Bayside is an upper middle class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. CNN Money ranked Bayside as one of the most expensive housing markets nationally when analyzing comparable detached homes throughout the United States. Despite its large housing stock of free-standing homes, it nationally ranks high to very high in population density.These homes give the neighborhood a similar feel to other wealthy Queens neighborhoods such as Douglaston and Little Neck. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 11.
HISTORY
Bayside’s history dates back to 2000 B.C., when the Matinecock Native American tribe first settled there. In the late 17th century, the area was settled by English colonists. By the middle of the 18th century, early settlers left their homes in Flushing and developed a farming community, Bay Side. During the Revolutionary War, the Bayside-Little Neck area suffered from raids by whaleboatmen from the Connecticut shores. In the 19th century Bayside was still mostly farmland. Middle 20th century urban sprawl in New York City, with the help of more convenient and accessible transportation, led to its development.
During the 1920s, many actors and actresses, such as Rudolph Valentino, lived in Bayside. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century Bayside saw an influx of people associated with the theater and movie industries. The town was then established as a colony for stage and screen stars. When rumors ran rampant through the acting community that Bayside would be the location of a new movie and production studio, many actors, of both sexes, purchased homes in anticipation of an easy commute to the studio. However, this rumored studio never materialized. When Hollywood emerged as the capital of the movie industry during the 1920s, many actors left Bayside to pursue careers in California.
Bayside was the site of a murder by Peter Hains, a prominent army officer, abetted by his brother, sea novelist Thornton Jenkins Hains, who gunned down prominent editor William Annis at his yacht club in 1908. The so-called “Regatta Murder” led to a widely publicized trial at the Flushing County Courthouse. Peter Hains was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years at Sing Sing, while Thornton Hains was acquitted.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Local data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (based on samples from 2005 to 2009) shows that the demographics of Bayside changes significantly from area to area. For example the pocket bordered by the Clearview Expressway to the west, Northern Boulevard to the north, Bell Boulevard to the east, and 48th avenue to the south is 40% Asian, 26% Black, 21% Hispanic, and 13% White. Other areas can be up to 71% majority White, mostly inhabited by those of Italian, Greek, and Irish descent.
As of the 2000 Census, Whites made up 65.6% of Bayside’s population. Of people from this group, Italian Americans, Irish Americans, and Greek Americans were the largest ethnic groups representing 17.6, 12.4, and 7.3% of the population respectively. German Americans made up 6.7% of the population while Polish Americans were 3.5% of the populace. In addition there is a large Asian American population, as well. Around the mid-1990s, a significant number of Korean families began moving into the area. As of the 2000 Census, Asian Americans made up a significant 22.7% of the neighborhood’s population, most of whom were Korean Americans, who made up 10.4% of the population and Chinese Americans, who made up 9.2% of the populace. There is a small African American community representing 4.5% of Bayside’s population. American Indians made up a mere 0.2% of the neighborhood’s population. Pacific Islander Americans were almost nonexistent in the neighborhood as there were only seven individuals of this ethnic group residing in Bayside at the 2000 Census. Multiracial individuals made up 3.2% of the population. Hispanics or Latinos made up 11.8% of Bayside’s population with a small Puerto Rican population representing 2.6% of the neighborhood’s population. In terms of nativity, 65.6% of the populace was native and 34.4% was foreign-born. In terms of language, 52.9% of the population aged 5 years and over spoke only the English language at home with the remaining 47.1% speaking a language other than English. Due to the large Hispanic community, 10.4% of Bayside’s population spoke the Spanish language at home. Also, due to a large community of foreign-born European Americans, 15.2% speak an Indo-European language other than Spanish at home. And in part of the significant Asian American community, 20.7% of the population speak an Asian language at home. The northern part of Bayside, including Bay Terrace, has a large concentration of European Americans, particularly people of Italian heritage. The southern and eastern portions of Bayside have a more ethnically diverse population.
Bayside contains 11,439 housing units. The majority of Bayside’s residents are part of family households representing 67.0% of all households with an average household size of 2.59. The median age of Bayside’s residents is 38.3 years and 15.0% of residents are over 65 years of age. 83.8% of residents age 25 and over have at least graduated from high school, while 35.0% have a bachelor’s degree or higher, making Bayside a more educated community than other American communities.
As of the 2010 Census, Bayside was 46.9% White, 2.6% Black, 11.6% Hispanic, 37.3% Asian, and 0.3% Other. The median household income in 2010 was $72,114.
