Staten Island Totally Explained

Staten Island (IPA: ˌstæt.ənˈaɪlənd) is a borough of New York City. Situated on an eponymous island, Staten Island is the most geographically separate and least populated of the five boroughs.
   The Borough of Staten Island is with Richmond County, the southernmost county in the state of New York. Until 1975 the borough was officially named the Borough of Richmond.
   With a population of about 477,377, Staten Island is sometimes called "the forgotten borough," as it's less well-known than other boroughs, namely Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx. While Staten Island may not have the claim to fame of other boroughs, the Staten Island Ferry is a large tourist attraction and thus provides out-of-towners with some frame of reference for Staten Island. It is the third largest borough in area at .
   Staten Island is considered the most suburban of the five boroughs of New York City. The North Shore of the island (especially neighborhoods of St. George, Tompkinsville, and Stapleton) is the most urban, with the South Shore accommodating more suburban-style residential neighborhoods. Historically, the central and southern sections of the island were once dominated by dairy and poultry farms, the last of which disappeared in the 20th century. The borough's steady rise in population since the opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge has added to a sharp increase in traffic. To date, Staten Island only has one MTA train line, which is essentially a railroad older than the Verrazano Narrows Bridge (running North-South along the Eastern side), and MTA bus service.
   Staten Island has also historically been known for the Fresh Kills Landfill, the city of New York's former repository of trash. The landfill's closure was imminent at the turn of the millennium, but Fresh Kills became the home of the debris from Ground Zero following 9/11. The landfill was officially closed in 2001, and there's already a plan in place to revitalize the land for park use in the years ahead.

History

The bedrock of the island is a diabase formed during the volcanic eruptions that created much of the bedrock of northern New Jersey, including the New Jersey Palisades, approximately 200 million years ago. As an island, Staten Island was formed in the wake of the last ice age. In the late Pleistocene between 20,000 and 14,000 years ago, the ice sheet that covered northeastern North America reached to as far south as present day New York City, to a depth of approximately the same height as the Empire State Building. At one point, during its maximum reach, the ice sheet precisely ended at the center of present day Staten Island, forming a terminal moraine on the existing diabase sill. The central moraine of the island is sometimes called the Serpentine ridge because it contains large amounts of that particular mineral.
   At the retreat of the ice sheet, Staten Island was connected by land to Long Island because The Narrows hadn't yet formed. Geologists' reckonings of the course of the Hudson River have placed it alternatively through the present course of the Raritan River, south of the island, or through present-day Flushing Bay and Jamaica Bay.
   As in much of North America, human habitation appeared in the island fairly rapidly after the retreat of the ice sheet. Archaeologists have recovered tool evidence of Clovis culture activity dating from approximately 14,000 years ago. The island was probably abandoned later, possibly because of the extinction of large mammals on the island. Evidence of the first permanent American Indians settlements and agriculture date from about 5,000 years ago (Jackson, 1995).
   In the Sixteenth century, the island was part of a larger area known as Lenapehoking that was inhabited by the Lenape, an Algonquian American Indians people also called the Delaware. The band that occupied the southern part of the island was called the Raritan. To the Lenape, the island was called Aquehonga Manacknong and Eghquaons (Jackson, 1995). The island was laced with foot trails, one of which followed the south side of the ridge near the course of present day Richmond Road and Amboy Road. The Lenape didn't live in fixed encampments, but moved seasonally, using slash and burn agriculture. The staples of their diet included shellfish, including the oysters that are native to both Upper New York Bay and Lower New York Bay.

Staten Island

The first recorded European contact with the island was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, who sailed through The Narrows. In 1609, Henry Hudson established Dutch trade in the area and named the island Staaten Eylandt after the Staten-Generaal, the Dutch parliament.
Although the first Dutch settlement of the New Netherlands colony was made on nearby Manhattan in 1620, Staaten Eylandt remained uncolonized by the Dutch for many decades. From 1639 to 1655, the Dutch made three separate attempts to establish a permanent settlement on the island, but each time the settlement was destroyed in the conflicts between the Dutch and the local tribes.
In 1661, the first permanent Dutch settlement was established at Oude Dorp (Dutch for "Old Town"), just south of the Narrows near South Beach, by a small group of Dutch, Walloon, and Huguenot families.

