Day 290: Little Punjab, Richmond Hill, New York
📌APIA Every Day (290) - New York’s Richmond Hill neighborhood, which encompasses Little Guyana (APIA Every Day 187), is also home to a community around 101st Avenue known as Little Punjab. This area of Queens has long been occupied by South Asians, many of them second and third wave immigrants, who arrived in New York following India’s independence and U.S. immigration law reforms in the 1960s. The 1980s in particular, brought an influx of Punjabi Sikh immigrants seeking refuge from government persecution in the aftereffects of Partition which divided Punjab between India and Pakistan. Richmond Hill provided space for this growing Punjabi community in New York to find support and connection amidst a backdrop of businesses that were reminiscent of home.
Little Punjab experienced considerable growth in the 1990s as more Sikh families gathered around the area's first Gurdwara Sahib—The Sikh Cultural Society Temple—which opened in 1972. Recognized as one of the oldest gurdwaras on the East Coast with organizational roots in 1954, the current temple that sits on the site today was built in 2004 after a fire destroyed the original building in 2002. The second major gurdwara in the area, the Baba Makhan Shah Lubana Sikh Center, was founded in the late 1990s and stands just a few blocks away. Beyond these core religious institutions, Little Punjab is also home to a number of South Asian businesses selling traditional foods, clothing, and jewelry. Notable establishments include restaurants like Punjabi Dhaba and Punjabi Kabab House as well as grocery stores like Apna Bazaar. Signs across these businesses appear in both English and Punjabi Gurmukhi: the writing system used by Sikhs from Eastern Punjab.
In recent years, Little Punjab has gained more official recognition from the city for its historical and cultural significance. In 2020, the length of 101st Avenue between 111th and 123rd streets was officially co-named Punjab Avenue. That same year, a portion of 97th Avenue near the Sikh Cultural Society Temple became Gurdwara Street. In 2023, a section of the intersecting 118th Street was designated Guru Nanak Way, honoring Sikhism's founder. Today, Little Punjab remains a lively, multiethnic neighborhood which continues to celebrate and promote South Asian culture through its businesses and events like the annual Sikh Day parade.
Written by Avneet Dhaliwal
LEARN MORE:
QNS: Richmond Hill’s Sikh community celebrates unveiling of street co-naming signage
QNS: Sikh society break ground on Richmond Hill temple
Queens Daily Eagle: Richmond Hill street co-named for founder of Sikhism
The NY Times: Growing Sikh Community Celebrates 505th Anniversary of Founder's Birth
AsAmNews: How Little Punjab in Queens came to be a hub of Indian community
Sikh Cultural Society, New York
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