(My nodeshell now!)

Neighborhood in Queens, New York City, situated on the East River directly across from the east side of Manhattan, abbreviated LIC. LIC is a fairly large area that stretches from the foot of the Queensboro Bridge south to abut Greenpoint, Brooklyn across Newtown Creek. Formerly home to warehouses and desolation, it is now home to independent artists who have taken up in the former warehouses, as well as various Internet startups (when those were still going) and strip clubs. It has been said, as far as the Internet startups and strip clubs go, that Long Island City is home to two industries that use silicon in vastly different ways.

LIC was not more than a small collection of houses when mostly rural Queens was incorporated into New York City in 1898. After the Queensboro Bridge was completed, transit service was available to Manhattan. Previously tunnels were dug with the intention of providing rail service to this part of Queens and opening it to settlement. These Steinway Tunnels sat unused for 20 years and were finally incorporated into the New York City subway (today's 7 Train) which, along with the route of the current N Train was built through LIC by both the Interboro Rapid Transit and Brooklyn Manhattan Transit in the in the dual contracts era of subway expansion. These transit connections opened the area up to development. Later the Independent crosstown subway line (today's G Train) was extended through the area, as was the Queens Boulevard line (today's E, F, and R Trains).

What developed were warehouses along the East River front, and some industry along Newtown Creek. The industrial area is still there and active, but the warehouses have been reclaimed by the afore mentioned artists and internet startups. The artists having been priced out of SOHO in Manhattan a generation ago, and out of Williamsburg, Brooklyn more recently, they settled in the warehouse districts of both DUMBO Brooklyn and LIC. LIC is home to PS1, a noted experimental arts venue. It seems that already the process or raising rents may be repeating itself, with loft spaces in both DUMBO and LIC becoming ever more coveted.

There is also a small amount of corporate development, concentrated around the Citibank tower at Court Square that dominates the skyline of Queens.

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