FiRE hosts party and fundraiser in Jackson Heights

by lawdamercy for FiRE July 30, 2007

Party like ARAK Star!

Friends! Please support!
Anak Bayan NY/NJ and FIRE (filipinas for rights and empowerment) Present:

Big Things Poppin'
Party Like ARAK star!
AUGUST 5, 2007 SUNDAY
8PM-1AM
$10 ALL AGES

Who's Performing:
Kiwi from Native Guns
Geo from Blue Scholars
Kadena
Koba
Hanalei Ramos
Deep Foundation
Mike Swift
Bleud
... and many others!

Where:
Terraza Cafe
40-19 Gleane St.
Jackson Heights, NY 11373

Directions: Take the 7 train to 82nd Ave and walk to 83rd and Roosevelt

Funds will be going towards local organizing within the filipino
community and the medical bills of one our organizers.

[where: Terraza Cafe 40-19 Gleane St. Jackson Heights, NY 11373]

"Real Simpsons" characters from Jackson Heights

from Time Out New York

Hi-diddly-ho, neig hbor-inos!

Inspired by The Simpsons Movie, Time Out New York rounds up the show’s spiritual New York counterparts, in the flesh.

HOMER SIMPSON
Jack Hammond, 50, nuclear steam-pipe fitter, Astoria, Queens

Plant life: “I was born and raised in Jackson Heights. I do pipe fitting. You weld. You screw. You bang and boom. I’ve done work all over the place, at Ravenswood, the plant over here in Astoria, and I had cousins and stuff that worked out at Indian Point. But I needed to take some rest, so that’s why I’m at a bar in the middle of the day, if you must know.”

APU NAHASAPEEMAPETILON
Tejas Shuph, 43, owner, Roosevelt Deli, Jackson Heights, Queens

On life back in India: “I had to go to university to be an accountant. It has helped me run this store—we have so many items and I have to figure out how to make a profit. So I’m not just standing here behind a counter.”

New this week, Time Out New York, Restaurants and Bars

from Time Out New York

Lety’s Bakery and Cafe After 21 years at Veneiro’s, baker Octavio Herrera has opened his own Italian dessert spot in Jackson Heights...

[where: 77-07 37th Ave Jackson Heights, NY 11372]

Six-Day Library Service Returns to Boroughs

By Jeffrey Harmatz for Queens Ledger July 19, 2007

...To commence the new extended hours Speaker Christine Quinn, along with Libraries Subcommittee chair Vincent Gentile, Cultural Affairs chair Domenic Recchia, Councilwoman Helen Sears, and director of the Queens Borough Public Library Thomas Galante, spoke at the Jackson Heights Public Library, one of the largest in Queens and the first stop on the tri-borough tour...

[where: Jackson Heights Library 35-51 81st St, Jackson Heights, NY 11372]

Fancy Food Show Brings Colonial Fruit Drinks and Our Old Friend Kulfi

by Zoe Singer for 'Grub Street' in New York Magazine, 7/16/07

...We took a break from our regularly scheduled Greenmarket food fest to hike through acres of fancy foods from the world over at last week’s Fancy Food Show. Over 2,000 displays filled the Javits Center...

...What to Look For
If you spend much time in India — or Jackson Heights — you may have enjoyed a refreshing kulfi pop on a hot day. This condensed, ultradairy, eggless treat is marvelously chewy-creamy. Kool Freeze Kulfi pops are not only made with natural, primarily pronounceable ingredients like milk and organic evaporated cane juice, they also feature fresh-fruit purées; exotic flavors like saffron, rose-water-imbued falooda, and chikoo (a.k.a. sapote, a tropical fruit that resembles sweet-potato pie); and more mainstream flavors like pistachio, coconut, and strawberry ($5.99 per four-pop box at Whole Foods)...

Two blocks of gems in Jackson Heights jewel district

by Melissa Grace for The Daily News, July 17th 2007

...Indian bangles crowd the glittering jewelry and clothing stores that dominate 74th St. in Jackson Heights.

There is something for every occasion - and every sari.

The stores on Kalpana Chawla Way - named in honor of the Indian-born American astronaut killed on the Space Shuttle Columbia - offer intricate, handmade diamond-and-gold necklace sets and costume jewelry - and there are only a few that don't offer wrist, neck and nose accessories.

[where: 74th Street 11372]
[where: Sona Chaandi Jewelers, 3714 74th St, Jackson Heights, NY 11372]
[where: Indian Sari Palace, 3707 74th St, Jackson Heights, NY 11372]

Roving Chef: Floyd Cardoz

from New York Magazine

Tabla head chef Floyd Cardoz guides Josh Ozersky through the Indian shops and restaurants of Jackson Heights.




[where: Subzi Mandi 7230 37th Avenue, Jackson Heights, NY 11372]
[where: Delhi Palace 3733 74th St, Jackson Heights, NY 11372]
[where: Kababish II 3766 74th St, Jackson Heights, NY 11372]

The Beets

Jackson Heights based band The Beets

Impose Magazine excerpt by Nate Dorr:

...once they began playing their classic 60s garage rock I was gripped. Twin guitars beamed rhythmically forward, punctuated by strokes of brush snare and flicking around vocals that seemed perfectly, timelessly at ease in the music. This is a band that seemed to have appeared out of the ground (of Queens, apparently) fully formed without a formative period. After they finished, I approached the lead singer and guitarist. “So what’s your story?” I asked, “That was a great set. Where did you come from?”. Turns out they only formed in March, and have played a total of seven shows together. And yet, already, they have some unmistakable quality of potential. The guy standing next to me was already trying to book them, in fact. Predictions are dangerous so I’ll try to sidestep making one now, but wherever the Beets may go from here, I have a feeling it’ll be worth watching.

