East Williamsburg, Queens

05/16/2013 | 1 Comment

PS71

PS 71, East Williamsburg, L. I.
Photo: via ebay
Map

Last week, Gothamist had some fun with a Kalmon Dolgin real estate listing that purported to be in East Williamsburg when it was in fact in Ridgewood, Queens.

I’m sure Kalmon Dolgin was just fluffing their listing, as Gothamist said, but, there is a bit of historical accuracy to the moniker. Historically, there was a village just over the Queens border that was called East Williamsburg (Long Island!), as the above postcard will attest. This was completely distinct from the enlarged area of the town (and later city) of Williamsburg east of Union Avenue, which was annexed to the original town of Williamsburg (west of Union) in 1835.

Change name of Long Island City to LIC, Say Officials, Business Leaders

According to the New York Post, in order to separate from the confusion of being mistaken with Long Island, officials and business leaders are looking to change the name of Long Island City to the “trendier “abbreviation “LIC.”

Maybe part of the reason it is confused with Long Island is because it is part of Long Island. It has been since “L.I.C.” was founded as an independent city in 1870.