SUNNYSIDE, QUEENS

'Sunnyside' is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It shares borders with Hunters Point and Long Island City to the west, Astoria to the north, Woodside to the east and Maspeth to the south (map). The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 2.^[1]

Contents

Ethnic Community

History

Transportation

Schools and Public Services

Famous Residents

Claims to Fame

Railyard

References

External links

Ethnic Community

Sunnyside's residents are of various ethnic backgrounds including Albanian, Armenian, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Colombian, Dominican, Ecuadorian, Filipino, Indian, Irish, Japanese, Korean, Mexican, Romanian, and Turkish. Both Sunnyside and neighboring Woodside to the east are still known for attracting recent Irish immigrants and being that European nation's springboard into the larger American community.

History

Sunnyside developed after the Queensboro Bridge was completed in 1909. Before that, the neighborhood was mostly small farms and marshland. A large portion of the neighboorhood is 6 story apartment buildings constructed during the 1920s and '30s. The land was originally owned by French settlers in the 1800's.Sunnyside is derived from Sunnyside Hill Farms,which the Bragraws the family who owned the land named it.The area is particularly known for one of America's first planned communities, Sunnyside Gardens. Constructed from 1924 to 1929, Sunnyside Gardens was one of the first developments to incorporate the "superblock" model in the United States. The residential area has brick row houses of two and a half stories, with front and rear gardens and a landscaped central court shared by all. This model allowed for denser residential development, while also providing ample open/green-space amenities. Clarence Stein and Henry Wright served as the architects and planners for this development, and the landscape architect was Marjorie Sewell Cautley. These well-planned garden homes are now listed as a historic district, and are also home to one of the only two private parks in New York City, where

Transportation

'Subway' - Sunnyside is served by the 7 Train. The following stops are in the Sunnyside area:

★ 33rd/Rawson Street

★ 40th/Lowery Street

★ 46th/Bliss Street
'Bus' - Multiple bus lines run through Sunnyside:

★ Q32

★ Q39

★ Q60

★ Q104

★ B24
'Other' - The area has easy access to Manhattan via the Long Island Expressway & Queens Midtown Tunnel and to Brooklyn via the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

Schools and Public Services

'Elementary Schools'

★ PS 199 - 39-20 48th Avenue

★ PS 150 - 40-01 43rd Avenue

★ PS 11 - 54-25 Skillman Avenue
'Intermediate Schools'

★ IS 125 - 46-02 47 Avenue
'Public Services'

★ Fire Department - Engine 325, Hook & Ladder 163 - "Woodside Warriors", FDNY - 41-24/26 51st Street

★ Police Department - 108th Precinct, NYPD - 5-47 50th Avenue

★ Sunnyside Post Office - 45-15 44th Street

★ Sunnyside Branch of Queens Borough Public Library - 43-06 Greenpoint Avenue
'Parks'

★ L/Cpl. Thomas P. Noonan Playground

★ George F. Torsney / Lou Lodati Playground

★ Joe Sabba Park / Veterans Memorial Plaza

Famous Residents

Sunnyside has produced an array of talent, including the entertainers Ethel Merman, Perry Como, Nancy Walker, Judy Holliday, James Caan and Rudy Vallee; jazz great Bix Biederbecke, artist Raphael Soyer, and writers and social activists such as Lewis Mumford. The Queens-grown punk-rock group "The Ramones" played some of their earliest gigs in Sunnyside pubs during the 1970's. In the years before World War II New York Giants star Hap Moran coached a youth football team, the Mustangs, in Sunnyside Park. Also, the first ever active openly gay pro wrestler and former WCW and WWF Tag Team Champ and former US Heavyweight Champion Chris Kanyon was born and raised in Sunnyside and his parents still live there. Speaking of wrestlers, the famous wrestler André the Giant used to fight matches at the neighborhood's now long-gone arena, known as "Sunnyside Garden." The site of the arena is now a Wendys on Queens Blvd. and 45th Street.

Claims to Fame

Sunnyside hosts New York City's only Saint Patrick's Day Parade that allows members of New York City's Gay and Lesbian Irish community to march - the St. Pat's for all Parade. The parade attracts not only important local politicians, such as former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and current Mayor Michael Bloomberg, but also politicians from the larger state and national levels, such as Mayor Jason West of New Paltz, New York and New York State's junior senator, Hillary Clinton.
Some scenes in the film ''Spider-Man'' shot in Sunnyside.
For example, the 7 Train is clearly visible in the background of one scene. However, the scenes featuring Spiderman's home were filmed in Forest Hills, Spiderman's home in the original comic books.

Railyard

Sunnyside is also known for the former Pennsylvania Railroad (now Amtrak) railyard known as Sunnyside Yard. These are a staging area for both Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains leaving from Penn Station.
As part of the East Side Access project, a new Long Island Rail Road train station will be constructed in Sunnyside at Queens Boulevard along the LIRR’s Main Line (into Penn Station) and will provide one-stop access for area residents to Midtown Manhattan.

References

1. Queens Community Boards, New York City. Accessed September 3, 2007.


★ 2 http://queenslibrary.org/index.aspx?page_nm=CL-Communityinfo&branch_id=SU&#clhistory

External links

★ Sunnyside Gardens

★ Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce

★ Forgotten NY: Bridges of Sunnyside Yards

★ New York Metro: 6 Affordable Neighborhoods - Sunnyside

★ NYTimes: An Enclave at Once Snug and Inclusive

★