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Great Neck, New York

 
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Great Neck, New York
 
 
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Great Neck is a village
Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or Residential community, larger than a hamlet , but smaller than a town or city. Though generally located in rural areas, the term urban village may be applied to certain urban area neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in Beirut, Lebanon....
 in Nassau County
Nassau County, New York

Nassau County is a suburban Political subdivisions of New York State#County in the New York Metropolitan Area east of New York City in the U.S....
, New York
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
, in the U.S.
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, on the North Shore
North Shore (Long Island)

The North Shore of Long Island is the area along Long Island's northern coast, bordering Long Island Sound. Traditionally, the region has been the most affluent on Long Island and among the most affluent in the New York metropolitan area, which has earned it the nickname "the Gold Coast." Though some consider the North Shore to include parts...
 of Long Island
Long Island

Long Island is an island located in southeastern New York, United States, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are Borough s of New York City, and two of which are mainly suburban....
. As of the United States 2000 Census, the village population was 9,538.

The Village of Great Neck is in the Town of North Hempstead. The term Great Neck is also commonly applied to the entire peninsula on the north shore, comprising a residential community of some 40,000 people made up of nine villages as well as unincorporated area
Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of Real property that is not a part of any municipality. To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city or town with its own government....
s (hamlets) of North Hempstead, of which it is the northwestern quadrant.






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Encyclopedia


Great Neck is a village
Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or Residential community, larger than a hamlet , but smaller than a town or city. Though generally located in rural areas, the term urban village may be applied to certain urban area neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in Beirut, Lebanon....
 in Nassau County
Nassau County, New York

Nassau County is a suburban Political subdivisions of New York State#County in the New York Metropolitan Area east of New York City in the U.S....
, New York
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
, in the U.S.
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, on the North Shore
North Shore (Long Island)

The North Shore of Long Island is the area along Long Island's northern coast, bordering Long Island Sound. Traditionally, the region has been the most affluent on Long Island and among the most affluent in the New York metropolitan area, which has earned it the nickname "the Gold Coast." Though some consider the North Shore to include parts...
 of Long Island
Long Island

Long Island is an island located in southeastern New York, United States, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are Borough s of New York City, and two of which are mainly suburban....
. As of the United States 2000 Census, the village population was 9,538.

The Village of Great Neck is in the Town of North Hempstead. The term Great Neck is also commonly applied to the entire peninsula on the north shore, comprising a residential community of some 40,000 people made up of nine villages as well as unincorporated area
Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of Real property that is not a part of any municipality. To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city or town with its own government....
s (hamlets) of North Hempstead, of which it is the northwestern quadrant. No governing entity encompasses this larger Great Neck, but it is unified as a postal zone, a water district or two, a school district, and a park district.

Great Neck is within easy commuting distance of Manhattan
Manhattan

Manhattan is one of the five borough of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.With a United States Census of 1,620,867 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles , Manhattan, coextensive with New York County, is the most population density county in the United States, w...
's Penn Station
Pennsylvania Station (New York City)

Pennsylvania Station—commonly known as Penn Station—is the major intercity train station and a major commuter rail hub in New York City....
 on the Port Washington Branch
Port Washington Branch

The Port Washington Branch is an electrified two-track rail line and service owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York....
 of the Long Island Rail Road
Long Island Rail Road

The Long Island Rail Road or LIRR is a commuter rail system serving the length of Long Island, New York that has been classified as a Class II railroad by the Surface Transportation Board....
 via the Great Neck
Great Neck (LIRR station)

Great Neck is a station on the Long Island Rail Road's Port Washington Branch in Great Neck, New York, the first station in the branch in Nassau County, New York....
 station, which is one of the most frequently served in the entire system. Long Island Bus offers service to several destinations in Nassau and Queens from the train station, while the southern part of the Great Neck peninsula can also directly access New York City Bus service on Union Turnpike
Union Turnpike

Union Turnpike has the following meanings:*Union Turnpike , in New York City, United States**Kew Gardens?Union Turnpike , a subway station...
 at the border with Glen Oaks
Glen Oaks, Queens

Glen Oaks is a neighborhood in the easternmost portion of the New York City Borough of Queens. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 13....
.

Geography (Village of Great Neck)

The Village of Great Neck is located at (40.802671, -73.731255).

According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau

The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data....
, the village has a total area of 1.4 square miles (3.5 km˛), of which, 1.4 square miles (3.5 km˛) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km˛) of it (1.46%) is water.

Demographics (Village of Great Neck)

As of the census
Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population....
 of 2000, there were 9,538 people, 3,346 households, and 2,552 families residing in the village. The population density
Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans....
 was 7,062.3 people per square mile (2,727.9/km˛). There were 3,441 housing units at an average density of 2,547.9/sq mi (984.1/km˛). The racial makeup of the village was 85.33% White, 2.82% African American, 0.10% Native American, 4.94% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 3.28% from other races
Race (United States Census)

Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are Self-concept data items in which residents choose the Race in the United States or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are of Hispanic or Latino origin ....
, and 3.48% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9.17% of the population.

