[edit] Overview

The westernmost end of Long Island contains the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn (Kings County) and Queens (Queens County). The central and eastern portions contain the suburban Nassau and Suffolk counties. However, colloquial usage of the term "Long Island" usually refers only to Nassau and Suffolk counties. For example, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Long Island District is separate from that of New York City.^[8] The more dense and urban Brooklyn and Queens are not usually referred to as "Long Island", since they are a part of New York City, although before those counties amalgamated into the city, they were often so identified.^[9]

Nassau County is more developed than Suffolk County, with pockets of rural affluence within the Gold Coast of the North Shore and the Five Towns area on the South Shore. South Shore communities are built along protected wetlands of the island and contain white sandy beaches of Outer Barrier Islands fronting on the Atlantic Ocean. Dutch and English settlers from the time before the American Revolutionary War, as well as communities of Native Americans populated the island. The 19th century saw the infusion of the wealthiest Americans in the so-called Gold Coast of the North Shore, where wealthy Americans and Europeans in the Gilded Age built lavish country homes. Today, although many of the massive estates have been demolished, many exist in their original state, while others have become parks, arboretums, universities and museums.^{[citation needed]}

Owing to economic growth and the suburbanization after World War II, Nassau was the fastest growing county in the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s.^{[citation needed]} Suffolk County remains less congested despite substantial growth in high technology and light manufacturing sectors since 1990, although traffic has been increasing in recent years.^{[citation needed]} In its easternmost sections, Suffolk remains small-town rural, as in Greenport on the North Fork and some of the outward areas of The Hamptons, although summer tourism swells the population in those areas. Western Suffolk, such as the towns of Huntington and Babylon, are becoming increasingly more populated and are beginning to resemble towns in Nassau.

According to the US Census Bureau's 2008 American Community Survey, Nassau and Suffolk counties have the 10th and 25th highest median household incomes in the nation, respectively.^[10] Additionally, Nassau County is the third-richest county per capita in New York State, and the 30th richest in the nation. Long Island's Nassau County has the second-highest property taxes in the United States.^[11] Suffolk County has redeveloped North Fork potato fields into a burgeoning wine region.^{[citation needed]} The South Fork is known for beach communities, including the world-renowned Hamptons, and for Montauk Point, home of Montauk Point Lighthouse at the eastern tip of the island.

[edit] Geography

[edit] Geology

NASA Landsat satellite image of Long Island and surrounding areas.

Long Island, as part of the Outer Lands region, is formed largely of two spines of glacial moraine, with a large, sandy outwash plain beyond. These moraines consist of gravel and loose rock left behind during the two most recent pulses of Wisconsin glaciation during the Ice Ages some 21,000 years ago (19,000 BC). The northern moraine, which directly abuts the North Shore of Long Island at points, is known as the Harbor Hill moraine. The more southerly moraine, known as the Ronkonkoma moraine, forms the "backbone" of Long Island; it runs primarily through the very center of Long Island, roughly coinciding with the length of the Long Island Expressway.

The land to the south of this moraine to the South Shore is the outwash plain of the last glacier. One part of the outwash plain was known as the Hempstead Plains, and this land contained one of the few natural prairies to exist east of the Appalachian Mountains.^[12]

The glaciers melted and receded to the north, resulting in the difference between the North Shore beaches and the South Shore beaches. The North Shore beaches are rocky from the remaining glacial debris, while the South Shore's are crisp, clear, outwash sand. Jayne's Hill, at 401 feet (122 m), within Suffolk County near its border with Nassau County, is the highest hill along either moraine; another well-known summit is Bald Hill in Brookhaven Town, not far from its geographical center at Middle Island. The glaciers also formed Lake Ronkonkoma in Suffolk County and Lake Success in Nassau County, each a deep kettle lake.

