Pomonok is a working class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. This large public housing development [1] in South Flushing was built in 1949 on the former site of Pomonok Country Club. The name comes from the Algonquian name for Long Island, [2] and means either "land of tribute" or "land where there is travelling by water". [3]
Pomonok is part of Queens Community District 8. [4]
The Pomonok Country Club was a golf course in Pomonok between 1886 and 1949. The golf course was located between Kissena Boulevard and 164th Street, just to the south of Horace Harding Boulevard (now the Long Island Expressway) and to the east of Queens College. [5] The club was established in 1886 by members of the Flushing Athletic Club in Flushing and moved to the Kissena Boulevard location in 1921. Devereux Emmet designed the golf course. The golf course hosted the PGA Championship in 1939, which Henry Picard won. The members disbanded and sold the course in 1949. Part of the site today contains the Electchester cooperative housing development, Pomonok public housing and an extension of Parsons Boulevard. [5] [6]
In 1992, New York City settled a lawsuit brought on behalf of 100,000 families who claimed that the city had steered all white families applying for public housing into Pomonok and had provided that project with higher standards of care and maintenance than projects inhabited by majority Black and Hispanic families. [7]
In Pomonok, there is also Electchester, a cooperative housing complex at Jewel Avenue and Parsons Boulevard in Pomonok, which was established by Harry Van Arsdale, Jr. and Local 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in 1949, when Van Arsdale worked with the Joint Industry Board of the Electrical Industry to purchase 103 acres (0.42 km2) of the former Pomonok Country Club and build apartment buildings. 5,550 people live in about 2,500 units in 38 buildings, many of which are six-story brick structures. It is served by Public School 200, which is on land donated by Electchester. The union provided the majority of the mortgage. New York state offered tax abatements. Electchester was classified as a "limited dividend nonprofit", subject to state regulations. The first families paid $475 per room for equity shares, and carrying charges of $26 per month per room, on apartments ranging from three and a half to five and a half rooms. [8]
Both housing complexes are patrolled by the NYPD's 107th Precinct. There is also an NYPD PSA-9 Housing Police Unit station located in the Pomonok Houses.
The nearest hospitals are Queens Hospital Center and New York–Presbyterian Hospital Queens.
Nearby are major facilities such as Queens College, St. John's University, Touro College, Rabbinical Seminary of America, and many public and private schools. CUNY Law School, formerly in this area, moved to the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in May 2012.
Queens Public Library has a branch in Pomonok. [9]
Onsite of Pomonok Houses is the Pomonok Community Center (PCC), operated by Queens Community House. It hosts a senior center, after school program, and, in the summer months, a camp and teen program. [10] [11]
MTA Bus Company routes Q25 , Q34 , Q64 and Q65 serve Pomonok. The QM4 and QM44 run express from Pomonok to Midtown. [12] The Whitestone Expressway connects Flushing north to the Bronx, south to the Van Wyck Expressway to John F. Kennedy International Airport, and to the Grand Central Parkway and LaGuardia Airport. Main Street is a major commercial street, as is Kissena Boulevard.
People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Pomonok (including the Pomonok and Electchester houses) include:
Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and the intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue at its core is the third-busiest in New York City, behind Times Square and Herald Square.
Fresh Meadows is a neighborhood in the northeastern section of the New York City borough of Queens. Fresh Meadows used to be part of the broader town of Flushing and is bordered to the north by the Horace Harding Expressway and Auburndale; to the west by Pomonok, St. John's University, Hillcrest, and Utopia; to the east by Cunningham Park and the Clearview Expressway; and to the south by the Grand Central Parkway.
Queens Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located at 43-50 Main Street in Flushing, Queens, New York City. The 39-acre (16 ha) site features rose, bee, herb, wedding, and perennial gardens; an arboretum; an art gallery; and a LEED-certified Visitor & Administration Building. Queens Botanical Garden is located on property owned by the City of New York, and is funded from several public and private sources. It is operated by Queens Botanical Garden Society, Inc.
Kew Gardens Hills is a neighborhood in the middle of the New York City borough of Queens. The borders are Flushing Meadows-Corona Park to the west, the Long Island Expressway to the north, Union Turnpike to the south, and Parsons Boulevard to the east.
Kissena Park is a 235-acre (95 ha) park located in the neighborhood of Flushing in Queens, New York City. It is located along the subterranean Kissena Creek, which flows into the Flushing River. It is bordered on the west by Kissena Boulevard; on the north by Rose, Oak, Underhill, and Lithonia Avenues; on the east by Fresh Meadow Lane; and on the south by Booth Memorial Avenue. The park contains the city's only remaining velodrome, a lake of the same name, two war memorials, and various playgrounds and sports fields.
