Talk:Sunnyside, Queens

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[edit] Sunnyside's borders

Dear folks: The borders of Sunnyside are very precise: 36th St. (west border), 50th St. (east), Barnett Ave. (north), and Greenpoint Ave. (south). Addresses south of Greenpoint Ave. and toward the Expressway, cemeteries, and Maspeth have always been "Woodside, New York." Addresses north of Barnett Ave. read "Long Island City, New York." Thus, Sunnyside does NOT border on Astoria and Maspeth neighborhoods.

Phipps Garden Apartments is just outside the 50th Street border you mention - it goes from 50th St. on the west to 52nd St. between Barnett Ave on the north and 39th Ave. It was South of Barnett but had a Long Island City address (11104 later on) According to Clarence Stein in his book "Toward New Towns for America" Phipps was built on "the property originally purchased for Sunnyside."Revmoran 16:04, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

You're quite correct that in some cases one or two blocks just outside the boundaries mentioned above are still officially Sunnyside (mostly for historical reasons). But there is a recognized boundary for Sunnyside. The overall point I wanted to make was that Sunnyside does NOT touch the Maspeth and Astoria neighborhoods of Queens (which one contributor claimed). That is impossible.

The Queens Library page [1] on Sunnyside disagrees with the borders mentioned above. To quote "The Sunnyside branch serves the area bounded by Skillman Ave. to the north, the Queens-Midtown Expressway to the south, 30th Street to the west, and 52nd Street to the east." Dialt0ne 04:05, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

The Queens Library's message page has absolutely nothing to do with official borders of neighborhoods in Queens. In the example you cite, the library is simply giving the Sunnyside branch's service area: it serves parts of Woodside and even Long Island City (addresses south of Greenpoint Ave. are officially "Woodside, NY" and those west of 36th are "Long Is. City, NY") because it is so much closer. The Woodside branch of the Queens library is off Roosevelt Ave., at least a mile away, and would be a hassle for these Woodside residents to access. The New York Times and other media regularly publish maps of NYC neighborhoods for news articles, and Sunnyside's boundaries are always drawn within the parameters described above: 36th (sometimes 38th), Barnett, 50th, and Greenpoint. Only this area's addresses read "Sunnyside, NY." Large apartment buildings that overlap these boundaries often have all units within a Sunnyside address for historical reasons, but this is the only exception. Also, addresses south of Greenpoint Ave. and east of 50th St. have a different zip code, are served by the Woodside post office, and they all say "Woodside, NY".

The Hunter College Department of Urban Affairs & Planning [2] has also published a map [3] (see page 2 of the fact sheet) as part of developing a community plan [4] for Sunnyside. The borders of the plan go to 52nd street on the east end and all the way to the expressway on the south end. While I don't completely disagree with the boundaries that you present, the term "very precise" is poor language with a) no references and b) many groups choosing to define different boundaries. If you have links, scans, etc. of the maps published by "The New York Times and other media", it would make your statements more concrete. Dialt0ne 05:39, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

DialtOne, many maps show different concepts of Sunnyside (recent issues of the Yellow Pages included). We're not talking about concepts, even Hunter College's "community plan," but what are historical, "precise" boundaries for the neighborhood that affect the address on an envelope: If you ever rent an apartment on "52nd St." or even "all the way to the expressway", the address your landlord will give you is "Woodside, NY"--not Sunnyside, but Woodside, NY. ("Sunnyside, NY" is within the above boundaries I give above except for large apartment buildings overlapping the boundaries). Every landlord, homeowner, and real estate agent in Sunnyside and Woodside is aware of these boundaries, and the U.S. Post Office observes them, as does the New York Times and other informed sources. As a rental agent once told me: "She lives on 43rd St. and 50th Ave., over in Woodside." The boundaries are, repeat, "very precise". As a native New Yorker yourself (who is aware of Sunnyside's history as a separate town), you of all people should get this.

I can see that you feel very stong about Sunnyside's borders. However, you have not cited sources for the points you provide. I will whole heartedly agree with you if you can provide verifable facts, from reliable sources. Until then, I'll just have to disagree with "you" (since you are Anonymous) that Sunnyside's borders are not "very precise". Dialt0ne 01:36, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

You can agree or not. These are the historical boundaries of Woodside and Sunnyside. If I fill out my envelope for a building at the corner of 43rd St. and 43rd Ave., it always says "Sunnyside, NY," but if I fill it out for a place at the corner of 52nd Street and 43rd Ave., or 43rd St. and 50th Ave., it's "Woodside, NY." Addresses for pizza parlors, drugstores, hardware stores, and supermarkets (you name it) follow this same rule. End of discussion.

The New York Times Real Estate Section [5] puts the south border at 47th Ave. It does not inlcude Phipps Garden Apartments as part of Sunnyside (see above) Click on the map for the detail. Revmoran 03:26, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Great find! Specifically - on February 2, 2007 the map [6] in New York Times Real-Estate section on-line specifically shows the boundaries of Sunnyside as follows: the western boundary as 39th Street, the eastern boundary as 50th Street, the southern boundary as 47th Ave and the northern boundary in two parts - from 39th St. to 43rd St. it is Skillman Avenue and from 43rd St. to 50th St. it is Barnett Avenue. Considering the anonymous user above cites the NYT as thier authoritative source and it does not match the strict lines they attempted to draw, I believe that it can clearly be said that Sunnyside's borders are not "very precise". Dialt0ne 05:04, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

The borders are precise enough, and older NYT maps use Greenpoint Ave. as the boundary. And you refuse to acknowledge the main point: addresses outside the "very precise boundaries" say "Woodside, NY" and not "Sunnyside, NY". The historical boundaries have not changed, even in 2007.

Sorry, but you're missing MY point completely. If I can point out several sources - including the sources you reference - that all have different definitions of what Sunnyside's borders are, then who defines what Sunnyside's borders are? You? An anonymous user on wikipedia? I think not. And I wouldn't dare ask for the post office's definition of what Sunnyside is, as we're all Long Island City as far as they are concerned. If there were several reliable, confirmed sources that were all in agreement of what the border of Sunnyside are, then we wouldn't be discussing this. Since that doesn't exist, you cannot define Sunnyside's borders with any precision.

I do understand your point, and even agree to a certain extent. But you're missing mine, which refers to precision: the boundaries of Woodside and Sunnyside are old--very, very old--and the official addresses we all use in 2007 reflect these "very precise" boundaries. Many blocks might have the "feel" of Sunnyside, or are so contiguous that Hunter's or another study group would include them as part of "Sunnyside". But that doesn't change what the precise borders are, what the post office uses (by the way, after complaints from residents, the PO officially adopted Queens neighborhood names several years ago and now observes the old, precise boundaries of Sunnyside, Astoria, Rego Park, etc., to determine an address; the previous "LIC/Flushing/Jamaica" distinctions in Queens aren't "official" anywhere now), how they're discussed by real estate agents, and Sunnyside and Woodside residents. In summary: I didn't make the borders up--they're on your envelope!

[edit] yay

yay, sunnyside!!!!

[edit] other calls to fame

the movie "raising helen" was almost entirely filmed in sunnyside, queens. The main character's apartment was in my grandma's apartment building! thanx.--Dlo2012 (talk) 23:12, 12 December 2007 (UTC)