Howcome Queens and SI are not reffered to by "Queens, NY"? (New York: middle-class, private school)

[Maureen Mizuno]

Originally Posted by Rachael84

Howcome those are the only 2 boroughs that aren't written as "Queens, NY" and "Staten Island, NY" in their addresses? I've wondered this for a while.

The City of New York is comprised of 5 Boroughs and 5 Counties, they are:
Manhattan (New York County),Bronx (Bronx County), Brooklyn (Kings County), Queens (Queens County) and Staten Island (Richmond County).
Each Borough is divided into smaller communities within it. Some examples would be Murray Hill in Manhattan, Forest Hills in Queens, Riverdale in the Bronx, St. George in Staten Island etc.

As the mail delivery is governed by Postal Zip Codes and not community names you will find that some comunities recieve mail naming the community then the borough or county, or just the rhe borough or county. It doesn't matter that much. However, if the postal zip codes are not properly designated this could cause delivery of mail difficulties.

I hope you find this helpful.

[nightcrawler]

it really goes by the zip code, because I have put Bath Beach NY on my return address, instead of Brooklyn and I still get the mail....
or give my address as that, and mail still comes.

it is just what we are used to.

I could also put my parents as "Bay Terrace" Staten Island", and they would still get mail

[PortRichmonder]

Originally Posted by roseba

I haven't seen anyone answer this question to my satifaction.

1) Historically, NYC was Manhattan island.
2) Brooklyn was a city unto itself, competing with NYC. That is why Brooklyn tends to be built up, and has its own downtown.
3) Queens, up until pretty recently, was a collection of many villages and townships. For instance, in the 1950's, Flushing was still a bunch of farms.

That is why Queens retained unique neighborhood identifiers.

Another easy tidbit for consumptions:

Zipcodes that start:

10xxx = Manhattan (mostly)
112xx = Brooklyn
113xx = Queens

Every Staten Island zip code starts with 10.

[Fred314X]

Originally Posted by PortRichmonder

Every Staten Island zip code starts with 10.

Actually, every Staten Island zip code starts with 103.

[PortRichmonder]

Originally Posted by Fred314X

Actually, every Staten Island zip code starts with 103.

Didn't know that mattered since she said that zip codes starting with "10" are in Manhattan. Technically, there's something like 13 of them on Staten Island. Since she didn't give a distinct third number for the Manhattan ones (like she did for Brooklyn and Queens) the third number for the Staten Island codes isn't all that relevant.

Or am I missing something?

[1nevets]

Originally Posted by straightshooter

i always just thought it was because queens is the largest borough, geographically. of course, that lends us no help on SI

You're right about Queens but I have not seen that for Staten Island. Another anomaly for Queens are that most addresses are hyphenated. Ex. 134-87 Queens Blvd. Why is that?

[SeventhFloor]

Originally Posted by 1nevets

You're right about Queens but I have not seen that for Staten Island. Another anomaly for Queens are that most addresses are hyphenated. Ex. 134-87 Queens Blvd. Why is that?

Queens goes by the Continental Street numbering system. Because Queens has numbered streets and avenues that intersect on the grid, the Continental numbering system actually helps you to know what street or avenue the address is near.

Avenues/Roads/Drives in Queens run from north to south, the numbers increase as you go south. So in Whitestone you have 3rd Avenue, St. Albans you have 114th Drive, Laurelton you have 141st Road and in Howard Beach you have 165th Avenue.

Streets/Places/Terraces in Queens run from west to east, the numbers increase as you go east. So you have 12th Street in Long Island City, 81st Street in Jackson Heights, 150th Street in Jamaica and 262nd Place in Rosedale.


So a fictional address like 134-19 128th Street would let you know that the address is near 134th Avenue. A fictional address such as 134-83 128th Street would let you know that the address is close to 135th Avenue.

[Walter Greenspan]

The U.S. Postal Service has divided the City of New York into 7+ postal cities: New York (covers Manhattan and the Bronx), Staten Island, Brooklyn (covers most of Brooklyn and parts of northwest and southwest Queens), Long Island City (most of the original Town of Newtown in Queens), Flushing (includes all of the original Town of Flushing and parts of the Town of Newtown in Queens and also part of what was Town of Bushwick in Brooklyn), Jamaica (most of the original Town of Jamaica in Queens and a small area in what was the East New York section of the Town of New Lots in Brooklyn) and Far Rockaway (in Queens). (Additionally, a few small areas in the Bronx are serviced by post offices located in Westchester County and hence have "Westchester" mailing addresses, such as "Yonkers, NY", "Pelham Manor, NY", etc.)

Communities in Queens that once were villages or hamlets in the city and towns (the City of Long Island City, the Town of Newtown, the Town of Flushing, the Town of Jamaica and the Rockaway peninsula of the Town of Hempstead) that existed when the western-third of Queens County was annexed by New York City use the names of postal stations (branches of post offices) that bear the name of the pre-existing village or hamlet and as long as the address on the envelope includes the correct ZIP Code, the USPS does not strenuously object to using the name of the postal station (branch) of the post office that serves a particular area.

[NativeNewYorker15]

Yes -Queens is the only boro that uses the neighborhood in the mail address and not Queens, NY. Been that way as far as I can remember. BTW, when you refer to "The Bronx", that's not how you send mail there, you just say "Bronx, NY" and zip.

[l1995]

I love how Queens addresses generally use the neighborhood name in the address line