Hotels in Jamaica, New York

A little about Jamaica...

Jamaica is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City. It was settled as a town by the English under Dutch rule in 1656 in New Netherland. It is one of the major predominantly African American neighborhoods in the borough of Queens. It has a substantial concentration of West Indian immigrants, Indians, Arabs, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans as well as many long-established African American families. The neighborhood of Jamaica is completely unrelated to the Caribbean nation of Jamaica (although Jamaican immigrants do live in the area) ; the name similarity is a coincidence. The English, who took it over in 1664, named the area "Jameco," for the Jameco (or Yamecah) Native Americans, who resided on the northern shores of Jamaica Bay, and whose name means "beaver" in Algonquian languages.

Jamaica is the location of most courthouses and other administrative buildings for the County of Queens; however, it is not the location of Queens Borough Hall and Queens Criminal Court, both of which are located in the adjacent neighborhood of Kew Gardens (Kew Gardens is a neighborhood once located in the larger town of Jamaica before Queens became part of New York City). Jamaica Center, the area around Jamaica Avenue and 165th Street, is a major commercial center, as well as the home of the Central Library of the Queens Borough Public Library.

Some locals group adjoining neighborhoods into an unofficial Greater Jamaica, including St. Albans, Hollis, Howard Beach and Ozone Park. The New York Racing Association, based at Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, lists its official address as Jamaica. (Central Jamaica once housed NYRA's Jamaica Racetrack, now the massive Rochdale Village housing development.)

Colleges and Universities:
Several colleges and universities make their home in Jamaica proper or in its close vicinity, most notably:

York College, a Senior College of the City University of New York
St. John's University (Queens Campus), A private, Roman Catholic University founded by the Vincentian Fathers (Lazarists)

Jamaica Avenue is one of Jamaica's main thorofares, and of course the neighborhood's namesake. Jamaica Avenue actually begins in Brooklyn, near the boundary of the East New York neighborhood. Jamaica Avenue enters Jamaica east of the Van Wyck Expressway, and is brings the traveler to the Social Security Administration Building, courthouses and the main branch of the Queens Public Library. and many discount stores offering a variety of goods. The 200-year-old King Manor Museum includes a park.