A typical residential street in Bayside.
Bayside is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York in the
United States. It is one of New York's most ethnically diverse commuter towns, though inside the City limits. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 11.[1]
History
Bayside's history dates back to 2000 B.C., when the Matinecock Native American tribe first settled there. In the Late 17th
century, the area was settled by English colonists. By the middle of the eighteenth century, early settlers left their homes in
Flushing and developed a farming community, Bay Side. During the Revolutionary War, the Bayside-Little Neck area suffered from
raids by whaleboatmen from the Connecticut shores. In one of the raids, the Talman house was attacked and the miller was
killed.In the 19th century Bayside was still mostly farmland. Middle 20th century urban
sprawl, with the help of better roads, suburbanized it. During the 1920s many rich actors and actress, such as Rudolph
Valentino, lived in Bayside. Because of its close location to the city, it was a perfect place to live, not too urban or
suburban.
Bell Boulevard in Bayside, Queens NY.
Location and boundaries
Bayside is located in northeastern Queens, and is part of Queens Community Board
11.[2] Its geographical boundaries are:
Francis Lewis Boulevard to the west, 233rd Street to the east, Grand Central Parkway to the south,[3] and Cross Island Parkway/Little Neck Bay to the north. Bayside is bordered by neighboring communities Douglaston/Little Neck to the east, Auburndale to the west, and Oakland Gardens to the
south.[4]
Bay Terrace is a community of garden apartments located in the north section of
the neighborhood; an adjacent shopping center was named after the community. The northern section of Bay Terrace also has a view
of the Throgs Neck Bridge, which leads to The Bronx.
Bayside's major highways include the Long Island Expressway,
Clearview Expressway, and the Cross
Island Parkway. Bayside is also connected to Penn Station in
Midtown Manhattan and Long Island by the
Long Island Rail Road's Port Washington
Branch at the Bayside station.
The north end of the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway is in Little Bay Park with
convenient connection to the Utopia Parkway bicycle lane. It runs between Cross Island
Parkway and Little Neck Bay, connecting Bayside to Douglaston, Queens and
Alley Pond Park, and eventually to central Queens and Coney Island.
Francis Lewis Boulevard is a major street notorious for drag racing, which has resulted in several fatalities to drivers and pedestrians over the years.[5]
Demographics
Bayside does not look like typical " Queens." It is a bit more suburban, with larger houses and landscaping. It is known as
one of the more expensive areas in Queens.The Bayside population is predominantly European with Upper-middle class Greek,
Italian, Irish, and Russian residents. Out of the 34,539 residents of Bayside (zip code 11358, 11361, 11360 and 11364) as of the
2000 census, 61.7% of residents were born in the United States, and 37.1% were foreign-born. Half of Bayside households speak
English only at home, while the other half speak non-English languages in their households.
Bayside contains 13,977 housing units. The majority of Bayside residents are part of family households, with an average
household size of 2.54 individuals. The median age of Bayside's citizens is 41.5 years, and 18.1% of residents are senior
citizens. 86.6% of residents age 25 and over have at least graduated from high school, while 38.4% have a bachelor's degree or higher, making Bayside a more educated community than the average American
neighborhood.
It is a upper-middle class neighborhood. The homes range from about $600,000 to 2 million and can go higher. The median
household income as of 2005 is $82,000, and 88% of all households own at least one car.[6]
Education
Schools
Bayside is part of the New York City Department of Education's
district 26, the highest performing school district for grades K-9 in all of New York
City. As such, many parents have forged proof of residence within Bayside, so that their kids may attend District 26
schools. The district includes 20 elementary schools and 5 middle schools.[4]
Bayside is home to a number of New York City high schools:
as well as a number of parochial schools:
- Sacred Heart School Catholic School
- Redeemer Lutheran School Lutheran school
- St. Robert's Bellarmine School Catholic School
Bayside is also home to the following colleges:
Libraries
Queens Borough Public Library operates the Bayside and Bay Terrace
Branches.
Parks
- Alley Pond Park
- Bowne Park
- Crocheron Park
- Cunningham Park
- Throggs Neck Park
- John Golden Park
- Raymond O'Connor Field
Claims to fame
- Bayside was the site of alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary to a housewife
named Veronica Lueken. The apparitions began in 1970 at St. Robert Bellarmine Church.
Lueken died in 1995.
