Five Towns

:"The Five Towns also refers to Stoke-on-Trent in Arnold Bennett's novels."The Five Towns is an informal grouping of villages and hamlets in Nassau County, New York, United States on the South Shore of western Long Island adjoining the border with Queens County in New York City. Despite the name, none of the communities are towns. The Five Towns is usually said to comprise the villages of Lawrence and Cedarhurst, the hamlets of Woodmere and Inwood, and "The Hewletts", which consist of the villages of Hewlett Bay Park, Hewlett Harbor and Hewlett Neck and the hamlet of Hewlett, along with Woodsburgh. [Barron, James. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9502E1DD1439F933A25754C0A965948260 "IF YOU'RE THINKING OF LIVING IN: FIVE TOWNS"] , "The New York Times", July 10, 1983. Accessed May 20, 2008. "The basic five are Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Woodmere, Hewlett and Inwood. But the area also includes some unincorporated communities and two tiny villages, Hewlett Bay Park and Woodsburgh, that are not added to the final total."] North Woodmere has also been included in the grouping. [Marks, Peter. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE7D81439F937A35752C0A963958260 "AT WORK WITH: Wendy Kaufman; Snapple! Cackle! Pop! A Star Is Born "] , "The New York Times", January 4, 1995. Accessed September 15, 2008. "A native of North Woodmere, one of Long Island's Five Towns, she feels she has landed a role she was born to play."] The "towns" most commonly included as constituents of the "Five Towns" are all in the southwest corner of the Town of Hempstead.

The name "Five Towns" dates back to 1931, when individual Community Chest groups in the area banded together to form the "Five Towns Community Chest", consisting of Inwood, Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Woodmere and Hewlett. The organization still exists (as of 2006) as a local charity, but the "Five Towns" moniker caught on as a designation for the entire area. ["If You're Thinking of Living in: The Five Towns", "The New York Times", November 20, 1988. p. R11] A 1933 article in "The New York Times" references a Girl Scouts of the USA encampment by the "Five Towns Council, embracing the villagessic of Inwood, Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Woodmere and Hewlett", interestingly, listed in order by LIRR station. [ [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30E16F834581A738DDDAC0A94DF405B838FF1D3 "TO BREAK CAMP AT AEN.; Girl Scouts of Rockaways Leave Wednesday After 2 Weeks' Stay."] , "The New York Times", July 25, 1933, p. 16. Accessed September 15, 2008.]

Communities

Each of these "towns" has a consecutive stop on the Far Rockaway Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. All five communities are part of the Town of Hempstead. Woodmere is the largest and most populous community in the Five Towns, while the commercial and cultural hub is usually considered to be Cedarhurst, with its shopping area (along Central Avenue) and nearby park.

Back Lawrence/Old Lawrence

Old Lawrence or Back Lawrence, a part of the Village of Lawrence, is similar in affluence to Hewlett, Woodsburgh and the North Shore's Gold Coast, and comprises many enormous mansions, beachside luxury villas and former plantations with very large property (and corresponding prices), some dating back to the time of the American Revolution. Huge golf courses, vast wetlands and nature preserves with historic battlefields enrich this beautiful area making it one of the most exclusive areas in all of Long Island.

Old Lawrence is commonly referred to by historians as the "First Hamptons." During the second half of the 19th century, it was a main vacation spot for the rich families of the highest social scale until the 1890s. A series of hurricanes and nor'easters altered the coastline considerably and destroyed a large beachfront hotel. Lawrence could no longer boast direct access to the sands along the Atlantic Ocean. At the same time, Lawrence began to become more like a modern suburb, a village with schools, public facilities, better roads and a large town area that expanded into what is now today.

Lawrence, or most notably Old Lawrence, was formerly home to a large dominant upper class of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant families that lived there since the time of the American Revolution. While many blue-blood families still reside there, it has since become home to a large community of upper class Modern Orthodox, Reform, and Conservative Jewish families who have established a number of growing synagogues, particularly since the 1980s.

