Forest Hills

Tuesday, May 27, 2008 9:29 AM EDT

Where

Forest Hills is a neighborhood in the central part of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered to the north by Rego Park, to the east by Flushing Meadows Park, the Grand Central Parkway and Kew Gardens, to the west by Middle Village and to the south by Forest Park. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 6.

Neighborhood

The neighborhood is home to a mix of upper-middle to upper-class residents, the latter of whom often live in the neighborhood's prestigious Forest Hills Gardens area. Forest Hills has historically had a very large Jewish population with more than 10 synagogues located in the area.

The community was founded in 1906, but before that it was known as Whitepot. In 1909, Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage, who founded the Russell Sage Foundation, bought 142 acres (0.6 km”) of land from the Cord Meyer Development Company. The original plan was to build good low-income housing and improve living conditions of the working poor. Grosvenor Atterbury, a renowned architect, was given the commission to design Forest Hills Gardens. The neighborhood was planned on the model of the garden communities of England. As a result, there are many Tudor-style homes in Forest Hills, most of which are now located in Forest Hills Gardens. However, there are currently a number of Tudor homes in particular areas of Forest Hills outside of the Gardens. What is credited as the world's first radio commercial offered homes in Forest Hills.

The neighborhood contains areas of private houses with little commerce, such as the Gardens area; dense commercial districts full of stores and large apartment complexes; and streets with the six-story brick apartment buildings common throughout Queens. The main thoroughfare is the 12-lane-wide Queens Boulevard, while Metropolitan Avenue is known for its antique shops. The commercial heart of Forest Hills is a mile-long stretch of Austin Street, which contains many restaurants, boutiques, and chain stores. The variety of available restaurants is quite diverse; diners can find nearly any cuisine they desire.

The north side of Forest Hills is home to the Cord Meyer community. On 62nd Drive, the last block before 108th Street ventures north into Corona, Queens, is a NYCHA low-income housing project that caused controversy[citation needed] among the residents in the more prestigious areas in Forest Hills when constructed in the early 1970s.

Forest Hills was once the home of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, played at the West Side Tennis Club before it moved to the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park. When the Open was played at the tennis stadium, the tournament was commonly referred to merely as Forest Hills just as The Championships, Wimbledon are referred to as Wimbledon. In the 2001 motion picture The Royal Tenenbaums, Luke Wilson's character plays a tennis match at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills. Gene Hackman's character is also shown cruising on the premises.

Forest Hills is also home to the main offices of JetBlue Airways Corp., a US low-cost carrier.

Two monuments are erected in Forest Hills Gardens:

- A tribute to the victims of World War I, the "Great War".

- The mast of Columbia, the winner of the America's Cup in both 1899 and 1901.

Demographics

As of the 2000 census, there were 41,417 people residing in Forest Hills. The population density was 27,396 people per square mile (10,582/km”). The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 73.1% White, 20.1% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 1.62% African American, 0.12% Native American, 2.39% from other races, and 2.61% from two or more races. 9.35% of the population was Hispanic of any race. 41.6% of the population was foreign born, 47.4% came from Asia, 34.6 from Europe, 14.9 from Latin America and 3.1% from other.

Education

Forest Hills, like all areas of New York City, is served by the New York City Department of Education.

K-12 Schools

Forest Hills pupils attend several different elementary Schools, including:

- P.S. 101 School In The Gardens

- P.S. 144 Col. Jeromus Remsen School

- P.S. 175 Lynn Gross Discovery School

- P.S. 196 Grand Central Parkway

- P.S. 220 Edward Mandel

Junior High students in Forest Hills pupils attend either J.H.S. 157 Stephen A. Halsey (commonly referred to as Halsey) in Rego Park or J.H.S. 190 Russell Sage (known as Sage) in Forest Hills.

