I think the most interesting thought that I came across in my research was the talk about the prominence of ethnicity and language in businesses. I already know that many of the businesses on K.H. Chong’s Martial Arts Academy and MJ88’s block were Asian. Michael Lau, owner of MJ88, had emphasized that he benefitted from selling medicine in different languages (Korean, Chinese, and English) due to the large Asian population. In addition, he stated that area did not always consist of mostly Asian businesses. In fact, he specifically said that the businesses used to be mostly Jewish. I also was curious how much I can learn from images, being a visual learner.
The pictures that are posted above are what the block on Springfield Boulevard and in between of Horace Harding Expressway and 64th Avenue looked like in October, 2007 (left) and October, 2016 (right). This block contains the pharmacy, MJ88, and K.H. Chong’s Martial Arts Academy that Fariha and I interviewed. I first looked into Google Maps because Michael Lau, the owner of MJ88, had stated that before he made the pharmacy, the street would be filled with Jewish businesses. From comparing the pictures, I could tell that many buildings on Springfield Boulevard that have Asian businesses today were not occupied by Asian businesses before. For example, the Bayside Hardware Store that is next to MJ88 has plenty of Chinese characters in its store awning. In 2007, however, the building actually was Rosemary Farm. A quick google search says that Rosemary Farm is currently a Manhattan Italian restaurant. MJ88 itself used to be Cellfonz R Us and another quick google search brought me to Google Maps which showed an old location of Cellfonz R Us in a mall. Gamestop seemed to have replaced its location in the mall though. Boss Deli was also replaced with an Asian tea shop and Boss Deli’s neighbor, M.Alpine Sports, was replaced with a Vici Footwear. However, it is hard to tell whether or not Vici Footwear is an Asian business. The most popular “Vici” business was Vici’s Shoestore but that specific business was only found in California. I did find a Vici Footwear page that had pictures uploaded by a very enthusiastic man, named Michael Won, who might be the owner. There also used to be a family medical center where Saigon’s sister restaurant, River, now stands. Flushing Bank also seemed to have replaced V-cut’s Salon and Spa. Even if the name is in English, I believe that the bank still may be a familiar name to the Asian population. Flushing is an area that contains many Asian businesses. In fact, Flushing is around twenty minutes away from this particular area. The familiar name may be around this area in order to target the Asian population living here. Possibly, the newer businesses satisfied the demands that the now gone businesses once fulfilled. For example, MJ88 sold medicine after the family care center was gone and River was a family restaurant possibly like Rosemary Farm.
I tried looking along Horace Harding Expressway (the street K.H. Chong’s Martial Arts Academy is found on) for differences but no businesses changed except for an Asian chicken restaurant in the corner which was replaced with another Asian restaurant that sold hot pot instead. Even so, I found in the New York City Municipal Archives Online Gallery a picture of the corner that now has a Middle Eastern deli and convenience store. http://nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/s/9ry289 ( I am unsure if I can post the actual image cause it seems I need to purchase it in order to download it. I’m only posting the link to be safe)
The picture was taken in 1980s. During this time, it seems a restaurant called “Seacove” was there. When I google “Seacove restaurant” I get many results on an Italian restaurant in New York. This location may have once contained Seacove. If that is true, then it seems that the block possibly used to have primarily Italian businesses. After all, the Rosemary Farm may have also been another Italian restaurant. Seacove seemed to have a much simpler worded sign when compared to the deli. However, this made it harder to tell what Seacove really was without windows to show what was possibly inside or even a subheading describing if it was a restaurant and what type of restaurant it was. The deli had many words involved in its sign, but they did help specify what they sold.
The figures are censuses of the area found in MJ88 and K.H. Chong’s Martial Arts Academy’s zip code (11364) from the U.S. Census Bureau. The image on the left is the 2000 census and the image on the right is the 2015 census. The data shows that the foreign born population increased by approximately 3,000 people. In addition, the Asian population increased by 4,000 while the White population decreased by 500. I found the language data very interesting. In 2000, approximately 30% of the population only spoke an Asian or Pacific Island language while around 50% of the population only spoke English. The businesses I found in 2000 along Springfield Boulevard seem to match this data as many of the awnings seem to have only included English and no other language. However, in 2015, only approximately 40% of the population only spoke English and about 40% of the population only spoke an Asian or Pacific Island language. Possibly, English may not be the “majority” language as the foreign born population increases. As it is, the awnings of many businesses on Springfield Boulevard seem to consist of mostly Asian businesses now. An interesting data set to note is the category of the Asian and Pacific Island language speakers called “Speak English less than ‘very well'”. From the data it seemed that as time went on, the Asian and Pacific Island language population that did not understand English well grew. This may be because the Asian businesses around the area catered to these immigrants that could not speak English and relieved some of the pressure to learn English right away. The percent increase may be slight, but the population of these people increase by about 2,000. This number is interesting because I already noted that the Asian population increased by 4,000. From this, I can conclude that as the Asian population increases, so is the Asian population that also have trouble with English. However, what I wonder now is if the ratio of those who have trouble with English versus those who do understand English will increase as Asian businesses become more prominent.
Doing this research raised more questions as well as answered some. I understood that the businesses in the area used to be catered to the White and English speaking population, not necessarily Jewish as Michael Lau stated. In fact, I found that the Jewish population in Queens was 10% in 2000 (shown in the image above). It was hard for me to check whether the businesses in Springfield Boulevard were mostly jewish though. Even so, the growth of the Asian language speaker population and the decrease of those speakers who can also understand English well correlated with the growth of the Asian population and number of Asian businesses. Though, I do wonder if this increase in Asian businesses did relieve pressure to learn English or possibly the characteristics and circumstances of the Asian population that recently immigrated to the area.