The Orthodox Jewish communities are close to the more Haredi nearby center of Far Rockaway which has more yeshivas for the children and younger members as well as a variety of kosher restaurants and communal organizations. Central Avenue in Lawrence (and its continuation in Cedarhurst) has a large and growing number of kosher restaurants and other business catering to the Orthodox community.

There are more communities that are sometimes considered to be part of the Five Towns, including Atlantic Beach, Woodsburgh and North Woodmere, which are all officially part of the Lawrence Public Schools (except for a part of North Woodmere and most of Woodsburgh, which is part of the Hewlett-Woodmere School District), but their inclusion in the Five Towns is unclear since there is no official Five Towns designation. Woodsburgh is arguably part of Woodmere, Atlantic Beach is geographically part of the same barrier island as Long Beach and North Woodmere is an unincorporated section of Valley Stream.

Each of the Five Towns, with the exception of Inwood which is predominantly Christian, has a large Orthodox Jewish community, with many Jewish day schools, yeshivas, synagogues, kosher restaurants and Judaica stores serving the needs of the surrounding community. Roman Catholics also make up a large percentage of the Five Towns.

Education

There are two school districts in the Five Towns, the Lawrence Public Schools (District 15) and the Hewlett-Woodmere School District (District 14). Roughly speaking, the Lawrence school district contains all of Lawrence, Cedarhurst and Inwood, and part of Woodmere while the Hewlett-Woodmere district contains all of Hewlett and part of Woodmere and extends partly into the neighboring villages of Lynbrook and Valley Stream (North Woodmere and Gibson, in particular). One reason for the small number of school districts is that many local residents choose to avail themselves of parochial education facilities in the area.

Five Towns College

Although Lawrence was planned to be the location for Five Towns College, the original site was no longer available by the time the school received its charter in 1972. The college is currently located in Dix Hills, Suffolk County. Other than the proposed original site, the school never had a physical connection to the Five Towns. [ [http://www.ftc.edu/AboutUs/abo_history.php Five Towns College: Our History] , accessed July 6, 2006]

Popular culture

On the April 8, 2007, episode of "Entourage", titled Less Than 30, the character Johnny "Drama" Chase was noted to be acting in a fictional NBC series called "Five Towns." Entourage writers Rob Weiss and Brian Burns (Edward's brother) attended Hewlett High School, but the name of the fictional TV show came from the title of a script fellow staff writer Cliff Dorfman had written years before. On the May 13, 2007 episode, titled "The Resurrection", the posh and affluent Village of Hewlett Harbor was said to be the setting of the fictional NBC series called "Five Towns".

Additionally, the character playing Ray Liotta's wife in the movie "Goodfellas" is said to be from Lawrence. [ [http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/g/goodfellas-script-transcript.html "Goodfellas Script - Dialogue Transcript"] , Script-o-rama. Accessed September 27, 2008. "Karen, where you from?
- Lawrence.
On the Island. Nice."]

The 1993 movie "Amongst Friends" by Rob Weiss was filmed and set in the Five Towns. [Lyall, Sarah. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE1DC1438F93BA25754C0A965958260 "FILM; 'Amongst Friends' Tops Off a Journey Of Self-Discovery"] , "The New York Times", July 18, 1993. Accessed September 18, 2008.]

