KEW GARDENS HILLS, QUEENS

'Kew Gardens Hills', also sometimes incorrectly referred to as 'Kew Garden Hills', is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered to the West by Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, to the North by the Long Island Expressway, to the South by Union Turnpike and to the East by Parsons Boulevard (or by 164th Street depending on one's definition of the boundaries). Kew Gardens Hills roughly encompasses ZIP code 11367. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 8.^[1]
Adjacent neighborhoods include Hillcrest (east), Briarwood (south), and Queensboro Hill (north).
It is a mixed neighborhood of single family homes (detached or in rows) as well as two-story garden apartment buildings (mostly built during the years immediately following World War II), as well as some public housing projects in the Northeastern corner of the area.
Main arteries through the neighborhood are Main Street, Jewel Avenue, and Kissena Boulevard. Main arteries around the perimeter of the neighborhood are Union Turnpike, Horace Harding Expressway, Kissena Boulevard and Parsons Boulevard. Highways to the neighborhood include the Long Island Expressway, Grand Central Parkway, Van Wyck Expressway, and the Jackie Robinson Parkway (Interborough).
The neighborhood contains a rapidly growing Orthodox and Haredi Jewish population and some Israelis, as well as smaller groups of Koreans, Chinese, Indians, Afghanis, and African Americans.
The commercial areas of the neighborhood include Main Street, Union Turnpike, Parsons Boulevard and Kissena Boulevard.
Scenes from the 2000 movie ''Boiler Room'' were shot in Kew Gardens Hills.
Kew Gardens Hills is home to Max & Mina's Ice Cream, named number 1 of the top 10 most unique Ice Cream Parlors in America in Everybody Loves Ice Cream, the Whole Scoop on america's favorite treat by Shannos Jackson Arnold, Emmis Books, July 2004.^[2]
KGH is also home to the Queens County Savings Bank building built in 1949 and modeled after Philadelphia's Independence Hall. The building also houses a full-size replica of the Liberty Bell.

Contents

Education

Religion

Noted residents

References

Education

Two university campuses are located in Kew Garden Hills.
Located in the northern portion of Kew Gardens Hills is Queens College, a liberal arts college that is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system. The CUNY Law School is also in Kew Garden Hills, on Main Street.
Notable graduates of Queens College include native son Jerry Seinfeld, who was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1994.^[3]
Lander College, the men's college of Touro College, has a large campus on 150th Street at 76th Road.
Public schools located in Kew Gardens Hills include P.S. 164, P.S. 165, John Bowne High School and Townsend Harris High School at Queens College.
Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim (76th Road & 147th Street) and Yeshiva Ohr Hachaim (71st Road & Main Street) are large yeshivas located in KGH.
Parochial schools located in Kew Gardens Hills include Shevach High School (Main Street at 75th Road), Yeshiva of Central Queens (70th Road at 150th Street) and Yeshiva Ketana (Parsons Boulevard & 78th Road).

Religion

There are several dozen houses of worship in Kew Gardens Hills. The Roman Catholic Church Queen of Peace is located on Main Street at 77th Road.
This neighborhood has a large Orthodox Jewish population, including immigrants from Israel, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, France, Africa, and the Middle East. Many residents have also moved from neighborhoods such as Crown Heights in Brooklyn. The Jewish population in Kew Gardens Hills may have contributed to naming of 3 streets in the neighborhood. These include Haym Salomon Square (geographically a triangle), across from the Kew Gardens Hills branch of the Queensborough public library, named for the Revolutionary; Rabbi Kirshblum Triangle named for the first Rabbi of the Kew Gardens Hills Jewish Center; and Freedom Square named in honor of Theodore Herzl's fight for a Jewish homeland.
A sizable Muslim and Sikh population exists in Kew Gardens Hills as well.

Noted residents

★ Robert Chartoff - The producer of the film “Rocky” grew up in Kew Gardens Hills, down the block from Simon and Garfunkel

★ Fran Drescher, actress, from ''The Nanny'' lived at 147-49 72nd Avenue, Ambassador Gardens, and then at 150-58 71st Avenue. Drescher worked at the Main Street movie theater as a teenager.

★ Bob Dylan - This rock legend once lived in the shadow of Queens College, near Reeves Avenue and 150th Street.

★ Art Garfunkel lived at 136-58 72nd Avenue

★ Michael Landon - “Little Joe” from the hit TV show ''Bonanza'' and star of ''Highway to Heaven'' grew up in Kew Gardens Hills and attended Forest Hills High School.

★ Martin Landau - This Academy Award winning actor grew up in Kew Gardens Hills.

★ Paul Simon lived at 137-62 70th Road

References

1. Queens Community Boards, New York City. Accessed September 3, 2007.
2. http://www.everybodylovesicecream.com/media/ELI.tenmost.pdf
3. Hevesi, Dennis. " Commencements; Queens College Graduates Hear a Wistful Seinfeld", ''The New York Times'', June 3, 1994. Accessed July 8, 2007. "Mr. Seinfeld, after receiving an honorary doctorate in humane letters, told the graduates, who responded with knowing laughter: ''I spent several wonderful years here. The best spot I ever got was in my junior year. It was right out here on Kissena Boulevard near Melbourne Avenue. I didn't even have to parallel; I pulled right in. It was a beautiful spot.''"