The websites that are about my neighborhood are:
http://www.nyym.org/flushing/history.html

this website title is History of Flushing Meeting, which is an organization called the Flushing Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. IN the site it states that Flushing started in 1600 to this day,and it has been about three hundred years. The website is about the how flushing started, which was with the Dutch West India Company.

http://www.thirteen.org/queens/history.html
A walk through Queens with David Hartman and historian Barry Lewis.
The website is breaks the history of Flushing starting with the native people of queens, the Dutch,then the English Rule, and so on. In each time line the web explains what occurred in those exact times.

In 1614 the Dutch East India Company under Adrien Block, arrived in New York and settled at the tip of Manhattan. They called this site New Amsterdam and it became the seat of the regional colony. Starting 1637, Dutchman was granted lands by Governor Peter Stuyvesant. As the Dutch were setting in queens, Englishman began coming from the north and east. The Dutch were willing to allow them to settle in Queens, as long as the English swore allegiance to the Dutch government. Thus in 1645, the West India Company granted a charter to Flushing, which was at the time called Vissengen. It became a part of New Netherlands and was settled mainly by the English.

During this period, English Quakers arrived from England to escape religious persecution, and settled in Flushing. Their religious teachings were widely accepted, even though there was opposition from the Reformed Dutch Church. Peter Stuyvesant issued an ordinance that prevented anyone from having a Quaker meeting in their house. A well known Flushing colonist, Henry Townsend, Defied this order and held a Quaker meeting in his house. He was fined and had to leave Flushing. This led to a protest by the Flushing citizens. In December 27, 1657, a document was signed by many well known Flushing citizens, demanding the right to freedom of religion. This document known as the Flushing Remonstrance may be considered as the earliest demand for freedom of religion and as the first declaration of Independence by the colonists.

Flushing Town Hall, located at 137-35 Northern Blvd, in Flushing was built in 1862. It is considered a New York City landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places as of 1972. It is designed in the early Romanesque Revival architectural style. It opened in 1864 and was used for different purposes, e.g., as a site for Union soldiers, a public assembly hall, a bank, a grand ballroom, and even as a jail. It served as a courthouse from 1902 to 1960’s. Following this period, it was in a dilapidated state and not used for any purposes until 1990, when Mrs. Jo-Ann Jones (who founded Flushing Council on Cultural and the Arts in1979) took interest and along with the support of Queens Borough President Claire Shulman, submitted a proposal for its use as a multicultural arts center. Flushing Council on Cultural and the Arts (FCCA) were awarded a long term lease by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

The NYC Department of Design and Construction hired architectural firm of Platt and Byard and other contractors to restore the landmark using 8 million dollars to do so. The first floor galleries opened in 1993, and the second floor theater opened to the public in 1999. The council at the Flushing Town Hall received interest from different sources, both from the public and from the artist, as well as from funding sources and government officials. In 1996, Queens Borough President Shulman was able to get approval from Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to include Flushing Town Hall as a member of the “City’s Cultural Institution Group,” and thus entitled it to receive funding for the general operating costs.

In 2003, Jo-Ann Jones retired, and Harvey Seifter, a classical trained musician, took her position as the Executive and Artistic Director of Flushing Council. Under his direction the Flushing Council became an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution in 2004. As of 2006, it has a budget of 2.2millon dollars and it supports various cultural and art programs. The affiliation of Flushing Town Hall with the Smithsonian Institute provides several benefits. The public is able to view art and artifacts from the Smithsonian Institute that are exhibited at the Town Hall, and FCCA members automatically become members of the Smithsonian that provides benefits, such as, international and domestic travel programs, shopping discounts, and subscriptions to Smithsonian magazine. This partnership also enables Flushing Council to explore other areas and include multicultural activates. Examples of these are: Arts and cultural activities by different immigrant ethnic groups that include Korean, Chinese, Mexicans, Asian Indians, South Americans and other Asian groups. Flushing Council at the Town Hall also explores history of Jazz in Queens and has a Town Hall Trolley that takes you on Queens Jazz Trail tour to the neighborhoods where Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and John Coltrane lived, and also includes a visit to the Louis Armstrong house.

Flushing Town Hall offers a variety of fascinating cultural and Art programs that `are available to both families and to individuals, whether they are visitors or performers.

Elizabeth Brand September, 10, 2007

The Korea Village Mall on 150^th street and Northern Blvd was built about five years ago. It is a luxurious and an expensive mall that appears to sell expensive goods to well of Korean customers. One hint of this is sight of many expensive cars like a Mercedes Benz, Lexus, Cadallic, and others in the parking lot. It is really a beautiful mall with elegant surroundings . It is very lively with sitting areas that are furnished with very good furniture. The mall is decorated in the hallway with fine looking antique reproductions. All around the mall there are live natural plants, some with pretty flowers. In most places the mall is built of marble and the floors have soft, colorful carpets.

The mall has three levels. The first floor has mainly expensive stores, all of which carry famous, well known brands of merchandise. Examples of these stores are a jewelry store that has Cartier, Van Cleef and Arpels, Bulgari and Salvatore Ferragamo purses and a Burberry of London counter. Another jewelry store," Zen Art" carries expensive diamond jewelry. One of the stores is unusual as it carries traditional Korean gowns that are similar to Japanses Kimonos. An old sewing machine is displayed in the window in this store and the gowns seem to be largely hand sewn. There are other stores, such as a very expensive formal dress store, a boutique, a store called "New York Fur" that has fur coats and dresses with fur collars, and a store that carries only knit wear dresses. Then there is a perfume store that carries all the world famous perfumes, and a store that has Korean Cosmetics. There is also a café called Koryodong on the first floor, that serves Korean baked pastries with coffee, or tea. There are small tables and chairs each separated by palm plants or columns which give a nice sense of privacy to the customers.

