Rego Park, Queens
Encyclopedia
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...
borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...
of Queens
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....
.
Geography
Rego Park is bordered to the north by ElmhurstElmhurst, 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...
and Corona
Corona, Queens
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...
, the east and south by 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 the west by Middle Village
Middle Village, Queens
Middle Village is a neighborhood in central Queens, a borough of New York City. The neighborhood is located in the western central section of Queens, bounded to the north by Eliot Avenue, to the east by Woodhaven Boulevard, to the south by Cooper Avenue, and to the west by Fresh Pond Road...
.
History
Rego Park was named after the Real Good Construction Company, which began development of the area in the mid-1920s
1920s
File:1920s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column No. 2 under Sean Hogan during the Irish Civil War; Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol in accordance to the 18th amendment, which made alcoholic beverages illegal throughout the entire decade; In...
. "Rego" comes from the first two letters of the first two words of the Real Good Construction Company. The company built 525 eight-room houses costing $8,000 each, stores were built in 1926 on Queens Boulevard
Queens Boulevard
Queens Boulevard is a major thoroughfare in the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Queens connecting communities from Midtown Manhattan to Jamaica...
and 63rd Drive, and apartment buildings were built in 1927–28.
Like its neighbor, Forest Hills, Rego Park has long had a significant Jewish population, most of which have Bukharan, Georgian and Russian Jewish ancestors, with a number of synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
s and kosher
Kashrut
Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
restaurants. Cartoonist Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman is an American comics artist, editor, and advocate for the medium of comics, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book memoir, Maus. His works are published with his name in lowercase: art spiegelman.-Biography:Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to Polish Jews...
grew up in Rego Park and made it the setting for significant scenes involving his aged father in Maus
Maus
Maus: A Survivor's Tale, by Art Spiegelman, is a biography of the author's father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. It alternates between descriptions of Vladek's life in Poland before and during the Second World War and Vladek's later life in the Rego Park neighborhood of...
, his graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
about the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
. Many Holocaust survivors, including Spiegelman and his parents, settled there after 1945. Even as many Jews have departed for further-flung suburbs over the years, they have been replaced by Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, especially from Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
. Though these immigrants largely trace their ethnic roots back to Bukharan Jewish
Bukharan Jews
Bukharan Jews, also Bukharian Jews or Bukhari Jews, or яҳудиёни Бухоро Yahūdieni Bukhoro , Bukhori Hebrew Script: יהודיאני בוכאראי and יהודיאני בוכארי), also called the Binai Israel, are Jews from Central Asia who speak Bukhori, a dialect of the Tajik-Persian language...
culture, the effect of life in the Soviet Union on the population has led Rego Park to have a Russian feel with many signs in Russian Cyrillic. Most of the Bukharan Jewish immigrants in the neighborhood come from Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
and Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....
, and it is possible to find excellent, authentic Uzbek and Tajik cuisine in many Rego Park restaurants. Immigrant populations from Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
and South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
are also well-represented.
Aside from the many apartment buildings, multi-family, and railroad houses which make up Rego Park, some houses in Rego Park are in the colonial and Tudor styles with slate roofs. This is especially so in an area called the Crescents, named for its semicircular shaped streets emanating in a concentric pattern from Alderton Street, between Woodhaven Boulevard and the Long Island Rail Road. There is easy access to Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
via the 63rd Drive subway stop.
Community Groups/Civic Associations
Rego park is represented by Queens Community Board 6 (CB 6)Queens Community Board 6
The Queens Community Board 6 is the local government body in the New York City borough of Queens, encompassing the neighborhoods of Forest Hills and Rego Park. It is delimited by the Horace Harding Expressway to the north, Woodhaven Boulevard to the west, the Jackie Robinson Parkway to the south,...
. There is also a local online community called Rego Park Group. Originally hosted on Yahoo! Groups
Yahoo! Groups
Yahoo! Groups is one of the world’s largest collections of online discussion boards. The term Groups refers to Internet communication which is a hybrid between an electronic mailing list and a threaded Internet forum, in other words, Group messages can be read and posted by e-mail or on the Group's...
