Greenpoint and Roosevelt Avenues

History

Roosevelt Avenue was nationally recognized for its cuisine when Good Magazine named it one of "America's Tastiest Streets". It’s also well known for its diversity of cultural representation, ranging from Indian to Latin American, while in the 2020s, Downtown Flushing is undergoing rapid gentrification by Chinese transnational entities. More than three hundred languages are spoken along the street, and the neighborhoods it passes through are described as the most ethnically diverse in the world. Roosevelt Avenue is a known area for street prostitution.

Landmarks

Structures along the avenues include Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory on the western end of Greenpoint Avenue and the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant just west of the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge. The eastern end of Roosevelt Avenue contains the Protestant Reformed Dutch Church of Flushing.

Transportation

The corridor is served by the following subway lines:

• trains run on the elevated IRT Flushing Line tracks above the street with ten stations until it reaches Flushing – Main Street, its eastern terminus. The rail line opened in 1917, when Roosevelt Avenue was formed from the combination of other streets into one main avenue.
• The street, itself named after Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt, provides the name for the Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue/74th Street station () in Jackson Heights.
• trains stop at the Greenpoint Avenue station located at Greenpoint Avenue and Manhattan Avenue. The following bus routes serve Roosevelt:
• The runs between Queens Boulevard and either 81st Street (Jackson Heights), or 82nd Street (Midtown, Manhattan).
• The runs between Seaver Way and either Main Street (Flushing) or Prince Street (LaGuardia Airport). The latter trips deadhead west of Lippman Plaza before going in service.
• The runs between Broadway and either 39th Avenue (Woodside) or 62nd Street (Rockaway Park). The latter trips deadhead east of 61st Street before going in service.
• The runs from 82nd to 75th Streets (Jackson Heights) or from 74th to 83rd Streets (LaGuardia Airport).
• buses that run the full route to Jackson Heights deadhead west from 83rd to 82nd Streets before starting Glendale service.
• For buses with Flushing terminals:
  • The runs east from Main Street to Bowne Street, going into Little Neck service at Union Street.
  • The run on Roosevelt west of Bowne Street and make their first and last stops between Union & Main Streets in both directions. These buses deadhead back around via Main Street, 39th Avenue and Prince Street.
  • Beechhurst-bound buses run in service from Union Street to Main Street.
  • The buses deadhead from Prince Street to Main Street, where westbound service originates.
  • The Nassau-bound n20G and n20x buses run from Bowne Street to Main Street.

The is the only bus route to serve Greenpoint Avenue, from 47th Street to West Street (Greenpoint), and from Manhattan Avenue to 48th Street (Williamsburg). Greenpoint service runs east on the avenue non-stop from Franklin Street to Manhattan Avenue before switching to Williamsburg. The one-way section from Review Avenue to Starr Avenue requires westbound buses to divert around Van Dam Street.

References

References

1. {{google maps. link
2. "NYCDOT - Greenpoint Avenue Bridge over Newtown Creek".
3. Matthews, Adam. (February 28, 2008). "America's Tastiest Streets".
4. (December 28, 1999). "Queens for a Day". [[Village Voice]].
5. Ngu, Sarah. (January 29, 2021). "'Not what it used to be': in New York, Flushing's Asian residents brace against gentrification". [[The Guardian US]].
6. Salama, Jordan. (2022-04-18). "More than 300 languages are spoken along this NYC street".
7. Marte, Eliecer. (September 10, 2024). "Prostitution on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens is getting worse, residents say".
8. Fernandez, Manny. (2008-01-13). "Track Work Disrupts Service on No. 7 Train in Queens". The New York Times.
9. Kilgannon, Corey. (2005-12-21). "Under the Elevated Track, a New Sensation: Silence". The New York Times.
10. Mbugua, Martin. (August 3, 1999). "Make Tracks to Big Avenue". [[New York Daily News]].