The basement has art and cultural center where different art activities take place. There is a big hall with a stage and a piano. The walls have paintings of contemporary artists, whose work is competitively selected. These paintings are on sale. Currently,the center has a program called “Project Diversity Queens”, where the artists whose work depicts multiculturism of various ethnic groups are encouraged, supported and exhibited. Young Children and adults learn karate, break dancing and music such as Jazz in this center. There is also a big travel agency and a beautician’s salon, which offers pure oxygen treatment and micro dermabrasion treatment.

The whole second floor is a restaurant called the Dae Dong Manor. It has three halls – Diamond Hall, Emerald Hall, and the Grand Ball room. The restaurant’s main course runs from $35 to $60 per person. The Diamond Hall is an everyday restaurant. The Emerald and Grand Ball rooms are used for seminars and conferences where food is also served. For example, on September 14, 07 there will be a presentation on Korean Zen Buddhism by a Buddhist preacher from Korea. These halls are also used as wedding halls and for other events as well. All the three halls are fancy and elaborate.

The Korea Village Mall is worth a visit. It has a pleasant and a cheerful environment and is a pleasant place to shop, view beautiful objects, and art works, and have a restful coffee brake.

Elizabeth Brand Sept, 6.07

It was October 1979 when we moved to our house in Flushing, Queens. When we first moved, our neighbors greeted us and said "you have moved in a nice part of Flushing. It is like living in the country and at the same time living in the city."It was a quiet neighborhood and to a good extent it still is. But many aspects of my neighborhood have changed in the last ten years.
Up until late nineties, parking on the streets, both on my side and the opposite side of my street was never a problem. There was always ample parking on the streets, which were usually unoccupied. The neighborhood was predominantly a European white population. Since the last several years the face of my neighborhood is very different. It is now much more crowded, and many residential properties are owned by Koreans and Chinese people. While there are still many Europeans living in my neighborhood, many of them have sold their houses to Koreans at significantly higher prices than what they paid for them. In addition, new two to four family houses have been built off Northern Blvd, and apartment buildings and a Korean mall on Northern Blvd. All this has created overcrowding and parking has become a big problem, but the neighborhood is still peaceful and quite with beautiful trees and lawns. The house on the corner of my street at 34th ave is owned by a young Korean family who have a few apple trees, pear trees and Japaneses maple trees that they have grown and these have delicious fruits which they sometimes share with us. The new comers often appear to have beautiful gardens and spend a lot of time caring for them
The Business scene has also changed completely in my neighborhood. As my picture shows most of the businesses on Northern Blvd, (the primary street for businesses and transportation) is now dominated by Korean and Chinese businesses. These businesses include restaurants, insurance companies, an antique stored owned by a Korean, a big Korean/Chinese supermarket, beauty salons, hardware stores, jewelry stores, wedding gown store, Laundromat, food stores, golf store, boutique store, etc. Most of these businesses have Korean and Chinese names on them. Practically all the small American, Italian, Greek restaurants and small coffee and breakfast places have been replaced by Korean bakeries and coffee shops. There is a nice one near us called Koreadong, where young Koreans gather to socialize. I feel that though there have been many changes my neighborhood has still maintained its beautiful,and peaceful environment.

The websites on New York city are www.gothamist.com, and
www.nymag.com

Elizabeth Brand Thursday August, 30 2007

The website is about the trolley system in New York City.

During the early part of the twentieth century, between 1900 to 1935, trolleys were major transportation system in New York City. Through out all the five boroughs, there were trolley tracks that connected various parts of the city. There were also underground trolley terminals in all the boroughs. Trolleys were main transportation for almost fifty years in certain neighborhoods, such as Flushing, College Point, Corona, Elmhurst, and Astoria in Queens; Canarise, Williamsburg and Ridgewood in Brooklyn; Fordham, Melrsoe, Tremont, Gun Hill Road to Mount Vernon in the Bronx. The website describes in details the various locations of the trolley system throughout New York City and it is quite impressive to see how extensive it was and how efficient it must have been. Trolleys were run by different trolley companies. The last trolley line ran on Roosevelt Island up until 1957. Roosevelt Island now has aerial tramway.

Following World War One, many trolley companies shortened or abandoned the trolley services due to skyrocketing operating cost. The companies at the same time were not allowed to increase fares. Thus the operation of the trolley lines was not profitable for the trolley companies. One company took over all the Bronx trolley routes. After World War two, Trolleys created traffic jam because of increased auto traffic.

The ultimate Demise of trolleys as major system of transportation was due to government's decision to build buses, cars and subway system as mass transit. It is believed that profit making big corporations like General Motors and certain tire companies were responsible for the for the extinction of the trolleys. The website makes that point sixty years later since we had trolleys, we now have more air pollution and much more noise because of huge increase in the number of cars and buses in New York City.

The website reminds us about the remnants of trolley lines and shelters that can still be seen in certain parts of New York City. Besides trolley tracks and shelters, poles that were used as traffic signs can also be found in many parts of all the boroughs of New York City. These are pleasant reminders of a bygone era when the elegant trolley was the clean "King Car", rather than the "pollution car" of the present times.