Notable residents

Notable current and former residents of the Five Towns include:
* Lyle Alzado (1949-1992), NFL football player
* Josh Appell, Houston Astros Pitcher (farm team)
* Lee Bienstock (born 1983), "Apprentice 5" runner up
* Bruce Blakeman, Politician, Member of the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
* Ross Bleckner (born 1949), artist. [Shaw, Dan. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE1DF1639F93AA1575BC0A965958260 "Bachelor of Arts"] , "The New York Times", August 29, 1993. Accessed September 15, 2008. "'I always absolutely thought there was a difference between being a young artist and an important young artist,' said Mr. Bleckner, who grew up in Hewlett, L.I., graduated in 1971 from New York University and earned an M.F.A. from the California Institute of the Arts in 1973."]
* Peter Breggin, Psychiatrist
* Ed Burns (born 1968), actor / screenwriter / producer
* Jake Burton (born 1954), Snowboarding Pioneer
* Howard Deutch (born 1950), director of several hit movies, married to actress Lea Thompson
* John DiResta, actor / comedian
* Debra Drimmer, VP of Talent, Comedy Central
* Gordon Edelstein, Artistic Director of the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut
* Jane Friedman, President and CEO, HarperCollins ; She was recently named on "Vanity Fair"'s list of 200 Women Legends, Leaders and Trailblazers
* Jeffrey M. Friedman (born 1954), molecular geneticist and discoverer of leptin. [Kerr, Kathleen. [http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-century_of_science_dissons,0,7662594.story "They Began Here: Around the country, leading thinkers in health and science can trace their roots to Long Island"] , "Newsday", July 16, 2008. Accessed September 17, 2008. "And Dr. Jeffrey Friedman is another respected scientist who hails from Long Island -- he grew up in North Woodmere."]
* Lisa G., NYC radio DJ
* Barbara Gaines, Producer, "The Late Show with David Letterman", Emmy Award Winner
* Rande Gerber, "Mr. Cindy Crawford" and nightclub owner
* Brent Glass, director of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History
* Louise Glück, Poet, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1993, United States Poet Laureate 2003-04
* Carolyn Gusoff, WNBC News Anchor
* Red Holzman (1920-1998), New York Knicks head coach. [Berkow, Ira. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E7DB1031F936A25752C1A96E958260 "Red Holzman, Hall of Fame Coach, Dies at 78"] , "The New York Times", November 15, 1998. Accessed September 15, 2008. "He and his wife bought a house in Cedarhurst, N.Y., in the Five Towns section of Long Island in the 1950's, and stayed there all their lives, raising Gail, their only child in a 55-year marriage."]
* David M. Israel, TV Producer/Writer
* Donna Karan (born 1948), fashion designer. [Van Gelder, Lawrence. [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F5081FFC3C5D10738DDDAF0994D8415B878BF1D3 "INTERVIEW; Her Winning Way With Fashion"] , "The New York Times", October 16, 1977. Accessed September 15, 2008. "And suddenly, at the age of 29, Donna Karan, who grew up in Woodmere, Who lied about her age to begin selling women's clothes at 14 in Cedarhurst, and who now lives in Lawrence, was at the top of her fashion world."]
* Wendy Kaufman (born 1958), "Snapple Lady". [Mason-Draffen, Carrie. [http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzsnap0520,0,5812920.story "She's the ex-Snapple Lady after a falling out"] , "Newsday", May 19, 2008. Accessed September 15, 2008. "'I just couldn't accept the contract because it was so one-sided and worth nothing,' the North Woodmere native said."]
* Aline Kominsky-Crumb, comics artist [Kominsky-Crumb, Aline. (2007). "Need More Love". New York: MQ Publications. ISBN 1-84601-133-7]
* Tony Kornheiser, sportswriter / radio and television talk show host
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0470691/ Stuart Kreisman] Emmy Award winning Writer/Producer
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0491005/ Matthew Laurance] (Birth name: Matthew Dyckoff), actor, sideline analyst on the "Duke Radio Network"
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0491006/ Mitchell Laurance] (Birth name: Mitchell Dyckoff), actor
