Corona, Queens
Encyclopedia
Corona is a densely-populated neighborhood in the former Township of Newtown in the borough of Queens
in New York City
, New York
, United States
. It is neighbored by Flushing
to the east, Jackson Heights
to the west, Forest Hills
and Rego Park
to the south, Elmhurst
to the southwest, and East Elmhurst
to the north.
Corona is bordered on the east by Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
, one of the largest parks in New York City and the site of the 1939
and 1964
World's Fair
s. Located within the park are Citi Field, which replaced Shea Stadium
as home of the New York Mets
in 2009, and the USTA National Tennis Center
, where the U.S. Open
in tennis is held annually.
Corona's main thoroughfares include Corona Avenue, Roosevelt Avenue, Northern Boulevard
, Junction Boulevard, and 108th Street. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 4
, while the northern most part is included in Community Board 3. Corona's zip code is 11368.
Total population of this ZIP code was 98,609 as of the 2000 Census. Corona's racial/ethnic composition is 7.9% White, 14.5% Black, 10.0% Asian, 64.9% Hispanic/Latino, and 2.7% Other.
In the last half of the 20th century Corona saw dramatic ethnic successions. In the 1950s what was predominately an Italian American
and African American neighborhood began to give way to an influx of Dominicans
. In the late 1990s, Corona saw a new wave of immigrants from Latin America. The residents of the Dorie Miller Coops and Meadow Manor Apartments remain predominately African American. There is also a predominately African American and African immigrant community in The LeFrak City
housing development located within the southwest ending boundaries of Corona.
The majority Hispanic community consists of Dominicans
, Mexicans
, Colombians
, Ecuadorians
, Guatemalans
, Bolivians
, Peruvians
, and Chileans
. There are also Asian American
s (Koreans
, Filipinos
, Chinese
and Pakistanis) as well as Italian American
s and African Americans. Dominican Americans represent Corona in the New York City Council, Julissa Ferreras
, and in the New York State Senate, Jose Peralta
. Corona is also represented by Ecuadorian American
Francisco Moya
in the New York State Assembly.
Corona has several private schools including School of the Transfiguration.
Dorie Miller Residential Cooperative, built in 1952, comprises six buildings, containing 300 apartments, with 1,300 rooms in total. The cooperative is named after Doris "Dorie" Miller, a U.S. Naval hero at Pearl Harbor
and the first African American recipient of the Navy Cross. Among its original residents were jazz greats Nat Adderley
& Jimmy Heath
; Kenneth and Corien Drew, publishers of Queens' first African-American newspaper, The Corona East Elmhurst News, Thelma E. Harris founder of Aburi Press and prominent Queens attorney Henry Slaughter to name a few.
During the 1950s and '60s Corona and its neighbor, East Elmhurst, was home to legendary African American musicians, civil rights leaders and athletes including Dr. Ophelia Devore, Dizzy Gillespie
, Charlie Shavers
, Ella Fitzgerald
, Norman Mapp, Nat Adderley, Frankie Lymon, Willie Mays
, George Williams former Harlem Night Club Dancer turned restaurateur who owned the renowned BBQ George's Supper Club frequented by the Black elite of Queens and New York politicos including civil rights activist Judge William "Bill" Booth, Publisher and NYC Commissioner Ken Drew, New York City's Mayor John Lindsay and New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller.
The two communities were often referred to as one "Corona/East Elmhurst" and is the childhood home of the first African American US Attorney General, Eric Holder
, to rap (Hip Hop) artists Kid n' Play, Kwamé
, Salt-n-Pepa
and Kool G Rap
, and is home to Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and her husband Donald.
Corona/East Elmhurst also houses one of the most extensive collections of African American art and literature in the Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center, which serves Queens County with reference and circulating collections, totaling approximately 30,000 volumes of materials written about or relating to black culture. The Black Heritage Reference Center of Queens County includes books, periodicals, theses and dissertations, VHS videos, cassettes and CDs, photographs, posters, prints, paintings, and sculpture. Cultural arts programs are scheduled through the Center. Meeting space is available to community organizations by application. Special features of the Center include:
Through the Black Heritage Reference Center literature readings, workshops and lectures are scheduled, as well as cultural arts programming in fine art exhibitions, film festivals, dance, musical, and dramatic presentations/performances.
( trains) runs through the neighborhood with stops at 111th Street
, 103rd Street – Corona Plaza and Junction Boulevard
.
