Things to do / Travel Guide
It is a miracle that Long Island does not sag under the weight of its population: nearly three million people live in Nassau and Suffolk counties alone. Long Island is the most populus island in the United States. Long Island is predominantly caucasian, nearly 30% of which claim Italian American heritage. Jews comprise nearly 10% of Long Island's residents as do African Americans.
There are two Native American reservations in Long Island's Suffolk County; the Shinnecock Reservation is near Southampton and the Poosepatuck Reservation is in Mastic. Close to 600 of the 1,300 Shinnecock tribal members of the Shinneock tribal members live on the reservation. The Poosepatuck Reservation is home to five core families, about 250 people in all.
With the median family income being close to $70,000, Long Island's Nassau County is New York State's second-richest county and it is ranked the sixth-wealthiest county in the United States. Long Island is first in the United States for the percentage of households with an income greater than $150,000.
While Long Island has long carried the stigma of being a suburban utopia for New York City commuters, urban planners now call Long Island a “technoburb,” to describe the fact that many Long Island residents live and work in their suburban surroundings. Suffolk County, for example, is largely populated by professionals employed at Stony Brook University or the focal points of Long Island's growing computer industry: Computer Associates and Sperry Rand. Many Long Islanders are employed at Hauppage Industrial Park, a behemoth complex, the largest on the eastcoast, and home to nearly 1,300 companies.
You'll rarely hear a Long Islander say they are from New York. Instead they will tell you “I'm from Lawn Guyland (Long Island).” So what are the Lawn Guylanders like? Well, for starters, their accent is well-known all over. Slightly more pronounced than the general New York accent, the “g” ending a word often gets attached to the beginning of the next word. That's not all: words that end in the letter “r” get replaced with “ah.” Water becomes “watah”, father becomes “fathah,” and beer is delicately transformed into “beah.”
Long Islanders are stereotyped as being hopelessly homogenous and suburban. “Soccer moms” allegedly abound and, in general, locals have provincial concerns: their houses, their (high) property taxes, their lawns, their school systems, their communities, and their local politics. While these stereotypes may describe, to some degree, the culture of the suburbs, what most people don't know is that Long Island is beginning to reflect the diversity of the New York City metro area. In recent years more and more Asian and Hispanic immigrants have moved to Long Island North Shore and South Shore communities seeking better jobs and schools for their children. Long Island's demographics are quickly changing: A recent census established that nearly one-fifth of Suffolk County and Nassau County residents were either foreign-born or spoke a language other than English at home. Non-profit and cultural organizations dedicated to both helping and celebrating Long Island's residents of color are popping up in both counties.
Long Island, particularly the eastern end of the island and the Hamptons, has a long tradition of fishing and whaling. Many locals can trace their histories back to the time when the ritzy Hamptons were humble sea-faring hamlets. This salt-of-the-earth, hearty history is a subtle cultural undercurrent in places like Sag Harbor, Montauk, Southampton and East Hampton. Moreover, given that Long Island, Suffolk County in particular, produces the largest dollar percentage of New York State's agricultural products; the rural farming lifestyle also maintains a noteworthy presence on Long Island. As a result, areas of Long Island's eastern end remain charmingly rustic and thousands of down-to-earth Long Islanders earn their living by cultivating the land.
Many Long Islanders, particularly in Nassau County, also are commuters who work in “The City” and people often forget that European ethnic diversity includes large Jewish-American, Irish-American, and Italian-American communities, as well as two small but well-established Native American reservations, the Shinnecock Reservation is near Southampton and the Poosepatuck Reservation is in Mastic.
Generally speaking, suburban Long Islanders are middle to upper middle, and even upper class. Nassau County is the sixth-wealthiest county in the United States and locals' tastes correspond to their incomes. Despite the high-quality, well-developed public transportation on Long Island, wealthier locals prefer to drive. Long Islanders collectively own more than two million cars, which, to their chagrin, are regularly decorated with seagull droppings. Top-class theater, posh shopping and dining, headliner concerts, and performing arts all rank among Long Islanders' favorite past times. Many upper class Long Islanders like preppy sports: tennis, polo, lacrosse, horseback riding and, of course, golf. Though Long Island is only 120 miles long, it has more than 130 golf courses, more than one course per mile, and over 400,000 golfers.
Most Long Islanders have either gone clamming or fishing once in their lives, they are proud of the vast number of celebrities Long Island has produced (most Long Islanders own several Billy Joel, Public Enemy, or Busta Rhymes albums), and when dinner plans at home don't pan out - they relish the fact that good pizza is never more than ten minutes away. Long Islanders know they've got it good.
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