Great Neck is a region on Long Island that covers a peninsula on the North Shore of Long Island. Kings Point, a village constituting part of Great Neck, has the greatest percentage of Iranians in the United States (approximately 40%)The general trend is that the northern part of Great Neck has a greater number of Iranian families, while the southern part has a larger East Asian population. In the 1980s, an influx of affluent Iranian Jews who left their country following the 1979 Islamic revolution settled in Great Neck.
Today, the Kings Point population is mostly first-generation foreign as opposed to the previous which was second-generation American.
I live in the northern part of Great Neck and attended Great Neck North High School. My school consists of a huge Iranian population and most of my friends have an Iranian background. Around my town, there were be several Iranian restaurants scattered throughout the streets and even Iranian temples as well.
When I first arrived at this school, one of the first questions I consistently got asked was " you're from Great Neck? You don't look Persian." A huge misconception that some people make is that not everyone who resides in Great Neck is of Iranian descent. The majority of people in Great Neck are not Iranian, it is just that the majority of people in Kings Point are (an area in Great Neck).
I am a Syrian Jew and most of my family resides in Brooklyn in the Ocean Parkway area. Living in Great Neck allows me to experience two different cultures that are distinct but share the same values.
* The names Iran and Persia are often used interchangeably to mean the same country. Iran is the legal name. Perisa was an ancient kingdom within Iran.To call all of Iran 'Persia', would be like calling all of Britain 'England'.
Today, the Kings Point population is mostly first-generation foreign as opposed to the previous which was second-generation American.
I live in the northern part of Great Neck and attended Great Neck North High School. My school consists of a huge Iranian population and most of my friends have an Iranian background. Around my town, there were be several Iranian restaurants scattered throughout the streets and even Iranian temples as well.
When I first arrived at this school, one of the first questions I consistently got asked was " you're from Great Neck? You don't look Persian." A huge misconception that some people make is that not everyone who resides in Great Neck is of Iranian descent. The majority of people in Great Neck are not Iranian, it is just that the majority of people in Kings Point are (an area in Great Neck).
I am a Syrian Jew and most of my family resides in Brooklyn in the Ocean Parkway area. Living in Great Neck allows me to experience two different cultures that are distinct but share the same values.
* The names Iran and Persia are often used interchangeably to mean the same country. Iran is the legal name. Perisa was an ancient kingdom within Iran.To call all of Iran 'Persia', would be like calling all of Britain 'England'.