Hip-hop musicians from Corona:
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is neighbored by Flushing
Flushing, Queens
Flushing, founded in 1645, is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York borough of Queens, east of Manhattan.Flushing was one of the first Dutch settlements on Long Island. Today, it is one of the largest and most diverse neighborhoods in New York City...
to the east, Jackson Heights
Jackson Heights, Queens
Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the Northwestern portion of the borough of Queens in New York, New York, United States. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 3...
to the west, Forest Hills
Forest Hills, Queens
Forest Hills is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States.-Neighborhood:The neighborhood is home to upper-middle class residents, of whom the wealthier residents often live in the neighborhood's Forest Hills Gardens area...
and Rego Park
Rego Park, Queens
Rego Park is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens.-Geography:Rego Park is bordered to the north by Elmhurst and Corona, the east and south by Forest Hills and the west by Middle Village.-History:...
to the south, Elmhurst
Elmhurst, Queens
Elmhurst is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Roosevelt Avenue on the north; Corona to the northeast; Junction Boulevard on the east; Rego Park to the southeast; the Long Island Expressway on the south; Middle Village to the south and southwest; and Maspeth...
to the southwest, and East Elmhurst
East Elmhurst, Queens
East Elmhurst is a culturally diverse area in New York City, in the northwest of the borough of Queens. It is located north of Jackson Heights and Corona and is bounded on the east and north by Flushing Bay. Residents are mostly moderate-income families, but there are also low-income areas. It...
to the north.
Corona is bordered on the east by Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, often referred to as Flushing Meadow Park, Flushing Meadows Park or Flushing Meadows, is a public park in New York City. It contains the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the current venue for the U.S...
, one of the largest parks in New York City and the site of the 1939
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
and 1964
1964 New York World's Fair
The 1964/1965 New York World's Fair was the third major world's fair to be held in New York City. Hailing itself as a "universal and international" exposition, the fair's theme was "Peace Through Understanding," dedicated to "Man's Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe";...
World's Fair
World's Fair
World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...
s. Located within the park are Citi Field, which replaced Shea Stadium
Shea Stadium
William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, usually shortened to Shea Stadium or just Shea , was a stadium in the New York City borough of Queens, in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. It was the home baseball park of Major League Baseball's New York Mets from 1964 to 2008...
as home of the New York Mets
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
in 2009, and the USTA National Tennis Center
USTA National Tennis Center
The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in the New York City borough of Queens and has been the home of the US Open Grand Slam tennis tournament played every year in August and September. Operated by the United States Tennis Association since...
, where the U.S. Open
U.S. Open (tennis)
The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...
in tennis is held annually.
Corona's main thoroughfares include Corona Avenue, Roosevelt Avenue, Northern Boulevard
New York State Route 25A
New York State Route 25A is a state highway on Long Island in New York in the United States. It serves as the main east–west route for most of the North Shore of Long Island, running from the Queens Midtown Tunnel in the New York City borough of Queens at its western terminus to...
, Junction Boulevard, and 108th Street. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 4
Queens Community Board 4
The Queens Community Board 4 is a local government in the New York City borough of Queens, encompassing the neighborhoods of Elmhurst, Corona and Roosevelt Avenue, and also includes LeFrak City, Queens Center and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park...
, while the northern most part is included in Community Board 3. Corona's zip code is 11368.
Total population of this ZIP code was 98,609 as of the 2000 Census. Corona's racial/ethnic composition is 7.9% White, 14.5% Black, 10.0% Asian, 64.9% Hispanic/Latino, and 2.7% Other.
Community
Corona was a late 19th century development in the old Town of Newtown. The name allegedly derives from the crown used as an emblem by the Crown Building Company, which developed the area; the Italian immigrants who moved into the new housing stock referred to the neighborhood by the Italian or Spanish word for "crown" (which is "corona").In the last half of the 20th century Corona saw dramatic ethnic successions. In the 1950s what was predominately an Italian American
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
and African American neighborhood began to give way to an influx of Dominicans
Dominican American
A Dominican American is any American who has origins in the Dominican Republic.Immigration records of Dominicans in the United States date from the late 19th century, and New York City has had a Dominican community since the 1930s...
