In Real Life
Queens is one of the boroughs of New York City.
Queens, like all the boroughs, is divided into named neighborhoods, each of which has its own distinctive features. Neighborhoods usually have a fairly uniform type of building present within them, though it can vary sharply in a relatively short distance. These areas vary widely in economic and social status, from fairly affluent areas like Forest Hills which has almost nothing but individual, seperated houses (that can range in the $500 thousand area) and a few local businesses, to poorer, often crime-ridden areas like South Jamaica, which have joined houses, apartment buildings, and low-income housing projects. Many areas are also a mixed melting pot of ethnicities which include a steady number of caucasians, african americans, asian americans, indian americans, latin americans, and others. There are several large parks scattered throughout the borough as well such as Kissena Park, Forest Park, and Cunningham Park.
There are no skyscrapers in Queens. Queens and Brooklyn are actually on Long Island (when locals mention Long Island, however, they mean Nassau and Suffolk counties, outside city limits). This Island, unlike Manhattan island, does not have the shallow bedrock and stable substrate that extremely tall buildings need for their foundations. Further out and away from the city (and closer into Long Island), most of the land mass consists of sediment and sand, which was leveled out to create the suburbia housing within Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Geography
Queens is on Long Island, situated between Brooklyn to the southwest and Nassau County to the east. Many roads connect into Brooklyn or Nassau, three bridges, The Triborough, the Whitestone, and the Throggsneck, from west to east, connect to the Bronx, which is north of Queens. There are also three connections to Manhattan to the west. From north to south, the Manhattan connections are the Triborough Bridge, the 59th St (Or Queensborough) Bridge, and the Queens Midtown Tunnel. These are street vehicle connections, there are also various underground subway connections and many bus lines that are both local and express into Manhattan.
Diversity
Queens is by far the most diverse of the boroughs with the people that live there, the different townships, and the cultures. From Astoria, with its mostly Latino population to Flushing and its popular nickname of Little China Town, to even Jamaica, where an African American population thrives, there is an area for just about anyone within this borough.
Businesses of Note
Queens is home to the two major airports that are within city limits. John F. Kennedy International Airport (locals refer to it as JFK or Kennedy) and La Guardia Airport. La Guardia is for domestic flights only, all international flights are routed through JFK or Newark in New Jersey. Both airports are on the water, La Guardia in the north of Queens, JFK in the south. Due to all of the highways, which run through Queens from Manhattan to Long Island, Brooklyn, the Bronx, ect. and the two major airports, Queens is known to have the worst air pollution of all the five boroughs, having four times more air pollution than even Manhattan does. Due to this, asthma and other respiratory issues are a major issue within the borough.
On the Grid
Queens was home to the gruesome mutilations and killings and the site of the Brotherhood's infamous jailbreak of Jacob Peterson.
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