Queens is the most diverse borough in New York City. And Rego Park is arguably the most multi-cultural neighborhood in Queens. In the 1970s and 1980s, Rego Park was a place for young couples as a transitional stopover, before having children, and moving to the suburbs of Long Island, Westchester, and New Jersey to pursue the American dream of home ownership and family life. Until then, Rego Park’s many apartment buildings, most of which were built in the late 1940s and 1950s, contained rental units. There were also little homes in the side streets and “Crescent” streets, with two or three bedrooms, front yards and cement alleys in back. These were built in the late forties and early fifties by the “REal GOod” Construction company, which gave the new neighborhood its name. The cooperative movement of neighboring Forest Hills began to catch on in Rego Park in the 1980s, and now the majority of apartments in the area are “co-ops”
In the mid-eighties and early nineties, the mostly Jewish area began to experience an influx of immigrants from the Soviet Union, predominantly from the Central Asian former SSRs – Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. These immigrants – called Bukharians– were very different from the Russians of Moscow and Leningrad that settled in Brighton Beach in Brooklyn. The Bukharians are an exotic group who don’t assimilate easily. But now, in the 21st century, the Americanized second generation stayed in the neighborhood and are raising their families there. Bukharian families are very close and like to live close together.
But Rego Park’s easy commute into Manhattan has also attracted many other people who find that they can have a spacious one- or two-bedroom apartment for half the price of a closet in Manhattan. The area these days has a sizable gay population, as well as ethnic people from almost every continent – North and South America, Asia, the Indian Sub-Continent, the Middle East, and Europe. There are families, singles, and couples. There are Jews, Christians, Hindus, and Muslims. Our Lady of the Angelus Church provides mass in English, Spanish, and Korean.
The Bukharian population has introduced restaurants and delis with exotic cuisine and collections of smoked fish, pastries, and pickled vegetables. In addition, there are restaurants serving Chinese, Thai, Indian, Turkish, Latin-American, Irish, Polish, traditional East-European Jewish deli, Italian, and American food. And lately, many of the chain restaurants – including Applebees, Pizza Hut, Panera Bread and Dallas BBQ– are represented.
The newest addition to the Rego Park landscape is the Rego Center Mall, which contains Costco Wholesale Club, TJ Maxx, Century 21, Toys R Us, Pier One Imports, and Kohl’s, as well as an assortment of eating places, which includes Dallas BBQ, Panera Bread, Red Mango, and Mo’s Mexican Food. Also in this mall is Aldi, a discount grocery which originated in Germany, Mandee Clothing Shop and – opening soon – Ulta, a makeup and skin care superstore. Rego Center is an addition to the shopping mecca, which started with the Rego Park Mall, containing Sears, Marshalls, Bed Bath and Beyond, Old Navy, and the newly-opened off-price Burlington Coat Factory.
Rego Park still boasts old standbys like Tung Shing House, a Chinese restaurant that has been on Queens Boulevard for almost 30 years, with a fresh sushi bar, full cocktail bar, and food menus for Americans and natives of China [in Chinese with authentic cuisine from China]. Ben’s Best has been a mainstay in Jewish deli for over 50 years, with full meals of traditional overstuffed sandwiches and dishes from Eastern Europe, along with kosher hotdogs and knishes. Tov Caterers has served Rego Park with homemade kosher meals to take out, for three decades, including traditional foods at Jewish holiday times. It is both the old and new that keep Rego Park a best-kept secret in New York City.