Richmond County

At the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1667, the Dutch ceded New Netherlands colony to England in the Treaty of Breda, and what was now anglicized as Staten Island became part of the new English colony of New York.
   In 1670, the Native Americans ceded all claims to Staten Island to the English in a deed to Gov. Francis Lovelace. In 1671, in order to encourage an expansion of the Dutch settlements, the English resurveyed Oude Dorp (which became known as Old Town) and expanded the lots along the shore to the south. These lots were settled primarily by Dutch and became known as Nieuwe Dorp (meaning "New Village"), which later became anglicized as New Dorp.
   Captain Christopher Billopp, after years of distinguished service in the Royal Navy, came to America in 1674 in charge of a company of infantry. The following year, he settled on Staten Island, where he was granted a patent for of land. According to one version of an oft-repeated but inaccurate myth, Capt. Billopp's seamanship secured Staten Island to New York, rather than to New Jersey: the Island would belong to New York if the captain could circumnavigate it in one day, which he did, according to the myth. Mayor Michael Bloomberg perpetuated the myth by referring to it at a news conference in Brooklyn on February 20, 2007.
   In 1683, the colony of New York was divided into ten counties. As part of this process, Staten Island, as well as several minor neighboring islands, were designated as Richmond County. The name derives from the title of an illegitimate son of King Charles II.
   In 1687 and 1688, the English divided the island into four administrative divisions based on natural features: the 5100 acre (21 km²) manorial estate of colonial governor Thomas Dongan in the central hills known as the "Lordship or Manner of Cassiltown," along with the North, South, and West divisions. These divisions would later evolve into the four townships Castleton, Northfield, Southfield, and Westfield. The government granted land patents in rectangular blocks of eighty acres (320,000 m²), with the most desirable lands along the coastline and inland waterways. By 1708, the entire island had been divided up in this fashion, creating 166 small farms and two large manorial estates, the Dongan estate and a 1600 acre (6.5 km²) parcel on the southwestern tip of the island belonging to Christopher Billop (Jackson, 1995).
   In 1729, a county seat was established at the village of Richmond Town, located at the headwaters of the Fresh Kills near the center of the island.

The Revolution and Nineteenth Century

The island played a significant role in the American Revolutionary War. In the summer of 1776, the British forces under William Howe evacuated Boston and prepared to attack New York City. Howe used the strategic location of Staten Island as a staging ground for the attack. Howe established his headquarters in New Dorp at the Rose and Crown tavern near the junction of present New Dorp Lane and Amboy Road. It is here that the representatives of the British government reportedly received their first notification of the Declaration of Independence.
   The following month, in August 1776, the British forces crossed the Narrows to Brooklyn and routed the American forces under George Washington at the Battle of Long Island, resulting in the British capture of New York. Three weeks later, on September 11, 1776, the British received a delegation of Americans consisting of Benjamin Franklin, Edward Rutledge, and John Adams at the Conference House on the southwestern tip of the island (known today as Tottenville) on the former estate of Christopher Billop. The Americans refused the peace offer from the British in exchange for the withdrawal of the Declaration of Independence, however, and the conference ended without an agreement.
   On August 22, 1777, the Battle of Staten Island occurred here between the British and several companies of the 2nd Canadian Regiment fighting alongside other American companies. While the battle was inconclusive, with both sides surrendering over a hundred troops as prisoners, the Americans withdrew.
   British forces remained on Staten Island throughout the war. Although local sentiment was predominantly Loyalist, the islanders found the demands of supporting the troops to be onerous. Many buildings and churches were destroyed, and the military demand for resources resulted in an extensive deforestation of the island by the end of the war. The British again used the island as a staging ground for their final evacuation of New York City on December 5, 1783. After the war, the largest Loyalist landowners fled to Canada and their estates were subdivided and sold.
   On July 4, 1827, the end of slavery in New York state was celebrated at Swan Hotel, West Brighton. Rooms at the hotel were reserved months in advance as local abolitionists and prominent free blacks prepared for the festivities. Speeches, pageants, picnics, and fireworks marked the celebration, which lasted for two days.
   In 1860, parts of Castleton and Southfield were made into a new town, Middletown. The Village of New Brighton in the town of Castleton was incorporated in 1866, and in 1872 the Village of New Brighton annexed all the remainder of the Town of Castleton and became coterminous with the town. New Brighton became the summer home of President Lincoln.