. In the late 1990s, Corona saw a new wave of immigrants from Latin America. The residents of the Dorie Miller Coops and Meadow Manor Apartments remain predominately African American. There is also a predominately African American and African immigrant community in The LeFrak City
LeFrak City, Queens
LeFrak City is a very large apartment development in the southernmost region of Corona, a neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens, located between Junction Boulevard, 57th Avenue, 99th Street and the Long Island Expressway...
housing development located within the southwest ending boundaries of Corona.
The majority Hispanic community consists of Dominicans
Dominican American
A Dominican American is any American who has origins in the Dominican Republic.Immigration records of Dominicans in the United States date from the late 19th century, and New York City has had a Dominican community since the 1930s...
, Mexicans
Mexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
, Colombians
Colombian American
Colombian Americans are citizens of the United States who trace their nationality or heritage from the South American nation of Colombia. They are the largest South American ethnic group in the United States.-Causes of migration:...
, Ecuadorians
Ecuadorian American
An Ecuadorian American is any person in the United States who is of Ecuadorian ancestry. Ecuadorian Americans can be Mestizo, White, Afro-Ecuadorian, Indigenous, Mulato, or Zambo. Many Ecuadorians are of Lebanese descent...
, Guatemalans
Guatemalan American
A Guatemalan American is an American of Guatemalan descent.The Guatemalan American population in the USA in 2009 was estimated by the US Census Bureau at 1,081,858...
, Bolivians
Bolivian American
Bolivian American is a compound term that applies to American citizens of Bolivian origin. Racially, Bolivian Americans are identified as Indigenous, European , Afro Bolivian, or a combination of any or all three races in varying degrees of admixture...
, Peruvians
Peruvian American
A Peruvian American , mestizo, Amerindian, and Afro-Peruvian descent, as well as others, including Italian, French, and German or a mix of any of these. A significant number are of pure or mixed Chinese or/and Japanese heritage....
, and Chileans
Chilean American
Chilean Americans are United States citizens or residents of Chilean origin. They number about 124,116 in 2009.In 2000, close to 14,000 lived in the states of Florida and California, while around 16,330 lived in the states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and other New England states...
. There are also Asian American
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
s (Koreans
Korean American
Korean Americans are Americans of Korean descent, mostly from South Korea, with a small minority from North Korea...
, Filipinos
Filipino American
Filipino Americans are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipino Americans, often shortened to "Fil-Ams", or "Pinoy",Filipinos in what is now the United States were first documented in the 16th century, with small settlements beginning in the 18th century...
, Chinese
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
and Pakistanis) as well as Italian American
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
s and African Americans. Dominican Americans represent Corona in the New York City Council, Julissa Ferreras
Julissa Ferreras
Julissa Ferreras is a Democratic member of the New York City Council residing in and representing the 21st district of Queens, which includes Elmhurst, Corona, East Elmhurst, and Jackson Heights.- Early career :...
, and in the New York State Senate, Jose Peralta
Jose Peralta
José Rafael Peralta represents District 13 in the New York State Senate, which includes the Queens neighborhoods of Corona, East Elmhurst, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights and Woodside...
. Corona is also represented by Ecuadorian American
Ecuadorian American
An Ecuadorian American is any person in the United States who is of Ecuadorian ancestry. Ecuadorian Americans can be Mestizo, White, Afro-Ecuadorian, Indigenous, Mulato, or Zambo. Many Ecuadorians are of Lebanese descent...
Francisco Moya
Francisco Moya
Francisco P. Moya is an American politician from Corona, Queens. As of 2011, he is a member of the New York State Assembly for the 39th Assembly District in Queens, New York. He is a member of the Democratic party....
in the New York State Assembly.
Corona has several private schools including School of the Transfiguration.
Dorie Miller Residential Cooperative, built in 1952, comprises six buildings, containing 300 apartments, with 1,300 rooms in total. The cooperative is named after Doris "Dorie" Miller, a U.S. Naval hero at Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
and the first African American recipient of the Navy Cross. Among its original residents were jazz greats Nat Adderley
Nat Adderley
Nathaniel Adderley was an American jazz cornet and trumpet player who played in the hard bop and soul jazz genres. He was the brother of saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley....
& Jimmy Heath
Jimmy Heath
James Edward Heath , nicknamed Little Bird, is an American jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger. He is the brother of bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert Heath.-Biography:...
