ARE THERE ANY GOOD COLOMBIAN CLUBS IN QUEENS, NEW YORK

morphus says on Oct 7, 2006, 18:13:

I like "Sidetracks" on Queens blvd. Its a mixed crowd of Latinas, Asians and Gringas/Eastern Euros. I met a few Colombianas there in the past.

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YO RAPS says on Oct 8, 2006, 13:07:

colombian clubs copacabana, exit, cocobongo in elizabeth nj

WWW.MESAINVERSIONES.COM

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Plato says on Oct 9, 2006, 08:59:

On Time Machines Wow! What a great site! Just found it. I'm from what use to be the Colombian colony alongside Roosevelt Avenue in Queens - Jackson Heights and Elmhurst. Born in the States but my family is from Medellin.

Never been to Colombia since many Colombians were interested in coming to the USA, especially NYC. So, I adopted my paisa culture through the colony back in the 70s and 80s. I know, I'm ashamed of not having yet visited Colombia, especially Medellin. I speak Spanish fluently with a paisa accent (I'm told), but my level of Spanish is no more than middle school (or Junior High), even though I took AP Spanish in High school. Yes, I do consider my self Colombian-American, 1st generation born in the US, and I'm proud of my Colombian heritage, just as I'm proud to be un estado unidense.

I'm well educated: currently I'm going for a second graduate degree and I'm a praticing professional. Hope you fine folks can help me know more about Colombia - especailly Medellin - since I now have an urge to visit ( I'm a late bloomer). I have family there such as aunts and cousins. I do know a lot about the culture and I'm told a lot about Medellin. I'm hoping to gain a deeper insight from this site here. Hope you can help me.

Any reading material, maps, historical books, preferable written in Spanish will be appreciated. Would love to know about universities, online programs, other informative threads etc. Willing to chat via private e-mail.


Warm regards,

Plato

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those [liberals] who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.--Dante Alighieri, (1265-1321)

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alexis33015 says on Oct 9, 2006, 19:55:

I'm from what use to be the Colombian colony alongside Roosevelt Avenue in Queens - Jackson Heights and Elmhurst. Born in the States but my family is from Medellin.

i did not know there was a colombian colony
i was born in Elmhurst in 1983
so how is Jackson heights today??????still many colombians?

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Plato says on Oct 10, 2006, 06:16:

I realize that “colony� is not the right term since Colombia didn’t have any political influence over the Colombian immigrants in the areas of Jackson heights and Elmhurst. “Enclave� is a better term.

There were Colombians pockets of people in other places too like New Rochelle in Westchester. However, Jackson Heights and Elmhurst was the “Little Colombia� as was “Little Italy� on Mulberry Street in Manhattan. Other ethnic groups in the area were primarily Asian (most of Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, and Flushing) and Indian (around 74th street, Jackson Heights). There wasn’t as many Colombian restaurants s there are now on Roosevelt Avenue. Northern Blvd was nothing as it looks today with all the Colombian owned restaurants and bakery shops.

There were at least two significant immigration waves of Colombians coming to NYC: the 1960s and then again the 1980s. I was born in the mid 1960s; my parents came in the early 60s. As a kid, I grew up playing futbol in the streets with my Colombian-born friends.

These were the times “El Buen Colombiano� came to work hard in the manufacturing industry and other labor-intensive blue-collar jobs. It was before the Colombian image was marred with the drug trade, cartels, and Pablo Escobar in the 1980s. Páisas were pigeonholed has having some connection to the Medellín Cartel. Now that there was hardly any manufacturing industry in the 1980s, the Colombians from the 60s are in their mid 50s and above and most moved out to better pastures.

In the 1980s, the second wave of Colombians came to Queens. This group was different because they didn’t find the same American economy to support manufacturing and blue-collar jobs as did the Colombians 20 years prior. More restaurants and clubs came up on the Roosevelt Avenue strip and expanded outward on 37th avenue, Northern Blvd, Queens Blvd, Astoria, and Long Island City. The Chibcha nightclub was the scene for entertainment, food, gorgeous Colombian women, and Colombian mobsters.