, the group aims at providing residents and merchants of Rego Park with opportunities for community service, socializing, and activism, improving the quality of life in the neighborhood. They partner with other organizations to benefit the community. The Rego Park Green Alliance has also been active in the community planting flowers and trees, arranging the installation of new garbage cans, pushing for the repair of some sidewalks and creating a large mural celebrating the neighborhood under the L.I.R.R. overpass on 63rd Drive.
Community services
In March 2010 the Metropolitan Council on Jewish PovertyMetropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty
The Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty is a New York-based non-profit social services organization. It offers services to help needy New Yorkers.-History:...
, a beneficiary agency of the UJA-Federation of New York, partnered with Masbia
Masbia
Masbia is a network of kosher soup kitchens in New York City. Its four locations in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Boro Park, Williamsburg, and Midwood, and Rego Park, Queens, serve over 500 free, hot kosher meals nightly. Masbia is the only free soup kitchen serving kosher meals in New York City...
in the opening of a kosher
Kashrut
Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
soup kitchen
Soup kitchen
A soup kitchen, a bread line, or a meal center is a place where food is offered to the hungry for free or at a reasonably low price. Frequently located in lower-income neighborhoods, they are often staffed by volunteer organizations, such as church groups or community groups...
on Queens Boulevard. As of August 2010, the free restaurant was serving over 1,500 meals per month to adults, senior citizens, and families.
Public transportation
The Long Island Rail RoadLong Island Rail Road
The Long Island Rail Road or LIRR is a commuter rail system serving the length of Long Island, New York. It is the busiest commuter railroad in North America, serving about 81.5 million passengers each year. Established in 1834 and having operated continuously since then, it is the oldest US...
overpass between Austin and Alderton Streets hosted the Rego Park station
Rego Park (LIRR station)
Rego Park is a former Long Island Rail Road station. It was made of wood, unlike most other stations that were concrete. The station opened in May 1928 with two platforms outside the two Rockaway Beach Branch tracks that bracketed the four-track Main Line, so only Rockaway trains stopped there....
until its abandonment in 1962. Though physically part of the railroad "Main Line" heading out to Jamaica
Jamaica, Queens
Jamaica is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States. It was settled under Dutch rule in 1656 in New Netherland as Rustdorp. Under British rule, the Village of Jamaica became the center of the "Town of Jamaica"...
, the station operated as part of the Rockaway Beach Branch
Rockaway Beach Branch
The Rockaway Beach Branch was a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in Queens, New York City, United States. The line left the Main Line at Whitepot Junction in Rego Park heading south via Ozone Park and across Jamaica Bay to Hammels in the Rockaways turning west there to a...
. The station was later dismantled, and little can be discerned of its existence now save for the flattened clearing beside the tracks.
The IND Queens Boulevard Line
IND Queens Boulevard Line
The Queens Boulevard Line is a fully underground line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan and Queens, New York City, United States. The line provides crosstown service across Manhattan under 53rd Street and east through Queens to Jamaica...
of the New York City Subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
has a local station at 63rd Drive ( trains) and Queens Boulevard
Queens Boulevard
Queens Boulevard is a major thoroughfare in the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Queens connecting communities from Midtown Manhattan to Jamaica...
, dating from the mid-1930s. Transportation via subway to Midtown Manhattan is 15 minutes to the East Side #6 subway or 20 minutes straight through to Midtown Manhattan. Direct subway stops in Midtown are 42nd St, Bryant Park and 34th St. Herald Square.
A number of Express Buses also run between the neighborhood and locations in Manhattan.
Police
More than 75 percent of Queens Community Board 6Queens Community Board 6
The Queens Community Board 6 is the local government body in the New York City borough of Queens, encompassing the neighborhoods of Forest Hills and Rego Park. It is delimited by the Horace Harding Expressway to the north, Woodhaven Boulevard to the west, the Jackie Robinson Parkway to the south,...
, traditionally a safe, low crime area, is served by the 112th Precinct
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department , established in 1845, is currently the largest municipal police force in the United States, with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City...
.
Fire Department
CB6Queens Community Board 6
The Queens Community Board 6 is the local government body in the New York City borough of Queens, encompassing the neighborhoods of Forest Hills and Rego Park. It is delimited by the Horace Harding Expressway to the north, Woodhaven Boulevard to the west, the Jackie Robinson Parkway to the south,...
has one engine and one ladder company in a single firehouse within its boundaries, and another on its border. FDNY deployments to structural fires within the district have customarily been satisfactorily prompt.