[edit] Climate

Long Island has a climate similar to other coastal areas of the Northeastern United States; it has warm, humid summers and mild wet winters. Long Island is classified as humid subtropical by some definitions and humid continental by others. The Atlantic Ocean helps bring afternoon sea breezes that temper the heat in the warmer months and limit the frequency and severity of thunderstorms. Long Island has a moderately sunny climate, averaging between 2,400 and 2,800 hours of sunshine annually.^[13]

Average yearly snowfall totals range from approximately 20 to 35 inches (51 to 89 cm), with the north shore and western parts averaging more than the south shore and the east end. In any given winter, however, some parts of the island could see up to 75 inches (190 cm) or more. There are also some very quiet winters, in which most parts of the island could see less than 10 inches (25 cm).

Long Island is somewhat vulnerable to hurricanes.^[14] Its northern location and relatively cool waters tend to weaken storms to below hurricane strength by the time they reach Long Island, although despite this, some storms have made landfall at Category 1 or greater strength, including two unnamed Category 3 storms: the 1938 New England Hurricane (also known as the Long Island Express) and another in 1944. Named hurricanes that crossed Long Island include Hurricane Donna in 1960, Hurricane Belle in 1976, Hurricane Gloria in 1985, Hurricane Bob in 1991 (brushed the eastern tip) and Hurricane Floyd in 1999. (There is debate among climatologists as to whether Hurricane Floyd made landfall as a Category 1 or as a very strong "almost hurricane strength" tropical storm. The official records note it as the latter.) In August 2011, portions of Long Island were evacuated in preparation for Hurricane Irene, a Category 1 hurricane which turned into a tropical storm before it reached Long Island.^[15]

On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy, a slow-moving superstorm reached the area causing 90 percent of Long Island households to lose power and an estimated 18 billion dollars in damages in Nassau & Suffolk counties alone.^[16][17] The extent of Sandy's damages are second only to those caused by the 1938 Long Island Express (even though the Sandy's barometric pressure was lower and set a record).^[18]

Only adding to the damage, Nor'easter Athena followed 9 days later (November 7, 2012), causing more damages, 60,000 more power outages, transportation shutdowns, up to 5" of heavy snow, and a temporary halt to recovery efforts for the initial damage caused by the hurricane. In addition, residents who were previously evacuated during the hurricane and had returned to their homes, had to be evacuated again due to the possibility of higher than normal tides further damaging an already compromised shoreline.^[19]

[edit] Additional Islands

In addition to the main island, several smaller islands comprise what is collectively considered Long Island. These islands include Fire Island, Plum Island, Robins Island, Gardiners Island, Fishers Island and Shelter Island.

[edit] Demographics

The Long Island Koreatown (롱 아일랜드 코리아타운) originated in Flushing, Queens before sprawling eastward along Northern Boulevard^{[20][21][22][23]} and eventually into Nassau County.^[21] This Koreatown abuts the rapidly growing Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠) as well.^[20]

Long Island is one of the most densely populated regions in the United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the total population of all four counties of Long Island was 7,568,304, which is 39 percent of the population of the State of New York. New York City's portion of the census was 4,735,538, with Brooklyn's population at 2,504,700 and Queens having 2,230,722 residents.

The combined population of Nassau and Suffolk counties was 2,832,882 people; Suffolk County's share at 1,493,350 and Nassau County's at 1,339,532. Nassau County had a larger population for decades, but Suffolk County surpassed it in the 1990 census as growth and development continued to spread eastward.

As Suffolk County has over twice the land area of Nassau County, the latter still has a much higher population density. Combining all four counties, Long Island's population is greater than 38 of the 50 United States. If it were an independent nation, Long Island would rank as the 96th most populated nation, falling between Switzerland and Israel.

