thumb|upright=1|Map of industrial Hunters Point in 1891

Hunters Point is located on the south side of Long Island City, along Newtown Creek. The area took the name Hunters Point in 1825, named after British sea captain George Hunter whose family operated the site as a 210-acre farm.

It contains the Hunters Point Historic District, a national historic district that includes 19 contributing buildings along 45th Avenue between 21st and 23rd Streets. They are a set of townhouses built in the late 19th century. The historic district was created by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1968, The 5 Pointz building was painted over and demolished by the property owner, starting in 2013. The owner was ordered to pay $6.75 million to artists as compensation. In 2021, a pair of connected rental towers dubbed 5Pointz opened.

  • The Fisher Landau Center for Art is a private foundation that offers regular exhibitions of contemporary art that closed to the public in November 2017.
  • Across the street from Socrates Sculpture Park is the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Museum, founded in 1985 by Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi. After undergoing a two-and-a-half-year renovation completed at a cost of $13.5 million, the museum reopened in 2004 with newer and advanced facilities.
  • MoMA PS1, an affiliate of the Museum of Modern Art, is the oldest and second-largest non-profit arts center in the United States solely devoted to contemporary art. It is named after the former public school in which it is housed.
  • SculptureCenter is New York City's only non-profit exhibition space dedicated to contemporary and innovative sculpture. SculptureCenter re-located from Manhattan's Upper East Side to a former trolley repair shop in Long Island City, Queens renovated by artist/designer Maya Lin in 2002. Founded by artists in 1928, SculptureCenter has undergone much evolution and growth, and continues to expand and challenge the definition of sculpture. SculptureCenter commissions new work and presents exhibits by emerging and established, national and international artists. The museum also hosts a diverse range of public programs including lectures, dialogues, and performances.
  • Socrates Sculpture Park is an outdoor sculpture park located one block from the Noguchi Museum at the intersection of Broadway and Vernon Boulevard.

Police and crime

Woodside, Sunnyside, and Long Island City are patrolled by the 108th Precinct of the NYPD, located at 5-47 50th Avenue. The 108th Precinct ranked 25th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. , with a non-fatal assault rate of 19 per 100,000 people, Sunnyside and Woodside's rate of violent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 163 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole.

Fire safety

Long Island City is served by the following New York City Fire Department (FDNY) fire stations:

  • Engine Company 258/Ladder Company 115 – 10-40 47th Avenue
  • Engine Company 259/Ladder Company 128/Battalion 45 – 33-51 Greenpoint Avenue

Formerly, Engine Company 261/Ladder Company 116 was located at 37-20 29th Street, until it was closed in 2003 as a cost-saving measure.

Health

, preterm births are more common in southern Long Island City than in other places citywide, but are less common in northern Long Island City; births to teenage mothers are less common than citywide in both areas.

Post office and ZIP Code

Long Island City is covered by ZIP Code 11101. The United States Post Office operates the Long Island City Station at 46-02 21st Street.

Education

thumb|upright=1|[[New York City Department of Education|Department of Education building at 44-36 Vernon Blvd]]

Long Island City generally has a slightly higher ratio of college-educated residents than the rest of the city . In Community Board 1, half of residents (50%) have a college education or higher, while 16% have less than a high school education and 33% are high school graduates or have some college education. In Community Board 2, 45% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, 19% have less than a high school education and 35% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 39% of Queens residents and 43% of city residents have a college education or higher. Similarly, the percentage of Community Board 2 students excelling in math rose from 40% in to 65%, and reading achievement rose from 45% to 49%, during the same time period.

Long Island City's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is about equal to the rest of New York City. Nineteen percent of elementary school students in Community Board 1 and eleven percent in Community Board 2 missed twenty or more days per school year, less than the citywide average of 20%.

