When I sat down to research the history of the business, K.H Chong’s Martials Arts Academy, it was very difficult to find any relevant sources. Although the business was twenty-five years old, there weren’t any specific articles or blog posts on it. However, I was able to locate resources that gave information about the neighborhood throughout the 1900s and the present. Through NY City Map, I was able to visualize how the area changed:
1924 1951
1996 2012
In 1924, the land was mostly empty- there were very few houses, just vast tracts of land. It was surprising to see this because now there are so many buildings in the City due to the increased population. Then in 1951, there was much greater development in this area as more houses and buildings were constructed. Looking at the map of 1996 and 2012, there is not much of a difference between the use of land or development of new structures. From the 1900s, there has been a drastic change in the geography of this neighborhood in Bayside- a very rural location progressed into a suburban/urban center with the advent of residential spaces, businesses, and a highway. This is how the block looked like in 1984:
I decided to also look into the types of occupations people held in this area throughout the years. Using Infoshare, I perused the 1980 census that listed the residents’ employment by industry according to the zip code 11364 (information was not available by census tract). In 1980, the largest amount of people were employed in retail trade: 2591. The next category that contained the most amount of people was finance, insurance and real estate: 1768. The third most popular industry was educational services, in which 1759 people were employed. In terms of manufacturing, 1396 people were employed in manufacturing non-durable goods, and 888 were employed in manufacturing durable goods. In addition, 563 residents were employed in entertainment or recreation.
In order to see how this had changed over the years, I located the American Community Survey (2009-2013) on Infoshare. This survey displayed the number of workers in each industry by averaging five years of data. It was interesting to see how the numbers shifted- now the most popular industry for work was educational services: 4002. Then came retail trade, in which the number of people employed were 1976. As opposed to 1980, finance and insurance had an increase of the number of people, for a total of 1976. In this survey, there weren’t separate categories for manufacturing durable/non-durable goods. Instead, it displayed the amount of people employed in manufacturing as a whole, which was 665. In addition, entertainment and recreation were not one of the categories in this survey. However, a new category was added- arts, hotels, and food services. The number of people employed in this section were 1234, which was the fifth highest.
Although I could not find specific articles on K.H. Chong’s Martial Arts Academy, I did come across newspaper articles that spoke of martial arts in Queens. David Berreby’s 1988 article in The New York Times, “The Martial Arts as Moneymakers”, speaks of the status of martial arts businesses and their importance in New York. He mentions that, “The teaching of the arts has been in something of a slump in the last few years, instructors, equipment makers and trade journalists say” and that sales and enrollment correlate to movies that are released relevant to martial arts. It’s the showcase of Asian self-defense techniques in these movies that propel students towards taking martial arts classes. According to the article, there are two million to ten million people that actively participate in martial arts, which yields hundreds of millions of dollars per year for these businesses. The expenses involved in starting such a business are liability insurance, rent, and an open area, however, it has a high failure rate. The article also makes an interesting point on the standardization of a martial arts classes business: “There will be no McDonald’s of karate, or Wendy’s of aikido…The reason is, it’s too easy to get into the business…People with multiple school locations are training great instructors who go down the road and open their own.” Berreby points to the fact that such a business is both needed and easy to start, therefore it will barely have multiple locations.
Another 2013 article, Michael Walsh’s “The battle for perpetual refinement: New York’s ever-evolving martial arts community” spoke about martial arts businesses in New York. In his article, he also affirmed the fact that martial arts had increased in appeal to others because of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A martial arts academy owner, Dan Anderson even revealed that when he opened in 1996, there weren’t many schools in New York, as opposed to 2013 when there are “three, four or five times the amount of schools…you have to be very competitive in New York.”
From this research, I was able to visualize the area that the business is in from the 1900s to the present. The land changed drastically throughout the years and so did the industries in which people were employed. I also learned how important martial arts academies are in New York- people from all ages, races, and occupations participate. K.H Chong’s Martial Arts Academy also serves a purpose in the neighborhood- and it has for twenty-five years.
