Long Island

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Long Island is an island located in southeastern New York, United States, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs (Queens and Brooklyn)^[1] of New York City, and two of which (Nassau and Suffolk) are mainly suburban or rural. In popular usage, the term "Long Island" generally refers only to Nassau and Suffolk counties in order to differentiate them from New York City, though all four counties on the island are part of the New York metropolitan area.

Long Island had a population of 7,448,618 as of the 2000 census,^[2] making it the most populated island in any U.S. state or territory. It is also the 17th most populous island in the world, ahead of Ireland, Jamaica and the Japanese island of Hokkaidō. Its population density is 5,470 inhabitants per square mile (2,110 /km²). If it were a state, Long Island would rank 12th in population.

Both the longest^[3] and the largest island in the contiguous United States, Long Island extends 118 miles (190 km) eastward from New York Harbor to Montauk Point, and has a maximum north-to-south expanse of 23 miles (37 km) between the northern Long Island Sound coast and the southern Atlantic coast.^[2] With a land area of 1,401 square miles (3,629 km²), Long Island is the 11th largest island in the United States, the 148th largest island in the world, larger than any U.S. territory except Puerto Rico,^[2] and just smaller than the state of Rhode Island (1545 sq mi). Nine bridges and 13 tunnels (including railway tunnels) connect Brooklyn and Queens (and thus Long Island) to the three other boroughs of New York City. Ferries connect Suffolk County northward across Long Island Sound to the state of Connecticut. Two of New York City's major airports, La Guardia and JFK, are located on Long Island, in Queens.

Overview

Long Island

Native name: Paumanok
Kings, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk of Long Island with approximate, but notably incorrect, county boundaries
Long Island (New York)
Geography
Location	Atlantic Ocean
Area	1,401 sq mi (3,629 km2)
Length	118 mi (190 km)
Width	23 mi (37 km)
Highest point	Jayne's Hill 401 ft (122 m)
Country
United States
State	New York
Demographics
Population	7,559,372 (as of 2006)
Density	5,395.7 /km2 (13,974.8 /sq mi)
Ethnic groups	57.16% White, 20.18% African American, 0.36% Native American, 9.06% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 8.17% other races, and 4.01% from two or more races and 21.82% Hispanic or Latino

The westernmost end of Long Island contains the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn (Kings County) and Queens (Queens County). The central and eastern portions contain the suburban Nassau and Suffolk counties. However, colloquial usage of the term "Long Island" refers only to Nassau and Suffolk counties.^[4] The more dense and urban Brooklyn and Queens are not usually referred to as "Long Island", since they are a part of New York City, though before those counties amalgamated into the city, they were often so identified.

Nassau County is more developed than Suffolk County, with pockets of rural affluence within the Gold Coast of the North Shore and the Five Towns on the South Shore. South Shore communities are built along protected wetlands of the main land mass as well as white sand beaches of Outer Barrier Islands fronting on the Atlantic Ocean. Old money from the time of the Revolutionary War populated the island and still does to this day, amongst many others including recent immigrants. Wealthy Americans and Europeans in the gilded age built lavish country homes on the North Shore of Nassau County. Today, although many of the massive estates have been demolished, many exist in their original state, while others have become parks, arboretums, universities and museums.

Owing to economic growth and the suburbanization of the metropolitan region after World War II, Nassau was the fastest growing county in the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s. Suffolk County remains less congested despite substantial growth in high technology and light manufacturing sectors since 1990. In its far east sections, Suffolk remains small-town rural, as in Greenport on the North Fork and some of the outward areas of The Hamptons, although summer tourism swells the population in those areas.

Long Island is geographically part of the Mid Atlantic, however many towns and hamlets along the island's north shore, in western Nassau County and in eastern Suffolk County, such as Oyster Bay, Port Jefferson and Sag Harbor seem to resemble New England towns, while many of the towns and hamlets along the south shore, such as Long Beach, Valley Stream, and Babylon seem to resemble Mid-Atlantic coastal communities, especially those on the shore between New Jersey and Virginia.

