Whitestone, Queens

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Francis Lewis Boulevard in Whitestone, named for a signer of the Declaration of Independence who owned it.

Whitestone is a neighborhood in northeastern section of the borough of Queens in New York City, located between the East River to the north and Bayside Avenue to the south. Dutch settlers derived the name of the town from a large limestone boulder that used to lie on the shore of the river. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 7.^[1]

The area was, in part, the estate of Francis Lewis, a delegate to the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In the late nineteenth century, many wealthy New Yorkers began building mansions in the area, on what had once been farmland. Rapid development of the area ensued in the 1920s, however, as trolley and Long Island Rail Road train service on the Whitestone Branch was expanded into the neighborhood. Although this rail service ended during the Great Depression, a small part of the right-of-way was later used by Robert Moses to help construct the Belt Parkway, which includes the Whitestone Expressway which runs along the southeast edge of the former Flushing Airport and through Whitestone.

Francis Lewis Boulevard (which locals tend to refer to as "Franny Lew")^[2] and Francis Lewis Park (often referred to as "Whitestone Park" by the locals) have been named after Francis Lewis himself.

Further development came with the building of the Bronx Whitestone Bridge in 1939. The bridge measures 2,300 feet, and was the fourth longest bridge in the world at the time of its construction. Today, Whitestone is a largely working and middle-class neighborhood of mostly Croatians, Cypriots, Greeks, Irish, Italians, and Jews. The neighborhood is comprised mostly of single family homes, garden apartment complexes, and small apartment buildings.

Notable community landmarks include St. Lukes Roman Catholic Church and the DG athletic league. Grace Episcopal Church, on Clintonville street in Whitestone, was built in 1858 on land donated by Francis Lewis. The Russian Orthodox Church of St Nicholas, with its distinctive great blue onion dome, was built in 1968.

Just to the west of Queens side of the Whitestone Bridge approach, situated between Whitestone proper and College Point is the area known to local residents as Malba, a small area on the waterfront home to some of the largest private houses in New York City. Local residents pride themselves on their Malba addresses.

1 Prominent residents
2 Popular culture
3 Education
4 Emergency Services
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

In the early days of the film industry, celebrities such as Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Harry Houdini and Rudolph Valentino had homes in different areas of Whitestone, most notably in the Northeastern section called Beechhurst. Valentino's summer home still stands at 201-10 Cross Island Parkway, just blocks from the present day Whitestone - Bayside border. Today, the home is under the New York City Department of Parks considered a landmark, and has been converted into an Italian restaurant, Cafe On The Green. Pickford’s Beechhurst home still stands on 160th Street and Powells Cove Boulevard. Poet Walt Whitman, born in Long Island, gave speeches in Whitestone, and is said to have written poetry by the Whitestone seaside. Actress Drea de Matteo, famous for her heartbreaking performance as Adrianna La Cerva on HBO’s acclaimed series The Sopranos, is a Whitestone native.

A scene in an episode of The Sopranos was filmed in a bar in Whitestone formerly known as "Fiddler's Green." A scene from the 2000 movie Boiler Room, starring Giovanni Ribisi and Vin Diesel, was filmed in the same bar. A scene in which a house exploded in the 1994 James Cameron film True Lies, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis, was also filmed in Whitestone. Schwarzenegger and Vanessa L. Williams also filmed a scene for Eraser here.

The area is served by four elementary schools (PS 79, PS 184, PS 193, and PS 209), two middle schools (IS 25 and JHS 194) and two high schools (Bayside High and Francis Lewis High School).

Whitestone is protected by a number of agencies, fire-suppression is provided by the F.D.N.Y., Law Enforcement by the N.Y.P.D. 109th Precinct, and emergency medical services by both 911 ambulances and the Whitestone Volunteer Ambulance Corps at (718)767-1000, 24 hrs a day 7 days a week.

^ Queens Community Boards, New York City. Accessed September 3, 2007.
^ Kilgannon, Corey. " Accident Fuels Anger on Strip Infamous for Drag Racing", The New York Times, April 10, 2004. Accessed September 29, 2007. "In springtime, the boulevard becomes what locals call the Franny Lew Speedway, with drivers running quarter-mile sprints for money or stoplight-to-stoplight races for high-velocity kicks and bragging rights."