As of 2000 Great Neck was the second most Iranian place in the United States with 21.1% of its population reporting Iranian ancestry.

There were 3,346 households out of which 36.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.9% were married couples
Marriage

Marriage is a social, spirituality, or law union of individuals. This union may also be called matrimony, while the ceremony that marks its beginning is usually called a wedding and the married status created is sometimes called wedlock....
 living together, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.7% were non-families. 20.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.85 and the average family size was 3.30.

In the village the population was spread out with 26.4% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 25.3% from 25 to 44, 24.7% from 45 to 64, and 17.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 94.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.0 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $76,645, and the median income for a family was $89,733. Males had a median income of $52,445 versus $37,476 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income

Per capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms, of the yearly income generated in the country. This is what each citizen is to receive if the yearly national income is divided equally among everyone....
 for the village was $38,790. About 5.5% of families and 7.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.5% of those under age 18 and 8.1% of those age 65 or over.

History

Great Neck, originally called "Madnan's Neck", was settled in the late 17th century, not long after settlers landed on Plymouth Rock
Plymouth Rock

Plymouth Rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620, in what would become the United States....
. The area had previously been inhabited by the Mattinecock Native Americans, who were pushed back by the colonists' expansion.

During the late 19th century Great Neck was the rail head of the Flushing and North Side Railroad, and began the process of converting from a farm village into a commuter town
Commuter town

A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commuting out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as Suburb of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns....
.

In more recent days, Great Neck—in particular the incorporated village of Kings Point
Kings Point, New York

Kings Point is a village in Nassau County, New York, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the village population was 5,076....
—provided a backdrop to F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an United States writer of novels and short stories, whose works are evocative of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself....
's book The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is a novel by the United States author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published on April 10, 1925, it is set in Long Island's North Shore and New York City during the summer of 1922....
. Thinly disguised as "West Egg", in counterpoint to Manor Haven/Sands Point which was the inspiration for the more posh "East Egg", the next peninsula over on Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound

Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean and various rivers in the United States that lies between the coast of Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south....
, Great Neck symbolized the decadence of the Roaring Twenties
Roaring Twenties

Roaring Twenties is a phrase used to describe the 1920s, principally in North America, that emphasizes the period's social, artistic, and cultural dynamism....
 as it extended out from New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
 into the then-remote suburbs. The Great Gatsby's themes and characters reflected the real-world transformation that Great Neck was experiencing at the time, as show-business personalities like Sid Caesar
Sid Caesar

Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy Award-winning United States comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2....
 and the Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers

The Marx Brothers were a popular team of sibling comedians who appeared in vaudeville, stage plays, film, and television....
 bought homes in the hamlet and eventually established it as a haven for Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
s, formerly of Brooklyn
Brooklyn

Brooklyn is one of the five Borough of New York City, located at the western end of Long Island. An independent city until its consolidation with New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, with 2.5 million residents, and second largest in area....
 and the Bronx
The Bronx

The Bronx is the northernmost of the Five Boroughs of New York City and the newest of the 62 Administrative divisions of New York#county of New York State....
.

The end of World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 saw a tremendous migration of Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews

File:Juden 1881.JPGAshkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish ethnic divisions of the Rhineland in the west of Germany....
 from the cramped quarters to the burgeoning suburb. They founded many synagogues and community groups and pushed for stringent educational policies in the town's public schools. Jay Cantor's novel, Great Neck, portrays the eponymous town of this era, with recently installed residents of various stripes all trying to secure the brightest futures for their children.

During the 1960s, many residents frequented the local pool and ice skating complex, Parkwood, but in the past fifteen years attendance has declined as homeowners built their own inground pools. (After the events of September 11, 2001, the ice skating rink was renamed in honor of Andrew Stergiopoulos, a local resident who was killed in the attack).

Things have changed in Great Neck since the Baby Boomer
Baby boomer

Baby boomer is a term used to describe a person who was born during the demographic Post-World War II baby boom. Many analysts now believe that two distinct cultural generations were born during this baby boom; the older generation is often called the Baby Boom Generation and the younger generation is often called Generation Jones....
 era. In the 1980s, an influx of affluent Iranian Jews
Persian Jews

|||}Persian Jews or Iranian Jews are Jews historically associated Iran, which was known internationally as Persia until 1935.Judaism is one of the oldest religions practiced in Iran and dates back to the late biblical times....
 who left their country following the 1979 Islamic Revolution
Iranian Revolution

The Iranian Revolution was the revolution that transformed Iran from a Iranian monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution and founder of the Islamic Republic....
 settled in Great Neck. Though the majority of their children attended Great Neck schools, they did not integrate into the existing Ashkenazi temples, instead starting their own Iranian synagogues, where they could follow Mizrahi
Mizrahi Jews

Mizrahi Jews or Mizrahim, , also referred to as Adot HaMizrach are Jews descended from the Jewish communities of the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and the Caucasus....
 traditions. The Persian community also established its own grocery shops.