Recently, New York City high school students have begun applying to the high schools of their choice, as there is no longer a zoning policy for Forest Hills High School. Famous graduates of Forest Hills High School include Jerry Springer and the founding members of the Ramones, as well as singers Simon and Garfunkel. Students from all over New York City may apply to high schools in other parts of the city. In addition to Forest Hills High School, a large percentage of students from both J.H.S. 157 and J.H.S. 190 gain admission to other high schools in New York City. Many J.H.S. 157 students also attend the Bronx High School of Science and Brooklyn Technical High School. Traditionally many more students from J.H.S. 190 choose to study at Stuyvesant High School and Townsend Harris High School, in addition to the Bronx High School of Science. Many of the students from outside the district accepted to attend Forest Hills High School are those who applied to either the school's Law & Humanities program, or the Carl Sagan program in accelerated math and science. FHHS has also began admitting students by audition to their Academy of Instructional Music and Performing Arts in 2005.

Colleges

Bramson ORT College is an undergraduate college operated by the American branch of the Jewish charity World ORT. Its main campus is in Forest Hills, with a satellite campus in Brooklyn.

Restaurants

Forest Hills is thick with restaurants, especially on its upscale Austin Street. Though it lacks a spectacular ethnic restaurant -- at least on Austin Street, the overall quality and range of restaurants in middle class Forest Hills (and wealthy Forest Hills Gardens) is among the best in Queens, New York.

There's good Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Argentine, Uzbek, and Italian, plus Irish pubs and a Japanese market. Along with quality, though, comes price. Dinner in Forest Hills isn't cheap.

Best Picks for Eating Out in Forest Hills:

- Family Restaurant, Italian, 110-80 Queens Blvd, Forest Hills, NY, 718-520-1123

- Rouge Bistro, French, 107-02 70th Rd, Forest Hills, NY, 718-793-5514

- Sarabella Restaurant, 103-22 Metropolitan Ave, Forest Hills, NY 11375, 718-575-8999

- Unos Chicago Grill, Pizzeria, 107-16 70th Rd, Forest Hills, NY 11375, 718-793-6700

- Wine Gallery Restaurant, Wine/Italian, 72-27 Austin St, Forest Hills, NY 11375, 718-793-1856

Transportation

By SUBWAY:

Take the R, G or V Local Trains to 67 Ave. or 71 Ave. / Continental Ave. stops.

You can also take the E or F Express Trains to the 71 Ave. / Continental Ave. stop.

The 75 Ave. stop is only accessible via the F Train.

(E Train stops late nights only).

By BUS:

Forest Hills is serviced by three main bus lines.

Q60 - East / West on Queens Blvd. from Jamaica, Queens to 59th Street in Manhattan.

Q23 - Metropolitan Ave. / Forest Hills Gardens / Yellowstone Blvd. via Austin Street to LaGuardia Airport.

Q65A - Queens Blvd. to Kew Gardens Hills via Jewel Ave.

By LIRR:

The LIRR stops in Station Square, one block away from Austin Street, in the heart of Forest Hills.

By Car:

From Long Island - Long Island Expressway and Grand Central Parkway.

From Brooklyn - Jackie Robinson Parkway

From Manhattan - Queens Blvd. via the Queensboro Bridge or the Long Island Expressway.

From The Bronx - Triboro Bridge to the Grand Central Parkway OR Whitestone Bridge to the Van Wyck Expressway.

The Forest Festival Of The Arts

A Forest Hills annual spring event held this year on May 23, 2004, is one of the most well attended events in the city. It draws crowds in excess of 100,000 people who come for the handmade merchandise, art, delicious food, and music. Everyone enjoys a day well spent in Forest Hills at the Forest Hills Festival of the Arts.

The Labor Day Street Fair

A Forest Hills annual fall event held on the Sunday right before Labor Day. This very popular fair has an eclectic mix of merchandise, a great variety of food and entertainment for the kids. Both the Forest Hills Festival of the Arts and the Labor Day Street Fair are great ways to get to know the local merchants who join in the activities and display their own distinctive high quality merchandise. These are two great events you won’t want to miss.

Station Square in Forest Hills Gardens

Station Square in Forest Hills is one of the most beautiful spots in New York City. The Tudor architecture that dominates the square is even more surprising for its location just blocks from Queens Boulevard and yards from the shopping on Austin Street.

Station square is at the intersection of Continental Avenue (71st Avenue), Burns Street, Greenaway Terrace, and Dartmouth Street in Forest Hills.

- Directions to Station Square:

To reach Station Square and Forest Hills Gardens by public transportation, take the E, F, V, G, or R subways to Continental Avenue, and then walk south two blocks, underneath the LIRR tracks. Or take the LIRR to Forest Hills, and enjoy the view as you step out into Station Square.

