Long Island
This article is about Long Island in New York State. For other uses, see Long Island (disambiguation)Long Island is an
island in
New York,
USA. At 1,377 square miles (3567 km²) and is home to 7.536 million residents as of 2005. It is the largest island in the
continental United States, the
most populous island in any U.S. state or territory, and the
17th most populous island in the world, having a larger population than the Japanese island of
Hokkaido and the countries of
Ireland and
Jamaica. True to its name, the island is much longer, jutting out some 118 miles (190 km) from
New York Harbor, than it is wide, with only from 12 to 20 miles (32 km) between the southern
Atlantic coast and
Long Island Sound. The
Native American name for Long Island is Paumonauk, meaning "fish-shaped island."
On the western part of Long Island are the
New York City boroughs of
Brooklyn (Kings County) and
Queens (Queens County); east of these are
Nassau and
Suffolk counties. However, colloquial usage of the term "Long Island" or "the Island" usually refers only to the
suburban/
rural Nassau and Suffolk counties only; the more
urban Brooklyn and Queens are omitted, as they are part of New York City.
Long Island is known for its affluence and high quality of life. Based on data from the 2000 Census, Nassau County is listed as the
second richest county per capita in New York State, as well as the
sixth richest in the United States.
Suffolk County is known for many communities located on its beaches, including the world renowned
Hamptons.
Long Island is also known for its strong middle class accenting a strong dedication to hard work, suburban homeownership, investment in schools and education, and many "soccer moms and dads" who are strongly committed to family living and local community events.
According to the FBI's Crime Index, Long Island (Nassau-Suffolk) has the second lowest crime rate in the United States.
 |
Image of Long Island taken by NASA. |
To the north of the island is
Long Island Sound, which separates it from the coast of
Connecticut and
Rhode Island. To the south are the
Great South Bay,
South Oyster Bay, and
Jamaica Bay, which are actually
lagoons, protected from the
Atlantic Ocean by a string of narrow
barrier islands, most notably
Fire Island. The island splits into two forks at the eastern end, known as the
North Fork and
South Fork, which are separated by the
Great Peconic Bay. To the west, Brooklyn and Queens are separated from
Manhattan and
the Bronx by the
East River, and from
Staten Island and
New Jersey by the waters of
Upper New York Bay, a portion of
New York Harbor. Long Island is connected to the mainland and the other island boroughs by a ribbon of vehicular bridges that cross the East River, the
Verrazano Narrows Bridge (which connects to Staten Island), and several tunnels carrying motor vehicles and trains.
Long Island, as part of New York, is geographically part of the
Mid-Atlantic States.However, many hamlets and villages along the island's
North Shore and in eastern
Suffolk County, such as
Oyster Bay,
Babylon and
Sag Harbor resemble
New England.
Long Island is home of the Long Island
American Viticultural Area.
Long Island has a climate that is very similar to other coastal areas of the
Northeastern United States; it has warm, humid summers and cold winters, but the
Atlantic Ocean helps bring afternoon sea breezes that temper the heat in the warmer months and limit the frequency and severity of
thunderstorms. In the wintertime, temperatures are warmer than areas further inland (especially in the night and early morning hours), sometimes causing a snowstorm further inland to fall as rain on the island. However, measurable snow falls every winter, and in many winters one or more intense storms called
Nor'easters produce blizzard conditions with snowfalls of 1-2 feet (30-60 cm) and near-hurricane force winds. Long Island temperatures also vary from west to east, with the western part of the island warmer on most occasions than the east. This is due to two factors; one because the western part is closer to the mainland and the other is the western part is more developed causing what is known as the "
urban heat island" effect. The eastern part is cooler on most occasions due to the ocean and sound and it being less developed. On dry nights with no clouds or wind, the
Pine Barrens in eastern Suffolk County can be almost 20-Fahrenheit degrees cooler due to
radiational cooling.
Long Island is somewhat vulnerable to
hurricanes.
Its northern location and relatively cool waters tend to weaken storms to below hurricane strength by the time they reach Long Island. Despite this, some storms had 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.
Long Island is formed largely of two spines of
glacial moraine, with a large, sandy outwash plane beyond. These moraines consist of gravel and loose rock left behind during the two most recent pulses of
Wisconsin glaciation. 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. Most of the more level land south of this moraine to the South Shore is the outwash plain.
The island's tallest natural point is Jayne's Hill near
Melville, with an elevation of 400.9 feet (122.2 m) above sea level. The island is separated from the mainland by the
East River â€" actually not a river but a tidal
strait.