Consolidation with New York City

These towns and villages were dissolved in 1898 with the consolidation of the City of Greater New York, with Richmond as one of its five boroughs.
   Except for the areas along the harbor, however, the borough remained relatively underdeveloped until the building of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in 1964, which is considered the watershed event in the history of the borough, since it opened up the island to explosive suburban development by giving it direct road access to Brooklyn. The Verrazano, along with the other three major Staten Island bridges, created a new way for commuters and tourists to travel from New Jersey to Brooklyn, Manhattan, and areas further east on Long Island. The network of highways running between the bridges has effectively carved up many of the borough's old neighborhoods. This road expansion was planned initially by Robert Moses.
   Some of the island's open space and historic areas were incorporated in 1972 into Gateway National Recreation Area, part of the National Park System. The Staten Island Unit of Gateway NRA is joined by the Jamaica Bay Unit in Brooklyn and Queens and the Sandy Hook Unit in New Jersey. The Staten Island Unit is comprised of Great Kills Park, Miller Field, Fort Wadsworth, Hoffman Island, and Swinburne Island.
   Throughout the 1980s, a movement to secede from the city steadily grew in popularity, reaching its peak during the mayoral term of David Dinkins. The movement largely evaporated with Rudolph Giuliani's election as mayor in 1993, although some pro-secession sentiment remains.
   In the 1980s, the United States Navy had a base on Staten Island called Naval Station New York. It was composed of two sections: a home port in Stapleton and a larger section around Fort Wadsworth, where the Verrazano Narrows Bridge enters the island. Originally, this base was to be the home port for the battleship USS Iowa (BB-61), but an explosion in one of the ship's turrets led to the vessel's decommissioning. A number of other vessels, including the frigates USS Donald B. Beary FF 1085 and USS Ainsworth FF 1090 and at least one cruiser, the USS Normandy (CG-60), were based there. The base was closed in 1994 through the Base Realignment and Closure process because of its small size and the expense of basing personnel there. A subsequent plan to use the site as a movie studio headed by actor and New York native Danny Aiello faltered due to money problems. It was recently announced that the property will be converted into a mixed-use waterfront neighborhood with an announced completion date of 2009.
   For the last half of the twentieth century, Staten Island was arguably best known as the site of the Fresh Kills Landfill, the primary destination for garbage from the five boroughs of New York City and the largest single source of methane pollution in the world. The landfill was closed in early 2001 but was temporarily reopened later that year to receive the ruins of the World Trade Center after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and serve as a crime lab for police investigators searching for human remains..
   Staten Island suffered a large proportion of the fatalities in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, as nearly 300 of the fatalities were Staten Island residents, many of whom were firefighters or office workers in the World Trade Center.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough-county has a total area of 265.5 km² (102.5 mi²). Land comprises 151.5 km² (58.5 mi²) and water 114.0 km² (44.0 mi²) of it (42.95%).
Staten Island is separated from Long Island by the Narrows and from mainland New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull. It is connected to New Jersey via the Bayonne Bridge, the Outerbridge Crossing, the Goethals Bridge, and to Brooklyn by the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. The Staten Island Ferry connects the island to lower Manhattan. The Staten Island Railway traverses the island from its northeastern tip to its southwestern tip. Staten Island is the only borough in New York City that doesn't share a land border with another borough (Marble Hill in Manhattan is contiguous with the Bronx).
In addition to the main island, the borough and county also include several small uninhabited islands:

