Little Neck, Queens

Little Neck
Neighborhood of Queens

Residential street
Country United States
State New York
County Queens
Ethnicity
 • White 71.1%
 • Black 1.1%
 • Hispanic 6.8%
 • Asian 23.9%
 • Other 1.9%
ZIP code 11362, 11363
Area code(s) 718, 347, 917

Little Neck is an upper middle class neighborhood of Queens, New York City, bordered on the north by Little Neck Bay and on the east by Great Neck in Nassau County. Due to this proximity to Nassau, Little Neck remains one of the most suburban-looking areas in New York City. The southern border is the Grand Central Parkway, and to the west is Douglaston. The Little Neck station is the easternmost New York City station on the busy Port Washington Branch of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), and thus Little Neck is home to the busiest of approximately a dozen remaining railway grade crossings in New York City.[1] The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 11.[2]

Development

Prior to the mid-1600s, the Matinecock lived in what is today considered Little Neck, sustained by the seafood in Little Neck Bay.[3] In the 17th century, European settlers began arriving in the area for its conveniently located harbor. Soon after, the British and Dutch gained control of the Matinecock lands peacefully, except for a small area known as Madnan's Neck (possibly a shortened form of Indian name for the area, Menhaden-ock, or "place of fish").[4] Thomas Hicks, of the Hicks family that eventually founded Hicksville, and a band of armed settlers forcibly drove out the Matinecock in a battle at today's Northern Boulevard and Marathon Parkway.[5] An old Matinecock cemetery remained in Little Neck on Northern Boulevard between Cornell Lane and Jesse Court. One of the last photographs of the cemetery (available online) was taken by the Daily News in August 1931, a few months before it was removed to make room for a widened Northern Boulevard.[6] The remains from the cemetery were moved to the Zion Episcopal Church of Douglaston and placed under a stone marker that reads "Here rest the last of the Matinecoc."[7]

The settlers thrived producing produce for the Manhattan market and the area was used as a dock on Little Neck Bay. As the population of Little Neck and New York in general began to grow, the Little Neck Long Island Rail Road station was opened in 1866 on the Port Washington Branch to serve the community and the dock area.[8] Northern Boulevard was developed into a commercial and cultural hub, and the Little Neck Theater, a 576-seat movie theater, was opened in 1929 at the intersection of Northern Boulevard and Morgan Street.[9][10] The theater was closed in 1983.[11]

P.S. 94 on 42nd Avenue

From the 1860s through the 1890s, small hard clams (quahogs) from Little Neck Bay were served in the best restaurants of New York and several European capitals.[12] Eventually, the term "littleneck" or "littleneck clam" came to be used as a size category for all hard clams, regardless of origin.[13][14]

Education

Little Neck 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.[15]

Little Neck is home to PS 94 David D. Porter, PS 221 North Hills, and PS 811 (a multiple handicap school, formerly known as PS 187, or the Marathon School). It is also home to Louis Pasteur Middle School 67Q, which serves about 900 students.

Notable residents

References

  1. ↑ Perilous Crossings, accessed November 27, 2006
  2. ↑ Queens Community Boards, New York City. Accessed September 3, 2007.
  3. ↑ "History". Matinecock Masonic Historical Society. Retrieved 2012-06-26.
  4. ↑ Walsh, Kevin (2006). Forgotten New York: Views of a Lost Metropolis. Collins Reference. ISBN 978-0060754006.
  5. ↑ Euler, Aline; Freiberg, Dyan (2008). The History and Ecology of Little Neck Bay, LI, NY. Douglaston, NY: Alley Pond Environmental Center.
  6. ↑ French, Mary (October 28, 2010). "Indian Cemetery, Little Neck". New York Cemetery Project. Retrieved 2012-06-26.
  7. ↑ Walsh, Kevin (August 2007). "ForgottenTour 31, Little Neck/Douglaston, Queens". Retrieved 2012-06-26.
  8. ↑ Shaman, Diana (January 28, 2001). "If You're Thinking of Living In/Little Neck, Queens; A Century-Old Neighborly Community". The New York Times.
  9. ↑ "Little Neck Theatre Sold". The New York Times. February 7, 1929.
  10. ↑ "Little Neck Theatre Leased". The New York Times. April 15, 1963.
  11. ↑ "Little Neck Theatre in Little Neck, NY". Cinema Treasures. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
  12. ↑ Queens Borough Library Douglaston/Little Neck Branch Community Info
  13. ↑ "littleneck" Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary retrieved on 2009-05-05.
  14. ↑ "littleneck" Webster's New World College Dictionary retrieved from www.yourdictionary.com on 2009-05-05.
  15. ↑ Roleke, Krissy. "Bayside, NY: Queens Neighborhood Profile for Bayside", About.com. Accessed July 15, 2006.
  16. ↑ "They Came from Queens", Queens Tribune. Accessed November 4, 2007. "He once lived in Little Neck and attended Aviation High School."
  17. ↑ Alan Kalter: Late Show on CBS, accessed July 26, 2010
  18. ↑ Grimes, William (September 21, 2010). "Jill Johnston, Avant-Garde Cultural Critic, Dies at 81". The New York Times.
  19. ↑ (Chinese) 芳邻刘亦菲. October 22, 2006. Retrieved on June 24, 2008.
  20. ↑ George Tenet is welcome back home in Little Neck, Times Ledger, June 10, 2004

External links

Coordinates: 40°45′43.14″N 73°44′17.58″W / 40.7619833°N 73.7382167°W / 40.7619833; -73.7382167

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