Forest Hills & West Side Tennis Club

In 1913 the West Side Tennis Club located at 238 th St. in Manhattan was looking for a larger propety and one they could buy, they had been looking for a year. Out of the possible sites two were Kew Gardens and Forest Hills Gardens. The Sage Foundation Homes was anticipating the possible publicity and the ensuing demand for their homes if the club relocated to Forest Hills Gardens. So Sage Homes offered 10 acres for $77,000 with a $2,000 cash downpayment. The club accepted, and planned to spend an additional $25,000 to set-up the clubhouse and the courts. Twice before the west side tennis club had hosted the davis cup and in 1913 it requested permission to host the 1914 Davis cup, which was granted. The projected expenditure of the club were predicated on a $12,000 windfall for not resigning at their present location and the future revenues from 1914 Davis Cup tournament to be held at the clubs' new location.

Meanwhile the 1913 Davis Cup matches were held at the West Side Tennis Club location on 238 th St. The Australian team, Stanley Doust, A. B. Jones and Horace Rice won the doubles, but lost all the other matches to the American team of Harold H. Hackett Maurice know as " The California Comet" McLoughlin, and H. Norris Williams.

By the next year's match the club was ready with eighteen newly seeded grass courts and thirty-five clay courts. The 1914 Davis Cup finals were to be played at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills begining August 13, 1914. The month before while the International Zone Tournaments were played in Pittisburgh the judges waited till the end of the tournament to make the announcement that war had begun. The event lasted for three days. The first day was the most important because of the match between the Australian (they were the cup holders and the winners of the International-Zone Tournament) Norman E. Brooks and Maurice McLoughlin "The California Comet" More then 12,000 people watched the first day of play. McLoughlin finished the match in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, a total of fifty games in two hours. But the Davis Cup was retained by the Aussies that year, Wilding and Brooks beating McLaughlin and Bundy . Those three days ended all international play until after the armistice that ended WWI in 1918.

A Look At The Forest Hills Volunteer Ambulance Corps

The Forest Hills Volunteer Ambulance Corps (FHVAC) is the volunteer provider of Emergency Medical Service to the communities of Forest Hills and Rego Park in Queens, New York City. The Corps provides Basic Life Support pre-hospital care using our two New York State Certified Ambulances.

Each ambulance is staffed with one New York State Certified Emergency Medical Technician, one CPR certified or better driver, and usually one Certified First Responder or better attendant. All corps members are unpaid volunteers providing service to their community.

The History of FHVAC

The FHVAC was founded in 1971 due to the obvious need of a community oriented ambulance service. The Corps colors of white and green were adopted and have remained the same ever since. The first ambulance ever owned by the corps was a cadillac model, followed by a Type II van in 1981, a Type I modular in 1986, and another Type II van in 1991. The current in service vehicles are the Type II vans from 1981 and 1991. In January of 1997 the Corps was granted an operating certificate to expand into neighboring Rego Park. After over 10 years of not having a volunteer ambulance corps, the community of Rego Park will finally be served one.

The FHVAC Membership

The FHVAC membership consists of approximately 40 active members and 20 members currently on educational leave of abscence. The membership annually elects officers to a ten member executive board who oversees the corps operations as a whole. A large number of our members had no prior experience in an Emergency Medical Service. Through training by the Corps and State classes members are able to gain training in everything from dispatching to being a State Certified Emergency Medical Technician.

New E-Board As Of July 1

The Forest Hills VAC general membership recently held their elections and elected a new Executive Board. The Executive Board is the leading body of members in the corps responsible for all operations through its members various positions.

The new President is Bryce Friedman, the former Captain of the Forest Hills VAC. The new Vice-President is Dave Konig, an Operations Manager for a private ambulance company. The new Captain is Theo Mitsinikos, a lab technician at St. Luke's Hospital. The new First Lieutenant is Glenn Mann, an EMT for Madison Square Garden. The new Second Lietenant is Kenny Ash, a special delivery courier for a private company. All of these officers are New York State Certified EMTs, they are all Crew Chiefs at FHVAC, and all have been a members for at least three years at Forest Hills.