37th Avenue

37th Avenue is one of Jackson Heights’ major commercial streets. It runs parallel to Roosevelt Ave. Even though it is only a block away from Roosevelt, 37th Ave has an entirely different feel. There is no subway platform hanging over, and there are many trees lining the street, so it is significantly brighter and quieter. By walking along 37th Ave from Junction to 74th St, we hope to see a pattern in commercial density similar to what we’d expect along Roosevelt: that the densest areas are closest to the 7 train stops.

All photographs I took myself. The land usage maps were made on oasisnyc.net in Make Maps>Steward Search.

A key for the land usage maps constructed with NYC OASIS.

37th Ave from Junction Blvd to 82nd St.

Junction is one of the stops on the 7 train that is a block from 37th Ave. I’ve already documented the trends in this area in my post on Junction here.

A supermarket on Junction and 37th.

There is a decent amount of foot traffic that carries over from Junction onto 37th in the direction of Jackson Heights. Most shoppers and pedestrians stay on Junction, however. The smaller shops in this area are diverse in their makeup.

There is a small triangle on Elmhurst Ave and 37th. The purpose is mostly for beautification, not for public use.

The storefronts and street vendors begin to get more close together as we approach 90th St. The otherwise serene setting of 37th Ave becomes significantly more crowded with foot traffic and noise at 90th St. Some examples of stores are a supermarket, multiple groceries, convenience stores, pharmacies, etc.

90th and 37th. This intersection is one block from the 90th St – Elmhurst Ave 7 train stop.

A block or so further along 37th, the street becomes relatively serene once again. There is little foot traffic between 90th and 82nd.

PS 222 is a bilingual magnet school on 37th Ave and 87th St.

As we approach 82nd St, 37th Ave becomes much more crowded again. There are several Colombian stores that spilled over from Little Colombia on 82nd St. There is also a yoga place, which is a subtle indicator of gentrification. This is because we are approaching the heart of the historic district. The store fronts here are also more so united because they are a part of the already established 82nd Street Partnership. The stretch of street near 82nd St is very heavily trafficked.

A Colombian Jeans store close to 82nd St.

Near 82nd St are many banks, pharmacies, clothing and food stores, convenience stores, and fruit stands.

82nd St is the commercial heart of the historic district. This area is known as Little Colombia, but due to gentrification, there is an increasingly high number of national chain stores popping up along 82nd.

37th Ave from 82nd St to 74th St.

The storefronts from 82nd to 77th St have uniform banners in many cases. This is one effect of gentrification and the push for a “cleaner looking” Jackson Heights.

United banners for storefronts on 37th.

As we get further from 82nd St, 37th becomes much quieter and less trafficked. By 79th St, there is a Starbucks, a salon, a public school, and a U.S. Post Office all close together.

A Starbucks and a salon on 79th St and 37th Ave. Also in the picture is a banner advertising a Queens LGBTQ Pride Day that is set to take place in Jackson Heights in June. 

As we approach 74th St, 37th begins to get crowded with storefronts and foot traffic once again. Instead of many of the Hispanic owned stores that we see along most of 37th Ave, there are many Indian and South Asian stores in this area. 74th St is known as Little India. Here they sell a variety of ethnic clothing, food, jewelry, and movies.

A view of 37th Ave as we approach Little India.

As we walk along 37th Ave from Junction to 74th St, we see a few trends that we might have expected:

• the areas that are being gentrified the most are included within the Historic District. You can read about the history of the Historic District here.
• the greatest number of national chain stores are on 82nd St, where a BID has already been established.

Most importantly to our study of Roosevelt Ave, we can clearly see that the most heavily trafficked areas of 37th Ave are at the intersections of Junction, 90th St, 82nd St, and 74th St. What makes this important is that these streets are all stops for the 7 train. We can easily conclude that the businesses located here did so because of the proximity to these stops, and that likewise, people shop at these businesses because of their proximity to these stops.

The development of Jackson Heights as well as the surrounding areas had much to do with the location of the 7 line. As we can see, this development not only affected Roosevelt Ave, but it also heavily impacted the development of 37th Ave as well as the other side streets close to the train stops. There is no similar affect in Elmhurst because there is no equivalent parallel avenue in Elmhurst. In the case of 37th Ave, Roosevelt Ave is a major destination and drop off point from which people move into Jackson Heights. This has led to a great amount of development along 37th.