Bayside, Queens

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Safest Nabe in NYC

This is definitely one of the most expensive commuter suburbs in Queens (a quick 30 minute LIRR ride into Manhattan): think landscaped yards and mansions with the added bonus of urban amenities and city tax rates. The Village Voice named it the safest hood in New York City, and it’s recently becoming more diverse. Chinese, Greek, and Korean families are finding a home here, joining a thriving Italian community.

Nina

Bayside is certianly one of the cleanest, most expensive, most luxurious neighborhoods in all of the 5 boros.
I know about Bayside because an old friend lives here. She is a 911 widow and moved here when she received her compensation for 911. Someone in her widows group told her about it. I had never been here before. It is kind of hidden and worlds away from “the city”. It is rumored that many who live here have “non traceable” income.
I took a friend here who said wow it looks like Malibu! Many of the homes here put the homes in Dyker Heights Brooklyn to shame, especially the Bay Terrace section of Bayside which is a gated private community. There is also the very impressive Bayside Gables. http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/Bayside-Gables-Bayside-NY-11360/2133130073_zpid/
Most of the apartment buildings in the area have pools. There are also many public pools in the area that are not overly crowded like Astoria Park is. http://queens.about.com/od/sportsandfitness/a/swimming-pools.htm
Bayside is a wasteland for restaurants in my opinion as having money doesn’t mean you have taste.
But it is close enough to Flushing that there are options for the large Asian community here. There is a strip of restaurants on Bell Blvd. that I have been to with her and most are contrived chains or over priced restaurants to fool the locals most of which seem to know nothing about food. I have a personal story about the restaurants there that would also shed light on my feelings for Bell Blvd restaurants. I had a friend who lived near by and had breast cancer. She knew she was dying of cancer and her dying wish was for her husband to take her to a nice restaurant in Manhattan. He refused even though he is rich and took her to a disappointing restaurant on Bell Blvd which really upset her. For that reason we never go to Bell Blvd. If it was a disappointment to a dying woman and out of respect for her I have no desire to go there. Though I have been to some of the restaurants there (before she died) even the more celebrated ones and can say across the board they are way over rated. However you don’t move to Bayside to eat.
An article in The Village Voice called Bayside one of the safest neighborhoods in New York City. Bayside has been included in CNN Money’s list of Most Expensive Housing Markets, and was also a contender for CNN Money’s ranking of Best Places to Live 2005, and Best Places to Retire 2005.
Bayside 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.
Bed bugs first got my attention in the news by hitting my friends daughters school St. Frances Prep. All the money did not keep the bugs out! The same school also was in the news for the swine flu. http://queenscrap.blogspot.com/2009/04/swine-flu-at-st-francis-prep.html
Bayside has been in movies and the media. ______________________________
_________

• The movie Frequency is set in Bayside Queens. Dennis Quaid’s character brags that he is from “Bayside Queens, born and bred!
• A scene for the movie Pride and Glory was shot on 212th Street in Bayside.
• The starring characters of the HBO series Entourage are originally from Bayside.
• The character George Costanza from the TV series Seinfeld was from Bayside (until his family was “driven from Bayside” because of their belief in Festivus).
• Rudolph Valentino’s Home, 201-10 Cross Island Parkway, The last standing residence of Rudolph Valentino, an Italian actor, sex symbol, and early pop icon. It was also once home to Fiorello Henry La Guardia, Mayor of New York 1934-1945. In 1993, The building was converted into a two floor restaurant/banquet hall named Cafe on the Green. The popular eatery shut down in January 2009 when the city Parks Department forced out the former operators amid reports of mob ties and sloppy finances.

• Here is a list of some of the more famous residents of Bayside.
• John Barrymore, actor.
• Irving Berlin, composer and lyricist
• Charlie Chaplin, actor.
• Frank Costello (1891–1973), prominent gangster, known as the “prime minister of the underworld.”
• Howard R. Driggs (1873–1963) historian of the Pony Express and the Oregon Trail.
• Kenneth Eng, Asian Supremacist
• W.C. Fields, comedian / actor
• Charles Ghigna, poet and children’s author known as “Father Goose,” born in Bayside, 1946.
• Alison Leslie Gold, author of books on Anne Frank and others
• Ron Jeremy, pornographic actor, director
• Buster Keaton, comedian / actor
• Paul Newman, actor
• José Reyes, shortstop for the New York Mets.
• Nolan Ryan (1947-), lived here while playing for the New York Mets.
• Tom Seaver (1944-), pitcher, member of Baseball Hall of Fame
• Gloria Swanson (1899–1983), actress
• Rudolph Valentino (1895–1926), actor
• Edward Villella (1936), ballet dancer

If you look around at the residents they are white it seems largely Italian and Greek and there are many Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches and Synagogues in the neighborhood. And there is also a large Asian, Korean, and Chinese community here.
Bayside does have the feel if you spend time there that outsides do not belong. That if you are visiting it is probably for the purpose of casing out hoses or something.
I think one of the reasons for the safety is that thee is no public transportation here other than the LIRR and you must take a cab or drive from the better communities to get to it. The area surrounding the LIIRR is just average. You must venture out by car to see the Gables or Baybridge. http://www.baybridgerealestate.com/
The mentality here is not a city mentality at all. I have been told that the neighbors are nosy and it does have as mall town feel. But it is still very beautiful and worth a look. You won’t even believe you are in NY!
Bayside is home to a beautiful park. http://www.yelp.com/biz/little-bay-park-bayside
3 Bayside neighborhoods are being considered for landmark status. Maybe if I win the lotto I can move here!It is the safest most beautiful exclusive neighborhood in the 5 boros!Pinky P