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 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.