Bayside homes & more mini tour • Queens, NY • 8/11/2024

I went to Bayside the other day in northeast Queens to run some errands and decided to make a quick mini tour video, since a lot of things caught my attention and I had my camera with me. Plus, I always liked that area. The neighborhoods over there are really nice and well kept, but of course there’s always a few streets with the really interesting and standout homes that look extra great. I was battling with the sun and clouds a bit, but still managed to get some decent footage. I started at Fort Todden, which is an old army base still in use and sits right on the bay. The current military presence at Fort Totten is centered on the 77th Sustainment Brigade, its subordinate units, and the 533rd Brigade Support Battalion of the U.S. Army Reserve. Much of the fort has become a public park and is open for tours by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Connected to that is Little Bay Park, which is right on Little Bay, with a cool stone jetty called Little Bay Bridge Pier, that you can walk out on and see a great view of the Throgs Neck Bridge, which takes you over to the Bronx. From there, I went over to the lower 200’s and walked the streets to capture a few ideal houses that I liked. I'm sure there's more elsewhere, but the clouds were blocking the sun more and more, so I got what I could. Hence, the mini tour! Still captured some beautiful homes regardless. Notice the difference in architectural styles. Even on the same street and block. From there I went to the main strip of Bell Boulevard, which is where all the food, shops and services are located. Some favorites for locals and visitors include: Brian Dempsey's, The French Workshop, Bourbon Street, Valdari Ristorante and The Lazy Cow.

A BRIEF HISTORY: Bayside's history dates back to 2000 B.C. when the Matinecock Native American tribe first settled there. Around 1637, the Dutch West India Company encouraged Dutch farmers to settle on land grants in New Amsterdam, which was the name of New York then. William Lawrence, of England, built the first permanent building, a stone farmhouse, when he settled Bayside in 1644. Twenty years later, England took control of New Amsterdam, renamed it the Province of New York, and English people began settling the area. When Queens County was officially established in 1683, the Town of Flushing was one of the original five towns of Queens County, and today's Bayside was within the Town of Flushing. During the American Revolutionary War, whaleboatmen from Connecticut raided the Bayside–Little Neck area, and Town of Flushing was occupied by the British military.

The first known written occurrence of the name Bayside was in a deed dated 1798, written as Bay Side.

During the 19th century, Bayside was primarily farmland, where wealthy people from Manhattan would visit it as a rural resort. The Bayside House, owned by Joseph Crocheron, was well-known for its clambakes. The Bayside House burned down in 1906, but Crocheron's name lives on as the namesake of the 45-acre Crocheron Park.

During the 1920s and 1930s, there were several movie studios in Astoria, and movie stars such as Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swanson, Norma Talmadge, W.C. Fields, and Charlie Chaplin lived in Bayside, some in posh homes. Former heavyweight boxing champion James J. (Gentleman Jim) Corbett lived in Bayside from 1902 to 1933, on a street that is named after him. When rumors ran rampant through the acting community that Bayside would be the location of a new movie and production studio, many actors 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.

After the end of World War II, residential development of Bayside increased dramatically, particularly because of its station on the Long Island Rail Road's Port Washington Branch, where a commuter could ride one train straight to Manhattan without requiring a transfer at Jamaica station. Bayside remains one of the safest and wealthiest neighborhoods in Queens.