Greenpoint and Roosevelt Avenues

{{short description|Avenue in Brooklyn and Queens, New York}} {{For|the road in the Philippines formerly known as Roosevelt Avenue|Fernando Poe Jr. Avenue||Greenpoint Avenue (disambiguation)}} {{Use American English|date=May 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Attached KML|display=title}} {{Infobox street | name = Greenpoint Avenue Roosevelt Avenue | marker_image = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | alternate_name = | image = Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Avenue Terminal.JPG | image_size = 300px | image_alt = Roosevelt Avenue terminal in Jackson Heights | caption = Roosevelt Avenue Bus Terminal in Jackson Heights | image_map = | map_type = | map_size = | map_caption = | map_alt = | other_name = | former_names = | part_of = | namesake = Greenpoint Bluff Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt | type = | owner = City of New York | maint = NYCDOT | length_mi = 8.3 | length_ref = <ref name=google>{{google maps |url=https://www.google.com/maps/dir/40.7297296,-73.9592437/40.7640974,-73.8091902/@40.7476188,-73.9196561,13z/am=t/data=!3m1!4b1!4m4!4m3!2m1!1b1!3e2 |access-date=January 9, 2017}}</ref> | length_notes = {{convert|2.4|mi|2|abbr=on}} as Greenpoint Avenue {{convert|5.9|mi|2|abbr=on}} as Roosevelt Avenue | width = | area = | addresses = | location = Kings and Queens counties, New York, United States | arrondissement = | quarter = | postal_code = 11222, 11101, 11104, 11377, 11372, 11373, 11368, 11354 | metro = Greenpoint Avenue {{NYCS Crosstown|time=bullets}} Flushing Line {{NYCS Flushing|time=bullets}} Roosevelt/74th {{NYCS Roosevelt|time=bullets}} | coordinates = | direction_a = West | terminus_a = West Street in Greenpoint | direction_b = East | terminus_b = {{jct|state=NY|NY|25A|name1=Northern Boulevard|road|156th Street}} in Murray Hill | junction = {{jct|state=NY|I|495}} in Long Island City {{jct|state=NY|NY|25|name1=Queens Boulevard}} in Sunnyside {{jct|state=NY|Parkway|Grand Central}} in Willets Point | north = | south = | main_contractor = | cost = | references = | commissioning_date = | construction_start_date = | completion_date = | inauguration_date =  | demolition_date = | designer = | known_for = | status = | website =  }}

'''Roosevelt Avenue''' and '''Greenpoint Avenue''' are main thoroughfares in the New York City boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. '''Roosevelt Avenue''' begins at 48th Street and Queens Boulevard in the neighborhood of Sunnyside. West of Queens Boulevard, the road is named '''Greenpoint Avenue''' and continues through Sunnyside and Long Island City across the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge into Brooklyn, terminating at WNYC Transmitter Park on the East River in the neighborhood of Greenpoint.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bridges/green.shtml |title=NYCDOT - Greenpoint Avenue Bridge over Newtown Creek |access-date=2008-11-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100221073357/http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bridges/green.shtml |archive-date=2010-02-21 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Roosevelt Avenue goes through Woodside, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, Corona, Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Willets Point, and Flushing. In Flushing, Roosevelt Avenue ends at 156th Street and Northern Boulevard.<ref name=google/>

==History== Greenpoint Avenue was first laid out in 1853 by the Green-Point and Flushing Plank Road Company, who projected a road from the ferry at Greenpoint on a somewhat direct course to Flushing. Upon encountering resistance from local farmers, their road ended at Calvary Cemetery, and was first used in 1854.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stiles |first=Henry Reed |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_the_City_of_Brooklyn/p3MxAAAAMAAJ?gbpv=1&pg=PA416 |title=A History of the City of Brooklyn: Including the Old Town and Village of Brooklyn, the Town of Bushwick, and the Village and City of Williamsburgh |date=1869 |publisher=subscription |isbn=978-0-608-39319-3 |pages=416 |language=en}}</ref> Roosevelt Avenue is named after US Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt.<ref name="NYDN"/>

Roosevelt Avenue was nationally recognized for its cuisine when ''Good Magazine'' named it one of "America's Tastiest Streets".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Features/americas_tastiest_streets |title=America's Tastiest Streets |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080804082415/http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Features/americas_tastiest_streets |archive-date=2008-08-04 |last=Matthews |first=Adam |date=February 28, 2008 |website=GOOD Magazine}}</ref> It’s also well known for its diversity of cultural representation, ranging from Indian to Latin American,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/1999/12/28/queens-for-a-day-2/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221121195959/https://www.villagevoice.com/1999/12/28/queens-for-a-day-2/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 21, 2022 |title=Queens for a Day |work=Village Voice |date=December 28, 1999 |access-date=November 21, 2022}}</ref> while in the 2020s, Downtown Flushing is undergoing rapid gentrification by Chinese transnational entities.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/13/flushing-queens-gentrification-luxury-developments|title='Not what it used to be': in New York, Flushing's Asian residents brace against gentrification|first=Sarah|last=Ngu|newspaper=The Guardian US|date=January 29, 2021|access-date=August 13, 2020|quote=The three developers have stressed in public hearings that they are not outsiders to Flushing, which is 69% Asian. 'They’ve been here, they live here, they work here, they’ve invested here,' said Ross Moskowitz, an attorney for the developers at a different public hearing in February...Tangram Tower, a luxury mixed-use development built by F&T. Last year, prices for two-bedroom apartments started at $1.15m...The influx of transnational capital and rise of luxury developments in Flushing has displaced longtime immigrant residents and small business owners, as well as disrupted its cultural and culinary landscape. These changes follow the familiar script of gentrification, but with a change of actors: it is Chinese American developers and wealthy Chinese immigrants who are gentrifying this working-class neighborhood, which is majority Chinese.}}</ref> More than three hundred languages are spoken along the street, and the neighborhoods it passes through are described as the most ethnically diverse in the world.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Salama |first=Jordan |date=2022-04-18 |title=More than 300 languages are spoken along this NYC street |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/more-than-300-languages-are-spoken-along-this-nyc-street |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220418171310/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/more-than-300-languages-are-spoken-along-this-nyc-street |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 18, 2022 |access-date=2023-03-05 |website=National Geographic |language=en}}</ref> Roosevelt Avenue is a known area for street prostitution.<ref>{{cite web |last=Marte |first=Eliecer |date=September 10, 2024 |url=https://pix11.com/news/local-news/queens/prostitution-on-roosevelt-avenue-in-queens-is-getting-worse-residents-say/ |title=Prostitution on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens is getting worse, residents say |website=PIX11}}</ref>