From the late 1990s, the Great Neck peninsula has been home to another Jewish shift. During this time, more observant, Orthodox Jews have moved to the area. This is a similar trend to what has happened in the Five Towns
Five Towns

The Five Towns is an informal grouping of Administrative divisions of New York#Village and Administrative divisions of New York#Hamlet in Nassau County, New York, New York, United States on the South Shore of western Long Island adjoining the border with Queens County, New York in New York City....
 area on the South Shore
South Shore (Long Island)

The South Shore of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York, is the area along Long Island's Atlantic Ocean shoreline. Though some consider the South Shore to include parts of Queens, particularly the beach communities in the Rockaway, Queens such as Belle Harbor, Queens, the term is generally used to refer to the Long Island coastline in...
 of Long Island, although Reform
Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism refers to the spectrum of beliefs, practices and organizational infrastructure associated with Reform Judaism in Reform Judaism and in Reform Judaism ....
 and Conservative
Conservative Judaism

Conservative Judaism is a modern Jewish denominations of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s....
 Jews appear to remain predominant in Great Neck.

On one road, Old Mill Road, there are three synagogues representing the three main branches of American Judaism: Temple Beth-El (Reform), Great Neck Synagogue (Orthodox), and Temple Israel of Great Neck (Conservative). Old Mill Road also has an honorific extra naming, "Waxman Way," in memory of Temple Israel's renowned rabbi, Mordechai Waxman, who led the congregation for 50 years.

Also beginning in the late 1990s and continuing till present day, a number of East Asia
East Asia

East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either Geography or cultural terms. Geography and geopolitically, it covers about 12,000,000 km?, or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe, though some categorize Tibet, Xinjiang, and Mongolia as Central Asia....
ns, predominantly Chinese
Chinese people

The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People who reside in and hold citizenship of the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China or the Republic of China ....
 and Korean, have been moving into the area. Many of these families move to Great Neck for a better environment for their children as well as the well-known public school education. Great Neck's proximity to ethnic enclaves such as Flushing
Flushing, Queens

Flushing, founded in 1645, is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York City borough of Queens , ten miles east of Manhattan....
 and Bayside
Bayside, Queens

Bayside is a middle class suburban neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York in the United States. Bayside is known as one of the most expensive areas to live in, with well kept homes and landscaping....
 make it ideal for East Asians.

The general trend is that the "North" part of Great Neck (whose students attend Great Neck North Middle and High) has a greater number of Iran
Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....
ian families, while the "South" part (whose students attend Great Neck South Middle and High) has a larger East Asians population. The African-American
African American

African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the Black people populations of Africa....
 population is low, district wide. The "South" catchment area also includes students from Manhasset Hills and the Parkville section of New Hyde Park
New Hyde Park, New York

New Hyde Park is a administrative divisions of New York#Village in Nassau County, New York, New York, United States, on Long Island. A small section of New Hyde Park is located in Queens, New York, New York City....
.

A point of controversy in the Village has been the erection of new synagogues.

Besides the synagogues, the Village also includes St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church, All Saints Episcopal Church and cemetery, as well as a complex including Great Neck North High School and Great Neck North Middle School. A Mormon church is located just over the border in Little Neck
Little Neck, Queens

Little Neck is a upper middle class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is the northeast corner of Queens, bordered on the north by Little Neck Bay and on the east by Great Neck, New York in Nassau County, New York....
, near two additional synagogues.

The Parkwood pool and skating rink complex, the Village Green and sections of Kings Point Park are managed by the Great Neck Park District, giving the Village an unusually large amount of property not on the tax rolls.

Emergency services

Great Neck is protected by the Nassau County Police Department
Nassau County Police Department

The Nassau County Police Department is the law enforcement agency of Nassau County, New York....
's Sixth Precinct, although the villages of Great Neck Estates, Kings Point and Kensington (unincorporated villages on the peninsula, as opposed to the Village of Great Neck) have their own police departments, which are reinforced by the NCPD during any criminal activity, event, or other incident that falls outside the realm of "routine."

Great Neck is served by three all-volunteer fire departments. The was founded in 1901. was founded in 1904. Company 3 of the was founded in 1912, and Company 4 of the M-LFD was founded in 1926. Alert covers the northern part of the peninsula, providing fire and heavy rescue response, while Vigilant serves the middle portion of Great Neck with fire and heavy rescue response. The also provides emergency ambulance services to both its own territory and Alert's, due to the fact that Alert does not operate an ambulance. However, Alert responds to certain calls for emergency medical attention in it's area with their heavy rescue truck, staffed by firefighter/EMTs. They provide care until the ambulance arrives. M-LFD Co. 3 and 4 serve the southern part of Great Neck, including the villages of Thomaston and Lake Success. These two companies offer fire and rescue services. The M-LFD Ambulance Unit operates two ambulances out of Co. 3's firehouse. In addition, the Nassau County Police Emergency Ambulance Bureau also provides EMS service to the Manhasset-Lakeville fire district.