Unfortunately, other kinds of Colombians came in the 1980s as well and these were the drug lords, dealers, and hit men. Some here may remember the violence that was imported in Queens and elsewhere. The were assassinations on Roosevelt Avenue, especially of one particular journalist (I forget who). Dead bodies showed up on the Grand Central Parkway. Cocaine was big in the 1980s as was Marijuana in the 1970s.

In these times, if one said proudly that they were Colombian, there would always be some remark about cocaine and the Colombian mafia, the Medellín cartel, and their violence. Before the 1980s, one knew about the mob, but not to this extent in the 1980s.

After the demise of Pablo Escobar, Roosevelt Avenue, has had an economic resurgence with the restaurants, bakeries, and clubs. There are still many Colombians, but many others Latin groups as well.

If you were born in 1983, ask your parents who may have immigrated to the States in the 60s or 70s. The landscape was different in Queens back then than it is now.


Regards,

Plato

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those [liberals] who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.--Dante Alighieri, (1265-1321)

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elmodefoque says on Oct 10, 2006, 06:48:

Plato, great observation, but I don’t recall any wave of Colombians heading to USA in the early 60’s, I think my brothers and I were the only ones on that damn plane back in 1964. Ok, maybe cus we were coming from Barranquilla and headed straight to Manhattan and found only Russians, Anglos and Cubans. I did not see other Colombians until 10 years later when I started hanging out in “el Septimo Cielo� in Queens and some clubs in Manhattan, where we were quite popular with the ladies. Super fine mamasitas of all races were giving it up for free just to brag about having a Colombian boyfriend, at that point developing a reputation for selling cocaine, the drug of choice in all the hottest clubs in NYC.
I do recall Queens as mostly Irish, but in the mid 70’s when Colombians started showing up, they high tailed outta there not realizing that most Colombian were in fact better educated and much more civilized than those $1 dollar bottle of Wild Irish Rose wine, and warm beer drinking drunken modefoques who invaded Manhattan every Saint Patrick’s day parade to piss and vomit on old ladies. But you still gotta love them, they're funny modefoques and their girls are beautiful and easy.

any colombianita willing to date me, IS UP TO NO GOOD

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cali373 says on Oct 10, 2006, 07:46:

In NJ In New Jersey ther is also Englewood, Hackensack, Bergenfield, Paterson, and Elizabeth which are small enclaves of Colombians.

Colombian Nightclub in queens. By far the best one this year is "Sarabanda" in Astoria. There is also extravaganza somewhere on northen blvd near elmhurst. Copacabana in Manhatten, I would not consider that a Colombian club.

Smile if you are a thinker!

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Plato says on Oct 10, 2006, 08:09:

Wow! Elmo! So you’re part of that 60s wave huh? My mother was from Barranquilla. She married a Páisa. After she passed on, I grew up a “cachaco�.

My aunt lived in one of those brownstone buildings in the Upper East Side, Manhattan when rent was relatively reasonable in those days. So, I recall visiting her there when I was a kid. Other than my aunt, I didn’t know of any other Colombians in Manhattan.

Back in the day, there were tons of Irish in Queens, as there were in Bronx (Bainbridge Avenue, and Woodlawn) and Brooklyn (Bay Side?). They were the big burly cops – back then when there was a height requirement and were actually respected if not feared. I wonder how many Colombians got the hell beat out of them in the 60s and 70s. There are a few stories about this in my family. Actually, the abuse abated when the Colombian mafia came on the scene in the 1980s and the cops weren't sure who was associated with whom.

