Sunnyside, Queens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sunnyside is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It shares borders with Hunters Point and Long Island City to the west, Astoria to the north, Woodside to the east and Maspeth to the south (map). The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 2.[1]
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[edit] Ethnic Community
Sunnyside's residents are of various ethnic backgrounds including Albanian, Armenian, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Colombian, Dominican, Ecuadorian, Filipino, Indian, Irish, Japanese, Korean, Mexican, Romanian, and Turkish. Both Sunnyside and neighboring Woodside to the east are still known for attracting recent Irish immigrants and being that European nation's springboard into the larger American community.
[edit] History
Sunnyside developed after the Queensboro Bridge was completed in 1909. Before that, the neighborhood was mostly small farms and marshland. A large portion of the neighborhood is six-story apartment buildings constructed during the 1920s and '30s. The land was originally owned by French settlers in the 1800s. Sunnyside is derived from Sunnyside Hill Farms, so named by the Bragraws family who owned the land.[2]
The area is particularly known for one of America's first planned communities, Sunnyside Gardens. Constructed from 1924 to 1929, Sunnyside Gardens was one of the first developments to incorporate the "superblock" model in the United States. The residential area has brick row houses of two and a half stories, with front and rear gardens and a landscaped central court shared by all. This model allowed for denser residential development, while also providing ample open/green-space amenities. Clarence Stein and Henry Wright served as the architects and planners for this development, and the landscape architect was Marjorie Sewell Cautley. These well-planned garden homes are now listed as a historic district and are also home to one of only two private parks in New York City, Gramercy Park being the other.[2]
[edit] Transportation
Subway - Sunnyside is served by the 7 Train. The following stops are in the Sunnyside area:
Bus - Multiple bus lines run through Sunnyside:
Other - The area has easy access to Manhattan via the Long Island Expressway & Queens Midtown Tunnel and to Brooklyn via the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
[edit] Schools and Public Services
Elementary Schools
Intermediate Schools
- IS 125 - 46-02 47 Avenue
Public Services
- Fire Department - Engine 325, Hook & Ladder 163 - "Woodside Warriors", FDNY - 41-24/26 51st Street
- Police Department - 108th Precinct, NYPD - 5-47 50th Avenue
- Sunnyside Post Office - 45-15 44th Street
- Sunnyside Branch of Queens Borough Public Library - 43-06 Greenpoint Avenue
Parks
- L/Cpl. Thomas P. Noonan Playground
- George F. Torsney / Lou Lodati Playground
- Joe Sabba Park / Veterans Memorial Plaza
[edit] Famous Residents
Sunnyside has produced an array of talent, including the entertainers Ethel Merman, Perry Como, Nancy Walker, Judy Holliday[3], Joe Spinell, James Caan and Rudy Vallee[4]; jazz great Bix Biederbecke, artist Raphael Soyer, and writers and social activists such as Lewis Mumford. The Queens-grown punk-rock group "The Ramones" played some of their earliest gigs in Sunnyside pubs during the 1970's. In the years before World War II New York Giants star Hap Moran coached a youth football team, the Mustangs, in Sunnyside Park. Also, the first ever active openly gay pro wrestler and former WCW and WWF Tag Team Champ and former US Heavyweight Champion Chris Kanyon was born and raised in Sunnyside and his parents still live there. Speaking of wrestlers, the famous wrestler André the Giant used to fight matches at the neighborhood's now long-gone arena, known as "Sunnyside Garden." The site of the arena is now a Wendys on Queens Boulevard and 45th Street.
In one of John Leguizamo's standup specials, he says he was raised in Sunnyside for a period of time.
[edit] Claims to Fame
Sunnyside hosts New York City's only Saint Patrick's Day Parade that allows members of New York City's Gay and Lesbian Irish community to march - the St. Pat's for all Parade. The parade attracts not only important local politicians, such as former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and current Mayor Michael Bloomberg, but also politicians from the larger state and national levels, such as Mayor Jason West of New Paltz, New York and New York State's junior senator, Hillary Clinton.
Some scenes in the film Spider-Man shot in Sunnyside. For example, the 7 Train is clearly visible in the background of one scene. However, the scenes featuring Peter Parker's home were filmed in Forest Hills, Spider-Man's home in the original comic books.
Another film that has had scenes shot in Sunnyside is the film Queen of Media.
As well, parts of Raising Helen were filmed around Thomas P. Noonan Playground in Sunnyside.
In the video game Grand Theft Auto IV, Sunnyside is represented by the neighborhood of "Schottler" and features a replica of the arch located on 46th Street and Queens Boulevard.
[edit] Railyard
Sunnyside is also known for the former Pennsylvania Railroad (now Amtrak) railyard known as Sunnyside Yard. These are a staging area for both Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains leaving from Penn Station.
The proposed East Side Access project will include a new Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) train station in Sunnyside at Queens Boulevard along the LIRR's Main Line (into Penn Station) will provide one-stop access for area residents to Midtown Manhattan.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ Queens Community Boards, New York City. Accessed September 3, 2007.
- ^ a b Community and Library History, Queens Borough Public Library. Accessed February 14, 2008.
- ^ Shepard, Richard F. "Memories of My Queens", The New York Times, September 3, 1995. Accessed October 19, 2007. "My earliest memories are of Sunnyside, about 1929 and 1930, when my family moved to Queens and bought a house in Sunnyside Gardens, on what was then called Locust Street. Our next-door neighbors were a family by the name of Tuvim, whose daughter was to become a star of Broadway and Hollywood named Judy Holliday, although as a younger-than-teen-age Queens girl she gave little evidence of such talent."
- ^ "Spare Times", The New York Times, October 12, 2001. Accessed October 19, 2007. "HOMETOWN NYC: SUNNYSIDE, QUEENS. A tour of the area that was once home to Rudy Vallee, led by Saul Bennett, a poet who was raised in the neighborhood."
- ^ Vandam, Jeff. "An Enclave at Once Snug and Inclusive", The New York Times, February 4, 2007. Accessed February 14, 2008. "When the Long Island Rail Road's East Side Access project is completed in 2013, its trains, too, will go to Grand Central. Sunnyside's new station in the system will create a nonstop commute to Midtown."
[edit] External links
- Sunnyside Gardens
- Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce
- Forgotten NY: Bridges of Sunnyside Yards
- About Sunnyside: Neighborhood Profile
- New York Metro: 6 Affordable Neighborhoods - Sunnyside
- NYTimes: An Enclave at Once Snug and Inclusive
- Sunnyside, Queens is at coordinates Coordinates:
