A longtime stronghold of hard working immigrant families, Ozone Park has kept its identity with new and old groups coloring the demographics of the neighborhood while maintaining old-fashioned values.
Ozone Park is centrally located in south Queens, near transportation to airports, beaches and other parts of New York City. The boundaries are Atlantic and North Conduit Avenues on the north and south, with the Brooklyn border to the west, 110th Street and the Aqueduct Race Track on the east.
Low-priced housing in comparison to other nearby communities is what draws immigrants to Ozone Park and its stock of modest detached and semi-attached one- and two-family houses, most of which were built in the 1920s and 30s.
Ozone Park was developed out of farmland in the late 19th century by two developers, Benjamin W. Hitchcock and Charles C. Denton, who created housing lots because rail service began in 1880 from Long Island City to Howard Beach. It was Hitchcock and Denton who named the area Ozone Park to lure prospective buyers with visions of fresh ocean breezes and a green, park-like community.
The neighborhood saw many Italian and Irish families settle in and more recently, Spanish-speaking and Asian families moving in to the community.
Shopping in Ozone Park consists of mainly mom and pop stores along its major thoroughfares, Atlantic, Liberty and 101st Avenues as well as Cross Bay and Rockaway Boulevards. There is one major shopping center along Atlantic Avenue from 89th to 93rd Streets as well as many chain stores in nearby Howard Beach.
At the Aqueduct Flea Market, which is open for business at Rockaway Boulevard and 110th Street, shoppers can also find everything from discount perfumes, fruits and vegetables, baked goods, and fresh ethnic foods to electronics offered by dozens of vendors year-round every Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday.
The area boasts many playgrounds and playing fields but despite its name, Ozone Park has no major parks. The exception is the 2.8-acre Joseph P. Addabbo Park named after Congressmember Addabbo who served in Congress for 1960 until his death in 1986.
“It’s a great community,” said his son, City Councilmember Joseph P. Addabbo Jr., who represents Ozone Park and lives there with his wife, Dawn.
Ozone Park also fosters a communal peace with Community Board 9 and 10, which cover the northern and southern areas of the neighborhood, respectively. There are five elementary schools, three middles schools, John Adams High School and a number of private schools within Ozone Park.