Culture and tourism

Currently, Great Neck, connected to New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
 by the Long Island Rail Road
Long Island Rail Road

The Long Island Rail Road or LIRR is a commuter rail system serving the length of Long Island, New York that has been classified as a Class II railroad by the Surface Transportation Board....
, serves primarily as a bedroom community for New York City. As such, it contains few "touristy" attractions. Notable exceptions include:
  • Saddle Rock Grist Mill, a historical grain-mill; known to have been in operation as early as the 1700s.
  • United States Merchant Marine Academy
    United States Merchant Marine Academy

    The United States Merchant Marine Academy is one of the five United States service academies. It is charged with training officers for the United States Merchant Marine, branches of the military, or the transportation industry....
     in Kings Point
  • Steppingstone Park
  • Kings Point Park


Great Neck School District

Great Neck residents, typically well-educated, are concerned about education and have high expectations for their school system. The Great Neck School District
Great Neck School District

The Great Neck School District is a comprehensive community public school district serving students in Great Neck, New York, New York, United States....
 is the school district
School district

School districts are a form of special-purpose district which serves to operate the local public elementary school and high school schools. They exist mostly in the United States, where they operate nearly all government-funded schools....
 of Great Neck, New York (also including parts of New Hyde Park and Manhasset Hills). About 6,200 students, grades K-12, attend the Great Neck Public Schools. There are three high schools: North, South, and Village (a small alternative high school). There is a districtwide, alternative high school program, SEAL Academy (Supportive Environment for All Learners). There are also two middle schools and four elementary schools. Students have diverse backgrounds; they come from more than 40 countries and represent a broad socioeconomic range.
  • High Schools:
    • Great Neck North High School
      Great Neck North High School

      John L. Miller Great Neck North High School or simply "North High School" is a public high school a public high school, comprising grades 9 through 12, in Great Neck, New York, operated by the Great Neck School District....
    • Great Neck South High School
    • Village School (Alternative high school)
  • Middle Schools:
    • Great Neck North Middle School
      Great Neck North Middle School

      Richard S. Sherman Great Neck North Middle School or simply "North Middle School" is a junior high school, comprising grades 6 through 8. It is located in Great Neck, New York as part of the Great Neck School District....
    • Great Neck South Middle School
      Great Neck South Middle School

      Great Neck South Middle School is a junior high school, comprising grades 6, 7, and 8. It is located in Great Neck, New York, New York, United States, as part of the Great Neck School District....
  • Elementary Schools:
    • E. M. Baker Elementary School
      E. M. Baker Elementary School

      E.M. Baker Elementary School is an elementary school, comprising grades Kindergarten through Fifth grade. It is a public school located in Great Neck, New York as part of the Great Neck School District....
    • John F. Kennedy Elementary School
      John F. Kennedy Elementary School

      John F. Kennedy Elementary School is an elementary school, comprising grades Kindergarten through 5. It is a public school located in Great Neck, New York as part of the Great Neck School District....
    • Lakeville Elementary School
      Lakeville Elementary School

      Lakeville Elementary School or simply "Lakeville" is an elementary school, comprising grades Kindergarten through 5. Kindergarten classes are held at the Parkville School....
    • Saddle Rock Elementary School
      Saddle Rock Elementary School

      Saddle Rock Elementary School or simply "Saddle Rock" is an elementary school, comprising grades Kindergarten through 5. It is a public school located in Great Neck, New York, United States as part of the Great Neck School District....
  • Nursery School:
    • Parkville School
      Parkville School

      Parkville School is a two-year comprehensive nursery school located in New Hyde Park, New York, New York, United States, as part of the Great Neck School District....


Great Neck's two major high schools are rated among the top in the country. Its students have been frequent finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search
Intel Science Talent Search

The Intel Science Talent Search is a research-based science fair in the United States primarily for high school students. It has been referred to "the nation's oldest and most prestigious" science competition, and the Westinghouse/Intel awards have been referred to as the "Baby Nobels." In his speech at the dinner honoring the 1991 Winn...
, and Great Neck has produced several Intel STS winners since 1999. In addition, the district has produced several high school winners of the international First Step to the Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded in Poland. In the 2008 Newsweek
Newsweek

Newsweek is an United States weekly newsmagazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally....
 magazine's annual list of the Top 1200 American High School
High school

High school is the name used in some parts of the world to describe an institution which provides all or part of secondary education. The term originated in Scotland and spread to the New World countries as the high prestige that the Scottish educational system had at the time led several countries to employ Scottish educators to develop the...
s, Great Neck South is ranked 49th, and Great Neck North is ranked 68th.

