City Island

City Island, is politically part of The Bronx, but is (as the name implies) an island. It is approximately 1.5 miles long and 0.5 miles wide at its widest point, with the major axis approximately north-south.

City Island is surrounded by Eastchester Bay to the West and Long Island Sound to the East. More properly, the body of water betwen City Island and and the even smaller (and uninhabited) Hart Island to the East is known as City Island Harbor, although even many residents of City Island will not recognize that name.

All of City Island is zip code 10464, and telephone exchange +1 718 885 xxxx. City Island residents generally just use the last four digits when telling somebody their phone number.

The island has one supermarket, one gas station, one bank, an elmentary school, and a fire house (but no police station). There are three churches, and a synagogue. There is a branch [1] of the New York Public Library (probably the smallest branch in the entire system, even after the recent expansion which doubled the size of the building). There are a large number of restaurants, many with a seafood theme.

City island has four yacht clubs, all situated on the Eastchester Bay side of the island. They are, from North to South, the Harlem Yacht Club, Stuyvesant Yacht Club, City Island Yacht Club, and Morris Yacht and Beach Club. The Touring Kayak Club is on the West side of the island. There are two active sail lofts (Ulmer-Kolius and Doyle).

Numerous commercial marinas and boatyards also exist. Many of the boats which competed in the America's Cup [2] in years past were built on City Island.

City Island is connected to the mainland by a single 2-lane bridge. Public transportation consists of the Bx-29 bus run by the New York City Transit Authority, and an express bus run by the New York Bus Service. The Transit Authority does not even show City Island on its subway map [3]; whether this is cartographic artistic license, a printing accident, or a deliberate snub is unclear.

The Forgotten New York web site [4] has an interesting article and photo essay about City Island [5].

One of City Island's most well-known residents is Oliver Sacks.