Map - East Elmhurst, Queens (East Elmhurst)

East Elmhurst is a residential neighborhood in the northwest section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded to the south by Jackson Heights and Corona, to the north and east by Bowery Bay, and to the west by Woodside and Ditmars Steinway. The area also includes LaGuardia Airport, located on the shore of Flushing Bay, LaGuardia Landing Lights Fields, and Astoria Heights (the latter two in ZIP Code 11370).

East Elmhurst is part of Queens Community District 3 and its ZIP Codes are 11369, 11370, and 11371. The neighborhood is patrolled by the New York City Police Department's 115th Precinct, though the airport is patrolled by the Port Authority Police Department. East Elmhurst and its southern neighbor Corona are often referred to jointly as "Corona/East Elmhurst".

From colonial times to the early 1900s, the area now known as East Elmhurst was a vast marsh named Trains Meadow. Urbanization at the turn of the century was creating a New York City housing shortage and urban sprawl. In 1909, Edward A. MacDougall's Queensboro Corporation bought 325 acre of undeveloped land and farms to the south and christened them Jackson Heights after John C. Jackson, a descendant of one of the original Queens families and a respected Queens County entrepreneur.

The neighborhood formerly contained an amusement area along Bowery Bay Beach (later renamed North Beach), which started operating in 1886. An amusement park called Gala Amusement Park was built by William Steinway on the Bowery Bay in what is now present-day LaGuardia Airport. In the 19th century the area used to be called Frogtown before Steinway rebuilt the area. It was home to the East Coast's first Ferris wheel and was known as the "Coney Island of Queens." Gala Amusement Park was eventually shut down due to Prohibition. In 1929 it was razed and transformed into a 105 acre private flying field named Glenn H. Curtiss Airport after the pioneer Long Island aviator, later called North Beach Airport. Starting in 1937, a Works Progress Administration project transformed North Beach Airport into LaGuardia Airport, which formally opened in 1939.

The first houses were built in 1905. These residences were small frame houses located on 40 by lots, and some houses on the bay contained private beaches. The neighborhood's first commercial development came to Ditmars Boulevard during World War II.

In 1929, Holmes Airport opened near the western section of East Elmhurst. Bordering St. Michaels Cemetery to the west, the airfield was also called the Grand Central Air Terminal and Grand Central Airport. Holmes Airport shut down in 1940, one year after LaGuardia Airport opened. Today, the site is part of the Bulova Corporate Center and residential homes that surround the area.

The neighborhood saw an influx of African American residents in the 1960s and 1970s, as it was one of the few areas of the city where they could buy homes.

In September 2021, remnants of Hurricane Ida severely flooded the neighborhood of East Elmhurst and all surrounding areas. After surveying hurricane damage in New Jersey, President Joe Biden flew to East Elmhurst and toured one of the many residential common driveway inundated by the storm. Near the 87th Street alleyway, Biden met with local representatives and residents, and he delivered remarks on the response to Hurricane Ida in Queens.