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Jackson Heights Insider

The weekly newsletter covering the best local events in Jackson Heights, New York City.

09/08/2026

The 14th annual Momo Crawl returns this Sunday, September 13, bringing 30+ local vendors, $1 momos, live Himalayan music and performances, and one extremely serious championship belt to the neighborhood.

The idea is simple: grab a Momo Passport, wander between participating restaurants and vendors, try as many $1 momos as your stomach allows, then vote for your favorite.

What started in 2012 as a small crawl between Jackson Heights momo spots has turned into one of the neighborhood’s biggest food traditions, introducing thousands of people to the Tibetan, Nepali and Himalayan restaurants that make this corner of Queens so special.

📅 Sunday, September 13
⏰ 12–5 PM
📍 Diversity Plaza + surrounding Jackson Heights
🎟️ Passports from $15
🥟 Momos: $1 each

A little advice: go early, bring small bills, wear comfortable shoes and do not arrive after a large breakfast. Lines can get serious after 1 PM.

Who’s your Momo Crawl partner this year? Tag them below 👇

09/03/2026

Jackson Heights has no shortage of pizza, from old-school neighborhood slice shops to sourdough crusts, Detroit-style squares and personal pan pies.

We rounded up 8 local spots worth knowing. Some have been here for decades, some are relatively new, and all bring something a little different to the neighborhood.

Swipe through and tell us which one we missed. 🍕

Elements is one of the neighborhood’s newer pizza spots, with a menu that goes well beyond the standard NY slice. Alongside its sourdough program, you’ll find NY-style rounds, Detroit-style squares, house-made meatballs, house-stretched mozzarella and creative pies like carbonara and pesto-roni.

Elements Pizzeria
📍 83-01 Northern Blvd, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

Come hungry because the pizza menu here is huge. Due Fratelli does everything from classic slices and Grandma pies to specialty pizzas like chicken Francese and chicken Marsala. There’s also a full Italian-American menu if someone in your group somehow doesn’t want pizza.

Due Fratelli
📍 76-23 37th Ave, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

Lucia keeps things refreshingly simple. This is the kind of neighborhood spot to hit when what you want is a big, classic New York slice without a lot of fuss. It’s right in the middle of the 37th Avenue action, so an easy stop while you’re out and about.

Lucia Pizza
📍 82-08 37th Ave, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

Champion has one of the more unusual pizza backstories in NYC. Founder Hakki Akdeniz became known as a champion pizza acrobat before growing Champion into a group of NYC pizzerias. The Jackson Heights location serves NY-style pies plus specialty options like Buffalo and BBQ chicken.

Champion Pizza
📍 37-61 82nd St, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

A longtime Northern Boulevard neighborhood spot with plenty of old-school pizzeria energy. Beyond regular slices, you’ll find Sicilian and Grandma pies, plus options like lasagna pizza and the grilled chicken balsamic slice.

Pizza Sam
📍 89-06 Northern Blvd, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

The menu at Uncle Thomas gets interesting fast. Alongside the usual cheese, pepperoni, Sicilian and Grandma options, you can order pizza topped with broccoli, eggplant, anchovies or e

08/27/2026

Well, that didn’t take long 👻

The old Rite Aid on Northern Blvd has officially transformed into Spirit Halloween.

You’ll find costumes, decorations, props, animatronics and all the usual spooky-season chaos inside.

📍 85-10 Northern Blvd, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

Hours:
Mon–Fri: 11am–7pm
Sat: 10am–7pm
Sun: 12pm–6pm

Are you browsing yet, or refusing to acknowledge Halloween until October?

08/26/2026

The Jackson Heights Running Festival is back this Saturday, August 29, and this year it’s bigger than ever, with the neighborhood’s first-ever 5K, a 5K relay, the classic mile, kids races, relays and a post-race celebration around Travers Park.

Whether you’re racing, cheering from 34th Ave or just showing up for the pizza, massages and neighborhood chaos, there’s plenty going on all morning.

Swipe through for the race-day guide, including the courses, schedule, bib pickup and what’s happening after the finish line.

Signups are still open. Comment RACE and we’ll send you the registration link.

And use code JHINSIDER5 for $5 off registration.

📍 Northern Playground / 34th Avenue
📅 Saturday, August 29
🌧️ Rain or shine

08/21/2026

Another great night around Jackson Heights. Thank you to everyone who joined us for our 9th Jackson Heights Dinner Club, connecting over dinner at local spots including Cora, Juquila, Kitchen 79, and Leo’s.

Our next Dinner Club takes place this coming Tuesday, August 25. Come solo or with a friend, get matched with a small group for dinner at a local restaurant, and meet new people from the neighborhood in a relaxed, welcoming setting.

Comment DINNER below and we’ll send you the signup link.

08/19/2026

Jackson Heights, race day is almost here 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️🎉

The Jackson Heights Running Festival is happening August 29th, celebrating five years of running, community, and a full day of racing on 34th Avenue.