The Isle of Meadow (at the mouth of Fresh Kills)
Pralls Island (in the Arthur Kill)
Shooters Island (in Newark Bay; part of it belongs to New Jersey)
Swinburne Island (in Lower New York Bay)
Hoffman Island (in Lower New York Bay)

The highest point on the island, the summit of Todt Hill, elevation 410 ft (125 m), is also the highest point in the five boroughs, as well as the highest point on the Atlantic Coastal Plain south of Great Blue Hill in Massachusetts and the highest point on the coast proper south of Maine's Mount Desert Island.
In the late 1960s the island was the site of important battles of open-space preservation, resulting in the largest area of parkland in New York City and an extensive Greenbelt that laces the island with woodland trails.

Adjacent Counties

Hudson County, New Jersey - north

Union County, New Jersey - west

Middlesex County, New Jersey - west

Kings County, New York - northeast

Monmouth County, New Jersey - south

Queens County, New York - southeast

Government

Since New York City's consolidation in 1898, Staten Island has been governed by the New York City Charter that provides for a "strong" mayor-council system. The centralized New York City government is responsible for public education, correctional institutions, libraries, public safety, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply, and welfare services on Staten Island.
   The office of Borough President was created in the consolidation of 1898 to balance centralization with local authority. Each borough president had a powerful administrative role derived from having a vote on the New York City Board of Estimate, which was responsible for creating and approving the city's budget and proposals for land use. In 1989 the Supreme Court of the United States declared the Board of Estimate unconstitutional on the grounds that Brooklyn, the most populous borough, had no greater effective representation on the Board than Staten Island, the least populous borough, a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause pursuant to the high court's 1964 "one man, one vote" decision.
   Since 1990 the Borough President has acted as an advocate for the borough at the mayoral agencies, the City Council, the New York state government, and corporations. Staten Island's Borough President is James Molinaro, a member of the Conservative Party elected in 2001 and reelected in 2005 with the endorsement of the Republican Party. Molinaro is the only Republican-supported borough president in New York City.
   A mainly white (largely Italian American), Roman Catholic borough that's suburban in character, Staten Island's politics differ considerably from New York City's other boroughs. Although in 2005 44.7% of the borough's registered voters were registered Democrats and 30.6% were registered Republicans, the Republican Party holds a small majority of local public offices. Staten Island is the base of New York City's Republican Party in citywide elections. In the 2001 mayoral election, borough voters chose Republican Michael Bloomberg, with 75.87% of the vote, over Democrat Mark Green, with 21.15% of the vote. Since Green narrowly lost the election citywide, Staten Island provided the margin of Bloomberg's victory. The main political divide in the borough is demarcated by the Staten Island Expressway; areas north of the Expressway tend to be more liberal while the south tends to be more conservative. Local party platforms center on affordable housing, education and law and order.
   In national elections Staten Island isn't the Republican stronghold it's in local elections, but it's also not the a Democratic stronghold the rest of New York City is. The borough is a Republican-leaning swing county, though like the New York suburbs in Long Island and Westchester County it has become increasingly Democratic since the 1990s.
   Each of the city's five counties (coterminous with each borough) has its own criminal court system and District Attorney, the chief public prosecutor who is directly elected by popular vote. Daniel Donovan, a Republican, has been the District Attorney of Richmond County since 2004. Staten Island has three City Council members, two Republicans and one Democrat, the smallest number among the five boroughs. It also has three administrative districts, each served by a local Community Board. Community Boards are representative bodies that field complaints and serve as advocates for local residents.
   Staten Island has voted for a Democratic presidential nominee only three times since 1952: in 1964, 1996, and 2000. In the 2004 presidential election Republican George W. Bush received 57% of the vote in Staten Island and Democrat John Kerry received 42%. By contrast, Kerry outpolled Bush in New York City's other four boroughs by a cumulative margin of 77% to 22%.