[where: 11372}

Jackson Heights MC Juganot, Video for "En Why Cee"

'En Why Cee' by JUGANOT feat. Joell Ortiz, Uncle Murder & Tess

EN WHY CEE

Add to My Profile | More Videos

[where: 11372]

After a Two-Decade Wait, a Sweet Taste of Home

By EMILY BRADY for The New York Times, July 15, 2007

...Until recently, Mr. Alvi, an Internet entrepreneur who lives in Lynbrook on Long Island, could not go to Jackson Heights, Queens, the heart of the metropolitan area’s South Asian community, to satisfy his craving. Instead, he would go to Toronto, three times a year. For about 20 years, his favorite fruit could not be brought into the United States because it was known to harbor a beetle dangerous to crops.

But the ban was lifted last year, and since the first boxes of Indian mangoes arrived here this spring, Mr. Alvi, like many other Indian immigrants, has been making up for lost time.

“I would forgo all other fruit for Indian mangoes,” he said gleefully the other day in front of Patel Brothers market in Jackson Heights as he headed toward his car clutching a bag containing a case of the fruit. “I could write an ode to them.”...


[where: Patel Brothers, 3727 74TH St, Jackson Heights NY 11372-6337]

Nostalgia? Or Good Fried Chicken?

by Seth Kugel for Nueva York, July 13, 2007

...Colombian fast food chain Frisby has arrived in Jackson Heights, on Northern Boulevard between 83rd and 84th St. OK, officially, it's on the East Elmhurst side of the street...

...One oddity: the Spanish and English menus offer slightly different items. While in Spanish, you can get a Medio Frisby (4 pieces - $5.95), a Pollo Frisby (8 pieces - $10.95) or a Frisby Familiar (12 pieces $14.95), the English sides offers the additional "Regular Frisby" (2 pieces - $2.95). But it does NOT offer the "postres de fruta natural" ($2.59). Could it be that Frisby perceives English speaking patrons prefer smaller portions and no dessert? (Doubt it...my vote is for carelessness.)...



[where: Frisby 11372]

Aqui Colombia Antojitos

from Eating In Translation, July 11, 2007

...Second shelf down in the refrigerator case, the plastic cups are filled with a sludgy, pond-algae-colored liquid. It may look like the wicked stepsister to Colombia's frozen, much more fetching cholado, but deep down, the champús (chom-Poose; $3) is a sweet blend of ground corn (and a scattering of niblets); lulo, also called naranjilla, the tropical fruit responsible for the color; brown sugar; cinnamon; cloves; and juicy chunks of pineapple, added just before serving...

[where: Aqui Colombia Antojitos
81-08 37th Ave., Jackson Heights, Queens
718-651-6565]

Mexican Food Discovery: Memelitas

by Joe DiStefano for Gothamist, July 10, 2007

Like many New Yorkers we're huge fans of the cornucopia of Central American and Mexican fare available at the Red Hook ballfields. But we're do you go when you don't feel like trekking to Red Hook? For us Elmhurst and Jackson Heights often fit the bill, particularly because of the specials at the nabe's taquerias.

Gothamist is always psyched to see barbacoa de chivo on the specials board. This sumptuous slow-cooked goat meat is typically served on weekends. The other day when we noticed a sign that listed barbacoa, along with memelitas, outside Taqueria Coatzingo, we immediately headed inside. Our excitement was not sparked by the barbacoa, but rather the memelitas, a Mexican foodstuff we'd never heard of, much less eaten, before...

...All in all they make a perfect base for meat, particularly if you're lucky enough to find slow-cooked goat on the menu...

[where: Taqueria Coatzingo, 40-18 82 St., 718-779-7930]

Jackson Heights Flickr Sampling

Photos by...

mr. oliver

smitten

noise64

MariSheibley

shhpeko...
and another

Darny...
and another
and another

Color War

By GREGORY BEYER for The New York Times, July 8, 2007

State Senator John Sabini, whose district includes Jackson Heights, has held public office for 15 years. One of his achievements came in 1993, when, as a city councilman, he helped persuade the Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate the Jackson Heights Historic District...

...When a historic district is born — the city’s 88th, Sunnyside Gardens, was approved on June 26 — its neighborhood frequently becomes two neighborhoods. The street signs within the district are terra-cotta rather than the standard green, but the distinctions go far deeper than signs, involving money, aesthetics, image, even class.

The Jackson Heights Historic District is an example...

...A 2003 study by the city’s Independent Budget Office found that market values of properties in historic districts are higher and appreciate at a slightly greater rate than those outside historic districts. For example, the study, which covered the years 1975 to 2002, found that the inflation-adjusted prices of properties within historic districts rose by an average of 5.3 percent a year, while those outside historic districts rose by an average of 4.2 percent.

And the difference involves more than money. To walk the few blocks from Little India and other undesignated sections of Jackson Heights to the historic district is to travel from humble, sometimes teeming streets to genteel serenity. The district, which comprises 538 structures on 36 of Jackson Heights’s 200 blocks, sometimes feels like a different neighborhood altogether.

Within the district, the two- and three-story brick buildings in the Tudor and Georgian styles, most of which were built from 1910 to the 1950s, are uniformly bordered by green lawns and black wrought-iron gates, concealing the spacious interior gardens within. Influenced by Europe’s Garden City movement, which aimed to avoid crowded tenement conditions, the district’s developers built the nation’s first cooperative garden apartments, as well as single-family homes in the English Garden style...

...Daniel Karatzas, the author of the book “Jackson Heights: A Garden in the City” and an agent at Beaudoin Realty Group, has found that apartment buyers from outside the neighborhood not only call him but even know the names and details of the Queen Elizabeth, the Fillmore, the Belvedere and other individual buildings in the district...