By MELANIE CARROLL

As the No. 7 train clamors along Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, people from nearly every continent live and work below its screeching wheels.

On 74th Street between Roosevelt and 37th Avenues, a line snakes outside the Jackson Diner – not a greasy spoon, but a famed Indian restaurant. People from all over come for the diner’s vegetable samosas and chicken tikka. Exotic scents linger outside stores selling Indian spices, jewelry and saris. A street vendor offers bargain prices on The Koran in English or Arabic.

Queens is now home to the best ethnic restaurants in the city.

Continuing on 37th toward Roosevelt Avenue, a Colombian restaurant advertises its Pollo al Carbon. Crossing over Roosevelt onto Broadway, English is the second language. A Korean barber shop’s sign is incomprehensible to the English-reading eye — except for the "Grand Opening" flier flapping in the wind. On the same block a Pakistani store flanks a Korean cosmetics store, which shares a building with a Chinese restaurant.

Across the street, a teacher at an English language school takes a break, inhaling his cigarette. "They say America is the melting pot," he said. "But this is truly it. Right here in front of you."

Over the last thirty years the number of people living in Queens has remained nearly the same although the composition has changed dramatically.

If there is one important story to tell about Queens in the past 30 years, this is it.

But Who’s Counting

In 1970 the Census Bureau reported the population at 1,985,473, compared with 1998’s estimate of 1,998,853.

International sports are played in leagues like the Ace Cricket Sports club.

Thirty years ago nearly 90 percent of the borough was white—many of them Irish, Italian or Jewish. Today only half report themselves as white.

Donovan’s Pub on Roosevelt Avenue, a Woodside institution, has been open for 33 years. Inside, not much has changed. The clientele is mainly white with the exception of one Asian woman who looks lost.

The 224-seat restaurant/bar with stained-glass windows is managed by Jack Donovan, a retired police detective. "Thirty years ago this area was all Irish. Now it’s a big mix. You’ve got lots of Asians and Spanish," said Donovan. "In the 70s people moved to Long Island or Rockland County. They sold their houses to the newcomers. Still this is a working class neighborhood. That hasn’t changed," added Donovan.

In the 1970s, 800,000 whites fled New York City while 250,000 non-whites took their place. During the same decade, the city’s foreign population expanded by 30 percent.

As we enter the next millennium, the census figures report that Queens in currently the most diverse county in the country with over one hundred different nationalities making up its population. Nearly half of its residents speak another language besides English at home.

And that’s unlikely to change. Immigration to Queens is at its highest point since World War I. In the last nine years, nearly a quarter of a million people from all over the globe have settled here. Archie Bunker, eat your heart out.

Over a third of the population is foreign born; immigration and naturalization consultants take up an entire column in the Yellow Pages. The top ten countries where new immigrants hail from are China, The Dominican Republic, Guyana, the former Soviet bloc, India, Colombia, Jamaica, The Philippines, Ecuador and Korea.

Signs of the times: Over the years downtown Flushing has been transformed into a multi-cultural Mecca.

With the 2000 census rolling around next April, this presents a exhausting task for the Census Bureau and Tony Farthing, its New York City regional director. "This is going to be harder than the ‘90 census," he said. "Sure, areas like Douglaston and Little Neck are easy. But the hot spots are going to be tough."

The hot spots, according to Farthing, are Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Long Island City/Astoria, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, Flushing, Jamaica, Forest Hills and Rego Park. Sounds like half of Queens.

The census workers have started putting up signs and hiring "partnership specialists"—people deeply entrenched in their communities to get the word out. "These are the heavy hitters in their communities. Leaders who people listen to," said Farthing.

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