Staten Island Flag

The flag is on a white background in the center of which is the design of a seal in the shape of an oval. Within the seal appears the color blue to symbolize the skyline of the borough, in which two seagulls appear colored in black and white. The green outline represents the countryside of the borough with white outline denoting the residential areas of Staten Island. Below is inscribed the words "Staten Island" in gold. Below this are five wavy lines of blue to symbolize the water that surrounds the island borough on all sides. Gold fringe outlines the flag.

Demographics

Staten Island Compared
2000 Census	taten Island	Y City	Y State
Total population	443,728	8,008,278	18,976,457
Population density	7,587.9/mi²	26,403/mi²	402/mi²
Median household income (1999)	$55,039	$38,293	$43,393
Per capita income	$23,905	$22,402	$23,389
Bachelor's degree or higher	27%	27%	24%
Foreign born	16%	36%	20%
White	78%	45%	68%
Black	10%	27%	16%
Hispanic (any race)	12%	27%	14%
Asian	6%	10%	6%

As of 2006, there were 464,573 people, 256,341 households, and 214,128 families residing in the borough/county. The population density was 2,929.6/km² (7,587.9/mi²). There were 163,993 housing units at an average density of 1,082.7/km² (2,804.3/mi²). The racial makeup is 77.60% White, 9.67% Black, 0.25% Native American, 5.65% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 4.14% from other races, and 2.65% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.07% of the population.
As of 2000 the population represented several European ancestries:

Italian: 37.7%

Irish: 16.0%

German: 6.3%

English: 2.2% Since the 2000 census, a rather large Russian community has been growing on Staten Island, particularly in the Rossville, South Beach, and Great Kills area. The vast majority of the island's African American and Hispanic residents live north of the Staten Island Expressway, or Interstate 278. In terms of religion, the population is largely Roman Catholic. The Jewish community is large enough that it would be significant in most other parts of the country, but it's relatively small compared to other parts of the New York Metropolitan Area.

Staten Island population
By town, by census
Census	astleton	iddletown	orthfield	outhfield	estfield	otal
1790	805	N/A	1,021	855	1,154	3,835
1800	1,056	N/A	1,377	932	1,198	4,563
1810	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
1820	1,527	N/A	1,980	1,012	1,616	6,135
1830	2,204	N/A	2,171	975	1,734	7,084
1840	4,275	N/A	2,745	1,619	2,326	10,965
1850	5,389	N/A	4,020	2,709	2,943	26,026
1860	6,778	6,243	4,841	3,645	3,985	25,492
1870	9,504	7,589	5,949	5,082	4,905	31,029
1880	12,679	9,029	7,014	4,980	5,289	38,991
1890	16,423	10,577	9,811	6,644	8,258	51,713
1900	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	67,021
1910	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	85,969
1920	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	116,531
1930	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	158,346
1940	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	174,441
1950	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	191,555
1960	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	221,991
1970	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	295,443
1980	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	352,029
1990	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	378,977
2000	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	443,728
2006	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	464,573
N/A = not available 1810 Census wasn't broken out by towns. Source: 1790–1890 — The Encyclopedia of New York City. Source: 1900–2005

There were 156,341 households out of which 35.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.0% are married couples living together, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.0% were non-families. Individuals occupied 23.2% of all households, and 8.4% of households had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.78 and the average family size was 3.31.
The population is spread out with 25.5% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 30.9% from 25 to 44, 23.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 93.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.6 males.
The median income for a household is $55,039, and the median income for a family was $64,333. Males had a median income of $50,081 versus $35,914 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $23,905. About 7.9% of families and 10.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.2% of those under age 18 and 9.9% of those age 65 or over.

Culture

Museums

Staten Island is home to a variety of cultural centers and historical sites: the Alice Austen House Museum, the Conference House, the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum, Historic Richmond Town, Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, the Noble Maritime Collection, Sandy Ground Historical Museum, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, the Staten Island Children's Museum, and the Staten Island Museum. It has also been selected to become the future site of the National Lighthouse Museum. Additionally, the island is home to the Staten Island Zoo, which recently opened a newly refurbished reptile exhibit.

