Sunnyside in Queens, between the Sunnyside Rail Yard and the LIE/BQE interchange, is bisected by Queens Boulevard, with the great, curving vaults of the elevated train tracks running above. To the south, the buildings are a mix of five- and six-story co-ops and freestanding homes, while the north is dominated by the historic district of Sunnyside Gardens, a leafy enclave of red-brick Colonial Revival homes and apartment buildings.
The neighborhood's eastern border is made up of Woodside and Calvary Cemetery, while its western border is (by most accounts) 39th Street. Not to be confused with 39th Place, which, in true Queens fashion, runs one block parallel.
The neighborhood got its name from the Broucard family, French Huguenots who arrived in the U.S. in 1675 aboard the Gilded Otter. Bourgon Broucard initially settled in Bushwick, but, perhaps growing weary of all the bespoke cooperages and farm-to-table johnnycake pop-ups, he bought a large estate in what is now Sunnyside from the fantastically named Burger Jorizz. In 1713, Broucard, or one of his sons, named their estate "Sunnyside Hill."
One of the homes that Bourgon built stood for over 200 years before it was finally torn down around 1900. By then the farmland was giving way to the city: the Queensboro Bridge was completed in 1909, and the IRT Flushing Line, connecting Queens with Manhattan, was finished by 1915.
The Queens Assembly Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses was originally the Bliss Theater, built in 1931 as a movie theater.
In the late 19th centruy, a group of Irish immigrants and their allies founded the Greater New York Irish Athletic Association, a progressive alternative to the exclusive New York Athletic Club. In 1898 they purchased farmland near Calvary Cemetery and built Celtic Park, a sprawling athletic complex that for the next three decades was home to some of the world’s best athletes.
Renamed the Irish-American Athletic Club, it quickly gained fame not just for its champions but for its inclusivity. In an era when many athletic organizations barred Catholics, Jews, and African-Americans, Celtic Park welcomed them. Its members went on to win more than fifty Olympic medals. Among them were Joseph Flanagan, the first Irish athlete to win gold for the U.S.; Myer Prinstein, the first Jewish-American Olympic champion; and Dr. John Baxter Taylor Jr., the first African-American to claim gold for the U.S.
By the 1930s, Celtic Park's glory days were behind it. After a brief stint as a greyhound track, an unwelcome development for the rapidly growing residential neighborhood, the land was sold off to developers.
Today, the former oval track is home to two blocks of apartment buildings and a massive solar-roofed parking lot. The half-block-long diagonal street, Celtic Ave, is the only evidence of the storied facility.
Between 1924 and 1929, sixteen blocks of Hudson Brick row houses and co-op apartments rose along the edge of the Sunnyside train yards. The development, called Sunnyside Gardens, was inspired by the Garden City movement, the brainchild of English planner Ebenezer Howard.
Only 30 percent of the land was developed, the rest was reserved as shared green space. Instead of private yards, residents enjoyed communal courtyards running between rows of houses. Garages were located on the neighborhood’s periphery. At its border, they built Sunnyside Gardens Park, still the largest private park in New York City.
When the 40-year deed covenants expired in the mid-1960s, some owners rushed to add driveways, decks, fences, and even swimming pools. To preserve its character, the city designated Sunnyside Gardens a Special Planned Community Preservation District, one of only four in New York, along with Fresh Meadows, the Harlem River Houses, and Parkchester, making new alterations illegal without a special permit.
Finally, in 2007, after years of contentious back-and-forth among residents, the neighborhood was officially landmarked.
In the 1920s, Jay Gould II, champion tennis player and grandson of infamous robber baron Jay Gould, built a private tennis club at the intersection of Queens Boulevard and 45th Street, then still farmland. In 1947, the red brick building with its large roof gables was sold and began its second life as a boxing and wrestling arena. Back before live television brought boxing to people’s living rooms, Sunnyside Gardens Arena was one of dozens of smaller arenas in the city offering fans a night at the fights.
Boxers like Floyd Patterson, Emile Griffith, and Gerry Cooney all fought there on their way to becoming world champions. Before he became Judith Light's live-in housekeeper on Who's the Boss, Tony Danza also sparred in the arena.
The dingy 2,500-seat venue, thick with cigar smoke and rowdy fans, was described as boxing's minor leagues, a "boxing emporium for fighters on the way up and on the way down," and, if you were lucky, a stepping stone to Madison Square Garden. It also hosted wrestling bouts with future hall of famers like Bruno Sammartino and "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers.
The last fight at Sunnyside Gardens Arena, a boxing match between Ramon Ranquello and Bob Smith, occurred on June 24, 1977. The building was demolished later that year and has been home to a Wendy's ever since.