Long Island contains a series of sand and gravel
aquifers, geologic formations which can hold, transmit and yield water in usable quantities. All of Long Island's water supply comes from underground water held in aquifers. Stacked one on top of the other like layers in a cake, three major and one minor aquifer make up the Long Island aquifer system. In sequence from shallowest to deepest, the Long Island aquifers are: the Upper Glacial, the Magothy and the Lloyd Aquifers. All Long Island aquifers receive their fresh water from precipitation which takes from 25 to 1,000 years to migrate through the layers to the aquifers, which hold roughly 70 trillion gallons (264 trillion liters) â€" enough to flood the entire surface of Long Island with more than 300 feet (91 m) of water â€" and can withstand long droughts that dry up surface-water reservoirs like the ones that supply New York City. Almost four million gallons each day are taken from beneath Nassau and Suffolk Counties, providing the primary source of water for the resident population. While most homes are on a municipal water system, there are still many areas where homes have their own wells to provide them with water. Due to contamination associated with development, the concern over preserving the quality of Long Island's groundwater has become the single most important factor limiting the region's growth.
Population trend| Year | Inhabitants | | 1790 | 37,108 | | 1800 | 42,097 | | 1810 | 48,752 | | 1820 | 56,978 | | 1830 | 69,775 | | 1840 | 110,406 | | 1850 | 212,637 | | 1860 | 379,788 | | 1870 | 540,648 | | 1880 | 743,957 | | 1890 | 1,029,097 |
| | Year | Inhabitants | | 1900 | 1,452,611 | | 1910 | 2,098,460 | | 1920 | | 1930 | 4,103,638 | | 1940 | 4,600,022 | | 1950 | 5,237,918 | | 1960 | 6,403,852 | | 1970 | 7,141,515 | | 1980 | 6,728,074 | | 1990 | 6,861,474 | | 2000 | 7,448,618 |
|
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.
Long Island has a substantial
Italian American presence, accounting for 28.8% of Suffolk's population and 23.9% of Nassau's as of the 2000 census.
Brooklyn's 939,316
African Americans account for 38.1% of the residents of Kings County.
[Race Alone or in Combination: Census 2000 for Kings County, New York] In Queens County, the African American population is 486,197, or 21.8% of the population.
[ Race Alone or in Combination: Census 2000 for Queens County, New York]While accounting for less than 10% of the residents of Nassau and Suffolk, there are pockets of African Americans throughout the area, mainly confined to
Hempstead (village), (52.5%)
Freeport (32.6%),
Roosevelt (79.0%),
Uniondale (55.5%), and
Wyandanch (77.7%).
Long Island was shaped by Ice Age glaciers thousands of years ago during the final Ice Age, and eventually, the glacers melted and receded back, resulting in difference from the north shore beaches and the south shores. The North Shore beaches to be rocky from all the Glacial debris, and the South Shores are crisp clear sand, with the ocean tides hitting the shores. Running along the center of the island is the glacier moraine that runs almost like a spine along the center of the Island. (Bald Hill is the highest point along the moraine.) The Glaciers also formed Lake Ronkonkama, a kettle lake.
Early colonial figures on the island include Wyandanch, Smith, Captain
William Kidd,
Lionel Gardner, and
John Underhill. The West of Long Island was settled by the Dutch, and the East settled by the English
Puritans from
Massachusetts. Long Island was the scene of several
witch hunts, including one involving Lionel Gardner in East Hampton.
During the
American Revolutionary War, the Island was captured by the British early on in the
Battle of Long Island, and had a notable
loyalist influence. It was a British stronghold until the end of the war. Close ties with England (since colonization and even after independence) may account for the similarities between English
accents and the
New York Accent, most notably the
non-rhotic pronunciation.
Prior to
May 4,
1897, the whole of Long Island remained outside the boundaries of New York City as the counties of Queens, Kings and Suffolk. Long Island itself formerly possessed two incorporated cities; the City of
Brooklyn and the
City of Long Island (in Queens County, now a neighborhood in the Borough of Queens. The name Long Island City harks back to its former status). Both, along with Kings and Queens counties, were consolidated into "The City of Greater New York" on the May 4th date, with an officially celebrated date of
January 1,
1898 (Kings and Queens Counties survive as county names). The easternmost 280 square miles (725 km²) of Queens County, which rejected consolidation into New York City, formed a separate county. "Nassau", one of several names by which the island was once known, was revived to represent the newly established county. The figurative "separation" of Brooklyn and Queens from Long Island in popular usage must have begun around this time, since the
Battle of Long Island and
Long Island City (all nowadays in "The City") all allude to their geographical location on the island.