Population figures from the U.S. Census Bureau Census 2010^[4] show that whites are the largest racial group in all four counties, and are in the majority in Nassau and Suffolk counties. In 2002, The New York Times cited a study by the non-profit group ERASE Racism, which determined that Nassau and Suffolk counties are the most racially segregated suburbs in the United States.^[28]

Catholics are the largest religious group on Long Island, with non-affiliated in second place. Catholics make up 52% of the population of Nassau and Suffolk, versus 22% for the country as a whole, with Jews at 16% and 7% respectively versus 1.7% nationwide.^[29] Even more surprising is the small percentage of Protestants, 7% and 8% respectively, for Nassau and Suffolk Counties, versus 23% for the entire country on the same survey, and 50% on self-identification surveys.^[29]

Long Island has a substantial Italian-American population. About 26% of Long Island residents claim Italian ancestry. 28% of Suffolk County residents claim Italian ancestry.^{[citation needed]}

More recently, a Little India has emerged in Hicksville;^[30] while rapidly growing Chinatowns have developed in Brooklyn and Queens and have spread into Nassau County.^[31] The Long Island Koreatown (롱 아일랜드 코리아타운) originated in Flushing, Queens before sprawling eastward along Northern Boulevard^{[20][21][22][23]} and eventually into Nassau County.^[21]

A 2010 article in The New York Times stated that the expansion of the immigrant workforce on Long Island has not displaced any jobs from other Long Island residents, and that, in fact, half the immigrants on Long Island hold white-collar positions.^[32]

[edit] History

Eastern Long Island Native American settlements, and their neighbors

Battle of Long Island

The Brooklyn Bridge, the first of seven bridges constructed across the East River, connects Long Island with the Borough of Manhattan (in background).

At the time of European contact, the Lenape people (named the Delaware by Europeans) inhabited the western end of Long Island, and spoke the Munsee dialect of the Algonquian language family. Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to record an encounter with these people, after entering what is now New York Bay in 1524. The eastern portion of the island was inhabited by speakers of the Mohegan-Montauk-Narragansett language group of the same language family, indicative of their ties to the aboriginal peoples inhabiting what is now Connecticut and Rhode Island. In 1609, the English navigator Henry Hudson explored the harbor and may have landed at Coney Island. The western portion of Long Island was later settled by the Dutch, while the eastern region was settled by English Puritans from New Haven, Connecticut, settling in Southold on October 21, 1640.

From the first half of the 17th century the Conklin family and other related families, like the Ketchums, Smiths, and Gardiners, owned the entire area of Long Island, Gardiners Island, and Manhattan.^{[citation needed]}

Indian deeds to the Dutch from 1636 state that the Indians referred to Long Island as "Sewanhaka", "Sewanhacky", and "Sewanhacking".^[35] Sewan was one of the terms for wampum (money made from shells and beads), and is also translated as "loose" or "scattered", which may refer either to the wampum or to Long Island itself.^[35] The name "t'Lange Eylandt alias Matouwacs" (later shortened to "Lange Eylandt") appears in Dutch maps from the 1650s.^[36][37] Later, it was often called "Nassau Island" by the British,^[38] after the Dutch Prince William of Nassau, Prince of Orange (who later also ruled as King William III of England). It is unclear when the name "Nassau Island" was discontinued.

Until 1664, jurisdiction of Long Island was split, roughly at the present border between Nassau County and Suffolk County between the Dutch in the west and Connecticut claiming the east. The Dutch had granted an English settlement in Hempstead (now in Nassau) in 1644, but drove out English settlers in Oyster Bay as part of a boundary dispute. In 1664, all of Long Island came under English dominion, when the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam was taken over by the English and renamed New York.

The 1664 land patent granted to the Duke of York included all islands in Long Island Sound. The Duke of York held a grudge against Connecticut, as New Haven had hidden three of the judges who sentenced the Duke's father, King Charles I, to death in 1649. Settlers throughout Suffolk County pressed to stay part of Connecticut, but Governor Sir Edmund Andros threatened to eliminate the settlers' rights to land if they did not yield, which they did by 1676.^[39]

All of Long Island (as well as the islands between it and Connecticut) thus became part of the Province of New York within the Shire of York. Present-day Suffolk County was the East Riding (of Yorkshire), present-day Brooklyn was part of the West Riding, and present-day Queens and Nassau were just part of the larger North Riding. In 1683, Yorkshire was dissolved and the three original counties on Long Island were established: Kings, Queens, and Suffolk.

