List of references to Long Island places in popular culture

Below is a list of references to Long Island locations in popular culture.

Books

• James Patterson's I Funny series has references to Ronkonkoma, New York and Long Beach, New York
• F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby takes place on the North Shore of Long Island.
• The book The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson takes place in Amityville, The sequel The Amityville Horror Part II takes place in Deer Park.
• Several books by Nelson DeMille, including Plum Island, The Gold Coast, The Charm School reference Long Island locations or take place on Long Island.
• E.L. Doctorow's novel World's Fair was set at the 1939 fair in Queens.
• Mary Gordon and Alice McDermott have written novels set in Irish-American Catholic culture of the urban and suburban areas of Long Island.
• Chang Rae-Lee set his first novel Native Speaker (1995) in the Korean-American community in Queens. His third novel Aloft was set in suburban Long Island.
• Fictional characters Joe & Frank Hardy, known as The Hardy Boys in the famous series of detective stories in both books and television, are from Bayport, Long Island.
• The book Jaws originally took place on Long Island, with Amity being a town on it rather than its own island.
• In the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series Camp Half-Blood is located on Long Island.
• The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt takes place in Syosset or in Hicksville in 1967.
• Montauk an autobiographic novel by the Swiss author Max Frisch, retells his love to an American woman and is situated, among other locations, in Montauk.
• Spider Robinson's Callahan books are set in a bar on Long Island.
• William Gaddis's "novel of voices" J R is set largely in Massapequa.
• Sag Harbor, a novel by Colson Whitehead, is set in the Long Island town.
• Montauk Project by Preston Nichols, takes place in Montauk
• John Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent is set in the fictional town of New Baytown, Long Island.
• Jefferey Ford's The Shadow Year is set in the 1960's Long Island.

Comics

• Characters in the comic book Marvel Universe from Long Island include:
  • At least three members of the superhero team the X-Men: Archangel (real name Warren Worthington and previously called Angel) is from Centerport; Iceman (real name Bobby Drake) from fictional Fort Washington (unrelated to real-world Port Washington); and Dazzler (real name Alison Blaire) from fictional Gardendale.
  • Siblings Susan Storm Richards (the Invisible Woman) and Johnny Storm (the Human Torch) of the superhero team the Fantastic Four lived in a fictional Long Island town, Glenville, early in their careers.
• In the DC Comics universe, the 1970s Teen Titans superhero team was headquartered in a Farmingdale club named Gabriel's Horn. The writer of the series, a Farmingdale native, based it upon an insurance building which he could see from his bedroom window as a boy.

Film

• The many film versions of The Great Gatsby take place on Long Island.
• The documentary Grey Gardens took place in East Hampton.
• The film series The Amityville Horror takes place in the town of Amityville, in the 2005 remake the Lutz family lived in Deer Park before moving to Amityville.
• Amongst Friends takes place in Five Towns in Nassau County.
• Final Destination takes place on Long Island. In Final Destination 2, a MapQuest image is shown of the area around Stony Brook University Hospital.
• L.I.E. takes place in Dix Hills.
• City by the Sea is set in Long Beach.
• Something's Gotta Give takes place in The Hamptons.
• White Chicks takes place in The Hamptons.
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind takes place on Long Island, specifically in Rockville Centre and Montauk.
• In Ex Machina (film), the protagonist says he's from Brookhaven, NY.
• In New York Minute, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's characters live with their father in Syosset.
• Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet takes place around the Kings Park Psychiatric Center as well as around Sweet Hollow Road in Huntington.
• Tyler Perry Presents Peeples takes place in Sag Harbor.
• Several scenes of The Wolf of Wall Street take place at Jordan Belfort's home in Brookville. Other parts of the movie take place at Stratton Oakmont's firm in Lake Success.
• She-Devil (1989) takes place mostly on Long Island. Mary Fisher's mansion is in The Hamptons.
• In Born on the Fourth of July, the protagonist is from Massapequa.
• The majority of Weekend at Bernie's takes place on an imaginary island accessible from The Hamptons by ferry.
• Almost all of Cocaine Cowboys takes place in Montauk.
• Most of Meet the Parents takes place at Robert De Niro and Blythe Danner's characters' home in Oyster Bay.
• In Mr. Deeds, Winona Ryder's character says she is originally from Syosset.
• During the climax of Soap Dish, Whoopie Goldberg's character reveals that Montana Moorhead is actually Milton Moorhead from Syosset.

Television

• Growing Pains takes place in Huntington.
• The TV movie The Long Island Incident takes place on Long Island.
• Everybody Loves Raymond takes place in Lynbrook.
• In an episode of CSI: NY, Danny and Lindsay investigate a mass murder at the Amityville Horror house.
• Royal Pains takes place in The Hamptons and the mansion scenes are shot at Oheka Castle in Huntington.
• In Friends, Monica Geller, Ross Geller and Rachel Green are said to have grown up on Long Island. An episode entitled "The One in Massapequa" takes place entirely in Massapequa.
• The HBO film Grey Gardens takes place in East Hampton.
• Revenge takes place in The Hamptons as well as Montauk.
• The 3rd episode of the 5th Season of Criminal Minds takes place in Commack.
• On How I Met Your Mother, Lily and Marshall, temporarily move to Long Island, in another episode, Ted and Barney take the late train on the Long Island Rail Road to try and pick up women, and the final season takes place on Long Island in a fictional town called Farhampton.
• In the HBO film The Normal Heart, Ned Weeks goes to Fire Island to celebrate his friend's birthday.
• On Once Upon a Time, Cruella de Vil lives in Great Neck.
• The AMC revolutionary war drama Turn: Washington's Spies takes place in Setauket.
• Barefoot Contessa is a cooking show starring Ina Garten and based in The Hamptons.
• The short-lived CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait follows Kevin James as Kevin Gable, a retired Nassau County cop residing in Massapequa, who started a private security company.
• The Showtime series The Affair heavily features the town of Montauk and its surrounding area throughout the series, most notably as the location where the two leads meet and begin the titular affair as well as most of the events of the final season.
• In the second season of Kominsky Method character of Martin played by Paul Reiser reveals he is from Syosset.