According to Forbes Magazine, as of March 2010, Nassau and Suffolk Counties are among the top 25 richest counties in America.^[5] Additionally, Nassau County is the third richest county per capita in New York State, and the 30th richest in the nation. Long Island's Nassau County has the second highest property taxes in the United States.^[6] Suffolk County has redeveloped North Fork potato fields into a burgeoning wine region. The South Fork is known for beach towns, including the world-renowned Hamptons, and for Montauk Point, home of Montauk Point Lighthouse at the eastern tip of the island.

In 2002, the New York Times cited a study by the non-profit group ERASE Racism, which determined that Nassau and Suffolk counties are the most racially segregated suburbs in the United States.^[7]

Geography

Geology

NASA Landsat satellite image of Long Island and surrounding areas.

Long Island, as part of the Outer Lands region, is formed largely of two spines of glacial moraine, with a large, sandy outwash plain beyond. These moraines consist of gravel and loose rock left behind during the two most recent pulses of Wisconsin glaciation during the Ice Ages some 21,000 years ago (19,000 BC). The northern moraine, which directly abuts the North Shore of Long Island at points, is known as the Harbor Hill moraine. The more southerly moraine, known as the Ronkonkoma moraine, forms the "backbone" of Long Island; it runs primarily through the very center of Long Island, roughly coinciding with the length of the Long Island Expressway.

The land to the south of this moraine to the South Shore is the outwash plain of the last glacier. Known as the Hempstead Plains, this land contained one of the few natural prairies to exist east of the Appalachian Mountains.^[8]

The glaciers melted and receded to the north, resulting in the difference between the North Shore beaches and the South Shore beaches. The North Shore beaches are rocky from the remaining glacial debris, while the South Shore's are crisp, clear, outwash sand. Running along the center of the island like a spine is the moraine left by the glaciers. Jayne's Hill, at 401 feet, is the highest hill along either moraine; another well-known summit is Bald Hill in Brookhaven Town, not far from its geographical center at [Middle Island]. The glaciers also formed Lake Ronkonkoma, a kettle lake.

Climate

Long Island has a climate similar to other coastal areas of the Northeastern United States; it has warm, humid summers and cool wet winters. Long Island is classified as humid subtropical by some definitions. The Atlantic Ocean helps bring afternoon sea breezes that temper the heat in the warmer months and limit the frequency and severity of thunderstorms.

Average yearly snowfall totals range from approximately 20 to 35 inches (51 to 89 cm), with the north shore and western parts averaging more than the south shore and the east end. In any given winter, however, some parts of the island could see up to 75 inches (190 cm) or more. There are also some very quiet winters, in which most parts of the island could see less than 10 inches (25 cm).

Long Island is somewhat vulnerable to hurricanes.^[9] Its northern location and relatively cool waters tend to weaken storms to below hurricane strength by the time they reach Long Island, although despite this, some storms have made landfall at Category 1 or greater strength, including two unnamed Category 3 storms in 1938 (New England Hurricane of 1938) and 1944, Hurricane Donna in 1960, Hurricane Belle in 1976, Hurricane Gloria in 1985, Hurricane Bob in 1991 (brushed the eastern tip) and Hurricane Floyd in 1999. (There is debate among climatologists as to whether Hurricane Floyd made landfall as a Category 1 or as a very strong "almost hurricane strength" tropical storm. The official records note it as the latter.)

Demographics

Long Island is one of the most densely populated regions in the United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the total population of all four counties of Long Island was 7,448,618. New York City's portion of the census was 4,694,705, with Brooklyn's population at 2,465,326 and Queens having 2,229,379 residents.

The combined population of Nassau and Suffolk counties was 2,753,913 people; Suffolk County's share at 1,419,369 and Nassau County's at 1,334,544. Nassau County had a larger population for decades, but Suffolk County surpassed it in the 1990 census as growth and development continued to spread eastward.

As Suffolk County has over twice the land area of Nassau County, the latter still has a much higher population density. Combining all four counties, Long Island's population is greater than 38 of the 50 United States. If it were an independent nation, Long Island would rank as the 96th most populated nation, falling between Switzerland and Israel.

Population figures from the U.S. Census Bureau Census 2000^[10] show that whites are in the majority in suburban Nassau and Suffolk counties, while non-whites are the majority in New York City's Kings and Queens counties.

