Middle Village

By Patrick Verel | Special to amNewYork

March 29, 2007

Middle Village's location between Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Jamaica Turnpike no longer has as much relevance as it did at its founding in the early 19th century. But with three large cemeteries surrounding it and only one subway line, the Queens community can certainly hold onto its "village" designation.

"It's like the proverbial private fishing hole; nobody knows about it," says Thomas Macaluso, a lifelong resident who owns Macaluso Realty.

That secluded nature is deceptive though. The lone subway stop is the last on the M line, which is only useful for getting to downtown Manhattan. But midtown is just 12 minutes away by car and 18 by express bus.

Macaluso noted that the Chamber of Commerce held an Easter Egg hunt last year at Juniper Valley Park, and although there was virtually no advertising, 500 children came out to hunt for 2,000 eggs, just from having seen signage around the park.

Physically, Middle Village has stayed relatively stable. The first wave of Western European settlers to call it home have been gradually replaced by a more mixed ethnic heritage, but the physical makeup-one and two family attached houses built within the last 50 years-has stayed the same.

"Oh, I would have to go back to the days when I had a paper route," said Macaluso, when asked how it had changed. "The European families have moved in over the years, but there's a real sense of stability. My brothers and sisters all bought homes and stayed here, that is not uncommon. I still see some of the kids I graduated with from grammar school."

Signs of change are not completely absent. An old dairy on Eliot Street was recently torn down to make way for a Walgreens, and many in the community were outraged when Arby's bought the shuttered Niederstein's, a 150-year-old German restaurant that once catered to cemetery workers on Metropolitan Avenue, and demolished it, leaving nothing but a sign for the restaurant's parking lot.

Jim Turano, a broker with Metropolitan Reality said the dearth of housing and proximity to shopping, schools and the park make Middle Village the kind of place where generations of Queens natives settle for good.

"It just makes things much more like a country setting, it's like you're on a first name basis with people," he said.

The Basics
Find it
The Long Island Expressway to the north, Fresh Pond Road to the west, Woodhaven Boulevard to the east and the Long Island Rail Road and Cooper Avenue to the south

Transportation
Subway: M, Metropolitan Avenue
Bus: Q11, 29, 38, 45, 54, 67

Crime
The 104th Precinct, which also includes Glendale, Ridgewood, and Maspeth, has had no murders, three rapes and 52 robberies this year, compared with one murder, seven rapes and 75 robberies at this time last year. It had a total of three murders, 28 rapes and 310 robberies last year.

Schools
P.S. 128, 69-26 65th Drive, P.S. 49, 79-15 Penelope Ave., P.S. 87, 67-54 80th St., H.S. 485, 2127 Himrod St.

Post Offices