Schools

K-12

Long Island City is served by the New York City Department of Education. Long Island City is zoned to:

  • PS 17 Henry David Thoreau School
  • PS 70
  • PS 76 William Hallet School
  • PS/IS 78Q
  • PS 85 Judge Charles Vallone
  • PS 111 Jacob Blackwell School
  • PS 112 Dutch Kills School
  • PS 150
  • PS 166 Henry Gradstein School
  • PS 171 Peter G. Van Alst School
  • PS 199 Maurice A. Fitzgerald School
  • PS 384 Hunters Point Elementary
  • IS 10 Horace Greeley School
  • IS 126 Albert Shanker School For Visual And Performing Arts
  • IS 141 The Steinway School
  • IS 204 Oliver W. Holmes
  • IS 291 Hunter's Point Community Middle School

Additionally, Long Island City is home to:

  • Baccalaureate School for Global Education, a 7–12 school
  • Gantry View School, an independent school that offers rigorous, enriched learning and group activities for its mixed-age student body, K-5
  • St. Raphael School's campus

High schools offering specializations

Long Island City is home to numerous high schools, some of which offer specializations, as indicated below. These specialized schools are not to be confused with the elite specialized high schools. Rather, these schools offer programs that are included at specialized high schools.

  • Academy of American Studies (Q575), a history high school
  • Academy for Careers in Television & Film (Q301)
  • Academy of Finance and Enterprise (Q264)
  • Aviation Career and Technical High School (Q610)
  • Bard High School Early College II (Q299)
  • Frank Sinatra School of the Arts (Q501)
  • High School of Applied Communication (Q267)
  • Information Technology High School (Q502)
  • The International High School (Queens) at LaGuardia Community College (Q530)
  • Long Island City High School (Q450)
  • Middle College High School at LaGuardia Community College (Q520)
  • Newcomers High School - Academy for New Americans (Q555)
  • Queens Vocational and Technical High School (Q600)
  • Robert F. Wagner Jr. Institute For Arts & Technology (Q560)
  • William Cullen Bryant High School (Q445)

Higher education

Numerous institutions of higher education have (or have had) a presence in Long Island City.

  • Briarcliffe College has a campus on Thomson Avenue.
  • City University of New York School of Law is located at 2 Court Square.
  • Columbia University's Depression Project is located at 3718 34th Street.
  • DeVry University – New York Metro (also known as DeVry College of New York), maintained headquarters at 3020 Thomson Avenue until March 2011, at which time New York Metro's main campus relocated to 180 Madison Avenue in Manhattan, and DCNY relocated its Queens presence to 99–21 Queens Boulevard in Rego Park
  • LaGuardia Community College is located at 3110 Thomson Avenue.
  • Middle College National Consortium is located at 27–28 Thomson Avenue, #331
  • Touro College is located at 2511 49th Avenue.
  • Calvary Chapel Bible College New York City is located at 31-10 47th Street.

Libraries

thumb|upright=1|Exterior of the Hunters Point Library

thumb|upright=1|Interior of the Hunters Point Library

The Queens Public Library operates two branches in Long Island City. The Hunters Point Community Library is located at 47-40 Center Boulevard on the bank of the East River. Features include an art installation by Julianne Swartz, designer furniture by Eames and Jean Prouvé, and a reading garden surrounded by ginkgo trees and designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh. The Hunters Point Library includes over 50,000 books with Spanish and Chinese language collections, as well as an environmental education center, a section for young children, and a teenagers' space equipped with a video game area. Though the building is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, its stepped terraces and single elevator have been criticized for being inaccessible to the disabled. The fourth floor where the cyber center is has a curved wooden element in the design of the interior atrium.

The Long Island City branch is located at 37-44 21st Street.

A third branch, the Court Square branch, opened in 1989 and was located on the ground floor of One Court Square. One Court Square's former owner, Citigroup, leased the space to the library for $1 per month. After the tower's new owner Savanna failed to renew the Court Square branch's lease, the location was closed in February 2020, and the branch would either move to a new location or be closed permanently. A mobile branch opened nearby, and Queens Public Library agreed in 2024 to open a new branch at the 5 Pointz development.

