Queens addresses (Hempstead, Valley Stream, Elmont: hotels, house, neighborhoods)

[breakingfree]

I've been noticing while looking for hotels that the Queens addresses have two sets of numbers (like 35-200 or something like that). What is that about?

[Viralmd]

This is normal for addresses in Queens, which take into account the street and avenue (streets and avenues run perpendicular to each other). But there aren't many hotels in Queens, except near the airports.

[SeventhFloor]

it's called the continential numbering system. this system is used in queens because of the large area in which both streets and avenues are numbered. for example, there is a 101st street and 101st avenue in queens. the numbering system lets you know the proximity of the nearest numbered street or avenue. for example if my address is 116-01 guy brewer boulevard, i can determine that the address is located near 116th avenue, because guy r. brewer blvd runs north to south and only intersects with numbered avenues. if my address is 93-10 atlantic avenue, i can assue that the address is near 93rd street, because atlantic avenue runs eats to west, and only intersects with numbered streets. there are exceptions, but this is the general rule.

[breakingfree]

So the first number is the street the address is near, and the second number is the address itself? That makes sense. Streets, grids and mapping intrigue me. My hometown doesn't have any special system like that, but here in DC there's a grid system (letters, names, numbers and states) and quadrants (NW, SW, NE, SE).

But there aren't many hotels in Queens, except near the airports.

I started a thread on this, and I'm not specifically looking for hotels in Queens, it just looks like nothing in Manhattan's affordable and available, so I'll take what I can get (as long as it's safe and affordable). I just noticed the dual number system when noticing Queens addresses that popped up and was curious. That's all.

[analyticalkeys]

It's actually either the street or avenue. If it's on the avenue, then the address starts with the avenue, visa versa.

[Andysocks]

What happens on roads like Merrick Blvd that run perpendicular to both streets and avenues? I know Metropolitan Ave assigns the Forest Hills section (where avenues run north and south for no apparent reason) street numbers, so avenues in the 70s have addresses like 90-xx instead of 70-xx because the addresses in the 70s have already been used in Middle Village.

[SeventhFloor]

Originally Posted by Andysocks

What happens on roads like Merrick Blvd that run perpendicular to both streets and avenues? I know Metropolitan Ave assigns the Forest Hills section (where avenues run north and south for no apparent reason) street numbers, so avenues in the 70s have addresses like 90-xx instead of 70-xx because the addresses in the 70s have already been used in Middle Village.

it switches up. for example, the queens library is at 89-11 merrick blvd (near 89th ave), and at that point merrick blvd runs north-south thru jamaica. however, if you go to the mcdonalds on merrick blvd in rosedale (merrick blvd runs east-west from liberty avenue in jamaica to rosedale) the address is 244-01 merrick blvd (near 244th street). so very confusing indeed.

[Fred314X]

How is it confusing? The first number tells you what the closest numbered cross street is. The second number is the building itself.

There's a similar system in the sections of Brooklyn that have numbered streets. Something like, say, 5200 Fourth Avenue would be at 52nd Street--and if you go around the corner, 400 52nd Street would be at 4th Avenue.

North and south-running streets in the "alphabetized" part of Brooklyn refer to the closest letter. Thus, 1050 Ocean Parkway would be between Avenues J and K--those being the 10th and 11th letters of the alphabet.

[Andysocks]

Fun fact: Douglaston north of 35th Ave doesn't follow the system, it has regular two- or three-digit addresses like in the 'burbs. I supposed if you paid 3 or 4 mill for your historically-landmarked house you should have the right to drop the hyphen. Can anyone name any other areas or is that it?

And while on the topic of Queens addresses, isn't it time we just switched to using "Queens, NY" like the rest of the boroughs? It's farcical to be receiving mail to "Bayside", "Oakland Gardens" and "Flushing" because all three are apparently correct.

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by Andysocks

Fun fact: Douglaston north of 35th Ave doesn't follow the system, it has regular two- or three-digit addresses like in the 'burbs. I supposed if you paid 3 or 4 mill for your historically-landmarked house you should have the right to drop the hyphen. Can anyone name any other areas or is that it?

I can only think of four others and they're all pretty remote neighborhoods: Ramblersville, Meadowmere, Roxbury and Broad Channel. Even places that rarely make use of the Queens street naming grid (Jamaica Estates, Holliswood, etc.) you'll still find the hyphenated numerical addresses on homes. Here are a couple of other Queens Quirks when it comes to streets:

On the Rockaway Peninsula, most people know that the north<->south streets run numerically higher from east to west, as opposed to the rest of the borough and that the "B" prefix stands for "Beach" (ie: B54 ST = Beach 54th Street)....however in Bayswater (a Far Rockaway neighborhood) the "B" prefix stands for Bay (ie: B24 ST = Bay 24th Street) even though the numbering remains the same. Another Bayswater anomoly is that it shares nearly all it's street names with streets in the Hamlet of Inwood, a mile east in Nassau County - though none of them are actually the same streets or ever intersect.

Speaking of Nassau, there are a few streets outside of the Queens County limits where it's street and address naming system have bled over. 78-83 Avenues zig-zag between New Hyde Park (the NE Queens slice of a neighborhood) and North New Hyde Park (the Town of North Hempstead hamlet).

In University Heights, between Northern Boulevard and Little Neck Parkway, streets on the Nassau County side don't bear numerical names - but they do implement the addressing system a good mile or so east of the NYC border. The highest numbered home is 261-21 Pembroke Avenue. I'm not sure how this ended up happening, as Queens streets were standardized well after Nassau County was split from it....

In Bellerose Terrace, the Queens grid/numbering is extended through the entirety of it's borders. In North Valley Stream, it only goes up to 240th St and Elmont Road. And Finally....the first numerical "Bxx ST" in Far Rockaway is actually in Lawrence. B2 St was at one time a part of Queens, as well as the now annihilated B1 St. The Village of Lawrence purchased this land for the construction of the Atlantic Beach Bridge, but ended up saving one block of bungalow homes that were formerly in Far Rockaway.

I'm really amazed by all sorts of nerd crap like this. I've learned most of it from reading Forgotten-NY religiously. I'm not too familiar with Brooklyn's insane grid yet. Way too confusing.

Originally Posted by Andysocks

And while on the topic of Queens addresses, isn't it time we just switched to using "Queens, NY" like the rest of the boroughs? It's farcical to be receiving mail to "Bayside", "Oakland Gardens" and "Flushing" because all three are apparently correct.

You can write anything you want on a piece of mail as long as the ZIP code is right. Don't forget that even though all mail addressed to Brooklyn usually has only "Brooklyn, NY" listed as it's destination, different neighborhoods still have just as many different zip codes. If anything, I think it'd be easier to remember the 5-digits with a unique name in front of it.