People associated with Great Neck

  • Dan Ahdoot
    Dan Ahdoot

    Dan Ahdoot is a stand-up comedy comedian who primarily performs in New York City. He is well-known for being a contestant in NBC's reality TV show Last Comic Standing and for performing on Comedy Central's Premium Blend....
    , comedian.
  • David Baltimore
    David Baltimore

    David L. Baltimore is an American biologist, university administrator, and Nobel laureate in Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He served as president of the California Institute of Technology from 1997 to 2006, and is currently the Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Biology at Caltech....
     (born 1938), Nobel prize winning biologist and former president of Caltech (former resident and high school graduate).
  • Nikki Blonsky (born 1988), actress who starred as Tracy Turnblad in the 2007 film version of Hairspray
    Hairspray (2007 film)

    Hairspray is a 2007 in film Cinema of the United States musical film produced by Craig Zadan/Neil Meron Productions and distributed by New Line Cinema....
     and also to be in the 2008 movie Harold
    Harold (film)

    Harold is a 2008 in film comedy film, co-written by Greg Fields and T. Sean Shannon, starring Spencer Breslin, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Nikki Blonsky....
     which was filmed in August 2007 in Great Neck North High School and Middle School.
  • Enea Bossi
    Enea Bossi, Sr.

    Enea Bossi, Sr. was an Italian American aerospace engineer and aviation pioneer. He is best-known for designing the Budd Company Budd BB-1 Pioneer, the first stainless steel aircraft; and also the Pedaliante airplane, disputably credited with the first fully Human-powered aircraft....
     (1888-1963), Italian-American
    Italian American

    An Italian American is an United States of Italians descent and/or dual citizenship. The phrase refers to someone born in the United States or who has immigrated to the United States and is of Italian heritage....
     engineer and aviation pioneer
  • Oscar Brand
    Oscar Brand

    Oscar Brand...
     (born 1920), folk singer and songwriter (resident)
  • Donald Brian
    Donald Brian

    Donald Brian actor, dancer and singer born St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Newfoundland and Labrador , at the age of eighteen was crowned "King of Broadway" by the New York Times in 1907....
     (1877-1948), Broadway actor, singer and dancer
  • Algis Budrys
    Algis Budrys

    Algis Budrys was a Lithuanian-United States science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names "Frank Mason", "Alger Rome", "John A....
     (1931-2008), science-fiction author and editor (former resident)
  • Sid Caesar
    Sid Caesar

    Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy Award-winning United States comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2....
     (born 1922), television pioneer known for Your Show of Shows
    Your Show of Shows

    Your Show of Shows was a live 90-minute sketch comedy television series appearing weekly in the United States on NBC, from February 25, 1950 until June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca....
     (former resident)
  • Maurice Chevalier
    Maurice Chevalier

    Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, and popular entertainer. Chevalier's signature songs included "Louise", "Mimi", and "Valentine"....
     (1888-1972), actor and entertainer
  • Walter Chrysler
    Walter Chrysler

    Walter Percy Chrysler was an American machinist, rail transport man, automotive industry Senior management, and founder of the Chrysler....
     (1875-1940), automobile pioneer, founder of the Chrysler Corporation
  • Mary L. Cleave
    Mary L. Cleave

    Mary Louise Cleave is an United States engineer and a former NASA] ]astronaut. She also served from 2004 to 2007 as NASA Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate....
     (born 1947), space shuttle
    Space Shuttle

    NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System , is the spacecraft currently used by the United States government for its human spaceflight missions....
     astronaut
    Astronaut

    An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a List of human spaceflight programs to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
    .
  • George M. Cohan
    George M. Cohan

    George Michael Cohan , known publicly as George M. Cohan, was an United States entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, Film director, and Theatrical producer....
    , entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, director, and producer (former resident)
  • Steven A. Cohen
    Steven A. Cohen

    Steven A. Cohen , is an American billionaire hedge fund manager and the founder and manager of SAC Capital Partners, a Stamford, Connecticut-based hedge fund that focuses mostly on equity market strategies....
    , hedge fund manager (SAC Capital), billionaire (former resident)
  • Kenneth Cole
    Kenneth Cole (designer)

    Kenneth Cole is an American clothing designer. Born in Brooklyn, his father Charlie Cole, owned the El Greco shoe manufacturing company. Before learning the family business and starting his own company in 1982, Cole studied law at Emory University in Atlanta....
    , designer (attended school in Great Neck)
  • Francis Ford Coppola
    Francis Ford Coppola

    Francis Ford "Frank" Coppola is a five-time Academy Award-winning United States film director, Film producer and screenwriter. Away from showbusiness, Coppola is also a vintner, publisher and Hotel manager....
    , film director (graduated from Great Neck High School [North])
  • Andrew W. Cordier
    Andrew W. Cordier

    Andrew Wellington Cordier was a United Nations official and President of Columbia University....
    , Columbia University
    Columbia University

