50-53 42nd Street, 2

Quick Profile

Sunnyside is an affordable neighborhood that offers a unique blend of big-city living with a friendly small-town feel. Some residents consider it one of the best kept secrets in New York City. Located just 20 minutes from Midtown Manhattan by subway, the neighborhood looks like a different era due to the prewar apartment buildings, row houses and smaller mom-and-pop businesses that populate much of the business districts.

Sunnyside is an intriguing place to explore. It’s situated in the western portion of Queens. The boundaries of this mostly residential neighborhood are Long Island City to the west, Astoria to the north, Woodside to the east, and Maspeth to the south.  

Once a rural hamlet of small farms and marshlands, the area transformed into a flourishing suburb shortly after the construction of the Queensboro Bridge (currently known as the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge) in 1909. Sunnyside was an Irish-American stronghold for decades. Although this demographic is still very much a part of the neighborhood’s identity, it has become increasingly diverse in recent years.

You can eat around the world without ever getting on an airplane. Like many sections of Queens, Sunnyside has notable food spots representing cuisine from Tibet, Mexico, Italy, Japan, and Middle Eastern countries too. If you’re too busy to wander Sunnyside in search of the best international food, then hold off until the fall when the neighborhood rolls out the Taste of Sunnyside Restaurant Crawl. An annual event that features the very best of the diverse flavors of Sunnyside. Come hungry because there is no shortage of good food and drink from around the globe.

Sunnyside’s housing options include a large stock of rentals, co-op’s, single-family and multi-family homes. The average listed price is $479,000, while the median listed price is $425,000. Businesses in Sunnyside are generally located along Queens Boulevard and Skillman, 43rd, 47th, 48th, and Greenpoint Avenues.