Public schools
Rego Park's public schools, as are the public schools in all of New York City, are operated by the New York City Department of EducationNew York City Department of Education
The New York City Department of Education is the branch of municipal government in New York City that manages the city's public school system. It is the largest school system in the United States, with over 1.1 million students taught in more than 1,700 separate schools...
. The following elementary schools serve Rego Park:
- P.S. 139 (Rego Park School, grades K-6); P.S. 139 Parents' Association
- P.S. 174 (William Sidney Mount School, grades K-6)
- P.S. 175 (the Lynn Gross Discovery School, grades preK-5)
- P.S. 206 (the Horace Harding School, grades K-5)
- P.S. 220 (Edward Mandel School, grades preK-5)
All areas in Rego Park are zoned to J.H.S. 157 Stephen A. Halsey (6 - 9), in Rego Park, or J.H.S. 190 Russell Sage (7-9) in Forest Hills. Rego Park is not zoned to a high school as all New York City high schools get students by application. Forest Hills High School
Forest Hills High School
Forest Hills High School , dedicated in 1937, is a public secondary school in Queens, New York City. It educates students in grades 9–12 and is operated by the New York City Department of Education.- Location :...
is located in nearby Forest Hills.
Private schools
Our Lady of the Angelus, a PK-8 private school operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of BrooklynRoman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, which includes territory that was previously part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, was established as a separate diocese in 1853 when the City of Brooklyn was separate from New York City....
, is located in Rego Park. Resurrection-Ascension School, another PK-8 private school operated by the Diocese of Brooklyn, is also located in Rego Park. Our Saviour Lutheran School is the third parochial school in the area.
Private institutions include Rego Park Day Care, The Rego Park Jewish Center
Rego Park Jewish Center
The Rego Park Jewish Center is a synagogue in the Rego Park neighborhood of Queens, New York City.The architectural firm of Frank Grad & Sons designed the modernist building. The facade features a mosaic by Hungarian-born artist A. Raymond Katz....
(est. 1939), and The Jewish Institute of Queens (a.k.a. the Queens Gymnasia), ICCD http://www.iccd.com.
Public libraries
The Rego Park Library Branch of Queens Library, is located at 91-41 63rd Drive in Rego Park. As of 2010, the total annual circulation was 382,545 volumes, which is the highest number of volumes compared to two other libraries in Queens Community District 6, Forest Hills and North Forest Park libraries. All three libraries in Community Board 6 are heavily utilized by growing numbers of immigrants.Commerce
Along Queens BoulevardQueens Boulevard
Queens Boulevard is a major thoroughfare in the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Queens connecting communities from Midtown Manhattan to Jamaica...
, Rego Park is home to some of Queens' most popular shopping destinations, including the Rego Park Center
Rego Park Center
Rego Center is the name of a shopping mall located at Junction Boulevard and 62nd Drive, next to the Long Island Expressway, in Rego Park, Queens, New York.- Property overview :...
(formerly Alexander's
Alexander's
Alexander's was a department store chain in the New York metropolitan area. Catering to low- and middle-income consumers, Alexander's offered discounted designer fashions and high-quality private label goods. At its height, the company operated 16 stores. Its advertising slogan was "You'll find...
department store), a retail complex with a large Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Company
Sears, officially named Sears, Roebuck and Co., is an American chain of department stores which was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in the late 19th century...
, Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. was formed in 1971 and today operates a chain of domestic merchandise retail stores across United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. They feature mostly medium-ranged, but also a limited selection of high quality, domestic merchandise: items for the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen,...
, Marshalls
Marshalls
Marshalls, Inc., is a chain of American department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 750 conventional stores, as well as larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store, covering 42 states and Puerto Rico. Marshalls expanded into Canada in March 2011...