Parks and recreation

There are several waterfront parks in Long Island City. These include or have included:

  • Gantry Plaza State Park, a park on the East River waterfront between Anable Basin to the north and 50th Avenue to the south
  • Hunters Point South Park, a park on the East River waterfront at Hunter's Point South, near Newtown Creek
  • Malt Drive Park, a park just south of Hunters Point South Park. The park includes native plantings, and it slopes down from the neighboring buildings toward Newtown Creek.
  • Queensbridge Park, a park on the East River waterfront north of Queensboro Bridge, within the Queensbridge Houses
  • Water Taxi Beach was New York City's first non-swimming urban beach, and was located on the East River in Long Island City. City Hall planned to build 5,000 moderate income apartments in this area, a development called Hunter's Point South. The beach later closed and the apartments have been constructed.

Other parks include:

thumb|Murray Park

  • Andrews Grove, on 49th Avenue between Fifth Street and Vernon Boulevard
  • Bridge and Tunnel Park, between the Pulaski Bridge, 50th Avenue, 11th Place, and the Queens–Midtown Tunnel entrance ramp
  • City Ice Pavilion, with of skating surface, opened in Long Island City in late 2008. The ice skating rink is on the roof of a two-story storage facility.
  • Hunters Point Community Park, a linear park located on the south side of 48th Avenue between Fifth Street and Vernon Boulevard
  • Murray Playground, between 45th Avenue, 45th Road, and 11th and 21st Streets
  • Old Hickory Playground, at Jackson Avenue and 51st Avenue

Transportation

Public transportation

thumb|Long Island City Steinway Railway Company c 1894

thumb|upright=1|Entrance to [[Court Square-23rd Street]]

thumb|upright=1|Ferry dock

The following New York City Subway stations serve Long Island City:

  • ()
  • ()
  • ()
  • ()
  • ()
  • ()
  • ()
  • ()

The following MTA Regional Bus Operations bus routes serve Long Island City:

  • Q32: to Pennsylvania Station (Manhattan) or Jackson Heights via Queens Plaza and Queens Boulevard
  • Q39: to Glendale via Thomson Avenue
  • Q60: to East Midtown (Manhattan) or Jamaica via Queens Plaza and Queens Boulevard
  • Q63 and Q66: to () via 21st Street
  • Q67: to Middle Village via Borden Avenue
  • Q69: to East Elmhurst via 21st Street
  • Q100: to Rikers Island (Bronx) via 21st Street
  • Q101: to Hunters Point or Steinway via Queens Plaza and Northern Boulevard
  • Q102: to Roosevelt Island (Manhattan) or Court Square
  • Q103: to Astoria or Hunters Point via Vernon Boulevard
  • B32: to Williamsburg Bridge Plaza Bus Terminal via 11th/21st Streets
  • B62: to Downtown Brooklyn or Astoria

The Long Island City and Hunterspoint Avenue stations of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) are also located within Long Island City. The US$11.1 billion East Side Access project, which brought LIRR trains to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan, opened in 2023; this project created a new train tunnel beneath the East River, connecting Long Island City and Queens with the East Side of Manhattan.

During the summer, the New York Water Taxi Company used to operate Water Taxi Beach, a public beach artificially created on a wharf along the East River, accessible at the corner of Second Street and Borden Avenue. It was discontinued in 2011 due to new construction on the site of the old landing.

In June 2011, NY Waterway started service to points along the East River. On May 1, 2017, that route became part of the NYC Ferry's East River route, which runs between Pier 11/Wall Street in Manhattan's Financial District and the East 34th Street Ferry Landing in Murray Hill, Manhattan, with five intermediate stops in Brooklyn and Queens. One NYC Ferry stop for the East River route is located at Hunters Point South, while another NYC Ferry stop for a route to Astoria is located at Gantry Plaza State Park.

There are plans to build the Brooklyn–Queens Connector (BQX), a light rail system that would run along the waterfront from Red Hook in Brooklyn through Long Island City to Astoria. However, the system is projected to cost $2.7 billion, and the projected opening has been delayed until at least 2029.