Early in the American Revolutionary War, the island was captured from General George Washington by the British in the Battle of Long Island, the largest battle of the entire war. The island remained a British stronghold until the end of the war, and was the center of much of General Washington's espionage activities, due to its proximity to the British military headquarters in New York City. After the British victory on Long Island many Loyalists fled, leaving mostly Patriots behind.

In the 19th century, Long Island was still mainly rural and agricultural. The predecessor to the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) began service in 1836 from the South Ferry, Brooklyn, through Brooklyn to Jamaica in Queens, and the line was completed to the east end of Long Island in 1844 (as part of a plan for transportation to Boston). Competing railroads (soon absorbed by the LIRR) were built along the south shore to accommodate travellers from those more populated areas. From 1830 until 1930, population roughly doubled every twenty years, and several cities were incorporated, such as the City of Brooklyn in Kings County, and Long Island City in Queens.

Until the 1883 completion of the Brooklyn Bridge, the only connection between Long Island and the rest of the United States was by boat. Other bridges and tunnels followed, and a suburban character spread as population increased. On January 1, 1898, Kings County and portions of Queens were consolidated into The City of Greater New York, abolishing all cities and towns within them. The easternmost 280 square miles (730 km²) of Queens County, which were not part of the consolidation plan,^{[40][41][42][43][44][45]} separated from Queens in 1899 to form Nassau County.

At the close of the 19th century, the communities along the North Shore of Long Island saw the construction of large "baronial" estates built by men who made vast fortunes during the Gilded Age. The availability of land with water views, along with the proximity to Manhattan, made men like J. P Morgan, William K Vanderbilt, Charles Pratt create clumps of estates that would give the area its moniker, Gold Coast. Books like The Great Gatsby chronicle their lives and the era.

From the 1920s to the 1940s, Long Island began the transformation from backwoods and farms to the paradigm of the American suburb. Numerous branches of the LIRR already enabled commuting from the suburbs to the city. Robert Moses engineered various automobile parkway projects to span the island, along with beaches and state parks for the enjoyment of residents and visitors from the city. Gradually, development also followed these parkways, with various communities springing up along the more traveled routes.

After World War II, Long Island's population skyrocketed, mostly in Nassau County and western Suffolk County. People who worked and lived in New York City moved out to Long Island in new developments built during the post-war boom. The most famous post-war development was Levittown: the area became the first place to massively reproduce houses on a grand scale — providing opportunities for GIs returning home to start a family. The immigration waves of southern and eastern Europe, followed by more recent ones from Latin America, have been pivotal in creating the diversity on Long Island that many other American regions lack. These immigrations are reflected in the large Italian American, Irish American, and Jewish American populations.

[edit] Economy

F-14 Tomcat on static display pedestal at Grumman Memorial Park, Calverton, New York

The counties of Nassau and Suffolk have been long renowned for their affluence.

From about 1930 to about 1990, Long Island was considered one of the aviation centers of the United States, with companies such as Grumman Aircraft, Republic, Fairchild, and Curtiss having their headquarters and factories on Long Island.

Long Island has played a prominent role in scientific research and in engineering. It is the home of the Brookhaven National Laboratory in nuclear physics and Department of Energy research.

In recent decades companies such as Sperry Rand, Computer Associates (headquartered in Islandia), Motorola Enterprise Mobility (now occupying the former headquarters of Symbol Technologies and a former Grumman plant in Holtsville), have made Long Island a center for the computer industry. Stony Brook University of the State University of New York conducts far-ranging medical and technology research.

A commemorative half dollar issued in 1936 for the Long island tercentenary

Long Island is also home to the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, which was directed for 35 years by James D. Watson (who, along with Francis Crick, discovered the double helix structure of DNA).

Long Island is home to the East Coast's largest industrial park, the Hauppauge Industrial Park. The park has over 1,300 companies employing more than 71,000 Long Islanders. Companies in the park and abroad are represented by the Hauppauge Industrial Association. As many as 20 percent of Long Islanders commute to New York City jobs. The eastern end of the island is still partly agricultural. In the last 25 years, development of vineyards on the North Fork became a major new industry, replacing potato fields. Pumpkin farms have been added to traditional truck farming. Farms allow fresh fruit picking by Long Islanders for much of the year. Fishing continues to be an important industry, especially at Huntington, Northport, Montauk, and other coastal communities of the East End and South Shore.