==Landmarks== Structures along the avenues include Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory on the western end of Greenpoint Avenue and the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant just west of the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge. Citi Field, the home ballpark of the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB), is located on the intersection of Roosevelt Avenue and Seaver Way (formerly 126th Street) in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Shea Stadium, the former home of the Mets and the New York Jets of the American Football League (AFL) and the National Football League (NFL), was located in the Citi Field parking lots. Etihad Park, the future home stadium of New York City FC of Major League Soccer (MLS), is currently under construction adjacent to Citi Field in Willets Point and is scheduled to open in 2027. The eastern end of Roosevelt Avenue contains the Protestant Reformed Dutch Church of Flushing.

==Transportation== The corridor is served by the following subway lines: * {{NYCS Flushing}} trains run on the elevated IRT Flushing Line tracks above Roosevelt Avenue with ten stations from the 52nd Street station in Woodside until it reaches Flushing – Main Street, its eastern terminus.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Fernandez|first=Manny|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/nyregion/13subway.html|title=Track Work Disrupts Service on No. 7 Train in Queens|date=2008-01-13|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-03-30|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200330022832/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/nyregion/13subway.html|archive-date=2020-03-30|url-status=live}}</ref> The rail line opened in 1917, when Roosevelt Avenue was formed from the combination of other streets into one main avenue.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kilgannon|first=Corey|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/under-the-elevated-track-a-new-sensation-silence.html|title=Under the Elevated Track, a New Sensation: Silence|date=2005-12-21|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-03-30|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200330022832/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/under-the-elevated-track-a-new-sensation-silence.html|archive-date=2020-03-30|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="NYDN">{{cite news |last=Mbugua |first=Martin |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/ny_local/1999/08/03/1999-08-03_make_tracks_to_big_avenue_it.html%5B%5D |title=Make Tracks to Big Avenue |work=New York Daily News |date=August 3, 1999 |access-date=September 13, 2008}}</ref> * The Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue/74th Street station is served by the ({{NYCS trains|Roosevelt}}) in Jackson Heights. * {{NYCS Crosstown}} trains stop at the Greenpoint Avenue station located at Greenpoint Avenue and Manhattan Avenue. The following bus routes serve Roosevelt: * The {{NYC bus link|Q32}} runs between Queens Boulevard and either 81st Street (Jackson Heights), or 82nd Street (Midtown, Manhattan). * The {{NYC bus link|Q90}} runs between Seaver Way and either Main Street (Flushing) or Prince Street (LaGuardia Airport). The latter trips deadhead west of Lippman Plaza before going in service. * The {{NYC bus link|Q53}} runs between Broadway and either 39th Avenue (Woodside) or 62nd Street (Rockaway Park). The latter trips deadhead east of 61st Street before going in service. * The {{NYC bus link|Q33}} runs from 82nd to 75th Streets (Jackson Heights) or from 74th to 83rd Streets (LaGuardia Airport). * {{NYC bus link|Q29}} buses that run the full route to Jackson Heights deadhead west from 83rd to 82nd Streets before starting Glendale service. * For buses with Flushing terminals: ** The {{NYC bus link|Q12}} runs east from Main Street to Bowne Street, going into Little Neck service at Union Street. ** The {{NYC bus link|Q13|Q15|prose=y}} run on Roosevelt west of Bowne Street and make their first and last stops between Union & Main Streets in both directions. These buses deadhead back around via Main Street, 39th Avenue and Prince Street. ** Beechhurst-bound {{NYC bus link|Q61}} buses run in service from Union Street to Main Street. ** The {{NYC bus link|Q19|Q63|Q66|prose=y}} buses deadhead from Prince Street to Main Street, where westbound service originates. ** The Nassau-bound n20G and n20x buses run from Bowne Street to Main Street.

The {{NYC bus link|B24}} is the only bus route to serve Greenpoint Avenue, from 47th Street to West Street (Greenpoint), and from Manhattan Avenue to 48th Street (Williamsburg). Greenpoint service runs east on the avenue non-stop from Franklin Street to Manhattan Avenue before switching to Williamsburg. The one-way section from Review Avenue to Starr Avenue requires westbound buses to divert around Van Dam Street.

==See also== {{Portal|New York City|Prostitution}} * Red-light district

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Streets in Queens, New York Category:Streets in Brooklyn Category:Red-light districts in New York (state)