Catholics are the largest religious group on Long Island, with non-affiliated in second place. Catholics make up 52% of the population of Nassau and Suffolk, versus 22% for the country as a whole, with Jews at 16% and 7% respectively versus 1.7% nationwide. Even more surprising is the small percentage of Protestants, 7% and 8% respectively, for Nassau and Suffolk Counties, versus 23% for the entire country on the same survey, and 50% on self-identification surveys.

Long Island has a huge Italian-American population. About 26% of Long Island residents claim Italian ancestry. 28% of Suffolk County residents claim Italian ancestry.

Long Island is also home to a number of hate crimes. In April 2010, a white teen was convicted of fatally stabbing an Ecuadorian immigrant, as well as for gang assault on three other Hispanic men. Hispanic Long Islanders criticized the police for failing to fully investigate complaints of assaults on Latinos, and Long Island politicians for fueling the hostility with anti-immigrant statements. ^[11]

History

Montaukett tribe and their neighbors

At the time of European contact, the Lenape people (named the Delaware by Europeans) inhabited the western end of the Island, and spoke the Munsee dialect of the Algonquian language family. Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to record an encounter with these people when he entered what is now New York Bay in 1524. The eastern portion of the island was inhabited by speakers of the Mohegan-Montauk-Narragansett language group of the same language family, indicative of their ties to the aboriginal peoples inhabiting what is now Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Battle of Long Island

The western portion of Long Island was later settled by the Dutch, while the eastern region was settled by English Puritans from New Haven, Connecticut, settling in Southold on October 21, 1640.

The entirety of Long Island came under English dominion in 1664 when the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam was taken over by the English and renamed New York. In 1683, the English established the three original counties on Long Island: Kings, Queens, and Suffolk.

During the American Revolutionary War, the island was captured from General George Washington early by the British in the Battle of Long Island, the largest battle of the entire war. The island remained a British stronghold until the end of the war, and was the center of much of General Washington's espionage activities due to the proximity to the British North American military headquarters in New York City. After the British victory on Long Island many Patriots fled, leaving mostly Loyalists behind.

In the 19th century, Long Island was still mainly rural and agricultural. The predecessor to the Long Island Rail Road began service in 1836 from the ferry terminal (to Manhattan) through Brooklyn to Jamaica in Queens, and completed the line to the east end of Long Island in 1844. From 1830 until 1930, population roughly doubled every twenty years, and several cities were incorporated, such as the City of Brooklyn in Kings County, and Long Island City in Queens.

The Brooklyn Bridge is the first of seven bridges constructed across the East River, connecting Long Island with the Borough of Manhattan (in background).

Until the 1883 completion of the Brooklyn Bridge, the only connection between Long Island and the rest of the United States was by boat. Other bridges and tunnels followed, and a suburban character spread as population increased. On January 1, 1898, Kings County and portions of Queens were consolidated into The City of Greater New York, abolishing all cities and towns within them. The easternmost 280 square miles (730 km²) of Queens County, which were not part of the consolidation plan,^{[13][14][15][16][17][18][19]} separated from Queens in 1899 to form Nassau County.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Long Island began the transformation from backwoods and farms to the paradigm of the American suburb. Railroads made possible commuting suburbs before construction of the Long Island Expressway and other major roadways. Robert Moses created various parkway projects to span the island, along with state parks for the enjoyment of many. Gradually, development started to follow the parkways, with various communities springing up along the more traveled routes.

After World War II, Long Island's population skyrocketed, mostly in Nassau County and western Suffolk County. People who worked and lived in New York City moved out to Long Island in new developments built during the post-war boom. The most famous post-war development was the town of Levittown: the area became the first place to massively reproduce houses on a grand scale- providing opportunities for GIs returning home to start a family. The immigration waves of southern and eastern Europe, followed by more recent ones from Latin America, have been pivotal in creating the diversity on Long Island that many other American regions lack. These immigrations are reflected in the large Italian American, Irish American and Jewish American populations.

Economy

F-14 Tomcat on static display pedestal at Grumman Memorial Park, Calverton, New York

The counties of Nassau and Suffolk have been long renowned for their affluence.

From about 1930 to about 1990, Long Island was considered one of the aviation centers of the United States, with companies such as Grumman Aircraft, Republic, Fairchild, and Curtiss having their headquarters and factories on Long Island.

Long Island has played a prominent role in scientific research and in engineering. It is the home of the Brookhaven National Laboratory in nuclear physics and Department of Energy research.

