HOMETOWN NEIGHBORHOODS

A Neighborhood Carving Its Niche on Queens’ Waterfront

Long Island City is quickly becoming one of New York City’s most up-and-coming neighborhoods. In truth, its name is a little misleading — it is neither a part of Long Island, nor is it any longer a city, but rather an area of Queens. It is, however, the westernmost point in New York City, and now one of the city’s residential neighborhoods du jour.

Long Island City is surrounded by water on two sides – the East River to its west and Newtown Creek to its south – and shares a border with Astoria to its north (whose close proximity can be credited in part to L.I.C’s rapid gentrification.)

The merger of a series of hamlets in the 19th century led to the creation of Long Island City in 1870. It spent nearly 30 years operating as an independent entity before becoming part of New York City in 1898.

Today, Long Island City is largely an enclave of artists. The neighborhood contains one of the highest concentrations of art galleries, institutions and studio spaces in New York City. Look out over Long Island City from the No. 7 subway train near Court House Square and you’ll see the graffiti art adorning the facade of 5 Pointz, a former factory building that now serves as an outdoor art exhibit space and collective of artists studios, which is itself a work of art. The building served as a canvas for aerosol artists from around the world since the early ‘90s. Long Island City’s artistic origins date back even farther than that though, MOMA PS1, one of the oldest institutions of contemporary art in the country, opened in the area in 1971. It was later joined by the Fisher Landau Center for Art and SculptureCenter, which both cater to the contemporary art community, too.

Outside of its art scene, Long Island City has a lot to offer in a neighborhood, including a growing number of cafes, bars and restaurants, as well as retail shops, that are becoming destinations in and of themselves. The cafe Sweetleaf; restaurants like The Creek and the Cave and LIC Market; and bars like Dutch Kills are no longer neighborhood secrets.

Getting to Long Island City is easy thanks to several subway lines that serve the neighborhood. The Q,N,F and G trains all have stops in the area, as does the No. 7 train. The East River Ferry makes getting to and from Long Island City easy by water. A train trip on the Long Island Rail Road is also an option, as is driving. The Queensboro, Pulaski and Roosevelt Island Bridges, as well as the Queens Midtown Tunnel and Queens Boulevard, Northern Boulevard and the Long Island Expressway all help to make Long Island City accessible by automotive.

The streetscape of Long Island City is largely consumed by converted commercial and factory buildings, remnants of the neighborhoods past life as a hub for manufacturing companies and bakeries, interlaced with high-rise residential buildings.

Educational opportunities abound in Long Island City thanks to a high concentration of primary and high schools, was well as institutions of higher education.