Long Island City, New York

Long Island City, New York, often abbreviated "L.I.C.," was created in 1870 from the communities of Astoria, Hunters Point, Blissville, Ravenswood, Dutch Kills and Bowery Bay. It is located in the northwest part of Long Island, adjoining the East River. Locals now use the term only for the area south of Astoria.

It is part of the Queens borough. It surrendered its independence in 1898 to become part of New York City. However, Long Island City is still one of the four main post offices in Queens. It is also the eastern terminus of the Queensboro Bridge, also known as the 59th Street Bridge, which is the only non-toll automative route connecting Queens and Manhattan.

At and around the bridge terminus is found the Queensbridge Housing Projects. Major thoroughfares include 21st Street, which is mostly industrial and commercial, Queens Boulevard, which leads into the bridge, and the westmost portion of Northern Boulevard. The most prominent feature aside from the bridge is the community's lone skyscraper, the Citibank building.

Long Island City was once home to many factories and bakeries. The bakeries included Sunshine Biscuits, and Silvercup Bread. The Silvercup bakery is now home to Silvercup Studios, which produces notable work such as HBO's The Sopranos. The factories included Swingline Staplers, Fisher Electronics, Pepsi-Cola, Chiclet Gum, and Eagle Electric. Eagle Electric, now known as Cooper Wiring Devices is the only major factory left in the area.

The former factories have found new uses; the Sunshine Bakery is now LaGuardia Community College, High-rise housing is now being built on the former Pepsi-Cola site, and from June 2002 until September 2004 the old Swingline plant was the temorary headquarters of the Museum of Modern Art.