Long Island City, Queens

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Industrial Long Island City, Manhattan Skyline behind.

Long Island City (often abbreviated L.I.C.) is the western-most neighborhood of the borough of Queens in New York City. It is bounded on the north and west by the East River; on the east by Hazen Street, 49th Street, and New Calvary Cemetery, and on the south by Newtown Creek which separates Queens from Greenpoint, Brooklyn. It originally was the seat of government of Newtown Township, and remains the largest neighborhood in Queens Borough. The area is part of Queens Community Board 1 north of the Queensboro Bridge and Queens Community Board 2 south of the Bridge.

1 History
2 Community
3 Education
4 Trivia
5 Transportation
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

Long Island City was created in 1870 from the communities of Astoria, Hunters Point, Blissville, Ravenswood, Dutch Kills, Bowery Bay, Steinway, and Sunnyside. The neighborhood of Middleton was dissolved because the U.S. post office refused to recognize two locations with that name in the same state, and there existed a town of that name in Orange County. Locals now use the term LIC only for the area south of Astoria.

Mayors of Long Island City

Abram D. Ditmars (1870-72)
Henry S. DeBevoise (1872-75)
Abram D. Ditmars (1875)
John Quinn (1876)
Henry S. DeBevoise (1876-83)
George Petry (1883-86)
Patrick J. Gleason (1887-92)
Horatio S. Sanford (1893-95)
Patrick J. Gleason (1896-97)

Source: The Encyclopedia of New York City; (p. 690, column 3).

[edit] Community

Long Island City surrendered its independence in 1898 to become part of New York City. However, Long Island City is still one of the four main post offices in Queens (ZIP Code 11101 and 11109) and was formerly a Sectional center facility (SCF). It is the eastern terminus of the Queensboro Bridge, also known as the 59th Street Bridge, which is the only non-toll automotive route connecting Queens and Manhattan.

Northwest of the bridge terminus are the Queensbridge development of the New York City Housing Authority. Major thoroughfares include 21st Street, which is mostly industrial and commercial; Queens Boulevard, which leads westward to the bridge and eastward follows New York State Route 25 through Long Island; and the western-most portion of Northern Boulevard, which becomes Jackson Avenue (the former name of Northern Boulevard) west of Queens Plaza. The most prominent feature aside from the bridge is the community's green skyscraper, the 658-foot Citicorp Building built in 1989 on Courthouse Square, which is the tallest building on Long Island and in New York City outside Manhattan.^[1]

Long Island City was once home to many factories and bakeries, some of which are finding new uses. The former Silvercup bakery is now home to Silvercup Studios, which produces notable works such as HBO's The Sopranos. The Silvercup sign is visible from the 7 Train going into and out of Queensboro Plaza. The former Sunshine Bakery is now one of the buildings housing LaGuardia Community College. Other buildings in the LaGuardia College complex originally served as the location of the Ford Instrument Company, at one time a major producer of precision machines and devices. Artist Isamu Noguchi converted a photo-engraving plant into a workshop; the site is now a museum dedicated to his work. High-rise housing is being built on a former Pepsi-Cola site, and from June 2002 to September 2004 the former Swingline Staplers plant was the temporary headquarters of the Museum of Modern Art. Other factories included Fisher Electronics and Chiclets Gum.

P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, an affiliate of the Museum of Modern Art, is the oldest and second-largest non-profit arts center in the United States solely devoted to contemporary art. It is named after the former public school in which it is housed.

Long Island City is also home to several special high schools: Academy of American Studies (a history high school), Aviation High School, Information Technology, International High School, Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, Middle College High School, Newcomers High School, and Robert F. Wagner HS. Not to be confused with SHSAT-based high schools, these schools offer programs that are included at those schools.

Eagle Electric, now known as Cooper Wiring Devices, was one of the last major factories in the area. They have moved production to China, and Plant #1, which was the largest of their factories and housed their corporate offices, is being converted to residential luxury lofts.

Long Island City is currently home to the largest fortune cookie factory in the United States, owned by Wonton Foods and producing four million fortune cookies a day. Lucky numbers included on fortunes in the company's cookies led to 110 people across the United States winning $100,000 each in a May 2005 drawing for Powerball.

Long Island City was featured in Steven Spielberg's film Munich. The final scene was shot on location in 2005 at the East River pier at Gantry Park in Hunter's Point. The pier and Pepsi-Cola sign are visible in this scene.

Long Island City was also featured prominently in the 1997 film, Sunday, with David Suchet and Lisa Harrow, which was filmed on location.

Long Island City is the home of 5 Pointz, a building housing artists' studios, which has been (legally) painted by a number of graffiti artists and is visible near the Court House Square station on the 7 train.

Long Island City is home to Water Taxi Beach, NYC's first urban beach, located within Queens West on the East River Wharf. NYC plans to build 5,000 moderate income apartments in this area.

[edit] Education

Long Island City is served by the New York City Department of Education.

Long Island City is zoned to:

I.S. 126 Albert Shanker School For Visual And Performing Arts

A 7-12 school called Baccalaureate School Of Global Education is in LIC.

9-12 high schools include:

Long Island City High School
Frank Sinatra School of the Arts
International High School At Laguardia
High School For Information Technology
Middle College High School
Aviation Career And Technical High School
Academy of American Studies
Newcomers High School - Academy for New Americans
Queens Vocational High School
Robert F. Wagner Jr. Institute For Arts & Technology
William Cullen Bryant High School

[edit] Trivia

Seven Major League Baseball players were born in Long Island City...Gus Sandberg (1895), Billy Zitzmann (1895), Joe Benes (1901), Tony Cuccinello (1907), Ed Boland (1908), Al Cuccinello (1914), and Billy Loes (1929).
Only two Major League Baseball players have died in Long Island City...John Hatfield (1909) and Dike Varney (1950).

Ron Artest (NBA) is also from Long Island City NY

[edit] Transportation

Transportation into and out of Long Island City is known for its advantages and disadvantages. The #7 subway line often is shut down for entire weekends for track work. Many other lines serve Long Island City including the E and G trains. There is a LIRR stop, and a commuter ferry service opperated by NY Water Taxi at the East River Wharf. Cars enter the area in many ways including the Queensboro Bridge, the Mid-Town Tunnel and the Pulaski Bridge.