Long Island also was the home of several prominent Roosevelts such as author
Robert Roosevelt, and the summer home of his nephew President
Theodore Roosevelt, who made his home at Sagamore Hill in Nassau County, and Theodore's son
Quentin, for whom
Roosevelt Field was named. Long Island was also the home of the
Vanderbilt family.
Immigrants spilling over from New York City have made comfortable lives on Long Island. The immigration waves of Southern and Eastern Europe have been pivotal in creating the diversity on Long Island that most other American regions lack. These immigrations are reflected in the large
Italian American and
Jewish-American populations.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Long Island began the transformation from backwoods and farms to the paradigm of the American
suburb. With
Robert Moses, various parkway projects began to span the island, along with various state parks,
Jones Beach being the most famous, "the crown jewel in Moses' State Park System". Long Island quickly became New York City's retreat - with millions of people going to and from the city to the new state parks. As the years wore on, development started to follow the parkways, with various communities springing up along the more travelled routes: (the
Southern State Parkway, the
Northern State Parkway, and, in the 1960s, the
Long Island Expressway).After
World War II, Long Island's population skyrocketed, mostly in
Nassau and western
Suffolk, as people who worked and lived in
New York City moved out to Long Island in the new devolopments built during the post-war era boom. The most famous post-war devolepment was the town of
Levittown, New York. Positioned along the
Wantagh Parkway in the area formally known as Newbridge, (the main traffic corridor has the same name as a homage to what once was), the area became the first place to massively reproduce houses on a grand scale- providing great oppurtunity for GI's returning home to start a family. After the success of Levittown, other areas surrounding fell to "suburban sprawl" and
Nassau County became more densely populated than its eastern counterpart,
Suffolk County. As the years wore on into the 1960's and 70's however, sprawl sent development east of the county line- with areas such as
Deer Park, New York and
Commack, New York seeing rapid devolopment. As you drive out east along routes such as New York Route 27 Sunrise Highway along the south shore or New York Route 25 Jericho Turnpike you will see development start to spread out, even turning back to the potato and sod farms that once were east of towns such as
Mount Sinai, New York. Long Island always has a shortage of land, and with real estate prices always on the rise, it is expected to see urban sprawl approach even the farms of
Riverhead, New York and beyond. The development of the island is mostly low density, with each house sitting on about 1/2 acre of land out in Nassau and 1-2 acres in Suffolk. The Island has a dependacy on cars, since mass transit systems aren't as developed as they are in cities like New York.
Long Island- Suburbia or Something else?
Long Island, some urban planners would say, is only half a suburb, and half
Technoburb. A Technoburb is a community that isn't urban traditionally, but the population lives in a self sustaining community without a big urban center such as New York City being their main source of jobs. Nassau County is mainly full of
New York City commuters (thus being the suburban part of the island), with Suffolk County having mostly professionals who work within a 20 mile radius of their homes, in places such as
Stony Brook University or
Computer Associates. It can however be argued that the same is true for dwellers of Nassau County as it too has opportunities for professionals stemming from its large population as well as universities including
Hofstra,
Adelphi University, and
SUNY Old Westbury. A drive to New York City from Eastern Suffolk County could take well up to 3 hours with traffic on a normal weekday, thus making it impractical to commute each day although those living in the western and central communities of the county can quickly arrive in Manhattan via the
Long Island Railraod.
Long Island and 9/11
Long Island was hit especially hard by the
September 11, 2001 attacks on the
World Trade Center. Many people who live on Long Island commute to
Manhattan for work on a daily basis. Also, many of the fire-fighters called in to assist in evacuation efforts or quelling the underground fires that occurred after the
Twin Towers fell were from Long Island.
Aviation history
Long Island is also important in the history of aviation. It was the home of the
Roosevelt Airfield which was an airfield in Garden City, Nassau County. From this airport,
Charles Lindbergh took off for his historic 1927 nonstop flight from the New York City area to
Paris, France. But Roosevelt Airfield was closed in 1951, and its land is now the location of commercial development, including a shopping mall.
Another important historic Long Island airport was
Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. Established in the early 1930s, it was New York City's first commercial airport, and it was also a terminus of historic flights by
Amelia Earhart,
Roscoe Turner,
Wiley Post, and
Howard Hughes. Its runways were closed in the 1970s, and it is currently part of a wildlife refuge.
In 1996, tragedy struck Long Island, as
TWA Flight 800 exploded over water off the coast of the small hamlet of
East Moriches. 230 people were killed in the disaster. A monument to those lost now stands at Smith Point County Park on Fire Island in Suffolk County.
