Bayside, Queens
Bayside is a suburban neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York, New York in the United States. Bayside is known as one of the most expensive areas to live in Queens, with well kept homes and landscaping.[1][2] The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 11.[3]
Bayside has been included in CNN Money's list of Most Expensive Housing Markets,[4] and was also a contender for CNN Money's ranking of Best Places to Live 2005,[5] and Best Places to Retire 2005.[6]
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 18th 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 actors and actresses, such as Rudolph Valentino, lived in Bayside. It was known as the "it" spot, outside of the city. These wealthy residents had large waterfront estates and mansions, many of which still exist today.
Bayside was the site of a murder by Peter Hains, a prominent army officer, abetted by his brother, sea novelist Thornton Jenkins Hains, who gunned down prominent editor William Annis at his yacht club. The so-called "Regatta Murder" led to a widely-publicized trial at the Flushing County Courthouse. Peter Hains was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years at Sing Sing, while Thornton Hains was acquitted.[7]
Location and boundaries
Bayside is located in northeastern Queens, on the North Shore, and is part of Queens Community Board 11.[8] Its geographical boundaries are: Francis Lewis Boulevard to the west, 233rd Street to the east, Grand Central Parkway to the south,[9] and Cross Island Parkway/Little Neck Bay to the north. Bayside is bordered by neighboring communities Douglaston/Little Neck to the east, the much larger neighborhoods of Flushing, Queens and Whitestone, Queens to the west, and Oakland Gardens to the south.[10] The neighborhood of Bayside Hills is itself a newer subdivision within Bayside.
Bay Terrace is a garden apartment community located in the north section of the neighborhood; an adjacent open-air 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, under the Throgs Neck Bridge approaches, with convenient connection to the Utopia Parkway bicycle lane. It lies 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 formerly notorious for drag racing, which resulted in several fatalities to drivers and pedestrians over the years.[11]
Bell Boulevard is a popular strip complete with numerous bars and restaurants which has transformed Bayside into a nightlife destination. The boulevard has attracted many people throughout Queens and even commuters from Long Island via the Bayside LIRR station, who enjoy the small-town vibe and the close proximity of bars, lounges and restaurants to each other.
Demographics
Bayside is a balance of city and suburb with well kept homes and landscaping. It is known as one of the more expensive areas to live in. As of the 2000 Census, Whites made up 58.8% of Bayside's population. Of people from this group, Italian Americans, Irish Americans, and Greek Americans were the largest ethnic groups representing 17.6, 12.4, and 7.3% of the population respectively. German Americans made up 6.7% of the population while Polish Americans were 3.5% of the populace. In addition there is a large Asian American population, as well. Around the mid-1990s, a significant number of Korean families began moving into the area. As of the 2000 Census, Asian Americans made up a significant 22.7% of the neighborhood's population, most of which were Korean Americans, who made up 10.4% of the population and Chinese Americans, who made up 9.2% of the populace. There is a small African American community representing 4.5% of Bayside's population. American Indians made up a mere 0.2% of the neighborhood's population. Pacific Islander Americans were almost nonexistent in the neighborhood as there were only seven individuals of this ethnic group residing in Bayside at the 2000 Census. Multiracial individuals made up 3.2% of the population. Hispanics or Latinos made up 11.8% of Bayside's population with a small Puerto Rican population representing 2.6% of the neighborhood's population. In terms of nativity, 65.6% of the populace was native and 34.4% was foreign-born. In terms of language, 52.9% of the population aged 5 years and over spoke only the English language at home with the remaining 47.1% speaking a language other than English. Due to the large Hispanic community, 10.4% of Bayside's population spoke the Spanish language at home. Also, due to a large community of foreign-born European Americans, 15.2% speak an Indo-European language other than Spanish at home. And in part of the significant Asian American community, 20.7% of the population speak an Asian language at home. The northern part of Bayside, including Bay Terrace, has a large concentration of European Americans, particularly people of Italian heritage. The southern and eastern portions of Bayside have a more ethnically diverse population.
Bayside contains 11,439 housing units. The majority of Bayside's residents are part of family households representing 67.0% of all households with an average household size of 2.59. The median age of Bayside's residents is 38.3 years and 15.0% of residents are over 65 years of age. 83.8% of residents age 25 and over have at least graduated from high school, while 35.0% have a bachelor's degree or higher, making Bayside a more educated community than other American communities.[12][13]
Bayside is an upper middle class neighborhood with many wealthy residents. It is one of Queens' more affluent neighborhoods. The median household income in 2005 was $62,611, and 88.0% of all households own at least one car.[14]
Crime
An article in The Village Voice called Bayside one of the safest neighborhoods in New York City.[15] The New York Police Department includes the portion of Bayside south of 26th Avenue in the 111th precinct; areas north of 26th Avenue are in the 109th precinct.[16]
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. The district includes 20 elementary schools and 5 middle schools.[10]
Bayside is home to a number of New York City high schools:
as well as a number of parochial schools:
Bayside is also home to Queensborough Community College, a branch of the City University of New York (CUNY) system.[17]
Libraries
Queens Borough Public Library operates the Bayside and Bay Terrace Branches.
