amNewYork does Rego Park

Posted by Steve on Thursday, May 24th, 2007

Here’s a dirty little secret of mine: Every Thursday, I grab a copy of amNewYork from the preacher-emulating distributor outside my subway station (“Yesssssss!” he shouts as I take it from his hand) and, walking with one eye on avoiding collisions with fellow pedestrians, frantically flip to the City Living section to see if there’s a profile this week of some neighborhood within my sphere of existence. The worst-case scenario is some Manhattan area that’s been done to death, like the Upper West Side. Better is an outer-borough neighborhood with which I’m only glancingly familiar, like, say, Kensington. But the jackpot is one of the neighborhoods covered by this site. As a matter of statistics, this doesn’t happen very often. But today, amNewYork’s Miranda Siegel turns her attention to Rego Park.

“Quiet and convenient in Qns.” blares the headline, if such a headline can blare. Much like the Forest Hills profile back in December, I don’t really agree with the paper’s characterization of the neighborhood as sedate. Yes, it’s got its sleepy, charming parts, like the Crescents. But one of the last words I’d use to describe the area surrounding the Rego Park Center is “quiet.” The paper is also quick to remind us that Rego Park is the setting for the recently canceled sitcom The King of Queens, a show of which I’ve seen maybe 30 consecutive seconds at most.

But the profile is, for the most part, insightful. It gets to the bottom of Rego Park’s international flavor, diverse retail options and contrast between bucolic and bustling, and does a good job of nailing what makes it such an interesting place to live:

Although Rego Park has a serene and family-friendly interior, it is but blocks from the buzz of 63rd Drive and Queens Boulevard, both situated amid a tangle of express trains, buses and highways.

“It’s really convenient,” said Valerie Fristachi, who enjoys the secluded community with easy access to Manhattan, as well as the choice of big box and mom-and-pop stores. “You can go to Best Buy or Sears, and then cross the street and buy Uzbek imports.”

Commenting on the East Asian, South American and Indian immigrants who have settled in the area, Constantinescu said, “This is a really diverse neighborhood. It’s reflected in our shops and restaurants — you can get anything here.”

Rego Park has long had a reputation as Forest Hills’ second banana, a reputation not really shared by other surrounding neighborhoods such as Kew Gardens. Siegel, unfortunately, does little to dispute that image, profiling Knish Nosh, the underrated Munch Café and Susan Polgar Chess Center — all of which I’m sure are actually in Forest Hills, albeit close to the Rego border — as Rego Park destinations. She even has the chutzpah to single out Woodhaven Boulevard’s Florist Hills and its “ingenious name,” which wouldn’t be too ingenious in Rego.

But no matter. Check out the profile — you might just learn something. And, as usual, there’s a photo gallery!

Name

Mail (will not be published)

Website