[edit] Government and politics

Nassau County and Suffolk County each have their own governments, with a County Executive leading each. Each has a county legislature and countywide-elected officials, such as district attorney, county clerk, and county comptroller. The towns in both counties have their own governments as well, with town supervisors and a town council. Nassau County is divided into three towns and two small incorporated cities (Glen Cove and Long Beach). Suffolk County is divided into ten towns.

Brooklyn and Queens, on the other hand, do not have county governments. As boroughs of New York City, both have Borough Presidents, which have been largely ceremonial offices since the shutdown of the New York City Board of Estimate.

Long Island is home to two Native American Indian reservations, Poospatuck Reservation, and Shinnecock Reservation. Both Reservations are in Suffolk County. Numerous island place names are Native American in origin.

[edit] Law enforcement

Queens and Brooklyn are patrolled by the New York City Police Department; Nassau and Suffolk counties respectively have the Nassau County Police Department and Suffolk County Police Department. New York State Police patrol state parks and parkways; several dozen villages and the two cities in Nassau have their own police departments.

Both Nassau and Suffolk have a sheriff's office that handles civil process, evictions, warrant service and enforcement, prisoner transport and detention, and operation of the county jail.

[edit] Secession proposals

The secession of Long Island from New York was proposed as early as 1896, but talk was revived towards the latter part of the twentieth century.^[46] On March 28, 2008 Suffolk County, New York Comptroller Joseph Sawicki proposed a plan that would make Long Island (specifically, Nassau and Suffolk counties) the 51st state of the United States of America.^[47] Sawicki says that all the Long Island taxpayers' money would stay on Long Island, rather than the funds being dispersed all over the entire state of New York. The state of Long Island would include over 2.7 million people. So far Nassau County executives have not expressed interest in joining in the secession proposal, which would need to be approved by the NY State Legislature.^[47]

[edit] Transportation

Platforms at Jamaica

LaGuardia Airport Aerial view

I-495 NY Nassau County

Long Island MacArthur Airport

Great South Bay Bridge

Every major form of transportation serves Long Island, including John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, and Long Island MacArthur Airport, multiple smaller airports, railroads, subways, and several major highways. There are historic and modern bridges, recreational and commuter trails, and ferries serving various parts of all of Long Island.

The Long Island Expressway, Northern State Parkway, and Southern State Parkway, all products of the automobile-centered planning of Robert Moses, make east-west travel on the island straightforward, if not always quick.

There are currently ten road crossings out of Long Island, all within New York City limits at the extreme western end of the island. Plans for a Long Island Crossing at various locations in Nassau and Suffolk Counties (a proposed bridge or tunnel that would link Long Island to the south with New York or Connecticut to the north across Long Island Sound) have been discussed for decades, but there are currently no firm plans to construct such a crossing.

The MTA implements mass transportation for the New York metropolitan area, including all five boroughs of New York City, the suburban counties of Dutchess, Nassau, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester, all of which together are the "Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District (MCTD)".

The MTA is the largest public transportation provider in the Western Hemisphere. Its agencies serve 14.6 million people spread over 5,000 square miles (13,000 km²) from New York City through southeastern New York State (including Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley), and Connecticut. Combined the MTA agencies now move more than 2.6 billion rail and bus customers a year while employing some 70,000 workers.

Nassau Inter-County Express provides bus service in Nassau County, while Suffolk County Transit, an agency of the Suffolk County government, provides bus service in Suffolk County.

[edit] Rail

The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) is the busiest commuter railroad system in North America, carrying an average of 282,400 passengers each weekday on 728 daily trains. Chartered on April 24, 1834, it is also the oldest railroad still operating under its original name.^[48]

Schematic map of LIRR system

[edit] Education

[edit] Primary and secondary education

Long Island's Nassau and Suffolk counties are home to 125 public school districts containing a total of 656 public schools. In contrast, all of Brooklyn and Queens are served by the New York City Department of Education, the largest school district in the United States. Long Island is also home to a number of private and parochial schools.

