Antique Store's Valentine's Day Window Display on Metropolitan Avenue in Forest Hills, January 2008

Forest Hills is a neighborhood in central part of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered to the north by Rego Park, to the east by Flushing Meadows Park, the Grand Central Parkway and Kew Gardens, to the west by Middle Village and to the south by Forest Park.

The neighborhood is home to a mix of middle to upper-class residents, the latter of whom often live in the neighborhood's prestigious Forest Hills Gardens area. Forest Hills has historically had a very large Jewish population, and more than 10 synagogues are located in the area. Many Indian American, South American, and Asian American immigrants call Forest Hills their home. It is also home to many airline pilots because of its proximity to both JFK International and LaGuardia airports. JetBlue is based there.

The town was founded in 1906, but before that it was known as White Pot. In 1909, Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage, who founded the Russell Sage Foundation, bought 142 acres (0.6 km²) of land from the Cord Meyer Development Company. The original plan was to build good low-income housing and improve living conditions of the working poor. Grosvenor Atterbury, a renowned architect, was given the commission to design Forest Hills Gardens. The neighborhood was planned on the model of the garden communities of England. As a result, there are many Tudor-style homes in Forest Hills.

The neighborhood contains areas of private houses with little commerce, such as the Gardens area; dense commercial districts full of stores and large apartment complexes; and streets with the six-story brick apartment buildings common throughout Queens. The main thoroughfare is the 12-lane-wide Queens Boulevard, while Metropolitan Avenue is known for its antique shops. The commercial heart of Forest Hills is a mile-long stretch of Austin Street, a block removed from Queens Boulevard, that features an eclectic (though increasingly upscale) collection of shops, restaurants and nightlife.

While there are Forest Hills residents who have lived in the neighborhood for decades, the character of the neighborhood has been tranformed dramatically over the past 20 years by a massive influx of immigrants. No huddled masses, these newcomers from Israel, Russia, Uzbekistan, China, South Korea, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and have added to the cultural richness of the area. In recent years, an increasing number of young professionals have been attracted to the area because of its accessibility vis-a-vis Manhattan and Brooklyn, cosmopolitan nature, plentiful shopping and restaurant options, safety, and excellent access to public transportation. Midtown Manhattan is only 20 minutes away on the subway, and a Long Island Rail Road trip from the landmark Forest Hills train station at the entrance to the Gardens to Manhattan's Pennsylvania Station is just 15 minutes. Because of the many advantages that Forest Hills has, real estate prices have been increasingly rising and the location is becoming more and more desirable to many.

Forest Hills was once the home of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, played at the West Side Tennis Club before it moved to the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park. When the Open was played at the tennis stadium, the tournament was commonly referred to merely as Forest Hills just as the British Open was referred to as Wimbledon.

Text from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_Hills,_Queens