Queens

About Queens

Queens is New York City's largest borough by area, stretching across western Long Island from the East River to the border of Nassau County. It was named in the 1680s for Queen Catherine of Braganza and stayed largely rural until bridges, subways and the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs turned it into a vast urban borough after it joined New York City in 1898.

Today Queens has about 2.3 million residents and is often described as one of the most ethnically diverse places on Earth, with well over a hundred languages spoken. Flushing has one of the largest Chinatowns in the country, Jackson Heights mixes South Asian and Latin American communities, Astoria is known for its Greek tavernas, and Long Island City's glass towers face Midtown across the river.

For visitors, Queens offers some of the city's best food and a surprising number of sights. Flushing Meadows Corona Park holds the stainless steel Unisphere from the 1964 World's Fair, the Queens Museum and the New York Hall of Science, and hosts the US Open tennis tournament each summer next to the Mets' Citi Field. MoMA PS1, the Noguchi Museum and the Museum of the Moving Image add art and film, and the Rockaways offer ocean beaches reachable by subway.