The counties of
Nassau and
Suffolk have long been renowned for their affluence. With median home prices rising in excess of $400,000 USD
, Long Island has a very high cost of living with residents paying some of the highest property taxes in the country. Such affluence is especially pervasive among the hamlets and villages on the
North Shore of Long Island also known as the 'Gold Coast' and among opulent pockets of the South Shore.
Long Island is home to some of the most expensive houses in the country. In fact, the most expensive residence in the country is Three Ponds in
Bridgehampton.
Long Island is home to the luxury communities of
the Hamptons, as well as
Cold Spring Harbor and
Lloyd Harbor in Suffolk County and
Garden City,
Laurel Hollow,
Syosset, and
Manhasset in Nassau County. Long Island is also home to the second largest private residence in the country, the Otto Kahn estate. Otto Kahn was a famous Long Islander who built a large castle complete with underground railroad cars.
The economy of Long Island has long benefited from its proximity to New York City, although before and during
World War II, Long Island began developing industry of its own. 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 and
Sperry Gyroscope having their headquarters and factories in the
Bethpage area.
Grumman has long been the source of top warplanes for the
U.S. Navy and the
Marine Corps, as seen in the movie
Top Gun and numerous WW-II naval and Marine Corps aviation movies. Prominent WW-II Grumman aircraft included the
F4F Wildcat and
F6F Hellcat fighters, and the
TBF Avenger bomber, flown by hundreds of U.S. and Allied pilots, including former President
George H.W. Bush.
Long Island has played a prominent role in scientific research and in engineering. It was the home of the
Grumman Aircraft factories where all the
Apollo Program Lunar Module spacecraft were built; and it still is the home of the
Brookhaven National Laboratories in
nuclear physics and
Department of Energy research. All of this makes Long Island one of the leading high-technology areas in the world.
In their early decades, Sperry Gyroscope and related companies were concentrated on Long Island, especially in
Nassau County in the
Bethpage area. Over the years, it also diversified to other locations. The company did very well during WW-II as military demand skyrocketed; it specialized in high technology devices such as
gyrocompasses,
analog computer-controlled bombsights, airborne
radar systems, and automated take-off and landing systems. As the reader can see, these were jumping-off points into the multibillion-dollar annually aviation
electronics business. During the
Cold War decade of the 1950s, part of Sperry Gyroscope was moved to
Phoenix, Arizona, and soon thereafter became part of the
Sperry Flight Systems Company. This was to try to preserve parts of this vital defense company in the event of a
thermonuclear conflagration. Both on Long Island and in Arizona, Sperry continued to excel at aviation electronics â€"
avionics, and it also provided avionics systems for such
NASA programs as the
Space Shuttle.
In recent decades companies such as
Sperry Rand and
Computer Associates, headquartered in
Islandia, have made Long Island a center for the computer industry. Nevertheless, the eastern end of the island is still partly agricultural, now including many
vineyards as well as traditional
truck farming.
Fishing also continues to be an important industry, especially at
Northport and
Montauk.
Since World War II, Long Island has become increasingly suburban and, in some areas, fully urbanized.
Levittown was only the first of many new suburbs, and businesses followed residential development eastward.
Long Island is home to the East Coast's largest industrial park, the Hauppauge Industrial Park. The park has over 1,300 companies, and employs over 55,000 Long Islanders. Companies in the park and abroad are represented by the
Hauppauge Industrial Association.
A growing entertainment industry presence can also be found on the Island. Most recently producer
Mitchell Kriegman established
Wainscott Studios in Water Mill where the
PBS children's show, "
It's a Big, Big World", is shot.
Brooklyn and
Queens do not have independent county governments, as they are both
boroughs of
New York City. Both boroughs do have subsidiary offices headed by "
borough presidents", but this is largely a ceremonial title that holds little political power.
Nassau County and
Suffolk County have their own separate governments, with a
County Executive leading both. Each also has a county legislature, as well as other 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.