Media

Movies filmed partially or wholly on Staten Island include The Godfather; Working Girl; War of the Worlds; Sorry, Wrong Number; Sisters; Splendor in the Grass; GoodFellas; Donnie Brasco; Shamus; School of Rock; Two Family House; He Knows You're Alone; Analyze This; Big Daddy; The Astronaut's Wife;Scent of a Woman; Toxic Avenger; and Easy Money. Also independent films The Atomic Space Bug (1999), (2002) and A Conversation with Norman (2005) were filmed on Staten Island and directed by Jonathan M. Parisen as well as Combat Shock (1986) and No Way Home (1996) by Staten Island director Buddy Giovinazzo. Working Girl starring Melanie Griffith is all about the 80's lifestyle of a Staten Island girl working in Manhattan. A lot of scenes were shot in Stapleton Staten Island and St George,Staten Island.
   The movie The Godfather was shot predominately on Staten Island. Todt Hill. Mt Loretto church. Easy Money starring Rodney Dangerfield was shot on Staten Island. The character Monte lives in New Dorp Staten Island. Victory Diner is shown as the 23 hour diner and closes when Dangerfield and Pesci pull up.
   The movie School of Rock starring Jack Black was filmed all over Staten Island, including Wagner College, St. George Theater, Cargo Cafe, etc. Donnie Brasco was filmed in the Great Kills Harbor area of Staten Island. Staten Island is mentioned in the movie Barefoot in the Park. Robert Redford, Jane Fonda and Charles Boyer leave Manhattan and venture to Staten Island for some late night partying.
   In the movie "Saturday Night Fever" the Verrazano Bridge which connects from Brooklyn to Staten Island is shown in some key scenes in the movie. The movie Joe the King was filmed in the area of New Dorp in Staten Island. It was filmed in several places including Miller Field and Staten Island Technical High School.
   The horror movie "Maniac" 1980 starring Joe Spinell was filmed on Staten Island. Sisters, the 1973 Brian de Palma thriller starring Margot Kidder and Jennifer Salt, takes place on Staten Island and was largely filmed there.
   In the movie, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, the character Ben takes Kate Hudson's character to visit his family on Staten Island.
   The music video for the song "Papa Don't Preach" by Madonna was shot at various Staten Island locations, including the stairs leading up to the Stapleton train platform and the white picket fenced house on Ward Hill is on Edgar Terrace. Also, the "You Get What You Give" video by the New Radicals was partially filmed at the Staten Island Mall.
   In the song I'll Take Manhattan. The opening lyrics are "I'll take Manhattan, The Bronx and Staten......Island too".
   Television series shot partially or wholly on Staten Island include The Education of Max Bickford and The Book of Daniel. FOX and WB sitcom Grounded for Life is about a family living in Staten Island. Saturday Night Live did a skit with Gwyneth Paltrow and Cheri Oteri called "Staten Island Nurses"
   The characters of the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, have traveled to Staten Island in two episodes:

In the second-season episode Terms Of Employment, Karen and Jack attempt to film an employee training video in a studio in Staten Island. Karen makes a reference to the Fresh Kills Landfill (closed since 2001), and the population of largely working-class families.