; Kenneth and Corien Drew, publishers of Queens' first African-American newspaper, The Corona East Elmhurst News, Thelma E. Harris founder of Aburi Press and prominent Queens attorney Henry Slaughter to name a few.
During the 1950s and '60s Corona and its neighbor, East Elmhurst, was home to legendary African American musicians, civil rights leaders and athletes including Dr. Ophelia Devore, Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
, Charlie Shavers
Charlie Shavers
Charles James Shavers , known as Charlie Shavers, was an American swing era jazz trumpet player who played at one time or another with Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, Johnny Dodds, Jimmy Noone, Sidney Bechet, Midge Williams and Billie Holiday...
, Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
, Norman Mapp, Nat Adderley, Frankie Lymon, Willie Mays
Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays, Jr. is a retired American professional baseball player who played the majority of his major league career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his...
, George Williams former Harlem Night Club Dancer turned restaurateur who owned the renowned BBQ George's Supper Club frequented by the Black elite of Queens and New York politicos including civil rights activist Judge William "Bill" Booth, Publisher and NYC Commissioner Ken Drew, New York City's Mayor John Lindsay and New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller.
The two communities were often referred to as one "Corona/East Elmhurst" and is the childhood home of the first African American US Attorney General, Eric Holder
Eric Holder
Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. is the 82nd and current Attorney General of the United States and the first African American to hold the position, serving under President Barack Obama....
, to rap (Hip Hop) artists Kid n' Play, Kwamé
Kwamé
Kwamé Holland is an American emcee who enjoyed brief popularity in the late-1980s and early-1990s. He is currently a music producer sometimes credited as K-1 Million or K1 Mil.-Biography:...
, Salt-n-Pepa
Salt-N-Pepa
Salt-N-Pepa is an American hip hop trio from Queens and Brooklyn, New York, that was formed in 1985. The group, consisting of Cheryl "Salt" Renee James, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, and Deidra "DJ Spinderella" Roper, was one of the first all-female rap crews....
and Kool G Rap
Kool G Rap
Nathaniel Thomas Wilson , better known by his stage names Kool G Rap , Kool G. Rap, and Giancana , is an American rapper, from the Corona neighborhood of Queens, New York. He began his career in the mid-1980s as one half of the group Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and as a member of the Juice Crew...
, and is home to Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and her husband Donald.
Corona/East Elmhurst also houses one of the most extensive collections of African American art and literature in the Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center, which serves Queens County with reference and circulating collections, totaling approximately 30,000 volumes of materials written about or relating to black culture. The Black Heritage Reference Center of Queens County includes books, periodicals, theses and dissertations, VHS videos, cassettes and CDs, photographs, posters, prints, paintings, and sculpture. Cultural arts programs are scheduled through the Center. Meeting space is available to community organizations by application. Special features of the Center include:
- The Schomburg Clippings File, an extensive microfiche collection of periodicals, magazine clippings, typescripts, broadsides, pamphlets, programs, book reviews, menus and ephemera of all kinds.
- The UMI Thesis and Dissertation Collection—consists of more than 1,000 volumes of doctoral and master dissertations concerning the African and African-American diasporas.
- The Adele Cohen Music Collection contains most of America's foremost black publications on microfilm. The papers cover 15 states beginning in 1893, and are updated each year with current issues.
- The Black Heritage Video Collection documents the history and culture of Africans and African-Americans on tape, and in all subject areas including literature, biography, social science, fine arts.
Through the Black Heritage Reference Center literature readings, workshops and lectures are scheduled, as well as cultural arts programming in fine art exhibitions, film festivals, dance, musical, and dramatic presentations/performances.
Popular culture
- Lemon Ice King of Corona, at 108th Street and Corona Avenue, appears in the opening credits of the TV show King of Queens.
- Paul SimonPaul SimonPaul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
bade "goodbye to Rosie, the queen of Corona", in his song "Me and Julio Down by the SchoolyardMe and Julio Down by the Schoolyard"Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" is a song by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon from his 1972 self-titled album.-Lyrical subject:The song is about two boys who have broken a law, although the exact law that has been broken is not stated in the song and has become a matter of some debate...
".
- F. Scott FitzgeraldF. Scott FitzgeraldFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
referred to the Flushing-Corona dumps as the "valley of ashes" in his novel The Great GatsbyThe Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922....
.
- Books about Corona's history and present include Roger Sanjek's The Future of Us All and Steven Gregory's Black Corona.