In recent decades companies such as Sperry Rand, Computer Associates (headquartered in Islandia), Motorola Enterprise Mobility (now occupying the former headquarters of Symbol Technologies, previously a Grumman plant in Holtsville), and OpenLink Financial (headquartered in Uniondale), have made Long Island a center for the computer industry. Gentiva Health Services, a national provider of home health and pharmacy services, also is headquartered on Long Island. Stony Brook University of the State University of New York conducts far-ranging medical and technology research.

A commemorative half dollar issued in 1936 for the Long island tercentenary

Long Island is also home to the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, which was directed for 35 years by James D. Watson (who, along with Francis Crick, discovered the double helix structure of DNA).

Long Island is home to the East Coast's largest industrial park, the Hauppauge Industrial Park. The park has over 1,300 companies employing more than 55,000 Long Islanders. Companies in the park and abroad are represented by the Hauppauge Industrial Association. As many as 20 percent of Long Islanders commute to New York City jobs. The eastern end of the island is still partly agricultural. In the last 25 years, development of vineyards on the North Fork became a major new industry, replacing potato fields. Pumpkin farms have been added to traditional truck farming. Farms allow fresh fruit picking by Long Islanders for much of the year. Fishing continues to be an important industry, especially at Northport and Montauk.

Government and politics

Long Island boundaries

Nassau County and Suffolk County each have their own governments, with a County Executive leading each. Each has a county legislature and countywide-elected officials, such as district attorney, county clerk and county comptroller. The towns in both counties have their own governments as well, with town supervisors and a town council. Within Nassau, there are two small incorporated cities (Glen Cove and Long Beach) with a combined population of about 65,000.

Brooklyn and Queens, on the other hand, do not have independent county governments. As boroughs of New York City, both have Borough Presidents, largely ceremonial offices with little political power.

The shutdown of the city's Board of Estimate due to a Supreme Court decision declaring it unconstitutional, led to a reorganization of the city government.

A late 19th century artist's conception of the appearance of a typical Long Island Indian

Long Island Native American History is home to two Indian reservations, Poospatuck Reservation and Shinnecock Reservation. Both Reservations find their home in Suffolk County. Numerous island place names (Towns) are Native American in origin.

Law enforcement and crime

Queens and Brooklyn are patrolled by the New York City Police Department; Nassau and Suffolk counties respectively have the Nassau County Police Department and Suffolk County Police Department. New York State Police patrol state parks and parkways; several dozen villages and the two cities in Nassau have their own police departments.

Both Nassau and Suffolk have a sheriff's office that handles civil process, evictions, warrant service and enforcement, prisoner transport and detention, and operation of the county jail.

The Nassau County Sheriff's Department employs about 1,000 correction officers and 100 deputy sheriffs and performs the above duties although deputy sheriffs have full police officer powers and can make arrests for any crime they come across.

The Suffolk County Sheriff's Office has approximately 900 correction officers and 260 deputy sheriffs and operates the two jail facilities in Suffolk County. The deputy sheriffs in Suffolk County have a full service patrol unit, including K9, Aviation, SWAT, and Marine divisions as well as a Criminal Investigation Division and various other special details and assignments. N.Y.S Court Officers secure court houses for Long Island courts. Additionally, the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department now maintains patrols along the Long Island Expressway as well as Sunrise Highway. State parkways are still patrolled by the New York State Police.

Secession proposals

The secession of Long Island from New York was proposed as early as 1896, but talk was revived towards the latter part of the twentieth century.^[20] On March 28, 2008 Suffolk County, New York Comptroller Joseph Sawicki and Keith Durgan proposed a plan that would make Long Island (specifically, Nassau and Suffolk counties) the 51st state of the United States of America.^[21] Sawicki says that all the Long Island taxpayers' money would stay on Long Island, rather than the funds being dispersed all over the entire state of New York. The state of Long Island would include over 2.7 million people. So far Nassau County executives have not expressed interest in joining in the secession proposal, which would need to be approved by the NY State Legislature.^[21]

Transportation

Platforms at Jamaica

LaGuardia Airport Aerial view

I-495 NY Nassau County

Long Island MacArthur Airport

Great South Bay Bridge

Every major form of transportation serves Long Island, including John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, and Long Island MacArthur Airport, multiple smaller airports, railroads, subways, and several major highways. There are historic and modern bridges, recreational and commuter trails, and ferries serving various parts of all of Long island.