In the eighth-season episode The Old Man And The Sea, Grace brings Karen and Malcolm with her on a blind date in Staten Island. Major thoroughfares such as Victory Boulevard and Richmond Avenue are mentioned. The NBC Crime Drama Law & Order and its spin-offs have used Staten Island locations in many episodes. In an episode of, the detectives go into a fictionalized parking garage in the Staten Island Mall. There is no garage at the Staten Island Mall.
Banishment to Staten Island was once a common threat in the New York City uniformed services, and is reflected in both film and television. In Arsenic and Old Lace an officer is threatened with walking a beat on Staten Island. On Law & Order, Detective Mike Logan (played by Chris Noth) is sent to Staten Island for punching a councilman. The title character in Barney Miller dreaded the thought of being transferred to Staten Island. On The Honeymooners Ralph resists being reassigned to a Staten Island bus route. And Denis Leary's character, Tommy Gavin, on Rescue Me also does time working in a firehouse on Staten Island. This theme was also used on other TV shows such as The Odd Couple, Car 54 Where Are You?, Welcome Back Kotter, Sex in the City, Seinfeld, King of Queens, How I Met Your Mother, All in the Family and even the Andy Griffith Show. The Sopranos also used some areas of Staten Island and Staten Island Academy to film certain scenes.
In a Welcome Back Kotter episode, Washington is worried about his girlfriend Verna Jean moving to Staten Island because he fears he'll lose her to some Staten Island dude. In another episode Barbarino imitates how a drug addict acts while they loiter around the Staten Island Ferry Primary taping for the documentary "A Walk Around Staten Island with David Hartman and Barry Lewis" was completed in August 2007 to premiere locally on Thirteen/WNET in December 2007. (External Link

) The Elegants featuring Vito Picone are from Staten Island they'd a #1 song in 1958 called "Little Star". The song was recorded in a South Beach Staten Island recording studio. John Lennon's Live in New York City album was a live recording of his "One to One" concert at Madison Square Garden on August 30, 1972. The concert was a fundraiser for the mentally-challenged children, inspired by the horrid conditions at Willowbrook State School. The album also features Staten Island guitar player Earl Slick. The Willowbrook issue was initially exposed by the Staten Island Advance and brought to Lennon's attention by his friend and broadcast journalist Geraldo Rivera who covered the story for WABC-TV, New York. Lennon and Yoko Ono filmed part of their 1971 film, Imagine, on the island's South Beach area and on the Staten Island Ferry.
In the animated series Godzilla: The Series, the Humanitarian Environmental Analysis Team aka HEAT has their headquarters based on Staten Island in an old ferry terminal where they monitor Godzilla.
The Willowbrook State School itself and the conditions of it's patients have also generated national attention. The stories of the institution have made Willowbrook, Staten Island one of the boroughs most scandalous neighborhoods.

Notable natives and residents

Notable current and former residents o Staten Island include:

Christina Aguilera - Pop singer. Born on Staten Island.

Armand Assante - Actor, resided in Staten Island.

Teddy Atlas - Boxing trainer

Rich Aurilia - All Star Shortstop, San Francisco Giants grew up on Staten Island.

Alice Austen - Photographer, lived all of her life on Staten Island. A Staten Island Ferry is named for her

Joan Baez - folk singer, born on Staten Island

Vito Bratta - guitarist for White Lion lives on Staten Island

Jerry Butler - real name Paul Seiderman - famous adult film star.

Cynthia von Buhler - Artist, children's book author. Currently resides in Staten Island.

Marcia Clark - Famed Prosecutor, was involved in the famous O.J. Simpson trial, graduated from Susan E. Wagner High School

Bobby Darin - singer, his family had a summer home as a child in South Beach, Staten Island.

Evan Dorkin - Cartoonist and creator of Milk & Cheese is a long time resident of Staten Island

Paul Castellano- Gambino Crime Boss, lived in the Todt Hill, Staten Island section

Joe Causi - Disc Jockey, raised in Brooklyn, currently lives on Staten Island

Roy Clark - Country singer, Hee Haw star, and guitarist, actually grew up in Great Kills, Staten Island

Jeremy Clarkson - British Car Enthusiast and host of BBC television show, Top Gear

Eric Close - Actor who plays "Martin Fitzgerald" on the CBS drama Without a Trace

Ichabod Crane, a Colonel in the US Army during the War of 1812 and the nominal inspiration for the fictional protagonist in Washington Irving's Legend of Sleepy Hollow, who is buried in Staten Island, New York

Ron Dante lead singer for The Archies, big hit was the number 1 song Sugar Sugar.

