aves of Romanian immigrants, primarily Jewish Yiddish-speakers, began arriving in the U.S. in the 1880s, and the distinct Romanian quarter on the Lower East Side was bustling through the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Romanian speakers mostly arrived in the second half of the 20th century and settled in Queens (Ridgewood, Sunnyside, Astoria), although some live in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and others attend the St. Dumitru Parish church on West 89th Street, founded in 1939. A significant number of Romanian speakers in Ridgewood are ethnic Romanians from the Banat region (now in Serbia) who fled Communist rule in the former Yugoslavia and who gather in Ridgewood at the Banatul "Folklore and Soccer Club", among other places. Numerous Romanian churches of different denominations dot Ridgewood, including the Orthodox Church at Forest and Putnam.