The neighborhoods that make up the five boroughs of New York City each have a unique feel and flavor. Grand Concourse in the Bronx is nothing like Brooklyn Heights which is nothing like Greenwich Village, but all of our many neighborhoods combined are what makes New York City an exciting place. Some of the lesser-known ones are the most colorful of all, but because visitor's guides in New York tend to be Manhattan-centric, the most diverse of our neighborhoods often go unvisited by tourists who would find them photogenic and culturally stimulating.
This is a visitor's guide to New York City's neighborhoods for the adventurer with a desire to see the streets that might not have made it to the pages of the average tour guide where the food is hearty, the stores unique, and the people are real. With winding tunnels below and elevated tracks above, there are numerous subway lines, from the A-train to the Z-train, offering exciting adventures in neighborhoods through four of the five boroughs (no subway to Staten Island), and each line has a unique story to tell. But of all the lines, the 7-train, sometimes called "The International Express," is the most vibrant as it rushes away from Manhattan carrying its passengers through the heart of Queens and the most diverse neighborhoods in all of New York City.
The 7-train, with the purple logo, is a shorter ride than her more well-known cousin, the A-train, and from end to end, Times Square to Flushing, takes about forty-minutes on the local. Each and every station along the way is distinctively different, and offers an easy walk to a variety of authentic ethnic foods, languages, art, music and shopping. In one or two short stops you can be whisked from a scrumptious Colombian dinner to a light and delicious Korean dessert, in neighborhoods so diverse you will swear that you need a passport.
Your journey begins in Midtown Manhattan along 42nd Street at Times Square, Bryant Park or Grand Central. With a metrocard firmly in hand, you swipe at the turnstile and then run down the stairs to the platform as the train enters the station. You get on, and the conductor's voice crackling from the speakers says, "This is a Flushing-bound 7 local, the next stop is Vernon Boulevard, stand clear of the closing doors." The doors close with a loud, "ding-dong," and your neighborhood adventure begins.
The first neighborhood you will encounter in Queens is called "Long Island City." A long-time industrial center with numerous factories, Long Island City has undergone a recent face-lift. The factories are long gone, and high-priced upscale condos are being built offering an incomparable view of the Manhattan skyline.
Some sights to see: Water Taxi Beach, Waterfront Crab House (Seafood Restaurant), PS1 Contemporary Art Gallery, 5-Pointz (Graffiti Museum), and the Citicorp Building.
The stops in Long Island City:
- Vernon Blvd. / Jackson Avenue
- Hunters Point Avenue
- 45th Road / Courthouse Square
- Queensboro Plaza
The next neighborhood along the way is called "Sunnyside," and just like its name it is a bright and fun place. Heavily residential with co-ops, condos, and houses, Sunnyside has a nice combination of professionals, artists, and working class families. Historically Irish, Sunnyside has grown to encompass residents from Japan, Korea, Mexico, and Romania. Queens Boulevard, Skillman Avenue, and Greenpoint Avenue each make for a nice walking tour, where the bars are plentiful and the restaurants are equally as good as their Manhattan counterparts.
Some sights to see: The Thalia Spanish Theater, more bars (good ones) than I can count, and some excellent restaurants include: Ariyoshi (Japanese), Arriba Arriba (Mexican), Transylvania (Romanian), Turkish Grill (Turkish), Quaint (American - with an outdoor garden) and Bliss Street Station (Irish).
The stops in Sunnyside:
- 33rd Street / Rawson
- 40th Street / Lowery
- 46th Street / Bliss
Your next stop is in the neighborhood called "Woodside." The best Irish food in New York City can be found in Woodside, alongside the dishes of their new neighbors from Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. No longer on Queens Boulevard, the stations from this point forward all run along Roosevelt Avenue, which is lined with stores and restaurants of every type, as diverse as the residents they serve.
Some sights to see: Sean Og's (Irish Pub), Phil-Am Store (Philippine grocery store), Tito Rad's (Philippine restaurant).
The stops in Woodside:
- 52nd Street / Lincoln
- 61st Street / Woodside
- 69th Street / Fisk
The smell of tandoori chicken, the long flowing beauty and intricacy of a sari, and every Bollywood movie ever released on DVD, are only part of what you will experience in "Jackson Heights." With the best Indian food anywhere in New York City, the restaurants here are so authentic in flavor and feel that you will swear you have taken a subway ride to Mumbai. This predominantly Indian community shares its friendly streets with neighbors from Peru, Ecuador and Mexico, and if "pollo a la brasa" is something you enjoy, this is the place to try it.
Some sights to see: All you need to do is walk outside the station and the numerous sights are already there to welcome you.
The stops in Jackson Heights:
- 74th Street / Roosevelt Avenue
- 82nd Street
- 90th Street / Elmhurst Ave.
Spanish music brings your spirit to life, and in "Corona" the music, food, and nightclubs are not to be missed. Corona is the hub of Spanish language and food with a hint of Portuguese and Italian mixed in. Along Roosevelt Avenue you will find the best Colombian restaurants outside of Bogota. A left turn on 108th Street will take you to "Green Fields" and the heartiest Brazilian food you have ever tasted, while a right turn up 108th street and short walk beyond Corona Avenue will take you to a tight-knit Italian community where you can still see a game of bocce played in the park on a sunny afternoon.
Some sights to see: The Queens Zoo, The New York Museum of Science, Lemon Ice King of Queens, Green Fields (Brazilian Restaurant)
The stops in Corona:
- Junction Boulevard
- 103rd Street / Corona Plaza
- 111th Street
Only two stops remain on your journey and they are both in a neighborhood called "Flushing." This is the part of your 7-train journey that is included in many visitor's guides, and where you will likely run into other tourists. Predominantly Chinese, Taiwanese, and Korean, Flushing boasts great shopping, great restaurants, Chinese & Korean karaoke bars, and more cell phone stores than you could imagine. The Chinese restaurants offer a variety of choices including Fujian, Sichuan, Hunan, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taiwan style. The Korean restaurants are huge and the barbecue-style food will warm your heart, and fill your belly with a sensation of spices and flavors. Flushing Meadows Park is green, lush, and beautiful, and has full sized sports fields for softball, baseball, football, soccer, a par-3 golf course, mini-golf, and tennis.
Some sights to see: CitiField (The NY Mets), The US Tennis Center (home of the US Open), Flushing Meadows/Corona Park, and the best Chinese and Korean restaurants in New York City.
The stops in Flushing:
- Mets / Willets Point
- Main Street / Flushing
For more information about the 7-train visit www.mta.info. For specific information regarding restaurants and sights mentioned here, or the many that were not, go to your favorite search engine and just type in the neighborhood name.
You did it. You made it from Midtown Manhattan to six colorful neighborhoods in Queens, from the upscale condos of Long Island City, the bars and restaurants of Sunnyside and Woodside, trough the most diverse areas of Jackson Heights, Corona and finally Flushing. You had lumpia as an appetizer, chipotle steak as a main course, and Tsing-Tao beer to wash it down with. The many people you encountered and spent an enjoyable day with represented countries from every corner of the globe, and despite their cultural and linguistic differences they all have one thing in common. They are New Yorkers. New Yorkers you would have missed if you had stayed "on the beaten path" in Manhattan.