OUR NEIGHBORHOODS

Auburndale lies in the western portion of Community Board 11 from Utopia Parkway in the west to the Clearview Expressway in the east from 26 Avenue to the Long Island Expressway. The community is diverse with enclaves of closely knit neighbors. There is an eclectic mix of affordable housing styles including garden apartments, low rise apartment buildings, attached, semi-attached and one and two family homes. The commercial strips are on Francis Lewis Boulevard and Northern Boulevard.  South of Northern Boulevard, Peck Park runs through the neighborhood, part of the Kissena Corrider Park system. The Clearview Expressway traverses the length of the district. There are two active civic associations representing the residents, the Auburndale Improvement Association and the Station Road Civic Association. 

Bayside covers the area from 26 Avenue in the north to the Long Island Expressway in the south and from the Clearview Expressway to the Cross Island Expressway. The name was given by Judge Lawrence in the 1820's to distinguish the area north near Little Neck Bay from Flushing. Today, Bayside is mostly a neighborhood of single family homes with some garden apartment complexes. Bell Boulevard, named for its first landowner, Abraham Bell, is a busy, vibrant commercial district with many fine restaurants and stores along with the commercial strip on Northern Boulevard. The cobblestone house at 35-34 Bell Boulevard, built in 1906, is a landmark as well as the Lawrence Cemetery on 216 Street, where two Mayors are interred besides the Lawrence family. Bayside has several large beautiful parks, John Golden Park, Crocheron Park and Lake, Oakland Lake Park and Alley Pond Park. Queensborough Community College, a first rate two-year City of New York college is located at Springfield Boulevard and the Long Island Expressway.  The Bayside Hills Civic Association, the John Golden Park Association, Bayside Clearspring Council, Bayside Gables Civic Association, the Northwest Clearview Civic Association and the East Bayside Homeowners Association are active homeowners associations and its members help maintain its beautiful neighborhoods.

Douglaston is the community located between Marathon Parkway to the east, the Cross Island Parkway to the west, from the peninsula that is Douglas Manor to the north and the Grand Central Parkway to the south.  Douglaston, near the train station on Douglaston Parkway, north of Northern Boulevard is a small commercial district and the only place with several apartment buildings. Otherwise, Douglaston has beautiful tree lined streets of single family homes. On Northern Boulevard there is parkland, part of the Udalls Cove Preservation area, the Alley Pond Environmental Center, and the Department of Parks grants a concession for a golf driving range. The Department of Parks also grants a concession to the Douglaston Manor Restaurant and Catering Facility and the Douglaston Golf Course. North Hills Estates Civic Association, Doug Bay Manor Civic Association, the Winchester Estates Civic Association, the Commonwealth Civic Association and the Douglaston Civic Association represent the homeowners of their neighborhoods. 

Douglas Manor is a peninsula in Little Neck Bay in the northeastern corner of the district. This community was designated a Landmark in 1997 because of the unique, large, historic homes, some dating back to the 1800s but most of the homes were developed by the Rickert-Finlay Realty Company beginning in 1915. The streets are lined with large, beautiful trees and you can forget you are still in New York City as you walk the streets and look out on the Long Island Sound. The Manor has a private marina and a Club housed in the former mansion built in 1819 by the Douglas Family. The Douglas Manor Association is actively involved in Landmark decisions and helps maintain the beauty of this unique neighborhood.

Little Neck is the most eastern area in the district from Little Neck Bay in the north to the Grand Central Parkway in the south and from Marathon Parkway in the west to the city line with Nassau County. It is a neighborhood of one family homes in a very suburban setting. North of Northern Boulevard are the smaller Bossertt Homes, built in the late 1920's as affordable housing  for people moving eastward as the railroad expanded.  South of Northern Boulevard there are larger homes winding through the Little Neck Hills, the highest point in Queens, with a large garden apartment complex in the southern portion of the district. Little Neck is home to the Community Board 11 office, the famous Scobee Diner, many fine restaurants on Northern Boulevard Udalls Cove and the City's only at-grade LIRR crossing bordering residential areas. The annual Memorial Day Parade starts in Little Neck. The Little Neck Pines Civic Association and the Westmoreland Civic Association are active homeowners' associations in the area.

Hollis Hills was developed in the 1950s and lies south of 73rd Avenue to the Grand Central Parkway, the board's southern border. It lies between Cunningham Park and Alley Pond Park. It is exclusively a district of single family homes on large lots with a small commercial strip on Union Turnpike at Springfield Boulevard. The Hollis Hills Civic Association and the Surrey Estates Homeowners Association represents homeowners in the area.

Oakland Gardens lies south of the Long Island Expressway, north of 73 Avenue from Oceania Street to the Cross Island Parkway. This area developed in the 1950s has single family homes known as the Tall Oaks homes as well as two family homes and large cooperative garden apartment complexes. On 73rd Avenue, the homes border Alley Pond Park and the historic Vanderbilt Motor Parkway. The Oakland Gardens Terrace Community Council has been actively working to preserve the low density character of the neighborhood.