10 Things You Didn’t Know About Queens

By Ari Kellen

It’s really big• With 2.3 million residents, Queens

has just 400,000 less people than Chicago

• If it seceded from the rest of New York, it would be the fourth largest city in the US

It’s actually named after

a queen• Queens is named after

Catherine of Braganza

• Her husband, Charles II, was King of England when the British took New York from the Dutch

It’s the !final !resting !place of !Harry !Houdini

• Machpaleh Jewish cemetery is the site of Houdini’s grave

• A popular mecca for Halloween revelers and aspiring magicians

It’s home to New York’s best

surfing

• The Rockaways is arguably New York’s best beach

• New York’s only good surfing spot

It’s the most diverse place in !the world

• The 2000 Census counted 138 languages spoken in the borough

• A lot of the languages spoken in Queens can’t be heard anywhere else in the world

• Some experts estimate that number to actually be around 800

It’s got amazing

food• Queens’ ethnic diversity

means it’s home to lots of unique foods

• Delicious and authentic hole-in-the-wall spots serving food you can’t find anywhere else in the city

It’s got some amazing pianos too • Astoria-based Steinway &

Sons, founded in 1853, still has its factory in Queens

• Been in the same location for 100 years

It’s home to a major !film studio

• Kaufman Astoria Studios is an historic movie studio

• Classic films and TV shows such as “Animal Crackers”, “Goodfellas” and “Sesame Street” have all been filmed there

• Home to New York’s only backlot

It’s the site of an abandoned Civil

War fort

• Fort Totten Park is home to a US Army fort built in 1862

• Now a fantastic park popular with residents of Bayside

It’s the hometown of lots of famous musicians

• The Ramones

• Louis Armstrong• 50 Cent• Nicki Minaj• Tony Bennett• Cyndi Lauper

• Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley from Kiss

• Simon & Garfunkel