Here are some photos I took on a hot day yesterday in Flushing, Queens, a large Chinese/Korean neighborhood 45 minutes or so from Manhattan on the 7 train. When I'm stuck in the NY area but craving something exotic, I sometimes take the train here. I have no proof, but from my travels and general knowledge, I suspect Flushing might be the largest urban Asian neighborhood in the world outside of Asia.
First up, a large Dim Sum restaurant also commonly used for Chinese-American weddings.
Then a Korean bakery down the street. I'd put the demographics of the walkable part of Flushing as something like 80% Chinese and 20% Korean. Perhaps skewing even more Chinese. The bulk of the Korean areas are in a little Korean Village 20 minutes walk from Main Street Flushing, near the LIRR station, and in car oriented parts of Queens I'm less familiar with.
Typical building one block from the main street. The block length is quite long though, kind of like a Manhattan avenue block, with lots of shops and restaurants on the side streets in between.
On one of those side streets heading toward Main Street
A large foodcourt in what I think is called the New World Mall. This is the largest and newest mall in Flushing. There were plans to build an even larger mixed use retail/commercial/residential development on a very large municipal parking lot, but the plans seem to have stalled out.
The view out of a 2nd floor window in the mall.
Back inside
And on Main Street Flushing
Inside a ramshackle but very tasty foodcourt called the Golden Mall.
Supermarket fish section
Going onto various side streets. There has been quite a lot of development going on, all of it done by the large Asian business community.
Inside a Chinese-themed Sheraton
The crew from a China Airlines flight checking in
Now some bonus photos of Brighton Beach, a Russian community in Brooklyn accessible by the B and Q trains, on some weekday about 2 weeks ago
Bryant Park
And my apartment view this morning!
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