Five Towns
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The Five Towns is an informal grouping of villages and hamlets (not towns) 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. The Five Towns is usually said to be comprised of 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. The "towns" most commonly included as constituents of the "Five Towns" are all within the Town of Hempstead.
Communities
Each of these "towns" has a consecutive stop on the Far Rockaway line 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 fine shopping area (along Central Avenue) and nearby park.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 School District (except for a part of North Woodmere, 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.
The Five Towns has a large population of Orthodox and Haredi Jews.
Education
There are two school districts in the Five Towns, the Lawrence School District (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 (Gibson, in particular).Five Towns College
Although Lawrence was supposed 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[Five Towns College: Our History], accessed July 6, 2006.References
Five Towns celebrities
- Josh Appell, NY Mets Pitcher (farm team)
- Lee Bienstock, Apprentice 5 runner up
- [Ross Bleckner], artist
- Peter Breggin, Psychiatrist
- Ed Burns, actor / screenwriter / producer
- John DiResta, actor / comedian
- 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
- Carolyn Gussoff, WNBC News Anchor
- Red Holtzman, New York Knicks head coach
- David Israel, TV Producer/Writer
- Donna Karan, fashion designer
- Wendy Kaufman, Snapple Lady
- Tony Kornheiser, sportswriter / radio and television talk show host
- Peggy Lipton, actress
- Steve Madden, Shoe Designer
- Gene Mayer, former Professional Tennis Player
- Bruce Murray, host Murray in the Morning Radio Show
- Seth Rudetsky, Composer, Musical Director, Talk Show Host
- Lisa Schwarzbaum, Movie Critic
- Joe Sobel, Weatherman (Accu Weather)
- [Jim Steinman], music producer, composer
- Rob Weiss, director/produce "Amongst Friends", "Enotourage" Former finance to Shannen Doherty
- Stuart Weitzman, Shoe Designer
- Alan Zweibel, Writer/Producer
External links
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