- Chapter 6 of Andrew MortonAndrew Morton (writer)Andrew David Morton is a former British Fleet Street journalist, a notable writer and biographer.Before moving into a career in journalism, he attended grammar school, then studied history at the University of Sussex....
's Madonna describes Madonna's brief stint as a Corona resident in the late 1970s/early 80s.
Transportation
The IRT Flushing LineIRT Flushing Line
The Flushing Line is a rapid transit route of the New York City Subway system, operated as part of the IRT Division and designated the 7 route...
( trains) runs through the neighborhood with stops at 111th Street
111th Street (IRT Flushing Line)
111th Street is a local station on the IRT Flushing Line of the New York City Subway. It is served by the 7 train at all times. It has four tracks and two side platforms on the main level....
, 103rd Street – Corona Plaza and Junction Boulevard
Junction Boulevard (IRT Flushing Line)
Junction Boulevard is an express station on the IRT Flushing Line of the New York City Subway, located at the intersection of Junction Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue in Corona, Queens...
.
Notable residents
Notable current and former residents of Corona include:- Cannonball Adderley (1928–1975), jazz alto saxophonist
- Nat AdderleyNat AdderleyNathaniel Adderley was an American jazz cornet and trumpet player who played in the hard bop and soul jazz genres. He was the brother of saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley....
(1931–2000), jazz cornet and trumpet player - Louis ArmstrongLouis ArmstrongLouis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
(1901–1971), jazz trumpeter, whose house is now a museum - Dr. Calvin O. ButtsCalvin O. ButtsCalvin O. Butts, III , is the Pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in the City of New York, President of the State University of New York College at Old Westbury, and Chairman and founder of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, an engine for $500 million in housing and commercial development...
, III, Pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist ChurchAbyssinian Baptist ChurchThe Abyssinian Baptist Church is among the most famous of the many prominent and activist churches in the Harlem section of New York City.- History :... - Maurice E. ConnollyMaurice E. ConnollyMaurice E. Connolly was the Borough president of Queens, New York, USA from 1911 to 1928.Born in Corona, Queens, Queens County, New York, he was the son of Maurice Connolly and Mary Jane Connolly. He was of Irish ancestry. He married Helen M. Connell and they had one child, Helen. He was a Democrat...
(1881–1935), Queens Borough PresidentBorough presidentBorough President is an elective office in each of the five boroughs of New York City.-Reasons for establishment:...
from 1911 to 1928 - Marie Maynard DalyMarie Maynard DalyMarie Maynard Daly was an American biochemist. She was the first African American woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry .-Early life:...
(1921–2003), first African AmericanAfrican AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in chemistryChemistryChemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds.... - Peter T. FarrellPeter T. FarrellPeter T. Farrell was an American judge from Queens, New York City, who served as a judge on Queens County Court and the New York Supreme Court, where he primarily handled criminal cases...
(c. 1901–1992), judge who presided over the trial of bank robber Willie SuttonWillie SuttonWilliam "Willie" Sutton was a prolific U.S. bank robber. During his forty-year criminal career he stole an estimated $2 million, and eventually spent more than half of his adult life in prison... - Ella FitzgeraldElla FitzgeraldElla Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
(1917–1996), jazz vocalist - Dizzy GillespieDizzy GillespieJohn Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
(1917–1993), jazz trumpeter - Jimmy HeathJimmy HeathJames Edward Heath , nicknamed Little Bird, is an American jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger. He is the brother of bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert Heath.-Biography:...
(born 1926), jazz saxophonist - Lena HorneLena HorneLena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
(1917–2010), singer and actress - Estée LauderEstée Lauder (person)Estée Lauder was an American businesswoman who was the co-founder, along with her husband Joseph Lauder, of Estée Lauder Companies, a pioneering cosmetics company. Lauder was the only woman on TIME magazine's 1998 list of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the 20th century. She was the...
(1906–2004), founder of the cosmetics company that bears her name - Johnny LoBiancoJohnny LoBiancoJohnny LoBianco was an American boxing referee for over 30 years, who was referee for a number of championship fights, including several that ended controversially, most notably Roberto Durán's successful 1972 dethroning of Ken Buchanan in which LoBianco ruled Durán the victor by knockout despite...
(1915–2001), boxing referee - Frankie LymonFrankie LymonFranklin Joseph "Frankie" Lymon was an American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of a New York City-based early rock and roll group, The Teenagers. The group was composed of five boys, all in their early to mid teens...