Politically, Long Island was long controlled by the
Republican Party. Republican presidential candidates won both Nassau and Suffolk counties from 1900 until 1988, with the exception of the
1912 victory of
Woodrow Wilson and the
Lyndon Johnson landslide of
1964. In 1972,
Richard Nixon won Nassau, Suffolk and Queens and came within 14,000 votes of winning heavily Democratic Brooklyn. In 1992, the suburban counties split, with Nassau voting Democratic and Suffolk voting Republican; however, since 1996, both counties, along with Brooklyn and Queens, have been
Democratic, although sometimes by fairly close margins. In 2004,
John Kerry won Suffolk County by just under 14,000 votes. The close 2004 margins followed a large Gore win in Nassau and Suffolk in 2000, and many observers think the 2004 results were more of a reflection from a 9/11 bump Bush received through portions of the NY Metro area (as his #'s jumped quite a bit from 2000 in Staten Island, Rockland County and parts of New Jersey as well) rather than a reversal of the Democratic trend. In 2000, Senator
Hillary Clinton lost both Nassau and Suffolk to Republican
Rick Lazio, who had previously served as a congressman from Suffolk County. While the 2004 results did show a much stronger showing for Bush across Nassau and Suffolk County it did not hurt Democrat
Charles Schumer and his re-election bid in the area. Schumer won both Nassau and Suffolk in a landslide receiving close to 70% of the vote in both counties. Republican Governor
George Pataki won both Nassau and Suffolk in all three of his victories.
In 2001, Nassau County elected
Democrat Thomas Suozzi as county executive and Democrats took control of the county legislature, marking the first time Democrats had full control over county governments. Republicans still held on to the District Attorney's office and
Hempstead town government, which has not had a Democratic majority on the town council or held the town supervisor position in close to 100 years. In 2003, Suffolk County followed suit, elected Democrat
Steve Levy as county executive.
The 2005 election saw Nassau move further into Democratic hands.
Denis Dillon, the
Republican District Attorney of Nassau County for over thirty years, lost his re-election bid to the Democrat
Kathleen Rice. The Republicans also lost the
Town of Brookhaven, long known as a bastion of the Republican Party on the Island. This has been attributed, in part, to what was perceived as widespread Republican corruption in the town; some critics had begun to refer to Brookhaven as "Crookhaven" because of this. The Suffolk County sheriff's race also resulted in a Democratic win. For the first time in years, Democrats once again control the Suffolk County Legislature. In 2006, for the first time ever, Democrats will control a majority of government offices in both counties including county executives, legislatures, and district attorneys.
On the western side, both Brooklyn and Queens are reliably Democratic, although Queens became that way fairly recently, having still been politically volatile through the 1980's. This is mainly a consequence of the recent changes in Queens demographics, that used to be a white-middle-class suburban county, and is now one of the most diverse places in the United States.
All or parts of 15 of New York's 29 congressional districts are located on Long Island. Of them, the Republicans only represent two;
Peter T. King of
Seaford represents the
3rd Congressional District, which includes most of eastern Nassau County and parts of southwestern Suffolk County. The other,
Vito Fossella of the 13th Congressional District, represents parts of southwest Brooklyn, though his district is mainly located in
Staten Island. The other 13 representatives are all Democrats.
In 2005,
Forbes magazine listed Long Island as having 2,042 crimes per 100,000 residents; the lowest crime rate and less than half the US average [
1].
Long Island is patrolled by the
New York City Police Department, Nassau County Police Department, Suffolk County Police Department,
New York State Police and several dozen local police departments.
Both Nassau and Suffolk have a sheriff's office that handles civil process, evictions, warrant service and enforcement, prisoner transport, courthouse security and detention, and operation of the county jail. The Nassau County Sheriff's Department employs about 900 sworn officers and only performs the above duties although deputy sheriff's have full police officer powers and can make arrests for any crime they come across. The Suffolk County Sheriff's Office has 1,300 sworn officers and in addition to the above duties also has 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.
See List of Long Island law enforcement agenciesLong Island is the location of three large airports with regularly scheduled commercial jet airline service. These are the
John F. Kennedy International Airport and
LaGuardia Airport, both in Queens County (in
New York City), and the
MacArthur Airport, (sometimes referred to as the "Islip Airport"), a smaller airport in
Suffolk County. This is the only airport in Nassau or Suffolk counties with regularly scheduled commercial flights, handling about 2 million passengers a year.
Long Island is also important in the history of aviation. It was the home of the
Roosevelt Airfield - an airfield in
Garden City, Nassau County. From this airport,
Charles Lindbergh took off for his historic 1927 non-stop solo flight across the
Atlantic Ocean to
Paris, France. Roosevelt Airfield was closed in 1951, and its land is now the location of commercial development, including a shopping mall.
Another important historic Long Island airport was
Floyd Bennett Field in Kings County (in New York City). Established in the early 1930s, it was New York City's first commercial airport, and it was also a terminus of historic flights by
Amelia Earhart,
Roscoe Turner,
Wiley Post, and
Howard Hughes. Its runways were closed in the 1970s, and most of it is currently part of a wildlife refuge.
The
Long Island Rail Road,
Long Island Expressway, and
Northern and
Southern State Parkways (the latter three all products of the automobile-centered planning of
Robert Moses) make east-west travel on the island straightforward, if not always quick. Indeed, locals lovingly refer to
Long Island Expressway as "The World's Longest Parking Lot".