Reality shows

• On an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition they fixed up a home on Long Island.
• In an episode of the MTV show Rich Girls the girls spend a weekend in The Hamptons.
• The A&E reality series Growing Up Gotti took place on Long Island.
• The MTV documentary series True Life had an episode called True Life: I'm Hustling in The Hamptons.
• The MTV show Engaged and Underage had a couple from Montauk on it.
• The Real Housewives of New York City had scenes shot around The Hamptons where some of the ladies had beach homes.
• The E! reality show Living Lohan was shot around Merrick and other places on Long Island.
• Some scenes on Jersey Shore were shot at JWoww's Long Island home.
• The A&E reality show Growing Up Twisted took place on Long Island.
• The TLC show Long Island Medium takes place in many locations on Long Island.
• The Bravo show Princesses: Long Island takes place in many locations on Long Island.
• The Bravo show Newlyweds: The First Year had a couple from Long Island on it.
• An episode of Celebrity Wife Swap featured Dee Snider on Long Island as well as Long Island native Flavor Flav
• Kourtney and Khloé Take The Hamptons takes place in The Hamptons.
• Secrets and Wives features wealthy women from Old Westbury, Roslyn, and Syosset.

Stage

• Irving Berlin composed and produced a musical revue entitled Yip Yip Yaphank while he was stationed at Camp Upton there during World War I.
• In the Broadway musical RENT, Maureen Johnson is said to be from Hicksville.
• The musical Grey Gardens takes place in East Hampton.

Music

• Billy Joel, a Long Island native, is strongly associated with Long Island, and has made frequent references to its places and culture in his songs. His 1971 solo debut album was titled "Cold Spring Harbor" .His song "The Ballad of Billy The Kid" features the line From a town known as Oyster Bay, Long Island. The hit song "The Downeaster Alexa" is written about fishermen primarily on Long Island who struggle to make a living, and mentions Montauk and Gardiner's Bay. In "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me", he asks "Are you gonna cruise The Miracle Mile?", presumably a reference to the well-known shopping (and teen hangout) area along Northern Boulevard in Manhasset. In "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", Joel references hanging out "on the Village Green," widely interpreted as a reference to the West Village Green area on Newbridge Road in Hicksville, a short distance from the high school that Joel attended.
• The song "Soul Power" off the 2001 album Iron Flag by Wu-Tang Clan features dialogue at the end by Method Man and Long Island-native Flavor Flav of Public Enemy that mentions Westbury, Freeport, Roosevelt, Hempstead, New Castle Park, and Hundread Terrace Avenues
• Throughout his career in numerous songs, rapper YelloJaket mentions hometown Westbury and neighboring towns such as Levittown, Salisbury, Garden City, Hempstead, and even mentions the East Meadow School District with W.T. Clarke Middle School. Along with his hometown, specific places such as Jones Beach and Eisenhower Park are also mentioned.
• Several songs by the band Brand New include references to the Island. For example, in the song "Play Crack the Sky," one lyric is, "Four months of calm seas To be pounded in the shallows Off the tip of Montauk Point."
• Hardcore group Silent Majority's album You Would Love To Know EP features a song entitled "Amityville Horror".
• The 2005 album No Matter Where We Go...! by Latterman features the song "Fear & Loathing On Long Island"
• The 2003 album Welcome Interstate Managers by Fountains of Wayne features the song "Fire Island."
• De La Soul's album Stakes Is High features the songs "Long Island Degrees" and "Wonce Again Long Island" which references many different towns (specifically "East Mass" (E. Massapequa), Amityville, Wyandanch, Bayshore, "C.I." (Central Islip), Brentwood, Hempstead, Roosevelt, Freeport, Uniondale, Long Beach, and Huntington) and aspects of Long Island.
• Aesop Rock attended high school in Northport, New York, and has referenced Long Island in songs like Catacomb Kids.
• Garage rock band Ungrateful Millennial's album "Negative Energy" has a song called "A Guy From Long Island"
• Beirut's 2007 EP is called Lon Gisland.
• Bayside also references Long Island in their song titled "Montauk" with the line meet me in, Montauk which is based on the movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
• Circa Survive also references the movie with their song entitled "Meet me in Montauk" written and performed by Anthony Green
• Dogbowl and Kramer's 1994 album "Hot Day in Waco" contains the song "Tarantula" which contains the line "I was dreaming of that Central Islip field behind the school."
• Wyandanch native Rakim's 1999 album "The Master" contains the song "Strong Island" which references Long Island throughout the song. The chorus repeats the line "Rough enough to break New York from Long Island"
• In "Hard Candy" by Counting Crows the lyrics include "In the evenings on Long Island" and describe time spent on Long Island beaches
• The Rolling Stones song "Memory Motel" is based on the motel in Montauk which the band spent time at while visiting Andy Warhol.
• The Movielife references the Long Island Sound in the song "Ship to Shore" off their 2003 album Forty Hour Train Back to Penn.
• Biz Markie laments about a friend from eastern Long Island in his rap "My Man Rich". Biz went to high school in Brookhaven.

See also

• List of films shot on Long Island
• Montauk, New York in popular culture

References