Long Island City, Queens, New York
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Long Island City, New York, often abbreviated L.I.C., is an area in the borough of Queens in New York City. It was created in 1870 from the communities of Astoria, Hunters Point, Blissville, Ravenswood, Dutch Kills and Bowery Bay. It is located in the northwest part of Long Island, adjoining the east bank of the East River. Locals now use the term only for the area south of Astoria.
Long Island City surrendered its independence in 1898 to become part of New York City. However, Long Island City is still one of the four main post offices in Queens. It is also the eastern terminus of the Queensboro Bridge, also known as the 59th Street Bridge, which is the only non-toll automotive route connecting Queens and Manhattan.
At and around the bridge terminus is found the Queensbridge Housing Projects. Major thoroughfares include 21st Street, which is mostly industrial and commercial, Queens Boulevard, which leads into the bridge, and the westmost portion of Northern Boulevard. The most prominent feature aside from the bridge is the community's lone skyscraper, the Citibank building which was built in 1989.
Long Island City was once home to many factories and bakeries, some of which are finding new uses. The former Silvercup bakery is now home to Silvercup Studios, which produces notable work such as HBO's The Sopranos. The Silvercup sign is visible from the 7 Train going into and out of Queensboro Plaza. The former Sunshine Bakery is now LaGuardia Community College. Artist Isamu Noguchi converted a photo-engraving plant into a workshop; the site is now a museum dedicated to his work. High-rise housing is now being built on the former Pepsi-Cola site, and from June 2002 - September 2004 the old Swingline Staplers plant was the temporary headquarters of the Museum of Modern Art. Other factories included Fisher Electronics, and Chiclet Gum.
Eagle Electric, now known as Cooper Wiring Devices, is one of the few major factories left in the area. Long Island City is also home to the largest fortune cookie factory in the United States, owned by Wonton Foods and producing four million fortune cookies a day. Lucky numbers included on fortunes in the company's cookies led to 110 people across the United States winning $100,000 each in a May 2005 drawing for Powerball.
External links
- Greater Astoria Historical Society (http://www.astorialic.org/)
- Long Island City Business Development Corporation (http://www.licbdc.org/)
- LIC Community Boathouse (http://www.licboathouse.org/)
- LIC Cultural Alliance (http://www.licarts.org/)
- Forgotten NY: Long Island City (http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/LIC/lic.html)
- 108th (http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/pct/pct108.html) and 114th (http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/pct/pct114.html) Precincts of the NYC Police, including weekly crime statistics
- Cookies contain fortunes for Powerball winners (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/12/fortune.cookies/), a May 2005 article from CNN
- Cookie Master (http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/050606ta_talk_olshan), a June 2005 article from The New Yorker