For several decades, the tracks and stations of the Long Island Railroad gave the only railroad service to Long Island. Hence, it was a source of great pride to Long Islanders when bridges and/or tunnels connecting Brooklyn and Queens to the mainland belatedly gave nationwide through railroad service to Long Island.
The
MTA Long Island Bus provides
bus transportation throughout
Nassau County and the western portions of
Suffolk County.
Suffolk Transit provides
bus transportation throughout
Suffolk County.
For a less stressful ride, one only needs to travel east across Long Island to the "Twin Forks". These two peninsulas offer a long and ambling journey far removed from the hustle and bustle of suburbia further west. Indeed, even after one reaches the end of
Long Island Expressway in Riverhead, it is another 45 minute drive along
Middle Country Road to reach the eastern end of the North Fork at Orient Point, and over an hour along
Sunrise and
Montauk Highways to reach
Montauk Point at the end of the South Fork.
Suffolk county and Nassau County Police also make much more money than any other county in the Country. It is not uncommon for police to be making 6 figure salaries and high pensions.
Nassau and Suffolk counties are home to numerous colleges and universities, including:
Public
* branches of the
State University of New York**
State University of New York at Stony Brook**
SUNY College at Old Westbury**
Farmingdale State University**
Nassau Community College**
Suffolk County Community College* other
**
United States Merchant Marine AcademyPrivate
*
Adelphi University*
Five Towns College*
Briarcliffe College *
Dowling College*
Hofstra University*
Katharine Gibbs School,
Melville*
Long Island University**
C.W. Post Campus**
Southampton College campus (sold in 2004 to Stony Brook University)
*
Molloy College*
New York Institute of Technology*
Brooklyn Polytechnic University*
Touro Law Center*
Watson School of Biological Sciences*
Webb Institute*
Saint Joseph's College (Suffolk Campus)
*
Saint John's University (Queens)
Beaches
Long Island has many beaches.
* Atlantic Beach: a private beach on a southern barrier island in Nassau County
*
Coney Island (in
Brooklyn)
*
The Rockaways (in
Queens)
**
Rockaway Beach**
Far Rockaway*
Jones Beach in Nassau County
* Nickerson Beach in Nassau County
*
Long Beach*
Cedar Beach*
Sunken Meadow State Park, Kings Park in Suffolk County
* Town of Hempstead Beaches at Point Lookout and Lido
* Town of North Hempstead Beaches:
Bar Beach and
Hempstead Harbor* Town of Babylon Beaches: Gilgo Beach, Cedar Beach, and Overlook Beach
* Town of Oyster Bay Beaches: Tobay Beach
* Town of
Smithtown Beaches: Short Beach, Callahan's Beach, Little Africa
* Southampton Town Beaches: Tiana, Ponquogue, and various others on Dune Road and Gin Lane
* Robert Moses State Park
* Smith Point County Park (Suffolk County)
* Cupsogue Beach (Suffolk County)
* Montauk Point State Park
Resort areas
Fire Island National Seashore, which is a long
barrier island off Long Island's
South Shore, is a hot spot for tourists, especially during the summer.
The Village of Ocean Beach is the most populous community on Fire Island. There are restrictions on automobile use and the island is not accessible by car (except for one small westerly portion), requiring passage by one of numerous ferries or other watercraft.
The Hamptons, in eastern Long Island's Suffolk County, is one of the area's most popular summer destinations. Parts of the Hamptons are well known for being a playground for the rich, and are frequented by residents of New York City during the summer months for weekend getaways. This has given rise to the terms "House in the Hamptons" or "Hamptons summer share."
Country Clubs and Sporting Clubs
Long Island is home to numerous country clubs, polo clubs, golf clubs, and many other private recreational organizations, including:
*Bretton Woods Country Club (Coram)
*The Bridgehampton Polo Club (Bridgehampton)
*Brookvile Country Club (Glen Head)
*Cold Spring Harbor Country Club (Cold Spring Hills)
*The Crescent Beach Club (Bayville)
*Crest Hollow Country Club (Woodbury)
*Garden City Country Club (Garden City)
*Hamlet Golf and Country Club (Commack)
*The Hamlet Windwatch Golf Club (Hauppauge)
*Huntington Country Club (Huntington)
*Huntington Crescent Club (Huntington)
*Moments Golf Club (Elmont)
*Port Jefferson Country Club (Port Jefferson)
*Roslyn Country Club (Roslyn Heights)
*Rockville Links Country Club (Rockville Centre)
*Seawane Country Club (Hewlett Harbor)
*Smithtown Landing Country Club (Smithtown)
*South Fork Country Club (Amagansett)
*Towers Country Club (Floral Park)
*Westhampton Country Club (Westhampton)
*Westhampton Yacht Squadron (Westhampton)
*Woodbury Country Club (Woodbury)
Food
Both Nassau and Suffolk County are host to numerous restaurants, many of world-class prestige. As New York is known as a melting pot, every kind of restaurant from
Mexican to
Hungarian can be found. These specialty restaurants are often family owned and are of the highest quality.