The Flushing River, also known as Flushing Creek, is a waterway that flows northward through the borough of Queens in New York City, mostly within Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, emptying into the Flushing Bay and the East River. The river runs through a valley that may have been a larger riverbed before the last Ice Age, and it divides Queens into western and eastern halves. Until the 20th century, the Flushing Creek was fed by three tributaries: Mill Creek and Kissena Creek on the eastern bank, and Horse Brook on the western bank.
The Q27 bus route constitutes a public transit line in Queens, New York City, running primarily along 46th Avenue, Rocky Hill Road and Springfield Boulevard between a major bus-subway hub in Flushing and Cambria Heights. The route is operated by MTA Regional Bus Operations under the New York City Transit brand.
Pomonok Country Club was a country club in the northeastern United States, located in what is now the Pomonok neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens. The golf course was located between Kissena Boulevard and 164th Street, just to the south of Horace Harding Boulevard and to the east of Queens College.
Parsons Boulevard is a road in Queens, New York. Its northern end is at Malba Drive in the Malba neighborhood and its southern end is at Archer Avenue in downtown Jamaica.
Main Street is a major north–south street in the borough of Queens in New York City, extending from Queens Boulevard in Briarwood to Northern Boulevard in Flushing. Created in the 17th century as one of Flushing's main roads, Main Street has been lengthened at various points in its existence.
Michael Simanowitz was a Democratic New York State Assembly member from the borough of Queens.
Kissena Boulevard is a thoroughfare spanning the Flushing and Pomonok neighborhoods of the borough of Queens in New York City, extending from Main Street in the Flushing Chinatown to Parsons Boulevard in Kew Gardens Hills. The road's name is derived from Kissena Lake, a name given by 19th century horticulturist Samuel Bowne Parsons for the Chippewa word meaning, "it is cold". The lake is located in Kissena Park.
Harry Van Arsdale Jr. was a labor and community leader in New York City. His father was a union electrician.
Kissena Creek is a buried stream located in the neighborhoods of Flushing, Fresh Meadows, Hillcrest, and Kew Gardens Hills in the New York City borough of Queens. Kissena Creek originates in a now-filled swamp within Kew Gardens Hills and Pomonok in central Queens, flowing east to Hillcrest. The creek then travels mostly north and west, largely flowing beneath Kissena Park Golf Course, Kissena Park, Kissena Corridor Park, and Queens Botanical Garden, before merging with the Flushing River in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park.
There are multiple Chinatowns in the borough of Queens in New York City. The original Queens Chinatown emerged in Flushing, initially as a satellite of the original Manhattan Chinatown, before evolving its own identity, surpassing in scale the original Manhattan Chinatown, and subsequently, in turn, spawning its own satellite Chinatowns in Elmhurst, Corona, and eastern Queens. As of 2023, illegal Chinese immigration to New York has accelerated, and its Flushing neighborhood has become the present-day global epicenter receiving Chinese immigration as well as the international control center directing such migration.
Vleigh Playground is a 2.243-acre park in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York City. It takes its name from Head of the Vleigh Road, a colonial period path that ran along the northern boundary of the playground site. This path is presently followed by Vleigh Place and 70th Road. This road connected the town of Flushing to Brooklyn during colonial times, allowing travelers to circumvent Flushing Meadows, then an impassible swamp.
The Q25 and Q34 bus routes constitute a public transit line in Queens, New York City. The south-to-north route runs primarily on Parsons Boulevard and Kissena Boulevard, serving two major bus-subway hubs: Sutphin Boulevard–Archer Avenue–Jamaica and Flushing–Main Street. The Q25 terminates in College Point, and the Q34 in Whitestone, both in northern Queens.
Barry Grodenchik is an American politician who served in the New York City Council for the 23rd district from 2015 to 2021. He is a Democrat. The district includes portions of Bayside, Queens, Bellerose, Douglaston, Floral Park, Fresh Meadows, Glen Oaks, Hollis, Hollis Hills, Holliswood, Jamaica Estates, Little Neck, Oakland Gardens and Queens Village in Queens.
Daniel Rosenthal is an American politician who was a Democratic member of the New York State Assembly, representing District 27 from 2017 to 2023. Rosenthal represents the central and eastern Queens neighborhoods of Kew Gardens Hills, Pomonok, Electchester, and College Point, and parts of Kew Gardens, Richmond Hill, Briarwood, Forest Hills, and Whitestone. On July 14, 2023, Rosenthal resigned to take a position at UJA-Federation of New York.