The Long Island Expressway, Northern State Parkway, and Southern State Parkway, all products of the automobile-centered planning of Robert Moses, make east-west travel on the island straightforward, if not always quick.

There are currently ten road crossings out of Long Island, all within New York City limits at the extreme western end of the island. Plans for a Long Island Crossing at various locations in Nassau and Suffolk Counties (a proposed bridge or tunnel that would link Long Island to the south with New York or Connecticut to the north across Long Island Sound) have been discussed for decades, but there are currently no firm plans to construct such a crossing.

The MTA implements mass transportation for the New York metropolitan area, including all five boroughs of New York City, the suburban counties of Dutchess, Nassau, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester, all of which together are the "Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District (MCTD)".

The MTA is the largest public transportation provider in the Western Hemisphere. Its agencies serve 14.6 million people spread over 5,000 square miles (13,000 km²) from New York City through southeastern New York State (including Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley), and Connecticut. Combined the MTA agencies now move more than 2.6 billion rail and bus customers a year while employing some 70,000 workers.

Suffolk County Transit, an agent of the Suffolk County government, provides bus services in Suffolk County.

Rail

The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) is the busiest commuter railroad system in North America, carrying an average of 282,400 customers each weekday on 728 daily trains. Chartered on April 24, 1834, it is also the oldest railroad still operating under its original name.^[22]

Schematic map of LIRR system

Education

Primary and secondary education

Long Island's Nassau and Suffolk counties are home to 125 public school districts containing a total of 656 public schools. In contrast, all of Brooklyn and Queens are served by the New York City Department of Education, the largest school district in the United States. Long Island is also home to a number of private and parochial schools.

Stony Brook West Campus

Colleges and universities

Nassau and Suffolk counties are home to numerous colleges and universities, including:

Public:

• Branches of the State University of New York
  • Stony Brook University, including the main Stony Brook campus and the Stony Brook Southampton campus
  • SUNY College at Old Westbury
  • Farmingdale State College (Farmingdale)
  • Nassau Community College (East Garden City)
  • Suffolk County Community College (three main campuses in Selden, Brentwood and Riverhead plus two "satellite" centers in Sayville and downtown Riverhead)
• Federal Service Academies
  • United States Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point)

Private:

• Adelphi University in Nassau County (main campus in Garden City) and Suffolk County (an Education and Conference Center in Hauppauge)
• Briarcliffe College - in Queens at Long Island City; Nassau at Bethpage; and Suffolk at Patchogue
• Dowling College - three campuses in Suffolk County (Oakdale, Shirley, and Melville)
• Five Towns College in Suffolk County (Dix Hills)
• Hofstra University in Nassau County (Hempstead and Uniondale)
• Long Island University: C.W. Post Campus in Brookville in Nassau County, and two branch campuses in Suffolk County at Brentwood and Riverhead, as well as a Brooklyn campus
• Molloy College - in Nassau County (Rockville Centre)
• New York Institute of Technology - main campus in Nassau (Old Westbury), campus also in Suffolk (Central Islip) and Manhattan
• Polytechnic Institute of New York University (formerly Polytechnic University, now part of NYU) - has a "Long Island Graduate Center" in Suffolk, at Melville, as well as the main campus in Brooklyn
• Saint John's University - Main campus in Queens, with a graduate center in Suffolk (Oakdale) ^[23]
• Saint Joseph's College - campuses in Brooklyn and Suffolk (Patchogue)
• SBI-Melville - Sanford-Brown Institute campus in Suffolk County at Melville
• Touro Law Center in Suffolk County (Central Islip)
• Watson School of Biological Sciences in Nassau County (Laurel Hollow)
• Webb Institute in Nassau County (Glen Cove)

For colleges in Brooklyn and Queens, see List of colleges and universities in New York City.

Leisure and recreation

Montauk, New York

Resort areas

Food

Both Nassau and Suffolk County are home to thousands of restaurants. As New York is known as a melting pot, every kind of restaurant from Mexican to Hungarian to Indian can be found. These specialty restaurants are often family owned.