Road

Cars enter from Brooklyn by the Pulaski Bridge from Brooklyn; from Manhattan by the Queensboro Bridge and the Queens–Midtown Tunnel; and from Roosevelt Island by the Roosevelt Island Bridge. Major thoroughfares include 21st Street, which is mostly industrial and commercial; I-495 (Long Island Expressway); the westernmost portion of Northern Boulevard (New York State Route 25A), which becomes Jackson Avenue (the former name of Northern Boulevard) south of Queens Plaza; and Queens Boulevard, which leads westward to the bridge and eastward follows New York State Route 25 through Long Island; and Vernon Boulevard.

Notable people

Seven Major League Baseball players were born in Long Island City (LIC), and two have died there:

  • Joe Benes (1901–1975, born in LIC)
  • Ed Boland (1908–1993, born in LIC)
  • Al Cuccinello (1914–2004, born in LIC)
  • Tony Cuccinello (1907–1995, born in LIC)
  • John Hatfield (1847–1909, died in LIC)
  • Billy Loes (1929–2010), right-handed pitcher who spent eleven seasons in Major League Baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Baltimore Orioles and San Francisco Giants.
  • Gus Sandberg (1895–1930, born in LIC)
  • Dike Varney (1880–1950, died in LIC)
  • Billy Zitzmann (1895–1985, born in LIC)

People raised in the Queensbridge Houses include hip-hop producer Marley Marl, and rappers MC Shan, Mobb Deep, Nas, and Roxanne Shante.

Other notable residents of Long Island City include:

  • Mike Baxter (born 1984), outfielder who played for the New York Mets.
  • Richard Bellamy (1927–1998), art dealer.
  • Jane Bolin (1908–2007), first black woman to serve as a judge in the United States when she was sworn into the bench of the New York City Domestic Relations Court in 1939.
  • Sonam Dolma Brauen (born 1953), Swiss-Tibetan sculptor and painter
  • Mario J. Cariello (1907–1985), politician who served as Borough President of Queens and as a New York Supreme Court Justice.
  • Richard Christy (born 1974), musician and writer on The Howard Stern Show
  • John T. Clancy (1903–1985), lawyer, politician and surrogate judge from Queens.
  • Julie Dash (born 1952), filmmaker
  • Florence Finney (1903–1994), politician and first woman president pro tempore of the Connecticut State Senate; born in Long Island City.
  • Vern Fleming (born 1962), former professional basketball player who played in the NBA for the Indiana Pacers and New Jersey Nets
  • John J. Flemm (1896–1974), politician, founder and president of Flemm Lead Company
  • Roy Gussow (1918–2011), abstract sculptor
  • Steve Hofstetter (born 1979), actor and comedian; operates the Laughing Devil Comedy Club in the area
  • Zenon Konopka (born 1981), ice hockey forward; lived in Long Island City during the 2010–11 NHL season
  • Murray Lerner (1927–2017), documentary and experimental film director and producer.
  • Blanche Merrill (1883–1966), songwriter
  • Mollie Moon (1912–1990), founder and president of the National Urban League Guild
  • Natalia Paruz, musician and director of the annual NYC Musical Saw Festival
  • Naomi Rosenblum (1925–2021), photography historian.
  • Levy Rozman (born 1995), chess International Master, chess coach and online content creator
  • Metta Sandiford-Artest (born 1979), former professional basketball player who played 19 seasons in the NBA
  • Joe Santagato (born 1992), comedian and creator of Hasbro board game Speak Out.
  • Jessica Valenti (born 1978), feminist writer, founder of the website Feministing and columnist for The Guardian
  • Andy Walker (born 1955), retired professional basketball small forward who spent one season in the NBA for the New Orleans Jazz

References

Notes

Citations

Further reading

  • Queens Buzz Lead-in Section to LIC
  • Long Island City BID
  • LICNotes (archived)
  • Greater Astoria Historical Society
  • LIC Cultural Alliance