    Columbia University in the City of New York , is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City....
     president (former resident)
  • Anthony Cumia, latter half of Opie and Anthony
    Opie and Anthony

    Opie and Anthony are the hosts of The Opie & Anthony Show, a talk radio program airing in The United States and Canada on XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio....
     (resident)
  • Thomas DiNapoli
    Thomas DiNapoli

    Thomas P. DiNapoli is the 54th New York State Comptroller of the state of New York. He is a former New York State Assembly in New York, who was appointed as New York State Comptroller on February 7, 2007....
    , New York State Comptroller (resident)
  • Shay Doron
    Shay Doron

    Shay Doron is an Israeli basketball player who has played shooting guard for the WNBA's New York Liberty and the Israeli league's Elitzur Ramle....
    , first Israeli layer to play in the Women's National Basketball Association
    Women's National Basketball Association

    The Women's National Basketball Association has 13 teams and is an organization governing a professional basketball league for women in the United States....
  • Quinn Early
    Quinn Early

    Quinn Remar Early is a former professional American football player who was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the third round of the 1988 NFL Draft....
    , former National Football League
    National Football League

    The National Football League is the Major North American professional sports leagues American football Sports league in the United States. It is an unincorporated 501#501.28c.29.286.29 association controlled by its members....
     player who was selected by the San Diego Chargers
    San Diego Chargers

    The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. They are currently members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....
     in the 3rd round of the 1988 NFL Draft
    1988 NFL Draft

    The 1988 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting....
    . (Graduated from Great Neck South High School)
  • Percy Faith
    Percy Faith

    Percy Faith was a Canadian-born band-leader, orchestrator and composer, known for his lush arrangements of pop and Christmas music standards. He is often credited with creating the "easy listening" or "mood music" format which became staples of American popular music in the 1950s and continued well into the 1960s....
    , orchestra conductor (former resident)
  • W. C. Fields
    W. C. Fields

    W. C. Fields was an United States comedian, actor and juggler. Fields created one of the great American comic personas of the first half of the 20th century: a misanthrope and hard-drinking egotist who remained a sympathetic character despite his snarling contempt for dogs, children, and women....
    , comedian and actor (former resident)
  • F. Scott Fitzgerald
    F. Scott Fitzgerald

    Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an United States writer of novels and short stories, whose works are evocative of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself....
    , novelist and author of The Great Gatsby
    The Great Gatsby

    The Great Gatsby is a novel by the United States author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published on April 10, 1925, it is set in Long Island's North Shore and New York City during the summer of 1922....
     (former resident)
  • Whitey Ford
    Whitey Ford

    Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who spent his entire 18-year career with the New York Yankees. He was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1974....
    , New York Yankees
    New York Yankees

    The New York Yankees are a professional baseball based in the Borough of the Bronx, in New York City, New York and are a member of the American League East of Major League Baseball's American League....
     pitcher (resident)
  • Jamie Gorelick
    Jamie Gorelick

    Jamie S. Gorelick is an United States Lawyer and judicial officer who was Deputy Attorney General of the United States during the Clinton administration....
    , Clinton Administration official (former resident)
  • Morton Gould
    Morton Gould

    Morton Gould was an United States pianist, composer, conductor, and arranger.Born in Richmond Hill, New York, New York, Gould was recognized early as a child prodigy with abilities in improvisation and music composition....
    , concert pianist (former resident)
  • Mark J. Green
    Mark J. Green

    Mark J. Green is a public interest author and lawyer and a former Democratic Party politician who lives in New York City. He is currently the president of Air America Radio....
    , former New York City Public Advocate and mayoral candidate (former resident and high school graduate)
  • Ilan Hall
    Ilan Hall

    Ilan D. Hall is an American chef, best known as the winner of the Top Chef of the Bravo television network's reality series Top Chef.Hall is a native of Great Neck, New York....
    , chef and winner of reality television show Top Chef
    Top Chef

    Top Chef is an United States reality television competition show that airs on the cable television network Bravo , in which chefs compete against each other in weekly challenges....
     (former resident)
  • Oscar Hammerstein II
    Oscar Hammerstein II

    Oscar Hammerstein II was an American writer, Theatrical producer, and Theatre director of Musical theatre for almost forty years, collaborating on many of the most important pieces of musical theatre of the twentieth century....
    , writer, producer and director of musicals (former resident)
  • Emily Hughes
    Emily Hughes

    Emily Hughes is an American figure skating. She is the 2007 United States Figure Skating Championships and was a member of the 2006 Olympics. She is the younger sister of Sarah Hughes, the 2002 Olympic champion....
    , member of the U.S. Figure Skating
    Figure skating

    Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform figure skating spins, figure skating jumps, moves in the field and other intricate and challenging moves on ice....
     Team at the 2006 Winter Olympics
    2006 Winter Olympics

    The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006....
  • Sarah Hughes
    Sarah Hughes