Stony Brook West Campus

[edit] Colleges and universities

In Nassau & Suffolk Counties

Public:

• institutions of the State University of New York
  • Stony Brook University, including the main Stony Brook campus and the Stony Brook Southampton campus
  • SUNY College at Old Westbury
  • Farmingdale State College (Farmingdale)
  • Nassau Community College (East Garden City)
  • Suffolk County Community College – three main campuses: in Selden, Brentwood, and Riverhead; plus two "satellite" centers in Sayville and downtown Riverhead
  • Federal Service Academies
    • United States Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point)

  Private:

  • Adelphi University in Nassau County (main campus in Garden City) and Suffolk County (an Education and Conference Center in Hauppauge)
  • Briarcliffe College – in Queens at Long Island City; Nassau at Bethpage; and Suffolk at Patchogue
  • Dowling College – three campuses in Suffolk County (Oakdale, Shirley, and Melville)
  • Five Towns College in Suffolk County (Dix Hills)
  • Hofstra University in Nassau County (Hempstead and Uniondale)
  • Long Island University: C. W. Post Campus in Brookville in Nassau County, and two branch campuses in Suffolk County at Brentwood and Riverhead, and Brooklyn
  • Molloy College – in Nassau County (Rockville Centre)
  • New York Institute of Technology – main campus in Nassau (Old Westbury), campus also in Suffolk (Central Islip) and Manhattan
  • Polytechnic Institute of New York University (formerly Polytechnic University, now part of NYU) – has a "Long Island Graduate Center" in Suffolk, at Melville, as well as the main campus in Brooklyn
  • Saint John's University – Main campus in Queens, with a graduate center in Suffolk (Oakdale)^[49]
  • Saint Joseph's College – campuses in Brooklyn and Suffolk (Patchogue)
  • SBI-Melville – Sanford-Brown Institute campus in Suffolk County at Melville
  • Touro Law Center in Suffolk County (Central Islip)
  • Watson School of Biological Sciences in Nassau County (Laurel Hollow)
  • Webb Institute in Nassau County (Glen Cove)

  In Brooklyn and Queens

  • institutions of the City University of New York
    • Brooklyn College
    • Medgar Evers College
    • New York City College of Technology
    • Kingsborough Community College
    • Queens College
    • York College
    • City University of New York School of Law
    • LaGuardia Community College
    • Queensborough Community College
    • institutions of the State University of New York
      • SUNY Downstate Medical Center (Brooklyn)

    For other colleges in Brooklyn and Queens, see List of colleges and universities in New York City.

    [edit] Leisure and recreation

    
    
    Montauk, New York

    [edit] Resort areas

    Main article: List of Long Island recreational facilities

    [edit] Food

    This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2010)

    Both Nassau and Suffolk County are home to thousands of restaurants. As New York is known as a melting pot, every kind of restaurant from Mexican to Hungarian to Indian can be found. These specialty restaurants are often family owned.

    Small family-owned pizzerias are ubiquitous. It is not uncommon for a community on Long Island to have several different pizzerias, each with its own distinct flavor. The Long Island Pizza Festival & Bake-Off is an annual competition in which "mom and pop" pizzerias compete to be named best on Long Island.

    Bagel stores and delis are common. Long Island bagels are considered some of the best in the world^{[citation needed]}. Often more than one deli can be found in a community.

    Diners also abound on Long Island; many are Greek- and German-owned, and many are open all night for late-night patrons.

    Almost all major fast food and casual dining chains have a presence on Long Island.

    [edit] Drink

    The well known cocktail, the Long Island Iced Tea, was first created on Long Island. One of the most celebrated local beers is called Blue Point,^[50] named for the hamlet of the same name.

