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Quotes: 'There's so much to do in Queens -- restaurants, bars! And it's much cheaper..Manhattan is too much money.'-Jennifer Lattur. 'In Manhattan, all the women eat salad, you know what I mean? You will never find the same woman twice in Queens.'-Assib Blake.
CORRECTION: The Queens Center mall is in Elmhurst. Its location was incorrect in a City Life cover story yesterday. Pg. A13 C 9/26/05
If you had to pick a cool borough, which one would it be? Manhattan, the financial, political and cultural hub of New York City? Or maybe Brooklyn, home of beautiful brownstones, a legendary baseball team and an even more famous bridge? How about the Bronx, birthplace of Al Pacino, hip-hop and a spittle-spraying cheer? Would you pick Staten Island? Probably not. What about Queens?
Ten years ago, people might have been hard-pressed to define Queens as cool. A nice place to live, yes. But hip, funky, happening? Not really. That, however, seems to be changing. The borough that gave us the irascible Archie Bunker and nasal-voiced, fashion-challenged Nanny Fine has become, well, bangin'.
"There aren't too many cultural benchmarks that have put the images of Queens into the American imagination," said Robert J. Thompson, a pop culture expert and professor at Syracuse University. But now the borough is becoming more desirable because of its blend of ethnicities, sleek new shopping hubs, cultural sites and hot neighborhoods, he said.
The star of "The Apprentice," Donald Trump, who grew up in Jamaica Estate, and has developed properties, mostly in Manhattan, thinks Queens is cool because of its burgeoning real estate. "Today, Queens is thriving and growing and is one of the top boroughs," he said.
Indeed. Many new middle-income and luxury housing units are springing up in Astoria, Forest Hills, Woodside and Far Rockaway. And people who have been priced out of Manhattan and Brooklyn are flocking to live in them.
Meanwhile, potential homeowners are snapping up homes, condominiums and co-ops in Astoria and Jackson Heights, where property values have doubled in the last two years, some real estate agents said.
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