, and Old Navy
Old Navy
Old Navy is an American clothing brand as well as a chain of stores owned by Gap, Inc., with corporate operations in San Francisco and San Bruno, California. It is one of the first major corporations to house headquarters in the new Mission Bay district of San Francisco.Gap, Inc. was run by...
locations. A new shopping center, recently built on 62nd Drive across from Rego Park Center, houses a Kohl's
Kohl's
Kohl's Corporation is an American department store chain headquartered in the Milwaukee suburb of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, operating , 1,089 stores in 49 states. In 1998, it entered the S&P 500 list, and is also listed in the Fortune 500...
, a Century 21 (department store)
Century 21 (department store)
Century 21 is a chain of department stores in the northeastern United States. There are stores located in Long Island/Westbury , Brooklyn , Morristown , and Paramus , but the largest location is in Lower Manhattan, across the street from the World Trade Center site...
, a Costco
Costco
Costco Wholesale Corporation is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the United States. it is the third largest retailer in the United States, where it originated, and the ninth largest in the world...
, a T.J. Maxx
T.J. Maxx
T.J. Maxx, sometimes referred to as TJ's or the Maxx, is an American department store chain owned by TJX Companies. With more than 900 stores T.J. Maxx is a major clothes retailer in the United States, whilst also operating stores in a number of other countries.-History:In 1976, T.J...
, a Toys "R" Us, and a Payless ShoeSource
Payless ShoeSource
Payless ShoeSource is a discount footwear retailer founded in Topeka, Kansas in 1956 that is owned by Collective Brands, Inc. In 1961, it became a public company as the Volume Shoe Corporation which merged with the May Department Stores Company in 1979. In the 1980s, Payless was widely known in the...
, with more stores being built. The Queens Center
Queens Center
Queens Center is an urban shopping mall in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens, New York City, United States. It is located at the intersection of Queens Boulevard and Woodhaven Boulevard, adjacent to the Woodhaven Boulevard station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway. It...
mall, the borough's largest, lies just to the west in Elmhurst.
Shopping Districts with many smaller stores, bakeries, pharmacies and restaurants can be found along 108th Street and 63rd Drive.
Rego Park's boundaries include Queens Boulevard, the Long Island Expressway
Interstate 495 (New York)
Interstate 495 is an auxiliary Interstate Highway on Long Island in New York in the United States. The route extends for from the western portal of the Queens-Midtown Tunnel in the New York City borough of Manhattan to County Route 58 in Riverhead, Suffolk County...
, Woodhaven Boulevard
Woodhaven Boulevard (Queens)
Woodhaven Boulevard is a major boulevard that runs roughly north–south in the central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. South of Liberty Avenue, it is known as Cross Bay Boulevard.-Route:...
, and Yellowstone Boulevard.
63rd Drive
Across Queens Boulevard to the north, 63rd Drive becomes 63rd Road, and its business district continues another three blocks. One block to the east another 63rd Drive extends from Queens Boulevard, but this spur is a minor, narrow, one way residential street. It was common practice when the numbering system for streets and avenues evolved, for the street names to change from one side of Queens Boulevard to the other.
Rego Center
Rego Center is a 277000 square feet (25,734.1 m²) site across the street from Sears that features four floors of shops and a multilevel parking garage developed by Vornado Realty TrustVornado Realty Trust
Vornado Realty Trust is a New York based real estate investment trust. It is the inheritor of real estate formerly controlled by companies including Two Guys and Alexander's.- History :...
. The shopping mall opened on March 3, 2010 with 950000 square feet (88,257.9 m²) of retail space.
63rd Drive Fire of 1972
The short block of 63rd Drive between Austin Street and the railroad overpass was the scene one February morning in 1972, of a wild fire that claimed a row of stores and the neighborhood library. The blistering fire reportedly started in the second store on the block from Austin, a shoe store, and quickly spread with the gusting winds to neighboring stores, including a television repair shop, toy store, pet shop and a pioneering Indian restaurant, and finally, the library, where row upon row of oily books and wooden shelves sent flames high into the sky and up the embankment of the railroad. Firefighters scrambled to keep the windswept flames from reaching an apartment house behind the stores, a new Key FoodKey Food
Key Food Stores Co-Op Inc. is a cooperative of independently owned supermarkets in southern New York, plus one store in Stamford, Connecticut. Key Food was founded in 1937 by Sam Mandel; it is headquartered on Staten Island...
supermarket across Austin Street, or the Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
gas station just across the drive. The library caved in before flames could damage the electrical wires lining the railroad. A new library eventually opened across the street (on the former site of the Shell gas station). After the fire, until the new library was built, the community was served by a mobile "Bookmobile
Bookmobile
A bookmobile or mobile library is a large vehicle designed for use as a library. It is designed to hold books on shelves so that when the vehicle is parked the books can be accessed by readers. It usually has enough space for people to sit and read books inside. Mobile libraries are often used to...