This year brings the first-ever 5K and 5K Relay, plus age-group races, relays, the Community & Competitive Mile, and one of the biggest highlights of the day: the Kids Dash. ❤️

Want to sign up?

Comment RACE below and we’ll send you the registration link.

Plus, use code JHINSIDER5 at registration for $5 off your entry.

Bring the family, bring your friends, and come be part of a really fun day in Jackson Heights. 🏅

08/12/2026

New restaurants, cafés, shopping and fitness studios have arrived in Jackson Heights, Queens. Save this guide for your next neighborhood food crawl and send it to the friend who always wants to try somewhere new. 👀

☕ SANTUARIO CAFE
📍 81-17 37th Avenue, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

This new Colombian-inspired café serves specialty coffee, baked empanadas and first-harvest matcha sourced from Yame, Japan. The guava matcha gets the photos, but insiders should also investigate the coconut pistachio loaf and flaky spinach-feta empanadas.

🍜 THAI NARA
📍 72-23 37th Avenue, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

This halal Thai restaurant moved from Woodside and draws inspiration from Narathiwat in southern Thailand, where Malay and Thai culinary traditions meet. Popular orders include sizzling beef, drunken noodles, chicken lollipops, tom yum soup and mango sticky rice.

🍰 PAVELAND
📍 81-18 Northern Boulevard, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

What began as a Colombian dessert cart now has a permanent storefront serving pavés, merengones, cakes and loaded obleas. They are known to offer samples when you cannot choose a flavor, and the customizable merengón comes with three fruits, two sauces and a topping.

🎬 BABY CAFE
📍 74-23 37th Avenue, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

The mysterious name sparked plenty of neighborhood speculation, but this is actually a colorful Bangladeshi halal street-food café with a vintage cinema theme. The affordable menu includes fuchka, chotpoti, jhalmuri, Dhaka lassi, Mama haleem and a full Haji biryani for $12, with Naga-spiced upgrades for heat seekers.

🛍️ MINISO
📍 37-62 82nd Street, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

The former Duane Reade has traded prescriptions for plushies, blind boxes, beauty products, home goods and licensed Sanrio, Disney and character merchandise. With DIGISO nearby, the 82nd Street shopping corridor may now have an unofficial cute-stuff rivalry.

☕ NOMAD’S BREW
📍 72-22 Roosevelt Avenue, Jackson Heights, NY 11372

This Nepalese woman-owned café near the 74th Street transit hub is much more than a coffee stop. Its Himalayan breakfast includes Tibetan fried bread, eggs and ema datshi, while other talked-about specials have i

08/10/2026

Saturday’s gathering at The World’s Borough Bookshop The World’s Borough Bookshop was all about what it takes to turn a good neighborhood idea into something much bigger.

We got an inside look at the The Queens Arts Map Queens Cultural Mapping Report, then heard from the people behind three extremely cool, deeply local festivals:

🎨 Jackson Heights Day Jackson Heights Day, a full-on celebration of neighborhood culture, public art, local businesses, and community pride

🌱 Street Works Earth Festival Street Works Earth, where participatory art, climate action, workshops, performance, and sustainable fashion meet in public space

🎬 Rockaway Film Festival Rockaway Film Festival, bringing cinema, music, installations, and collective moviegoing back to a neighborhood that went decades without a theater

A few pieces of festival-organizing wisdom we’re still thinking about:

Be good to the people in the room. Get to know them. Many of the panelists’ best collaborators and supporters first showed up as attendees. Your next great partner might be sitting two folding chairs away.

Grants can keep ambitious cultural work alive, but “free money” is rarely free. Applications, administration, and reporting all take real time, so it’s worth asking whether a grant will genuinely help the work or quietly become the work.

And everyone was thinking bigger: an open-air book festival, a celebration stretching across the entire Open Street, and more ways to make Queens’ creative life visible, connected, and sustainable.

Honestly, this is why we love neighborhood cultural spaces. You walk in for a panel and leave with three new incredible festivals on your radar and a deeper appreciation for the people doing the hard work behind the scenes.

08/03/2026

Jackson Heights was awash in blue, yellow and red yesterday for the 43rd Annual Ecuadorian Parade 🇪🇨

The largest Ecuadorian parade in the United States brought music, dancing and plenty of national pride to the streets, with Mayor Mamdani joining the celebration.

More than 200,000 Ecuadorian Americans call Queens home, and yesterday their culture and community were on full display.

Were you there? 🇪🇨🎉

08/01/2026

One of the greatest documentaries ever made is about Jackson Heights. 🎥

In Jackson Heights has landed at #9 on The Hollywood Reporter’s all-time list, placing our neighborhood alongside some of the most celebrated documentaries in film history.

Have you watched it? Let us know what you thought.

Comment DOC and we’ll DM you the full list.

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