, jazz musician - MadonnaMadonna (entertainer)Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
(born 1958), singer lived here from 1979–1980 as a member of the band Breakfast Club - Frankie ManningFrankie ManningFrankie Manning was an American dancer, instructor and choreographer. Manning is considered one of the founding fathers of the Lindy Hop.-Early years:...
(1914–2009), popularized the Lindy HopLindy HopThe Lindy Hop is an American social dance, from the swing dance family. It evolved in Harlem, New York City in the 1920s and '30s and originally evolved with the jazz music of that time. Lindy was a fusion of many dances that preceded it or were popular during its development but is mainly based... - Helen MarshallHelen MarshallHelen M. Marshall is the 18th Borough President of Queens, first elected in November 2001, to succeed the term-limited Claire Shulman...
, Queens Borough President (2002 - ) - Omar MinayaOmar MinayaOmar Teodoro Antonio Minaya y Sánchez is a former baseball executive who served as General Manager for the Montreal Expos and New York Mets.-Early life:...
(born 1958), Former General Manager of the Montreal ExposMontreal ExposThe Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
and New York MetsNew York MetsThe New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League... - Robert Parris MosesRobert Parris MosesRobert Parris Moses is an American, Harvard-trained educator who was a leader in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and later founded the nationwide U.S. Algebra project.-Biography:...
, a legendary figure in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and later founder of the Algebra Project, lived at 108-63 Ditmars Boulevard in Corona - Carlos D. RamirezCarlos D. RamirezCarlos D. Ramirez was an American publisher who purchased El Diario La Prensa — the oldest Spanish-language newspaper in the United States — from the Gannett Company in 1989, and succeeded in turning around the paper's longstanding decline in readership and returned it to profitability.Ramirez was...
(1946–1999), publisher of El Diario La PrensaEl Diario La PrensaEl Diario la Prensa is the largest and oldest Spanish-language daily newspaper in New York City, and the oldest Spanish-language daily in the United States. Published by ImpreMedia, the paper covers local, national and international news with an emphasis on Latin America, as well as human-interest... - Charlie ShaversCharlie ShaversCharles James Shavers , known as Charlie Shavers, was an American swing era jazz trumpet player who played at one time or another with Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, Johnny Dodds, Jimmy Noone, Sidney Bechet, Midge Williams and Billie Holiday...
, jazz musician - Clark TerryClark TerryClark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...
(born 1920), Swing trumpeter - Jim ValvanoJim ValvanoJames Thomas Anthony "Jim" Valvano , nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball coach.While the head basketball coach at North Carolina State University, he won the 1983 NCAA Basketball Tournament against high odds...
(1946–1993), basketball coach
Hip-hop musicians from Corona:
- The BeatnutsThe BeatnutsThe Beatnuts are a New York-based hip hop group and production duo from Queens, New York City. Its current members are JuJu and Psycho Les. JuJu is Dominican American from Corona and Psycho Les is a Colombian American from Jackson Heights...
- DJ Polo
- Kid 'n PlayKid 'n PlayKid 'n Play is an American hip-hop and comedy duo from New York City that was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The duo was composed of Christopher "Kid" Reid and Christopher "Play" Martin working alongside their DJ, Mark "DJ Wiz" Eastmond...
- Kool G RapKool G RapNathaniel Thomas Wilson , better known by his stage names Kool G Rap , Kool G. Rap, and Giancana , is an American rapper, from the Corona neighborhood of Queens, New York. He began his career in the mid-1980s as one half of the group Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and as a member of the Juice Crew...
(born 1968), rapper. - KwaméKwaméKwamé Holland is an American emcee who enjoyed brief popularity in the late-1980s and early-1990s. He is currently a music producer sometimes credited as K-1 Million or K1 Mil.-Biography:...
- Noreaga
- Salt-n-PepaSalt-N-PepaSalt-N-Pepa is an American hip hop trio from Queens and Brooklyn, New York, that was formed in 1985. The group, consisting of Cheryl "Salt" Renee James, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, and Deidra "DJ Spinderella" Roper, was one of the first all-female rap crews....
- V.I.C.V.I.C.Victor Grimmy , better known by his stage name V.I.C., is an American rapper from Atlanta, Georgia. His hit single, "Get Silly", reached #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2008.-Background:...