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 annual competition where mom and pop pizzerias compete to be named best on Long Island. Corporate pizza companies, such as
Dominos and
Pizza Hut are often utilized to satisfy late-night cravings, but in general, their cheesy, circular bread products are not truly considered "pizza" by locals. Many people who have relocated southward have been know to state that there is no Pizza like that of Long Island and or New York.
Bagel stores and delis are also extremely common. Many bagel stores are Jewish owned and approved as kosher. Long Island bagels are considered some of the best in the world. At least one (and often more than one) deli can be found in a town. Some are open very late.
Diners also abound on Long Island and many depending on the business of the town are open all night, for late night patrons.
Professional Sports Teams
Ebbets Field, which stood in Brooklyn from 1913-1957, was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who decamped to
California after the 1957 season to become the
Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers won several
National League penants 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
Brooklyn Nets Arena 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 play at
Shea Stadium in
Flushing in Queens. Plans have been announced for a
New Mets Ballpark in
Willets Point in the parking lot of the current stadium, to be completed for the 2009 baseball season. 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.
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. The
Long Island Lizards of the
National Lacrosse League play at
Mitchel Athletic Complex in
Uniondale.
Belmont Park, whose main track is the longest dirt Thoroughbred racecourse in the world, is located in the Nassau County community of
Elmont.
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.
Modern music has a long history on Long Island, as it has long been part of US history and is near the most populous city in
North America, yet is located in the
suburbs and as such is strongly influenced by
youth culture.
Psychedelic music 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 in Long Island, especially in Nassau County, where population is denser and more closely influenced by New York City (Queens and Brooklyn).
Long Island, known in the hip-hop community, as
Strong Island, was home to the members of the groundbreaking
rap groups
Public Enemy and
De La Soul.
Method Man,
Busta Rhymes, and
Prodigy of
Mobb Deep also share roots in Long Island. One of the genre's leading radio DJ's â€" Andre (
Doctor Dre) Brown, a native of Westbury â€" plied his trade at
Adelphi University's
WBAU prior to achieving success on
WQHT-FM and
MTV as co-host of the influential
Yo! MTV Raps. Numerous other artists have called Long Island home as well, at one time or another, such as
Rakim,
EPMD,
Keith Murray, and
Craig Mack.
Other famous artists also have roots in Long Island. For example, superstar diva
Mariah Carey was born and raised in
Huntington in Suffolk County and
Billy Joel is from
Hicksville in Nassau County. Joel's debut solo album,
Cold Spring Harbor, was a reference to the
Long Island town of the same name. Many compositions by Billy Joel pertain to life on Long Island, particularly his youth. Examples include songs "Keepin' the Faith", "Captain Jack", "It's Still Rock n Roll to Me" (where he actually references the "Miracle Mile" located on
Northern Boulevard in
Manhasset) and most notably "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant", which names local eateries and hangouts. The restaurant itself is believed to be Christiano's in
Syosset, New York. Also, the song "Movin' Out" is a highly identifiable song for Long Islanders. Its commiseration of the increasing cost for living on Long Island has its protagonists working too hard just to "move up", all too familiar to this island's inhabitants. The songs "No Man's Land" and "Downeaster Alexa" lament the increasing development of the island; the latter song specifically referring to the eastern island and its effect on the fishing industry. The pioneering
heavy metal /
psychedelic rock group
Blue Öyster Cult came together around
State University of New York at Stony Brook, releasing hits such as
(Don't Fear) The Reaper, Astronomy, and Godzilla. Both of these artists had genre-defining roles in the popular music scene of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Also, New Orleans heavy metal band,
Zebra, while not experiencing much success elsewhere, become popular on Long Island during the 1980s. In addition, the
progressive metal band
Dream Theater has most of its members stemming from Long Island, including
John Petrucci and
Mike PortnoyModern music in Long Island includes
indie music, which has rapidly grown in popularity particularly in Suffolk County where the local
emo and
hardcore punk scene continues to grow. It has been felt nationally by the moderate success of local bands such as
Quinn,
Taking Back Sunday,
Brand New,
Straylight Run,
The Movielife, and
From Autumn to Ashes selling Gold albums nationwide. Many churches and synagogues, as well as VFW Halls and community centers constantly house underground shows, affording cheap entertainment and an underlying sense of "scene community". Ska and pop punk bands also have an impressive following, with bands like
Patent Pending,
High School Football Heroes, the long-since disbanded
Edna's Goldfish, and
Arrogant Sons of Bitches topping the list of crowd pleasers. It is a self-serving "business", so to speak, and most bands are known on the island spill over into the northeast regions such as
New Jersey and
Connecticut.