- The movie Sally of the Sawdust (1925) was filmed in Bayside.[4]
- Bayside has been included in CNN Money's list of Most Expensive Housing Markets,[8] and was also a contender for CNN Money's ranking of Best Places
to Live 2005,[9] and Best Places to Retire 2005.[10]
- Crocheron Park, in Bayside, once had a hotel, where Boss Tweed hid after his escape
from prison in 1875.
Landmarks
- Lawrence Cemetery - 216th Street & 42nd Avenue.[11]
- Fort Totten, New York - A fort built during the Civil War to guard the north
entrance to NYC Harbor, along with Fort Schuyler in the Bronx, in 1862.
- Straiton-Storm Cigar Factory - Built c. 1872, The factory was the largest cigar manufacturer in America. The three story,
wood frame building was of the French Second Empire style.
- All Saints Episcopal Church - The first church in Bayside, built in 1892, contains examples of Louis Comfort Tiffany's work.
- Cornell-Appleton house at 214-33 33rd Rd. Archibald Cornell's wife inherited the 100 acre farm from her father more than 160
years ago. This twelve-room house is thought to be one of the oldest in Bayside. With past and continuing research, it has been
traced back to 1852. In 1905, the house was sold to Edward Dale Appleton, of the Appleton Publishing Company. Mrs. Appleton and
her sister were passengers aboard the Titanic when it hit an iceberg and sank. Both women were rescued by the ship Carpathia.
This is also the second-oldest home in Queens.
Famous people
Throughout its history, Bayside has been home to several notable people, including:
- Rolf Armstrong, painter.[12]
- John Barrymore, actor.[13]
- Bayside (band), the rock group
- Irving Berlin, composer and lyricist
- Christian Carbonara, Gold Medalist, 1972 Olympics
- Michael Chang, tennis player
- Charlie Chaplin, actor.[14]
- Jim Corbett, boxer
- Joseph Cornell, artist
- Perry Farrell, frontman of Jane's
Addiction
- W.C. Fields, comedian / actor.[13][14]
- Ron Jeremy, porn star.[citation needed]
- Judge Thomas Jones (historian)
- Scott Ian, musician
- Buster Keaton, comedian / actor
- Paul Newman, actor
- Rosie O'Donnell, actress/comedienne
- José Reyes, shortstop for the New York
Mets.[15]
- David Rolon, writer
- Tom Seaver, pitcher
- Gloria Swanson, actress.[13][14]
- Norma Talmadge , actress.[13][14]
- Rudolph Valentino, actor.[14]
References
- ^ Queens Community Boards, New York City. Accessed
September 3, 2007.
- ^ QUEENS COMMUNITY DISTRICT 11 Profile, New York City.
Accessed July 15, 2006.
- ^ Giuffo, John, "Close-Up on Bayside", The Village
Voice, November 2004
- ^ a b c Roleke, Krissy. "Bayside, NY:
Queens Neighborhood Profile for Bayside", About.com. Accessed July 15, 2006.
- ^ Call For Cameras Along Drag Strip Where 2 Were Struck, Queens Gazette, April 14, 2004.
- ^ U.S. Census Bureau, http://factfinder.census.gov
- ^ http://www.baysidequeens.com
- ^ Most Expensive Housing Markets, CNN. Accessed
July 15, 2006.
- ^ Best Places to Live 2005, CNN. Accessed July 15, 2006.
- ^ Best Places to Retire 2005, CNN. Accessed July 15, 2006.
- ^ Lawrence Cemetery
- ^ Kusmierz, Marvin. "Rolf Armstrong
(1889-1960)", Bay-Journal, November 2002. Accessed June 17, 2007. "After his completing his studies in Chicago, Rolf moved to New York where the best opportunities for finding
work as an artist. He set up a studio in Manhattan where he was able to earn enough income for a comfortable living. He purchased
a home near Little Neck Bay in Bayside."
- ^ a b c d Renée, Renee. "They Lived Here", Newsday. Accessed
June 17, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e Wilson, Claire.
"If You're Thinking of Living In/Bayside; Community Spirit and Top-Rated Schools", The New York Times, April 25, 2004. Accessed October 15, 2007. "One of these is
said to have belonged to W. C. Fields, who, like Gloria Swanson, Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino and Norma Talmadge, lived in
the area when Astoria Studios was in its heyday."
- ^ Shpigel, Ben. "Young
All-Stars in Alignment", The New York Times, July 11, 2006. Accessed October 13,
2007. "But after games, Reyes retreats to his apartment in Bayside, Queens, where he lives with his
parents, and his girlfriend and their 18-month-old daughter, Katerine."
External links
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