NYC Largest Red Light District & Illegal Open Air Street Market : Roosevelt Avenue Walk

I take a walk in NYC in the neighborhoods of Jackson Heights & Corona, Queens along Roosevelt Avenue. This area is home to the most diverse population in NYC, featuring many restaurants, food markets, cultural stores, and a transportation hub. However, there are some serious quality of life issues that affects many of the residents here.

Recorded October 1, 2023

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[JoMar]

I was a delivery driver like 30 years ago and frequented Roosevelt Ave, and it looks like a jungle now. I didn't know it was looking like this until I saw this video. I made deliveries there on mondays from 1989 to 1999 to a few pharmacies and health & beauty aids stores. I'm glad I'm not driving through all that nowadays.

[ThomasDeely-bllm]

I was raised and lived in Jackson Heights in the 50s and 60s. I can not believe what has happened. It was so nice.

[robertmillar]

When there's a population in an area as dense as what I see in this video, people will do what it takes to survive. It seems like a rather diverse population that appears to be a newer generation of immigrants. I would think that when New York was a growing metropolis in the late 1800's/early 1900's most areas where people resided were much like this back then. Only difference was less government regulations. In todays society most regular or new people to this area don't trust the government either and will choose to ignore regulations set up by regulators. Good video AK.

[adam-gcrq]

The street vendors wouldn't be there if there wasn't a market for it in a cost for life crisis, life isn't always squeaky clean most cities around the developed world have these sort of areas that serve the community around them. If you're ever in London take a walk down Mile end road in Whitechapel in London's East End you'll find a diverse street market there that services the local working class community.

[anneotterman]

Looks pretty mellow. People trying to make a few bucks, everyone is happy it finally sopped raining

[john_from_eastcoast.]

It was like this back in the 70s!!! Very sleazy, drugs and hookers everywhere!

[cooleyerandl]

I had friends in Jackson Heights and we loved the food, the crowd, the subway cacophony above our heads. The storefronts, food vendors, the incredible music would make a superb shopping experience. Smiles everywhere and beautiful people. Kids everywhere living and packing in the street life. Laughs and joy resounding in this unforgetable village. I see safe and happy people period. Thanks for the video.

[edwardj]

This is a great video, @ActionKid! Thanks for filming this slice of Queens. I grew up near 90th Street, and much of Jackson Heights and Elmhurst were the areas of my youth during the 1970s and early 80s. Its shocking to see what this area has become. The 70s-80s were a tough time for the city, but not every neighborhood was falling apart. This video is shocking because the neighborhood looks way worse than what I experienced all those years ago. I never felt unsafe in Jackson Heights in those years, and certainly there were nowhere near as many tacky shops and street vendors as there are now.

From a cultural and commercial standpoint, the area has indeed suffered steep decline (one could argue the opposite, of course, it just depends on your point of view). I'm Hispanic and most of my friends in the neighborhood were Hispanic in those years, and we enjoyed the diverse cultures that were part of our every day lives. However, there was more of a cultural balance between ethnic groups then and it certainly didn't look as third world as it does now.

I have so many memories of those days and places. It was a such a different time. The stores were different. The neighborhood still had a substantial White population so there were stores then that you may not see today. One place I recall fondly was the Record Room, on 82nd Street, the place to get albums back when that was a thing. That was the first store experience that exposed me to the Rock and Roll world and all its related paraphernalia. There was a furniture store on the corner of Roosevelt and 82nd Street that sold lots of lamps and lighting stuff. I recall seeing a framed picture of James Caan (famous actor in the 70s-80s), and I asked the shopkeeper about that and they said the actor's mother used to frequent that shop years before. Not far away, on 78th street, off Roosevelt Ave., an Alfred Hitchcock movie was filmed on location with Henry Fonda (The Wrong Man, 1956). I happened upon that movie by chance many years ago on TV and got a real kick seeing Jackson Heights in the 1950s, and how different it was from the 1970s! That neighborhood has a lot of history.

The only constant is change. I can't go back home again, but in my memories.

[freeride]

What the hell happen to Jackson Heights you can't even walk on the sidewalks because of people cooking like they are in there kitchens. When they came over
the border they all went to Roosevelt ave.

[minniec.]

while some street vendors may not have a permit to sell, they are just trying to make a living in a new country. They are not committing violent crimes, shoplifting, smashing shop windows, looting or attacking, mugging and shooting people. As for prostitution, it's the oldest profession in the world. If men have no interest to pay for sex, there would be no prostitution. It's supply and demand. You were too young to remember, but the red light district used to reside in Times Square which was full of porn shops, porn theaters, porn shows, illegal activity and streetwalkers (prostitutes). Times Square was known for seediness. Much went underground under Guiliani's administration and due to internet. Sex business moved from the streets to online.

[quinftbl]

They’re doing the best that they are able in the midst of poverty.

[Chrise]

It’s like being in another country. I’m in a small town, I don’t think ai could handle that many people.

[emmylou-yb]

I know an older woman who has lived in that area for many years. Her apartment is cheap so that's why she stays but, like many elderly in NYC, she never goes out after dark. Now that it's a red light district, kids are exposed to all sorts of activity; it's sad and scary. Thanks AK for showing this area that is reported about but many never see up close.

[TheTravelGru]

OMG - this is unbelievable- it wasn’t like that 12 years ago

[ibhccs]

Great video. Thanks for showing the real streets of NYC from the usual touristy areas. Reminds of Latin America street markets, I heard much Spanish in background, I assume many migrants in that area.

[danielj]

"I read a NY Post article and GASP a man talking to two women outside a store on a
I respect you ActionKid but urban areas having places (individual establishments/ corridors/ neighborhoods) where sex-oriented market thrives is a tale as old as time. It existed every year you were alive and before you were alive, just in different shapes/ forms.

[chrismv]

Being a native Brooklynite who left in the 80's it's both good and bad what I'm seeing. This is the NYC I grew up in. Crazy, chaotic and fast paced.

[rafaelernestosoliscastillo]

I am very surprised to see open air prostitution even in day time, is there any regulation by the New York police department?

[danielj]

Looks like a thriving neighborhood to me. I don't get the 'vendors are ruining lives of brick and mortar' stand point. Once we accepted that major global cities (which ideally should be places where mases of humanity can live and set-up shop) can have average rents that exceed 90% of what the population can afford, I think we surrendered the 'social contract' that only those that pay the rents dictated by banks/landlords/ commercial real estate can thrive. That's a social contract that deserved to be broken.

[HengMiao]

I remember seeing many street vendors in your previous walk through Roosevelt Ave, but I'm surprised about the Red Light District. 😲 I appreciate you disguising yourself and covering the issues, and it's sad to learn about what's happening. Thank you for sharing this video, AK.