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Some In Long Island City Desperately Trying To Change Name To "LIC"
By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 20, 2013
Modified Feb 20, 2013
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John Del Signore / Gothamist
By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 20, 2013
Modified Feb 20, 2013
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Long Island City: So many syllables! Wouldn't it be easier to just call it The City? Or Longtown? How about LiTy? North Greenpoint? The possibilities are endless, but some local residents already have their minds made up: Long Island City should henceforth be known by the catchy acronym LIC. And the Queens Local Development Corp. Tourism Council is doing their best to make the LIC stick.
"It’s bad for hotels, it’s bad for real estate, and it’s bad for morale,” Rob MacKay, head of the Tourism Council, tells the Post. "It puts us out on Long Island, and that’s inaccurate — we are urban and hip.” Seriously you guys, LIC is the new BLCK! (Especially Hunter's Point, where Thom York hangs out.) Yet travel agents keep assuming LIC is on Long Island. "They are constantly telling me that when they do booking and see Long Island City, they say, ‘Oh, that’s too far’ from Manhattan — they think it’s either in suburban hell or the Hamptons," MacKay bemoans.
We're still not sure how it's pronounced (LICK or LICE?) but LIC may well be the way of the future—remember what TriBeCa was before it was TriBeCa? (Washington Market, UGH.) Of course, only time will tell; there's no official way to change the name, and neighborhood boundaries are not officially designated by the city either. And to be sure, not everyone is feeling the LIC. In an email, one longtime Queens resident tells us this is all just an insidious side-effect of gentrification:
The working class residents are being shoved aside in favor of people who can afford the new apartments. And why does a neighborhood need a 'cool factor'? What will the yuppies do when they find the #7 usually doesn't go there on weekend after weekend? I forgot, they take limos and cabs. You move to Queens, you're a Queensite, own it.
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long island city
Neighborhoods
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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