    [edit] Roadside attractions

    The Big Duck is a ferrocement building in the shape of a duck located in Flanders, New York, on Long Island. It was originally built in 1931 by duck farmer Martin Maurer in nearby Riverhead, and used as a shop to sell ducks and duck eggs. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

    [edit] Sports

    Long Island is home to numerous famous athletes, including Hall of Famers Jim Brown, Julius Erving, John Mackey, Nick Drahos, and Carl Yastrzemski. Others include Gold Medalists Sarah Hughes and Derrick Adkins, D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Billy Donovan, Larry Brown, Rick Pitino, John McEnroe, Jumbo Elliott, Mick Foley, Zack Ryder, Matt Serra, Boomer Esiason, Vinny Testaverde, Craig Biggio, Frank Catalanotto, Greg Sacks, Rob Burnett, Steve Park, Frank Viola, Chris Weidman, Marques Colston and Speedy Claxton. Several current NHL Players such as Vancouver Canucks Christopher Higgins and Matt Gilroy, Dallas Stars Eric Nystrom, Toronto Maple Leaf Mike Komisarek, and Los Angeles King Rob Scuderi were all born and/or raised on Long Island. Both Komisarek and Higgins played on the same Suffolk County Hockey League team at an early age, and later played on the Montreal Canadiens together. Nick Drahos was an All Scholastic and All Long Island honoree at Lawrence High School, Nassau Co. in 1936 and 1937, and a 2-time Unanimous National College All-American in the years of 1939 and 1940 at Cornell University.

    Club	Sport	Founded	League	Venue
    Brooklyn Cyclones	Baseball	2001	New York-Penn League	MCU Park
    Long Island Ducks	Baseball	2000	Atlantic League	Bethpage Ballpark
    New York Mets	Baseball	1962	Major League Baseball	Citi Field
    Brooklyn Nets	Basketball	1967	National Basketball Association	Barclays Center
    Strong Island Sound	Basketball	2005	American Basketball Association	Suffolk County Community College
    Empire State Demon Knights	Football	2008	Five Star Football League	Aviator Sports and Recreation
    New York Islanders	Ice hockey	1972	National Hockey League	Nassau Coliseum
    Long Island Lizards	Lacrosse	2001	Major League Lacrosse	Mitchel Athletic Complex
    Long Island Rough Riders	Soccer	1994	United Soccer Leagues	Mitchel Athletic Complex

    Ebbets Field, which stood in Brooklyn from 1913 to 1957, was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team, who decamped to California after the 1957 season to become the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers won several National League pennants in the 1940s and 1950s, losing several times in the World Series—often called Subway Series—to their Bronx rivals, the New York Yankees. The Dodgers won their lone championship in Brooklyn in the 1955 World Series versus the Yankees. The Barclays Center, a new sports arena, business, and residential complex built partly on a platform over the Atlantic Yards at Atlantic Avenue, will serve as a new home for the Brooklyn Nets basketball team beginning in the 2012-13 NBA season. This move will mark the return to Long Island for the franchise, which played at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum from 1972–1977.

    The New York Mets baseball team plays at Citi Field in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens. Their former stadium, Shea Stadium was also home for The New York Jets football team from 1964 until 1983. The new stadium is designed with an exterior facade and main entry rotunda inspired by Ebbets Field. The Brooklyn Cyclones are a minor league baseball team, affiliated with the New York Mets. The Cyclones play at KeySpan Park just off the boardwalk on Coney Island in Brooklyn. Queens also hosts one of the four tennis grand slams, the US Open. Every August (September, in Olympic years) the best tennis players in the world travel to Long Island to play the championships, which is held in the USTA National Tennis Center, located adjacent to Citi Field in Flushing Meadows Park. The complex also contains the biggest tennis stadium in the world, the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

    Nassau County is home to the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League. The Islanders have played at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale since their inception in 1972. The Islanders will move to Barclays Center in Brooklyn in 2015, ensuring that the team will remain on Long Island. The New York Dragons of the Arena Football League also played their home games at Nassau Coliseum.

