Cambria Heights, Queens

Cambria Heights is a middle-class neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Springfield Boulevard and Francis Lewis Boulevard to the west, the Elmont, Nassau County border on the east, Queens Village to the north, St. Albans to the west, and Montefiore Cemetery and Laurelton and Rosedale to the south. As of 2007, Cambria Heights's population is 20,128. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 13.

Overview
The town derived its name from the Cambria Construction Company of Pennsylvania, which began to develop the community in the late 1920s, and the fact that, at an elevation of 49 feet, it is one of the three highest points in the borough, together with Jackson Heights and Richmond Hill.

The original population consisted primarily of Roman Catholics of Italian, German, and Irish descent, and Jewish families relocating from Brooklyn. The present neighborhood has a large middle class Caribbean and African American population. The median home cost is $450,600.

The public elementary schools in Cambria Heights are P.S. 176 and P.S. 147, re-named for astronaut Ronald McNair. There are four magnet high schools on the campus of the former Andrew Jackson High School, which are dedicated to: arts and humanities; business computer applications; mathematics, science and technology; and law, government and community service. The local Catholic grammar school is Sacred Heart, also with a parish by that name.

In the vicinity of Cambria Heights are the neighborhoods of Laurelton, Springfield Gardens, Rosedale, and Hollis.

Notable residents
The following are the names of notable people who have at one time or another resided in Cambria Heights:
 * Michael Bentt - Retired heavyweight boxer turned actor of Jamaican lineage.
 * Bob Cousy - Basketball Hall of Famer attended Andrew Jackson High School.
 * Chick Corea, a Miles Davis band veteran, played electric piano for Stan Getz.
 * Jackie Robinson, baseball player
 * Lena Horne, singer
 * Henry Petroski, whose 2002 book Paperboy: Confessions of a Future Engineer describes his teenage years in Cambria Heights.
 * Rick Pitino - Head basketball head coach at the University of Louisville.
 * Tony Santiago, - Military historian and writer
 * The Shangri-Las - American pop girl group of the 1960s.
 * Maggie Van Ostrand, writer
 * Dennis Walcott - Deputy Mayor for Education and Community Development in administration of Michael Bloomberg; before that, President and CEO of New York Urban League
 * Mary Weiss - lead singer with The Shangri-Las.
 * Richie Righteous- popular New Yorker gospel rapper currently resides here