhood that is predominately Black with a sizeable Carribean population.
I live in Forest Hills, NY which is probably the nicest neighborhood in Queens and one of the nicest neighborhoods in all of NYC (close to subways and shopping/restaurants yet has a very suburban feel).
As far as Flushing, I know a lot about this neighborhood because my girlfriend lives in that area. It's also a safe neighborhood in Queens, but as previous posters have mentioned, it's a very ethnic neighborhood. In fact, it's a Chinatown which probably has more Asian population than the better known Chinatown in lower Manhattan. This area has mostly Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese populations, at least in the downtown Flushing area. My girlfriend is Chinese and I've noticed that it's a neighborhood where you do not have to understand any English and you could still survive quite well because most businesses cater to the Chinese speaking population.
Restaurants in Flushing are great if you enjoy authentic Chinese food (or Korean food). And many of these restaurants are 24 hours.
As others have mentioned, Flushing is a huge area, and some parts of Flushing (bordering Forest Hills) have a large Jewish population. Feel free to ask me if you need any additional info!
Queens College is in a part of Flushing bordering Kew Gardens Hills immediately to the South which is a semi-suburban Orthodox (mostly modern Orthodox) Jewish neighborhood centered on Main Street which runs north into Flushing.
Flushing is indeed becoming its own "city." While there are issues--and plenty of reasons to disagree with me--I contend as a whol development is a sign of health. Just always have to be wary of overdevelopment and be sure to improve the public infrastructure as much as possible.
I live in College Point to the north of Flushing and we're beginning to feel like one of Flushing's "suburbs." And, I think this is mostly positive!
The Farrington Street comment made me laugh. When I was 18ish (10-15 years ago), my friends from Flushing would often point out (and nothing more!) the "ladies of the evening" who to this day populate Farrington Street late at night. Some things never change....
Hello, folks; I'm thinking about moving to Flushing (I'm there 3xs per week), and if I do, I'd want to learn Chinese. Does anyone have an idea where I can attend a class that teaches Mandarin in the Flushing area? Thanks.
still in the Queens Museum? if so I'd like to see it again as i was last there in 1979. how much does it cost?
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To JS - Info about Flushing