Small family-owned pizzerias are ubiquitous. It is not uncommon for a town on Long Island to have several different pizzerias, each with its own distinct flavor. The Long Island Pizza Festival & Bake-Off is an annual competition in which "mom and pop" pizzerias compete to be named best on Long Island.

Bagel stores and delis are common. Some bagel stores are Jewish-owned and approved as kosher. Long Island bagels are considered some of the best in the world. Often more than one deli can be found in a town.

Diners also abound on Long Island; many are Greek- and German-owned, and many, depending on the business of the town, are open all night, for late-night patrons.

Almost all major fast food and casual dining chains have a presence on Long Island.

Athletics

Long Island is home to numerous famous athletes, including Hall of Famers Jim Brown, Julius Erving, John Mackey, Nick Drahos College Hall of Fame (AFL NY Americans), and Carl Yastrzemski. Others include Gold Medalist Sarah Hughes, D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Billy Donovan, Jumbo Elliott, Mick Foley, Zack Ryder, Matt Serra, Boomer Esiason, Vinny Testaverde, Craig Biggio, Frank Catalanotto, Greg Sacks, Rob Burnett, Steve Park, Frank Viola, Marques Colston and Speedy Claxton. Several current NHL Players such as New York Rangers Christopher Higgins and Matt Gilroy as well as Toronto Maple Leaf Mike Komisarek and Los Angeles King Rob Scuderi were all raised on Long Island. Both Komisarek and Higgins played on the same Suffolk County Hockey League team at an early age, and later played on the Montreal Canadiens together. Nick Drahos was an All Scholastic and All Long Island honoree at Lawrence High School, Nassau Co. in 1936 and 1937, and a 2-time Unanimous National College All-American in the years of 1939 and 1940 at Cornell University.

Ebbets Field, which stood in Brooklyn from 1913 to 1957, was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team, who decamped to California after the 1957 season to become the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers won several National League pennants in the 1940s and 1950s, losing several times in the World Series—often called Subway Series—to their Bronx rivals, the New York Yankees. The Dodgers won their lone championship in Brooklyn in the 1955 World Series versus the Yankees. The Barclays Center is a proposed sports arena, business and residential complex to be built partly on a platform over the Atlantic Yards at Atlantic Avenue, and is intended to serve as a new home for the New Jersey Nets.

The New York Mets baseball team now plays at the new Citi Field in Flushing, Queens. Their former stadium, Shea Stadium was also home for The New York Jets football team from 1964 until 1983. The new stadium is designed with an exterior facade and main entry rotunda inspired by Ebbets Field. The Brooklyn Cyclones are a minor league baseball team, affiliated with the New York Mets. The Cyclones play at KeySpan Park just off the boardwalk on Coney Island in Brooklyn.

Nassau County is home to the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League and the New York Dragons of the Arena Football League, who both play at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale. Long Island has been a hot spot for outdoor lacrosse at the youth and college level, which made way for a Major League Lacrosse team in 2001, the Long Island Lizards. The Lizards play at Mitchel Athletic Complex in Uniondale. The longest dirt Thoroughbred racecourse in the world is located in the Nassau County community of Elmont at Belmont Park.

Long Island is also home to the Long Island Ducks minor league baseball team of the Atlantic League. Their stadium, Citibank Park, is located in Central Islip. The American Basketball Association's Strong Island Sound play home games at Suffolk County Community College. The two main rugby teams are the Long Island RFC in East Meadow and the Suffolk Bull Moose in Stony Brook. It also has a professional soccer club, the Long Island Rough Riders, who play at Mitchel Athletic Complex in Uniondale. The Rough Riders have won two national championships, in 1995 and 2002.

Another category of sporting events popular in this region are Firematic Racing events, involving many local Volunteer fire departments.

Long Island also hosts one of the four tennis grand slams, the US Open. Every August (September, in Olympic years) the best tennis players in the world travel to Long Island to play the championships, which is held in the USTA National Tennis Center, in Corona Park, near the La Guardia Airport. The complex also contains the biggest tennis stadium in the world, the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Music

Nikon at Jones Beach Theater

Music on Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk) is influenced by the proximity to New York City and by the youth culture of the suburbs.

