St.John's Hosp.Queens/where to live? (New York, Hempstead: real estate, apartments)

[Angeltoes]

We are moving to NY from St.Louis, work is at St.John's Epicopalian Hospital in Far Rockaway. Looking for a good neighborhood (nice people, park or two, safe, lower crime), decent Catholic school, for our kids. commute of 20-40 minutes is okay. Looking to rent 3 or 4 bdr. prefer a house but whatever works out $1000-$2200. Any ideas where we should start to look?
Also could someone please clarify for me is Queens part of Long Island? If not what is LI like to live and is that within driving of SJH?
Thanks!

[all mixed up]

If you look at a map Queens is attached to Long Island, but is considered the city. I guess you are looking to rent and I don't really know the cost of renting an apt since I have a co-op. Have you considered a co-op? Some good areas you may want to look at in Queens is Bayside, Little Neck, Whitestone. All are a little far from Far rockaway but worth it IMO becuase they are good area to raise a family and should be in the 40 MIn or less drive. Now Long Island. I would say long Beach is a good starting point. It is a good town and I think pretty close to Far Rockaway.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by all mixed up

I would say long Beach is a good starting point. It is a good town and I think pretty close to Far Rockaway.

For those who may not be familiar with Long Beach:

Long Beach is a city (chartered in 1922) located on Long Beach Island in the southwest part of Nassau County.

Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the City of Long Beach is bordered on the north by Hewlett Bay and Reynolds Channel; on the east by the Hamlet of Lido Beach in the Town of Hempstead; on the south by the Atlantic Ocean; and, on the west by the Hamlet of East Atlantic Beach in the Town of Hempstead.





The City of Long Beach has a different border than does the "Long Beach, NY 11561" ZIP Code postal zone (i.e., a place can have a "Long Beach, NY 11561" mailing address and not be in the City of Long Beach): places that have a "Long Beach, NY 1561" mailing address that are not in the City of Long Beach are in the Hamlet of East Atlantic Beach and the Hamlet of Lido Beach, both of these hamlets are in the Town of Hempstead.


For a good set of town-by-town maps showing all the villages and hamlets in each of LI's 13 towns (3 in Nassau County and 10 in Suffolk County): http://www.city-data.com/forum/long-...-resource.html

[Angeltoes]

Thanks for the suggestions. We are looking to rent as we are only going to be there for 12 mos. Pardon my ignorance but what is a co-op? I have to admit I feel overwhelmed looking at the map of Queens, it seems so big! I'm very excited about moving to NY! About how far of a drive would Long Beach be to St.John's Hosp in Far Rockaway? does the traffic on the freeways move pretty quick? Thanks again.

[fopt65]

Parts of the Rockaways are really bad. Surrounding areas in Queens like Arverne, and Jamaica are also bad. Best area really close to Far Rockaway in Queens is Howard Beach.

If you want to be in Long Island, I'd recommend something close to the Southern State Parkway (it becomes the Belt Parkway in Queens) and it is the closest parkway to the Rockaways, although you'll need to head south to get to the Rockaways. Long Island towns that fit this bill are Valley Stream, Elmont, Lynbrook, Malverne, Franklin Square, Rockville Center. Long Beach is nice , but traffic is bad during the summer.

Traffic on the Belt Parkway usually stinks. It floods often, and since JFK Airport is nearby, there is congestion at all times of the day.

Another possibility is to live north of the Rockaways in Queens. Towns like Woodhaven, Glendale, Ridgewood. I would repost this question in the NYC forum and get their ideas as well.

Good Luck

[baylovers]

Although Far Rockaway is the most remote section on NYC, you actually have many options if you are willing to commute up tp 20 minutes. here are a couple of suggestions.

Belle Harbor is in the western part of the Rockaway Peninsula. Still part of NYC, too. About 15-20 minutes to St John's. Very good Catholic School, Saint Frances de Sales, is on Beach 129 St & Rockaway Beach Blvd. (I am an alumnus!) Very good/safe neighborhood bounded by a fantastic clean beach & Jamaica Bay (good fishing). Drawbacks are shopping is limited... for a good mall you would have to travel to Roosevelt Field about 35 minutes away. There are a few closer but not really nice/safe. You would be subject to a toll bridge into Brooklyn, the toll bridge into Queens mainland is free for Rockaway residents. You may feel removed from the rest of the world at times.... they don't even have a movie theater anymore.

Local paper for Rockaway is The Wave. This will give you a feel for the area, some leads on apartments & real estate agents.

Howard Beach: In Queens and 20 Minutes to St John's. Very heavily Italian influenced neighborhood with a decent Catholic School (Our Lady of Grace). Close to shopping in the area & some excellent restaurants. Near to JFK airport & the Belt Pkwy for easy vehicular transportation. I cannot give you a good number but I think rents can be a little high. In my experience, I have found folks to be somewhat narrow minded and may not welcome outsiders, particularly the teenagers.

Long Beach would be my preference if I were to work at St John's. Only 10 minutes to the hospital. It has a variety of restaurants & nightlife, great beach & boardwalk. Long Beach Regional Cathoilc School is very good, my kids went there when we live in LB. It's located next to St Ignatius Martyr church on Broadway & Grand Blvd. Honestly, the public grade schools in LB are pretty good as well, the HS is a mediocre. You would not have a hard time finding an apartment in LB in either a house or one of the many condo buildings along the boardwalk. To the north of LB is Reynolds Channel for great boating & fishing. Drawback to LB is that it is kinda far from any highways. It will take you 15-20 minutes just to get to a major traffic artery. LIRR station is in the center of town & 55 minutes to Midtown Manhattan.

The Long Beach Herald is the local weekly paper.

There are several other decent towns in the south western part of Nassau County (LI) that may fit your needs such as Lawrence & Cedarhurst which are part of a section known as "Five Towns" and very close to Far Rock. I like Rockville Centre & Lynbrook a little more and they have good schools, too.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by Angeltoes

Also could someone please clarify for me is Queens part of Long Island?

Yes and no.

Long Island includes (from west to east): Kings, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk Counties, with the westernmost two counties, Kings and Queens, coterminous with the New York City Boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, respectively.

Colloquially, to most people as well as the general media, Long Island, or rather LI, includes only Nassau and Suffolk Counties, the two counties that are not within the jurisdiction of New York City.

Areas in Queens are neighborhoods, while areas in Nassau and Suffolk Counties are cities, villages and hamlets but most people colloquially refer to the neighborhoods in Queens and the cities, villages and hamlets in Nassau and Suffolk Counties as towns.