A Long Island-based rock station,
WBAB, 102.3 FM, plays classic rock music from the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
WBAB is also known for bringing together radio personality
Greg Hughes and former HVAC worker
Anthony Cumia in August 1994. The duo are now known as
Opie and Anthony.
Garden City-based radio station
WLIR at 92.7 FM was nationally known in the 1980s and 90s for playing "new wave" bands from Europe that were at the time unheard of in the U.S. Many of the bands and songs eventually crossed over to more mainstream radio, for example, the groups
Frankie Goes to Hollywood and
The Pet Shop Boys. Since 2004, the station has operated under a Spanish-language format since being bought-out by
Univision. (WLIR has been reborn at 107.1 FM, but its more easterly location in Riverhead means many parts of the New York metro area that used to be able to hear it can now only do so via the Internet)
Jones Beach is an extremely 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.
Tourism is a good part of the Long Island economy in certain regions. Tourism thrives primarily in the summer because of the natural beauty, parks and beaches in Long Island along with the warmer weather of summer. Regions of Long Island that are large tourist attractions are the North fork on the east end of Suffolk County, which is known for fishing villages, quaint towns, ferries across to Connecticut or other northern states, and for the world famous wineries. The South fork is primarily known for similar features including golf, equestrian, boating, surfing, and fine dining in the Hamptons and Montauk.
Villages are significant additional source of tourism for the Island. Some of the tourism is from local Long Islander's simply visiting nearby friendly villages. Examples of well developed villages that attract surrounding communities are Huntington Village, Northport Village, Port Jefferson Village, Sayville, & Cold Spring Harbor in Suffolk County. Roslyn Village, Great Neck, The City of Long Beach, The City of Glen Cove, Massapequa Park and Rockville Center are popular Nassau County Villages.
*Long Island is more populated than 97 countries in the world. As an independent nation, it would rank 95th among the
world's largest countries.
*The 179 fire agencies in Nassau and Suffolk combined have more fire trucks than New York City and
Los Angeles County put together.
[Fire alarm: The trucks, Newsday November 15, 2005]Characters in the
comic book Marvel Universe from Long Island include:
*At least 3 members of the
X-Men team including 2 out of the 5 original recruits.
Archangel (real name Warren Worthington and previously called
Angel) was from
Centerport. His fellow original teammate
Iceman (real name Bobby Drake) was from a town called
Fort Washington, Long Island, which apparently exists in that universe but not in the real world. Also a later recruit called
Dazzler (real name Alison Blaire) was from another apparently fictional town in Long Island called
Gardendale.
*Siblings the
Invisible Woman (real name Sue Storm and formerly known as the
Invisible Girl) and the
Human Torch (real name Johnny Storm), both of
The Fantastic Four. The town they're from is called
Glenville.
*
Iron Man (real name Tony Stark) is from or was born in Long Island, which town is uncertain, but it was likely one of the most affluent.
*
Brooklyn*
List of famous Long Islanders*
Nassau County*
Queens*
Suffolk County*
Geography and environment of New York City*
LongIsland.com*
Newsday*
Long Island Association*
Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant*
Long Island Marathon*
NEW YORK: Atlas of Historical County Boundaries; John H. Long, Editor; Compiled by Kathryn Ford Thorne; 1993.
*
Long Island â€" WikiCities- Main Page, Links to Town Info Anyone Can Edit!*
iLongIsland.com a virtual tour of Long Island village and towns by county*
LongIsland Diving*
LongIsland.com*
Long Island Convention and Visitors Bureau*
Long Island Exchange Extensive guide to Long Island
*
Long Island Schools*
North Fork Long Island *
Central Pine Barrens A state designated region on Long Island protected for its water resources and ecological communities.
*
Shelter Island a community driven website detailing Shelter Island and the Hamptons regions of Long Island
*
Long Island Wineries*
eMontauk.com a community website with local information*
Loving Long Island A passionate look at Long Island as a travel destination
*
Long Island Scenes â€" a photo gallery
