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Long Island City, NY - Gay Lifestyle in an Artist’s Haven

If you love art and culture and want to buy real estate in a place where it is absolutely okay to be openly gay or lesbian then Long, Island City, New York is perfect! Long Island City is a very large and popular residential neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City.  The neighborhood welcomes people into Queen’s at 59th Street after they cross the Manhattan Bridge. This is an exciting neighborhood for investment because it is in a state of fast and ongoing gentrification.  It also has the highest concentration of art galleries and studios of anywhere in New York City. 

The geographical boundaries of Long Island City are the Astoria neighborhood on the north, the East River on the west, Hazen Street in the East and by Newtown Creek in the South.  This area was formerly a city created in 1870 but became part of New York in 1898.

The old buildings, that used to be factories and bakeries, have ben turned into film studios, museums and beautiful historic residential areas.  Factories that have been turned into studios and galleries include Swingline Staplers, Fisher Electronics and Chiclets Gum.  There are also newer green condos being built in the area.  There is also subsidized artist’s housing here called 5 Pointz that consists of beautiful studios

There are some very unusual attractive features in the neighborhood including Water Taxi Beach, which was New York City’s first non-swimming urban beach, and City Ice Pavilion, which is a 33,000 square foot skating surface, located on top of a two-story storage business. The place is also home to the largest fortune cookie factory in the United States.

The main businesses supporting the area are cultural.  The Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, and Academy Careers of Television and Film are located in this exciting, vibrant and diverse neighborhood. It is also home to a very large Sculpture park and a non-profit exhibition space called the SculptureCenter. It is also known for it’s huge new theater called the Chocolate Factory and a new writers’ and artists’ salon called the Oracle Club.   There is even a new exhibition called the Aerosol Art Center that showcases street graffiti.

New Yorkers flock from Manhattan to this Long Island City for the culture and to enjoy the many interesting restaurants, which include M. Wells Dinette, which serves Quebecois Food and the Waterfront Crabhouse, which serves gourmet seafood.

It is best to consult a resident Long Island realtor to find an affordable place as this artsy, yet progressive neighborhood tends to be pricey.  The average price per square foot for Long Island City was $515.00 as of June 2013. The average listing price for homes for sale was $957,529.00.