    Long Island has been a hot spot for outdoor lacrosse at the youth and college level, which made way for a Major League Lacrosse team in 2001, the Long Island Lizards. The Lizards play at Mitchel Athletic Complex in Uniondale. The longest dirt Thoroughbred racecourse in the world is located in the Nassau County community of Elmont at Belmont Park. Long Island has also been at the forefront of Semi-Professional football. The Empire State Demon Knights^[51] of the Five Star Football League have called Long Island their home since they relinquished the name Kings County Wolfpack and moved to Suffolk County.

    Long Island is also home to the Long Island Ducks minor league baseball team of the Atlantic League. Their stadium, Citibank Park, is located in Central Islip. The American Basketball Association's Strong Island Sound play home games at Suffolk County Community College. The two main rugby teams are the Long Island RFC in East Meadow and the Suffolk Bull Moose in Stony Brook. It also has a professional soccer club, the Long Island Rough Riders, who play at Mitchel Athletic Complex in Uniondale. The Rough Riders have won two national championships, in 1995 and 2002. The New York Mets had planned to move their Double-A farm team to Long Island, as part of the ambitious but now-defunct plan for Nassau county called The Lighthouse Project.

    Another category of sporting events popular in this region are Firematic Racing events, involving many local Volunteer fire departments.

    Long Island also has two horse racing tracks, the Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, Queens and Belmont Park on the Queens/Nassau border in Elmont, home of the Belmont Stakes.

    [edit] Music

    Main article: Music of Long Island
    See also: Long Island Music Hall of Fame, List of Long Islanders, and List of people from New York City
    
    
    Nikon at Jones Beach Theater

    Music on Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk) is strongly influenced by the proximity to New York City and by the youth culture of the suburbs. Psychedelic rock was widely popular in the 1960s as flocks of disaffected youth travelled to NYC to participate in protest and the culture of the time. R & B also has a history on Long Island, especially in areas close to New York City. In the late 1970s through the 1980s, the influence of radio station WLIR-FM made Long Island one of the first places in the U.S. to hear and embrace European New Wave bands such as Depeche Mode, the Pet Shop Boys, and Culture Club. In the 1990s Hip-hop became very popular with rap pioneers Rakim and Public Enemy growing up on Long Island. Famous rock bands that originated on Long Island include Dream Theater, Blue Öyster Cult, Twisted Sister and guitar virtuosos Steve Vai and Joe Satriani.

    The Nassau Coliseum and Nikon at Jones Beach Theater are venues used by national touring acts as performance spaces for concerts. Nikon at Jones Beach Theater is an outdoor amphitheatre, located at Jones Beach State Park. It is a popular place to view summer concerts, with new as well as classic artists performing there during the summer months. It hosts a large Fourth of July fireworks show every year which fills the stands. People also park cars along the highway leading to the show, and others watch from the nearby beaches.^[52]

    Long Island is also known for its school music programs. Many schools in Suffolk County have distinguished music programs, with high numbers of students who are accepted into the state-wide All-State music groups, or even the National All-Eastern Coast music groups. Both the Suffolk County and Nassau County Music Educator's Associations are recognized by The National Association of Music Education (MENC),^[53][54] and host numerous events, competitions, and other music-related activities.

    [edit] Long Island gallery

    This section looks like an image gallery. Wikipedia policy discourages galleries of random images of the article subject; please improve or remove the section accordingly, moving freely licensed images to Wikimedia Commons if not already hosted there.

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      Mascot Dock - Village of Patchogue
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      Swan River Long Island
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      Port Jefferson ferry
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      Barrier Islands boardwalk
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      Old Field lighthouse
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      Looking out from – Montauk Lighthouse.
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      Nissequogue River State Park
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      Verrazano-Narrows Bridge – Brooklyn to Staten Island
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      Fire Island Light
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      Long Island Vineyards
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      Citi Field, Queens, NYC
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      Stony Brook, New York
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      2009 Jones Beach Airshow
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      The Fire Island Bridge
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      New York/Long Island Coast Guard

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      The Brooklyn Bridge
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      Patchogue Bay
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      Orient Point
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      Calverton National Cemetery

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      Long Island Hard Clam

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      LIRR
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      Bald Hill, Farmingville, NY

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      The Hamptons
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      NY/LI Metro