    Sarah Elizabeth Hughes is an United States figure skater. She is the Figure skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Her younger sister Emily Hughes is also a senior-level figure skater....
    , Gold medal
    Gold medal

    A gold medal is typically the highest medal awarded for achievement in a non-military field. The concept comes from the military, initially with a simple recognition of military rank, and later decorations for admission to military orders dating back to medieval times....
    ist in Figure Skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics
    2002 Winter Olympics

    The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIX Olympic Winter Games were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in 2002 in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States....
  • David Kahn
    David Kahn

    David Kahn is a US historian, journalist and writer. He has written extensively on the history of cryptography and military intelligence.Kahn's first book was The Codebreakers , widely considered to be a definitive account of the history of cryptography up to the mid-1960s....
    , US historian, journalist, and writer on subjects of cryptography and military intelligence
  • Michael Karlan
    Michael Karlan

    Michael Karlan is a party planner and founder and president of Professionals in the City . PNC has over 100,000 members and hosts over 1,000 events a year....
    , founder of the nation's largest networking and socializing group, Professionals in the City
    Professionals in the City

    Professionals in the City is the United States' largest socializing and networking organization. It offers professionals in major cities an opportunity to unwind and meet other professionals who share their interests outside of the workplace....
     (former resident)
  • Andy Kaufman
    Andy Kaufman

    Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman was an United States entertainer, actor and performance artist. While often referred to as a comedian, Kaufman did not consider himself one....
    , comedian and actor (former resident)
  • Josh Kopelman
    Josh Kopelman

    Joshua Kopelman is an United Statesn entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and philanthropist.Kopelman is best known as the founder of Half.com, a fixed price marketplace connecting buyers and sellers of used books, movies and music products....
    , American entrepreneur (former resident)
  • Alan King
    Alan King (comedian)

    Alan King was an United States comedian known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants. King became well-known as a Jewish comedian and satirist....
    , comedian and actor (former resident)
  • Christopher Lambert
    Christopher Lambert

    Christophe Guy Denis Lambert , known as Christopher Lambert, is an United States-born France actor. He is best known for his role as Connor MacLeod, or simply "The Highlander", from the movie and subsequent movie franchise series of the same name....
    , actor (born in Great Neck)
  • Ring Lardner
    Ring Lardner

    Ringgold Wilmer Lardner was an United States sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre....
    , sports columnist and short story writer (former resident)
  • , Avant Guide
    Avant Guide

    Avant Guide, derived from the French term avant-garde, is a term used to refer to people or actions that lead other people to experiences that are novel or experimental, particularly with respect to the arts and culture....
     publisher (former resident)
  • The Marx Brothers
    Marx Brothers

    The Marx Brothers were a popular team of sibling comedians who appeared in vaudeville, stage plays, film, and television....
    , stars of vaudeville and movies (former residents)
  • Minae Mizumura
    Minae Mizumura

    is a critically acclaimed novelist currently writing in the Japanese language. Educated in the US, she wrote her first published work in the English language, a scholarly essay on the literary criticism of Paul de Man....
    , novelist, essayist, critic, based in Tokyo, Japan. Author of A Real Novel. (former resident)
  • Bobby Muller
    Bobby Muller

    Robert O. "Bobby" Muller is an American peace advocate.He grew up in Great Neck, New York and attended Hofstra University. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1967, during the Vietnam War....
    , Vietnam War veteran and anti-war activist (grew up in Great Neck)
  • Louise Nevelson, abstract sculptor (former resident)
  • Paul Newman
    Paul Newman

    Paul Leonard Newman was an United States actor, film director, entrepreneur, Humanitarianism, and auto racing enthusiast. He won numerous awards, including an Academy Award for his performance in the 1986 Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money and eight other nominations three Golden Globe, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a...
    , actor (former resident)
  • Eugene O'Neill
    Eugene O'Neill

    Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright, and Nobel laureate in Nobel Prize in Literature. His plays are among the first to introduce into American drama the techniques of Realism , associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August Strindberg....
    , playwright (former resident)
  • Larry Poons
    Larry Poons

    Lawrence Poons, better known as Larry Poons, is an Abstract art painter who was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1937. He studied from 1955 to 1957 at the New England Conservatory of Music, with the intent of becoming a professional musician....
    , abstract painter (graduated from Great Neck High School [North])
  • Dan Raviv
    Dan Raviv

    Dan Raviv is an American journalist. He is a national correspondent for CBS News, heard regularly on the CBS Radio Network. He has also done TV reports from Washington, D.C....
    , author and CBS
    CBS

    CBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American radio network and television network. The name is derived from the initials of Columbia Broadcasting System, its former legal name....
     TV and radio correspondent who hosts the CBS News Weekend Roundup
    CBS News Weekend Roundup

    The CBS News Weekend Roundup is a weekly news show that airs on the CBS Radio Network, designed for a one-hour time slot, though it has an actual length without commercials of about forty minutes....
     (former resident)
  • Jordan Rudess
    Jordan Rudess