Parks
Landmarks
- Lawrence Cemetery - 216th Street & 42nd Avenue.[18]
- Fort Totten, New York - A fort built during the Civil War to guard the north entrance to New York 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. After a large warehouse fire in late 1976, this factory has been refurbished to its original state.
- 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 Road. Archibald Cornell's wife inherited the 100-acre (0.40 km2) 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 RMS Titanic when it hit an iceberg and sank. Both women were rescued by the ship Carpathia. This is the second-oldest home in Queens.
- Corbett House, 221-04 Corbett Rd., the home of world champion boxer "Gentlemen Jim" Corbett from 1902 until his death in 1933, and of his widow Vera until her death in 1959.
- 38-39 214th Place, home of Charles Johnson Post (1873–1956), government official, artist, and political cartoonist whose posthumously published The Little War of Private Post (1960) is one of the classic accounts of the Spanish-American War of 1898.
- 35-25 223rd Street, home of actor W. C. Fields.
- "Authors House", the attached two family house with the double addresses of 46-02 215th Street and 214-30 46th Avenue, that has been the home of more authors than any other building in Bayside.
- Gloria Swanson's home, 216-07 40th Ave, Home of famed silent film actress Gloria Swanson.
- Rudolph Valentino's Home, 201-10 Cross Island Parkway, The last standing residence of Rudolph Valentino, an Italian actor, sex symbol, and early pop icon. It was also once home to Fiorello Henry La Guardia, Mayor of New York 1934-1945. In 1993, The building was converted into a two floor restaurant/banquet hall named Cafe on the Green. The popular eatery shut down in January 2009 when the city Parks Department forced out the former operators amid reports of mob ties and sloppy finances. The site’s new concessionaire, Friendship Restaurant Group, began a $4 million dollar renovation project February 1, 2009. The new restaurant, Valentino's on the Green, opened September 8, 2010.
In media
- The movie Sally of the Sawdust (1925) was filmed in Bayside.[10]
- Bayside has been included in CNN Money's list of Most Expensive Housing Markets,[4] and was also a contender for CNN Money's ranking of Best Places to Live 2005,[5] and Best Places to Retire 2005.[6]
- Bayside is featured on a 1997 episode of NYPD Blue titled "Taillight's last Gleaming". NYPD Lieutenant Arthur Fancy is pulled over driving through Bayside with his wife, by two NYPD officers assigned to a Bayside Precinct, for reasons that appear to be racially motivated. Fancy then has the senior officer transferred out of his predominantly white precinct in Bayside to a predominantly black precinct in Brooklyn North as punishment.
- The movie Frequency is set in Bayside Queens. Dennis Quaid's character brags that he is from "Bayside Queens, born and bred!"
- The starring characters of the HBO series Entourage are originally from Bayside.
- The character George Costanza from the TV series Seinfeld was from Bayside (until his family was "driven from Bayside" because of their belief in Festivus).
Notable people
- Peggy Adler, author & illustrator of children's books; investigative researcher; Police Commissioner
- Rolf Armstrong, painter.[19]
- John Barrymore, actor.[20]
- Bayside (band), the rock group
- Irving Berlin, composer and lyricist
- Patti Ann Browne, anchor and reporter
- Michael Chang, tennis player
- Charlie Chaplin, actor.[21]
- Jim Corbett (1866–1933), boxer, lived here from 1902 until his death in 1933.[22]
- Joseph Cornell (1903–1972), artist.[23]
- Frank Costello (1891–1973), prominent gangster, known as the "prime minister of the underworld."
- Marie Dressler (1868–1934), Academy Award winning actress who played "Tugboat Annie."
- Howard R. Driggs (1873–1963) historian of the Pony Express and the Oregon Trail.
- Perry Farrell, frontman of Jane's Addiction
- W.C. Fields, comedian / actor.[20][21]
- John T. Flynn (1882–1964), author, journalist, and leader of the America First Committee.
- Charles Ghigna, poet and children's author known as "Father Goose," born in Bayside, 1946.
- Jim Gilligan, Lamar University baseball coach with over 1140 career wins.
- Stephen Jay Gould, evolutionary biologist
- Alison Leslie Gold, author of books on Anne Frank and others
- George Grosz (1893–1959), German-American artist.
