10 Things You Didn't Know About Queens From Ari Kellen

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