" library which parked under the LIRR tracks on 63rd Drive.
In popular culture
Rego Park was the setting of the 1980s sitcom Dear JohnDear John (US TV series)
Dear John is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from 1988 to 1992. The series was originally based on the British sitcom of the same name. Dear John was retitled Dear John USA when it was shown in the UK. During its four-season run, the series was bounced to and from various time periods on...
, which centered around the fictional "Rego Park Community Center."
The CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
sitcom The King of Queens
The King of Queens
The King of Queens is an American sitcom that originally ran on CBS from September 21, 1998, to May 14, 2007.This show was produced by Hanley Productions and CBS Productions , CBS Paramount Television ,and CBS Television Studios in association with Columbia TriStar Television , and Sony Pictures...
is set in Rego Park, and sometimes shows clips of the area.
Rego Park is also home to one of American television's most unforgettable characters, Archie Bunker
Archie Bunker
Archibald "Archie" Bunker is a fictional New Yorker in the 1970s top-rated American television sitcom All in the Family and its spin-off Archie Bunker's Place, played to acclaim by Carroll O'Connor. Bunker is a veteran of World War II, reactionary, bigoted, conservative, blue-collar worker, and...
from the 1970s sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
All in the Family
All in the Family
All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
. The Bunkers were said to live at 704 Hauser Street, a fictitious address that was supposed to be located in Astoria
Astoria, Queens
Astoria is a neighborhood in the northwestern corner of the borough of Queens in New York City. Located in Community Board 1, Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Sunnyside , and Woodside...
, but doesn't exist anywhere in New York. However, the house shown in the credits is located at 89-70 Cooper Avenue in Rego Park.
What Happened to Anna K.: A Novel by Irina Reyn
Irina Reyn
Irina Reyn is an American novelist. Her novel, What Happened to Anna K., was selected as the tenth best fiction book of 2008 by Jennifer Reese of Entertainment Weekly, and won the 2009 Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction by emerging writers....
is set in Rego Park. Most of the characters are Bukharan Jews
Bukharan Jews
Bukharan Jews, also Bukharian Jews or Bukhari Jews, or яҳудиёни Бухоро Yahūdieni Bukhoro , Bukhori Hebrew Script: יהודיאני בוכאראי and יהודיאני בוכארי), also called the Binai Israel, are Jews from Central Asia who speak Bukhori, a dialect of the Tajik-Persian language...
who have emigrated from the Soviet Union.
Brooklyn's Finest
Brooklyn's Finest
Brooklyn's Finest is a 2009 American crime film starring Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, and Wesley Snipes in his first theatrical film since 2004's Blade: Trinity. The film also stars Will Patton, Ellen Barkin and Vincent D'Onofrio. It is directed by Antoine Fuqua, and written by Michael...
, a 2010 release, was filmed in part in Rego Park.
A substantial part of Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman is an American comics artist, editor, and advocate for the medium of comics, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book memoir, Maus. His works are published with his name in lowercase: art spiegelman.-Biography:Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to Polish Jews...
's graphic novel Maus
Maus
Maus: A Survivor's Tale, by Art Spiegelman, is a biography of the author's father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. It alternates between descriptions of Vladek's life in Poland before and during the Second World War and Vladek's later life in the Rego Park neighborhood of...
, a biographical account of his father, a Holocaust survivor, is set in Rego Park.
Famous residents
Notable current and former residents of Rego Park include:- Steve HofstetterSteve HofstetterSteve Hofstetter is an author, columnist and comedian, who started with material particularly pertaining to college life, and has since become a social commentator...