    Jordan Rudess is a progressive rock keyboardist best known as a member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater....
    , Keyboard Player for the band Dream Theater (grew up in great neck)
  • Tamir Sapir
    Tamir Sapir

    Tamir Sapir ; *1948/49, Tbilisi) is an American immigrant from the Georgian SSR of Georgia who made millions bartering fertilizer and oil with the Soviets in the 1980s....
    , Russian Born Cabdriver Billionaire. Estate on Pond Road.
  • George Segal
    George Segal

    George Segal, Jr. is an American film and stage actor....
    , actor (resident)
  • Talia Shire
    Talia Shire

    Talia Shire is a two-time Academy Award-nominated United States actress....
    , actress (former resident)
  • Harry F. Sinclair
    Harry F. Sinclair

    Harry Ford Sinclair was an United States oil industrialist.Born in Benwood, West Virginia, now a suburb of the city of Wheeling, West Virginia, Sinclair grew up in Independence, Kansas....
    , oil industrialist (former resident)
  • Alfred P. Sloan
    Alfred P. Sloan

    Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr. was a long-time president and chairman of General Motors Corporation....
    , President of General Motors (former resident)
  • Seth Swirsky
    Seth Swirsky

    Seth Swirsky is anUnited States pop music songwriter, author, recording artist and noted baseball memorabilia Collecting....
    , songwriter and author
  • Norma Talmadge
    Norma Talmadge

    Norma Talmadge was an United States actress and film producer of the silent film era. A major box office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 1920s, when she ranked among the most popular idols of the American screen....
    , actress (former resident)
  • Richard Tucker
    Richard Tucker

    Richard Tucker was a highly regarded American operatic tenor.Tucker was born Rivn Ticker in Brooklyn, New York, into a family of immigrants from Bessarabia ....
    , operatic tenor (former resident)
  • William Kissam Vanderbilt II
    William Kissam Vanderbilt II

    William Kissam Vanderbilt II was a motor racing enthusiast and Yachting and a member of the prominent United States Vanderbilt family.Born in New York City, the second child and first son of William Kissam Vanderbilt and Alva Belmont, he was known by the nickname "Willie K" and until his father died was labeled as Vanderbilt Jr....
    , railroad executive and yachtsman (former resident)
  • Robert Varkonyi
    Robert Varkonyi

    Robert Varkonyi is a professional poker player best known for winning the main event of the 2002 World Series of Poker.Varkonyi first started playing poker as an undergraduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology....
    , World Series of Poker
    World Series of Poker

    The World Series of Poker is the "the oldest, largest, most prestigious, and most media-hyped gaming competition in the world". It is held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada....
     champion (resident)
  • Sam Warner
    Sam Warner

    Samuel Louis Warner was a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Warner Brothers. He established the studio along with his brothers Harry Warner, Albert Warner, and Jack Warner....
     (1887-1927), one of the four brothers who were co-founders of Warner Bros.
    Warner Bros.

    Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. is one of the world's largest film producer of film and television.It is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank, California and New York City....
  • Mordecai Waxman
    Mordecai Waxman

    Rabbi Mordecai Waxman , was a prominent rabbi in the Conservative Judaism for nearly 60 years. He served as rabbi of Temple Israel in Great Neck, New York for 55 years from 1947 through his death in 2002....
     (1917-2002), prominent rabbi in the Conservative movement
    Conservative Judaism

    Conservative Judaism is a modern Jewish denominations of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s....
     and of Temple Israel of Great Neck.
  • Evan Wecksell
    Evan Wecksell

    Evan Wecksell is a guitar-playing comedian who primarily performs in Los Angeles and at colleges across the country. He is well-known for being a personality on VH1 's "I Love the 80s 3D," "I Love the 70s II" and "I Love Toys" as well as E! 's "Forbes Celebrity 100: Who Made Bank" and "30 Most Outrageous Celebrity Feuds."...
    , comedian,singer/songwriter (graduated from Great Neck South High School and former resident)
  • P. G. Wodehouse
    P. G. Wodehouse

    Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, Order of the British Empire was a comic writer who enjoyed enormous popular success during a career of more than seventy years and continues to be widely read....
     (1881-1975), English comic writer (former resident)
  • Herman Wouk
    Herman Wouk

    Herman Wouk is a bestselling United States author with a number of notable novels to his credit, including The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance....
     (born 1915), author (former resident)
  • Harris Wulfson
    Harris Wulfson

    Harris Wulfson was a Jewish composer, instrumentalist and software engineer living in Brooklyn, New York. His work employs algorithmic processes and gestural controllers to explore the boundary where humans encounter their machines....
     (1974-2008), composer, instrumentalist and software engineer (graduated from Great Neck South High School)


External links

  • whose circulation policy is to grant cards to residents of the school district.