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30 The Courier sun • WELCOME TO • september 10, 2015 for breaking news visit www.couriersun.com welcome to ridgewood s The heart of Queens beats in Ridgewood By ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com/@A_GiudiceReport Though recently considered one of New York City’s hottest neighborhoods, Ridgewood residents have long known what a special place it is. Ridgewood’s history dates back to the 18th and 19th centuries when it was settled by Dutch farmers. Artifacts from that time can be found at the historic Vander Ende-Onderdonk House, which was built in 1709 and still stands as the oldest Dutch Colonial stone house in all of New York City. Another major piece of Ridgewood’s history which sits at the Onderdonk House is Arbitration Rock. This large boulder was once used as a marker for the disputed boundary between Brooklyn and Queens. Ridgewood has 10 national historic districts that were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Those districts include Central Ridgewood Historic District, Cornelia-Putnam Historic District, Cypress Avenue East Historic District, Fresh Pond- Traffic Historic District, Stockholm-DeKalb-Hart Historic District, Summerfield Street Row Historic District and others. “There are several districts that have been landmarked in the last few years in Ridgewood,” said Gary Giordano, district manager of Community Board 5. “Ridgewood has a very strong housing stock that dates back to the turn of the century, and those landmark areas are essentially those sections of Ridgewood where the architecture is considered unique.” Currently, Ridgewood shares borders with Maspeth to the north, Middle Village to northeast and Glendale to the southeast, as well as Bushwick to the southwest. The community boasts a population of 99,508 people, according to Sterling’s Best Places’ last update in June 2014. The population of the community has always been changing, with residents from all over the world coming to settle in Ridgewood. “It’s always been a neighborhood where people moved to either come to this country and start a life as Americans, or move there to be able to live in an area that had a lot less crime than the neighborhood they may have come from,” Giordano said. “The people of Ridgewood have accepted the newer residents. The social experiment of New York has worked very well in Ridgewood where so many of us come from different ancestries and live together in reasonable harmony.” Ridgewood’s popularity is soaring as more and more young people move into the neighborhood. According to Sterling’s Best Places, in 2014 an estimated more than 17 percent of Ridgewood’s population was between the ages of 25 to 34, the highest percentage of any age group in the community. These younger residents are infusing the community with new life. Formerly unused warehouses are now being turned into art studios, new bars, breweries and coffee shops that are popping up seemingly every week along Myrtle Avenue. Even the filming business is taking notice of the neighborhood as studios are using the streets of Ridgewood to shoot scenes for movies and television shows such as FOX’s “Gotham.” “With a balanced mix of retail and services, Ridgewood is a destination for families, artists and recent immigrants coming together to create a culturally rich and vibrant community,” said Ted Renz, executive director of the Myrtle Avenue Business Improvement District (BID). “As a result, the Myrtle Avenue BID is looking for new businesses to join our community of already outstanding retailers. Our growing population of residents and shoppers are young, culturally diverse and family oriented, and we are looking for retailers to meet their needs.” “There has been much buzz about Ridgewood over the last three years and near the Myrtle/ Wyckoff transit hub we will be seeing 500 new housing units built or coming to fruition over the next few years,” Renz continued. “Because of these changes we have seen a number of new restaurants and coffee cafes springing up on Myrtle Avenue and throughout Ridgewood.” As Ridgewood continues to grow, the sky is the limit for this booming community.


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