* Peggy Lipton (born 1946), actress best known for her role on "The Mod Squad". [Berkvist, Robert. [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00913F83C59107A93CBA81788D85F468785F9 "'Bored? Creatively I'm Bored, But...'"] , "The New York Times", March 19, 1972. Accessed September 15, 2008. ""The girl from uptight Lawrence, L. I., was now cool, worldly; Peggy Lipton had become, in the stone-age language of the sixties, a groovy chick, and "Mod Squad" had found its Julie."]
* Steve Madden (born 1958), shoe designer. [Dominguez, Robert. [http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/lifestyle/2006/10/19/2006-10-19_bringing_it_back_home__steve.html "BRINGING IT BACK HOME. Steve Madden's new ad campaign focuses on his fashion center - Queens"] , "Daily News (New York)", October 19, 2006. Accessed September 15, 2008. "He grew up in Lawrence, L.I., where he worked in shoe stores from his high-school days until he started his own business in 1990, at 33, with an investment of just $1,100."]
* Gene Mayer, former professional tennis player. [Cavanaugh, Jack. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE6DD173BF930A1575BC0A961948260 "A TENNIS TOURNAMENT SERVES SOME ACES"] , "The New York Times", August 23, 1987. Accessed September 16, 2008. "Most of what rooting interest developed focused on the closest thing to a homegrown product in the competition, Gene Mayer of Woodmere."]
* Harvey Milk (1930-1978), first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the United States, as a city supervisor in San Francisco. [ [http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-33238837_ITM "40 Heroes"] , "The Advocate", September 25, 2007. Accessed September 16, 2008. "Though an assassin cut his life short, Harvey Milk packed 48 years with enough accomplishments to last many lifetimes. Born in Woodmere, N.Y., in 1930..."]
* Bruce Murray, host "Murray in the Morning" Radio Show
* Evan Roberts, WFAN Host.
* Seth Rudetsky, composer, musical director and talk show host. [Gans, Andrew. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/79400.html "Rhapsody in Seth’s Rudetsky Fights Back With Santorum Fund"] , "Playbill", May 7, 2003. Accessed September 17, 2008. "In his self-penned, one-man show directed by Peter Flynn — Rhapsody in Seth — Seth Rudetsky recalls growing up in North Woodmere, Long Island, where he was praised for his musical gifts but ridiculed for being gay."]
* Lisa Schwarzbaum, Movie critic
* Dr. Joe Sobel, Weatherman (AccuWeather)
* Jim Steinman, music producer, composer
* Maxine Stone, Performed at Woodstock 1969 with Bert Sommer and Ira Stone
* Rob Weiss, director/producer "Amongst Friends", "Entourage". [Lyall, Sarah. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE1DC1438F93BA25754C0A965958260 "FILM; 'Amongst Friends' Tops Off a Journey Of Self-Discovery"] , "The New York Times", July 18, 1993. Accessed September 18, 2008. "Born in Baldwin, near the Five Towns, Mr. Weiss dropped out of the Parsons School of Design, where he studied fashion, then film. He found himself out of work and living goallessly back at his divorced father's house in Lawrence, smack in the Five Towns."]
* Stuart Weitzman, Shoe Designer
* Leslie West (born 1945), of the hard rock group Mountain. [Fischler, Marcelle S. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE7DC1030F936A25753C1A9609C8B63 "Nascent Hall of Fame to Welcome First Honorees"] ., "The New York Times" , October 15, 2006. Accessed November 26, 2007. "Dee Snider of Stony Brook, the shock-rocker from the 1980's heavy metal band Twisted Sister, known for his defiant metal anthem "We're Not Gonna Take It," and Leslie West of the band Mountain, who grew up in East Meadow, Lawrence and Forest Hills, are also being inducted..."]
* Alan Zweibel (born 1950), writer / producer. [Capuzzo, Jill P. [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/12/nyregion/12NJ.html "From 'Saturday Night Live' to '700 Sundays'"] , "The New York Times", December 12, 2004. Accessed September 17, 2008. "As the funny kid in the neighborhood, Mr. Zweibel - born in Brooklyn and reared in Woodmere, on Long Island - first tried his hand at writing jokes while at the University of Buffalo, mailing them to Johnny Carson and Dick Cavett"]

References

External links

* [http://www.town-usa.com/new_york/nassau/cedarhurst.html Town-USA Five Towns of Cedarhurst New York Area]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/BellotsHistoryOfTheRockaways1917 Free downloadable history of the Rockaways (including the Five Towns) from 1685 to 1917]