Psychedelic rock was widely popular in the 1960s as flocks of disaffected youth travelled to NYC to participate in protest and the culture of the time. R & B also has a history on Long Island, especially in Nassau County, where population is denser and more closely influenced by New York City. In the late 1970s through the 80s the influence of Garden City-based FM station WLIR made Long Island one of the first places in the U.S. to hear and embrace European New Wave bands such as Depeche Mode, the Pet Shop Boys and Culture Club. [1] [2]

Nikon at Jones Beach Theater is an outdoor amphitheatre, located at Jones Beach State Park.

Jones Beach State Park is a popular place to view summer concerts, with new as well as classic artists performing there during the summer months at its outdoor venue. It hosts a large Fourth of July fireworks show every year, and the stands are filled. People park cars along the highway leading to the show, and others watch from the nearby beaches.^[24]

Long Island is also known for its schools' music programs. Stony Brook University is well known for its outstanding trumpet studio. Many schools in Suffolk County have distinguished music programs, with high numbers of students who are accepted into the state-wide All-State music groups, or even the National All-Eastern Coast music groups. Both the Suffolk County and Nassau County Music Educator's Associations are recognized by The National Association of Music Education (MENC),^[25][26] and host numerous events, competitions, and other music-related activities.

Long Island gallery

Mascot Dock- Village of Patchogue	Port Jefferson ferry	Barrier Islands boardwalk	Old Field lighthouse
Looking out from - Montauk Lighthouse.	Nissequogue River State Park	Verrazano-Narrows Bridge - Brooklyn to Staten Island	Fire Island Light
Long Island Vineyards	Citi Field Queens, NYC	Stony Brook, New York	2009 Jones Beach Airshow
The Fire Island Bridge	New York/Long Island Coast Guard	The Brooklyn Bridge	Patchogue Bay
Orient Point	Calverton National Cemetery	Long Island Hard Clam	LIRR
Bald Hill Farmingville, NY	NY/LI Metro

See also

• Geography and environment of New York City
• List of Long Islanders, famous residents of Nassau and Suffolk
• List of people from New York City, including famous residents of Brooklyn and Queens
• List of references to Long Island places in popular culture
• Long Island Association
• Long Island Marathon
• Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant
• Long Island Villages
• Long Island Towns

References

External links

• Long Island travel guide from Wikitravel

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New York-Newark-Bridgeport Combined Statistical Area Counties Bergen • Bronx • Dutchess • Essex • Fairfield • Hudson • Hunterdon • Kings • Litchfield • Mercer • Middlesex • Monmouth • Morris • Nassau • New Haven • New York • Ocean • Orange • Passaic • Pike • Putnam • Queens • Richmond • Rockland • Somerset • Suffolk • Sussex • Ulster • Union • Westchester Major city New York City Cities and towns 100k–999k Bridgeport • Elizabeth • Huntington • Jersey City • New Haven • Newark • Paterson • Stamford • Waterbury • Yonkers Cities and towns 25k–99k Bayonne • Branford • Cheshire • Clifton • Danbury • East Haven • East Orange • Englewood • Fairfield • Garfield • Greenwich • Hackensack • Hamden • Hoboken • Howell, New Jersey Kearny • Long Beach • Long Branch • Meriden • Middletown • Milford • Mount Vernon • Naugatuck • New Brunswick • New Milford • New Rochelle • Newburgh • Newtown • Norwalk • Passaic • Perth Amboy • Plainfield • Poughkeepsie • Rahway • Shelton • Stratford • Torrington • Trenton • Trumbull • Union City • Wallingford • West Haven • Westfield • Westport • White Plains Cities and towns 10k–25k Ansonia • Asbury Park • Beacon • Bethel • Brookfield • Darien • Derby • Dover • Guildford • Guttenberg • Harrison (NJ) • Harrison (NY) • Kingston • Linden • Madison • Monroe • Morristown • New Canaan • New Fairfield • North Branford • North Haven • Orange • Plymouth • Peekskill • Ridgefield • Rye • Scarsdale • Secaucus • Seymour • Southbury • Summit • Watertown • West New York • Weston • Wilton • Winchester • Wolcott Sub-regions Central Jersey • Greater Danbury • Greater New Haven • Greater Waterbury • Hudson Valley • Litchfield Hills • Long Island • North Jersey • Southwestern Connecticut