- Comedian/Radio personality - Chris Canning - Business man
- Malika Kalantarova - Central Asian legendary dancer "Queen of Eastern Dance" (People's Artist of USSR) http://www.askanewyorker.com/phorum/read.php?34,20193,20193,quote=1
- Fatima KuinovaFatima KuinovaFatima Kuinova is a Bukharian Jewish Shashmakom singer. She was named "Merited Artist of the Soviet Union".Kuinova was born in Samarqand, Uzbek SSR, but moved to Stalinabad, Tajik SSR with her seven brothers and two sisters when she was thirteen years old, after their father was jailed and...
- Central Asian singer, one of the leading singers in the Soviet Union (Merited Artist of USSR) http://arts.endow.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/fellow.php?id=1992_08 - Robert LipsyteRobert LipsyteRobert Lipsyte is an American sports journalist and author. Lipsyte is a member of the Board of Contributors for USA Todays Forum Page, part of the newspaper’s Opinion section.-Personal background:...
- Sports journalistSports journalismSports journalism is a form of journalism that reports on sports topics and events.While the sports department within some newspapers has been mockingly called the toy department, because sports journalists do not concern themselves with the 'serious' topics covered by the news desk, sports... - Art SpiegelmanArt SpiegelmanArt Spiegelman is an American comics artist, editor, and advocate for the medium of comics, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book memoir, Maus. His works are published with his name in lowercase: art spiegelman.-Biography:Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to Polish Jews...
- Comic book artist - Sid CaesarSid CaesarIsaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...
- Actor/Comedian - Gypsy Rose LeeGypsy Rose LeeGypsy Rose Lee was an American burlesque entertainer famous for her striptease act. She was also an actress, author, and playwright whose 1957 memoir was made into the stage musical and film Gypsy.-Early life:...
- American burlesque entertainer - June HavocJune HavocJune Havoc was a Canadian-born American actress, dancer, writer, and theater director. Havoc was a child Vaudeville performer under the tutelage of her mother. She later acted on Broadway and in Hollywood and stage directed . She last appeared on television in 1990 on General Hospital...
- Actress - Tommy RamoneTommy RamoneTommy Ramone, also known as Thomas Erdelyi , is a Hungarian American record producer and musician...
- Drummer of The Ramones - Craig Farkas - Film Producer
- Dave RubinsteinDave RubinsteinDavid Rubinstein was an American musician, the co-founder of the influential New York-based punk rock group Reagan Youth. He founded the group with guitarist Paul Bakija when both were in Forest Hills High School in Forest Hills, Queens...
- Singer of Reagan YouthReagan YouthReagan Youth is an American punk rock band formed by singer Dave Rubinstein and guitarist Paul Bakija in Queens, New York in early 1980. They are known for introducing the style of hardcore punk to the East Coast punk scene, but were also a part of the peace punk movement... - Bobby SchayerBobby SchayerBobby Schayer was born on December 23, 1966 in Los Angeles, California. He was the drummer for Bad Religion from 1991 to 2001. He was a resident of Encino, a suburb in the San Fernando Valley...
- Former drummer of Bad ReligionBad ReligionBad Religion is a punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles in 1979. Their current line-up consists of Greg Graffin , Brett Gurewitz , Jay Bentley , Greg Hetson , Brian Baker and Brooks Wackerman . Gurewitz is also the founder of the label Epitaph Records, which has released almost all of the... - Vera-EllenVera-EllenVera-Ellen was an American actress and dancer, principally celebrated for her filmed dance partnerships with Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Danny Kaye and Donald O'Connor.-Early life:...
- Actress/Dancer - Fred SilvermanFred SilvermanFred Silverman is an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at the CBS, ABC and NBC networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as the series Scooby-Doo , All in the Family , The Waltons , and Charlie's Angels , as well as the...
- American television producer - Eddie EganEddie EganEdward Walter "Eddie" Egan was a New York City Police Department detective whose exploits were the subject of a book and movie, both entitled The French Connection...
- New York Police Department/French ConnectionFrench ConnectionThe French Connection was a scheme through which heroin was smuggled from Turkey to France and then to the United States. The operation reached its peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when it provided the vast majority of the illicit heroin used in the United States...
fame - Peter Golden - Former manager of Crosby Stills & Nash and Jackson Browne