Additionally, the Irish were mostly our firemen, teachers, and Catholic clergy. They also made inroads into local NYC politics. Colombians were present in Queens but not very known since many in New York City couldn’t tell the difference between Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, and South Americans. We were all lumped as Puerto Ricans. Also, since Colombians come in various mixes of café con leche, many couldn’t tell that we were a heterogenous breed of whites, blacks, mestizos, Indians, and mulatto South Americans. We were foreigners indeed, but not Colombians per se – just Puerto Ricans. The ignorance, as you know, was ubiquitous in Queens and in New York City in general.

Then some insightful people began to know Colombians because we were cultured, in other words “educados�. Even Colombians of humble means knew how to speak properly, be courteous, and festive. I guess this is what made Colombian men so attractive. The Colombian women, however, were a shock to people in NYC, especially the Irish, since they were so sexy, flirty, and sweet. Ósea, el pueblo nos encontró bien ricos! Ha ha!

We really didn’t become known until the 1970s when marijuana made a big hit on the scene and the drug was being imported from Colombia among other places like Jamaica. As far as the rest of the story, I mentioned it in my prior post.


Regards,


Plato

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those [liberals] who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.--Dante Alighieri, (1265-1321)

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elmodefoque says on Oct 10, 2006, 08:45:

I kind of like the Irish, I kindda like the Irish, once you hang out with them you’ll see they’re low lives too, so are Italians. Most of my Irish friends from Hells Kitchen, west side Manhattan got hooked on heroin, in the late 70’s, turned into stone cold “tecatos� or junkies. I still see them near where I work on 34th st. coming outta rehab clinics after getting their daily dose of methadone.
As for Irish cops, I was smacked by a big modefoque while smoking grass outside my junior high school, he nearly knocked my head right off, all my piojos fell outta my head. The only other time I got hit that hard was on my nuts by my burrita, back in barranquilla. Anyways, that cop probably had a hangover or found his wife in bed with the Puerto Rican super.

any colombianita willing to date me, IS UP TO NO GOOD

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Plato says on Oct 10, 2006, 09:06:

Agreed – Irish are great. They too suffered a lot when they first came to the States in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were treated like dogs. Then came the Italians at the turn of the 20th century and were also treated like dogs – by the Irish!

The Puerto Ricans came in the 1940s – again the same old thing. The Cubans in the 1950s – they were all “political refugees� (wink wink). Well, not all of them. They have an interesting history too here in the States. I spoke about the Colombians in the 1960s and also other South Americans but in smaller number at that time. The Mexicans in the West have always been there and are the dominant group. They are now - and have been - migrating to NYC as you know.

After awhile, the Irish and Italians started inter-marrying. It’s the same with Colombians. Since we’ve been around for almost 45 years and are more accepted and even intermarrying with Italians and Irish. My wife is Italian-American. All groups go through the same process. Now, Latinos have made a big impact in the entertainment industry, educational system, police department, sports such as baseball (Go Mets!), and politics. As a broad ethnic Latin group, and as the fastest growing population in the USA, it’s our time now. Café con leche reigns baby!

Regards,


Plato

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those [liberals] who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.--Dante Alighieri, (1265-1321)

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elmodefoque says on Oct 10, 2006, 09:30:

All in all, man, there's nothing like NYC and diversity. I have kids that are half German /Dutch, others half Dominicans and the rest half Boricuas but consider themselves 100% New Yorkers.
This girl is the result of those days hanging out in Manhattan clubs as a street smarts, bilingual, young colombiano. I was banging the best looking broads and one of them was su mama, ex model. La preñe while illegaly double parked outside a popular club called “ipanema� on 50th st. We get high, go screw in the car and then back to the club.
Now, that I’m an old, disgusting and still perverted viejo verde I have to go all the way to Colombia to pay for sex from girls I would not even look at twice, back then.
Life is a bitch, and then you die!

any colombianita willing to date me, IS UP TO NO GOOD

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Plato says on Oct 10, 2006, 10:31:

Ha ha! Elmo you’re a classic old school costeño! I see you keep it real!

Regards,

Plato

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those [liberals] who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.--Dante Alighieri, (1265-1321)

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