- Mohammad Salman Hamdani (1977 – 2001), New York City Police Department cadet and EMT who died assisting victims on the September 11 attacks in New York.[24][25]
- Judge Thomas Jones
- Scott Ian, musician
- Ron Jeremy, pornographic actor, director
- Buster Keaton, comedian / actor
- Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, popular singers.
- Dan Lilker, musician
- Patrick Lynch, NYPD PBA President
- Paul Newman, actor
- David Nolan, historian and author of Fifty Feet in Paradise
- Anthony Raneri, frontman of Bayside (band)
- Matthew Robert Silverstein, New York State Young Democrats President
- Donald L. Pilling, Former Vice Chief of Naval Operations
- José Reyes, shortstop for the New York Mets.[26]
- Nolan Ryan (1947-), lived here while playing for the New York Mets.[27]
- Tom Seaver (1944-), pitcher, member of Baseball Hall of Fame
- Manuel De Peppe, actor, singer, songwriter, music producer
- Matt Striker, WWE wrestler
- Fred Stone (1873–1959), actor
- Gloria Swanson (1899–1983), actress[20][21]
- Norma Talmadge (1893–1957), actress[20][21]
- Clark Terry, Hall of Fame musician
- Rudolph Valentino (1895–1926), actor[21]
- Dave Valle (1960-), MLB player for the Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, and the Texas Rangers
- Edward Villella (1936), ballet dancer
- Pearl White (1889–1938), actress, star of "The Perils of Pauline"
- Andy Li, Mixed martial artist who is currently under UFC contract. Amateur record of 36-0-1 and professional record of 2-0-0. He currently lives in Little Neck.
References
- ^ Sengupta, Somini. "Parents in Poor Neighborhoods Wary of Child Welfare Agency", The New York Times, May 31, 2000. Accessed May 19, 2008. "Today, 20 out of every 1,000 children in Bushwick are in the city's protective custody, a rate 10 times as high as it is in the Upper East Side of Manhattan and seven times what it is in solidly middle-class Bayside, Queens, according to city figures."
- ^ Bayside - Neighborhood Profile of Bayside, Queens, New York
- ^ Queens Community Boards, New York City. Accessed September 3, 2007.
- ^ a b Most Expensive Housing Markets, CNN. Accessed July 15, 2006.
- ^ a b Best Places to Live 2005, CNN. Accessed July 15, 2006.
- ^ a b Best Places to Retire 2005, CNN. Accessed July 15, 2006.
- ^ Appel, Jacob M. "Murder at the Regatta," The New York Times, August 10, 2008
- ^ 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.
- ^ http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=86000US11361&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_DP1&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-_lang=en&-redoLog=false&-_sse=on
- ^ http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=86000US11361&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U_DP2&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U&-_lang=en&-redoLog=false&-_sse=on
- ^ 11361 Zip Code (New York) Detailed Profile - residents and real estate info
- ^ Giuffo, John. "Close-Up on Bayside", The Village Voice, October 26, 2004. Accessed September 3, 2008. "Crime Stats: Crime in Bayside, already one of the city's safest neighborhoods, has dropped in five of the seven major categories during the past year."
- ^ "Precinct Maps". New York Police Department. http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/precinct_maps/precinct_maps.shtml. Retrieved March 8, 2009.
- ^ BaysideQueens - A Community Web Site
- ^ 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."
- ^ Rather, John. "A High Quality of Life Within the City", The New York Times, August 4, 1996. Accessed October 21, 2007. "James J. (Gentleman Jim) Corbett, the heavyweight boxing champion from 1892 to 1897, lived from 1902 to 1933 in a large three-story home on a street that bears his name."
- ^ Morris, Daniel. "Responsible viewing: Charles Simic's Dime-Store Alchemy: The Art of Joseph Cornell", Papers on Language and Literature, Fall 1998. Accessed October 22, 2007. "Lacking formal artistic training, Cornell designed collages in his spare time in the basement of a modest house on Utopia Parkway, Bayside, Queens."
- ^ Mohammad Salman Hamdani. Memorial Guide: National 9/11 Memorial. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
- ^ Shane, Scott (September 11, 2002) Out of loss, a struggle for meaning The Baltimore Sun.
- ^ 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."
- ^ Durso, Joseph. "Mets, in Better Shape Than Shea Stadium, Start Workouts for Series Today; CREW OF 25 TOILS OVER TORN FIELD", The New York Times, October 8, 1969. Accessed July 19, 2008. "CAPTION: Nolan Ryan, Mets' pitcher and winner of game that clinched pennant, watching his wife, Ruth, mow lawn of their home in Bayside, Queens."
External links