John Dehner - Television and movie actor born on Staten Island. A notable and one of Hollywoods best character actors, Dehner played Doris Day's boss Sy Bennett on the Doris Day Show. He appeared in three classic Twilight Zone episodes and other movies and television shows. Western fans came to know Dehner as "Paladin" on radio's "Have Gun, Will Travel" in his radio days.

Steven Duren - Better known as Blackie Lawless, lead singer of the 1980s heavy metal band W.A.S.P. Lawless, who is a friend of fellow Staten Islander David Johansen, replaced Johnny Thunders in the New York Dolls when he was 18.

Eamon Doyle rapper, born and raised on Staten Island

Judge William Emerson, brother of poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, resided on what is now known as Emerson Hill.

Jennifer Esposito - actress Spin City, Summer of Sam attended Moore Catholic High School

Joey Faye vaudeville comic and character actor lived in Great Kills for years.

Force MD's born and raised on Staten Island had a top ten song Tender Love in 1986, produced by longtime Janet Jackson producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis

Giuseppe Garibaldi - 19th century Italian revolutionary and statesman, lived for a time on Staten Island, and worked as a candle-maker.

John Franco - Former New York Mets pitcher

Matt Galante - former baseball coach for New York Mets and Houston Astros lives in Annadale, Staten Island

James Jenkins - Curtis H.S., Rutgers, and TE for the Washington Redskins for 10 seasons

Rich Kotite - former Philadelphia Eagles and New York Jets head coach, and New York Giants player lives in West Brighton, Staten Island.

Hank Majeski - MLB infielder. Born and raised in Staten Island

Dino Mangiero - Defensive Tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs in the 80s.

Jason Marquis, starting pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, went to Tottenville High School in Staten Island.

Dennis McKnight - Graduated from Susan Wagner H.S. played 9 seasons in the NFL mostly with the San Diego Chargers in the 80's. Now serves as the Special teams and Offensive line coach at the University of Hawaii

Frank Menechino - Susan Wagner H.S., Alabama, 10 seasons MLB most notably for the Oakland Athletics

Pete Mikklesen - New York Yankee and Los Angeles Dodgers relief specialist.

Adewale Ogunleye - #93 for the Chicago Bears, went to Tottenville High School

Pro Bowlers Johnny Petraglia and Mark Roth both resided in Staten Island.

Joe Pignatano - former Brooklyn Dodgers catcher and New York Mets coach. lived in New Dorp for years.

Rich Scheid, former MLB pitcher

Mike Siani - standout wide receiver for Villanova and number 1 draft choice for the Oakland Raiders was born and raised on Staten Island.

William Shakespeare (football) - Halfback at Notre Dame and member of College Football Hall of Fame

Gary Stark Jr. - Pro Boxer

Vernon Turner -Former NFL Kickoff returner was a Wagner College graduate.

Johnny "The Heat" Verderosa - former pro boxer

Mookie Wilson - New York Mets outfielder lived on Staten Island

John Wolyniec - forward for MLS side Red Bull New York

Hospitals

Staten Island University Hospital

Richmond University Medical Center

Education

Education in Staten Island is provided by a number of public and private institutions. Public schools in the borough are managed by the New York City Department of Education, the largest public school system in the United States.
The College of Staten Island is one of four "hybrid colleges" of the City University of New York (CUNY). The college offers both associate's and bachelor's degrees, hence it's a "hybrid" of a traditional four-year college and a two-year community college. The College of Staten Island is one of two such CUNY colleges which also offers graduate-level study. Wagner College is a coeducational private liberal arts college with an enrollment of 1,900 undergraduates and 400 graduate students. The college is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. St. John's University has a campus on Staten Island. It is a private, coeducational Roman Catholic university.
Twelve branches of the New York Public Library serve the borough. The Library offers free computer instruction and English classes for speakers of other languages. Staten Island Academy is the only private school on the island and is one of the oldest in the entire country.

External results

Click here for more details on Staten Island

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://staten_island.totallyexplained.com">Staten Island Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.