Grand Street and Grand Avenue are the respective names of a street which runs through the boroughs of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Originating in

Williamsburg, Brooklyn Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south; Bushwick and East Williamsburg to the east; and the East River to the west. As of the 2020 United ...

, Grand Street runs roughly northeast until crossing

Newtown Creek Newtown Creek, a long tributary of the East River, is an estuary that forms part of the border between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, in New York City. Channelization made it one of the most heavily-used bodies of water in the Port of N ...

into

, whereupon Grand Street becomes Grand Avenue, continuing through Maspeth where it is a main shopping street, until reaching its northern end at

Queens Boulevard Queens Boulevard is a major thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Queens connecting Midtown Manhattan, via the Queensboro Bridge, to Jamaica. It is long and forms part of New York State Route 25. Queens Boulevard runs northwest to s ...

in Elmhurst. The thoroughfare continues north and west beyond

as Broadway until it terminates at

Socrates Sculpture Park Socrates Sculpture Park is an outdoor museum and public park where artists can create and exhibit sculptures and multi-media installations. It is located one block from the Noguchi Museum at the intersection of Broadway and Vernon Boulevard in th ...

at the intersection of Vernon Boulevard in Astoria.

Transportation

Grand Avenue and Grand Street are served by the Q54, Q58, and Q59 buses, all operated by

MTA New York City Bus MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the surface transit division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). It was created in 2008 to consolidate all bus operations in New York City operated by the MTA. , MTA Regional Bus Operations ru ...

. Broadway is served by the Q53 SBS and

Q104 Q104 can refer to: * Quran 104, the 104th chapter of the Islamic Holy book *Q104 (New York City bus) Radio stations * CFRQ-FM in Halifax, Nova Scotia * CKQV-FM in Vermilion Bay, Ontario * WQAL in Cleveland, Ohio * WAXQ in New York City * KBEQ in ...

buses, both operated by MTA Bus. The Grand Street ( train) subway station serves the corner of Grand Street and Bushwick Avenue, while the Grand Avenue – Newtown ( trains) subway station is located at Grand Avenue and Queens Boulevard. The

IND Queens Boulevard Line The IND Queens Boulevard Line, sometimes abbreviated as QBL, is a line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan and Queens, New York City, United States. The line, which is underground throughout its entire route, contains 23 ...

continues from the Grand Avenue-Newtown station up Broadway until the

Steinway Street Steinway Street is a major street in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, in the United States. Steinway Street is a 2.4 mile two-way street that runs north-south between Berrian Boulevard in Astoria and Northern Boulevard in Lon ...

station. The

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

( trains) subway station is located at Broadway and 31st Street.

Grand Street Bridge

Grand Street and Grand Avenue are connected via a

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...

over Newtown Creek. Construction began in August 1900 and was planned to be completed in October 1901, but the bridge did not open until December 1902. A report later found the delay was caused by incompetency from the contracted engineer, which eventually led to engineers from the

New York City Department of Bridges The New York City Department of Bridges was a municipal government agency that administered the planning, construction, management, and maintenance of bridges in New York City. The department was created in 1898 with the consolidation of Great ...

commandeering the project. The current bridge is the third on the site. The first two were built in 1875 and 1890.

History

When Williamsburg was an independent town (and, later, city), Grand Street was its first main east-west commercial street which acted as a dividing line between the Northside of town and the Southside of town. Street numbering originated here with North 1st Street, North 2nd Street (now Metropolitan Avenue) and so on running parallel to Grand to the north and South 1st Street, South 2nd Street and so on progressing to the south. Its initial segments from the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...

were first named Washington Street and then Dunham Street.Brooklyn Genealogy. http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Town/Eastern/G.html It was extended to the southeast to Roebling Street in 1812 and to the then village line between Rodney and Keap Streets in 1830. Soon after, the street was extended to Union Avenue in the new third ward of Williamsburg and bent on an angle to the east in order to pass through the property of several prominent land owners. Grand Street was opened from Bushwick Avenue to Metropolitan Avenue in 1858. In the 19th century, before the construction of the

Williamsburg Bridge The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressw ...

, the Grand Street Ferry connected Grand Street, Brooklyn to Grand Street,

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. The Grand Street Line was a

streetcar line A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

along the road. Two

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County on Long Island. With an average week ...

stations Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

existed along the street in both boroughs. Grand Street (LIRR Evergreen station) along the

Evergreen Branch The Evergreen Branch was a branch of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) that ran in Brooklyn and part of Queens in New York City. The line, at its fullest extent, ran between Greenpoint, Brooklyn and Ridgewood, Queens. The line consisted of two ...

near Willamsburg from 1868 to 1885, and

Grand Street (LIRR Main Line station) Grand Street was a railroad station on the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road. It stood on Grand Street (now Avenue) in the Elmhurst section of Queens, New York City, west of the present Grand Avenue – Newtown subway station on the IND ...

, a station in Elmhurst along Main Line that also served the

Rockaway Beach Branch The Rockaway Beach Branch was a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in Queens, New York City, United States. The line left the Main Line at Whitepot Junction in Rego Park heading south via Ozone Park and across Jamaica ...

from 1913 to 1925. At some point between the construction of the Williamsburg Bridge and 1913 (it appears on a 1913 map of BrooklynBrooklyn Genealogy. http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Map/Maps.Main.html), Grand Street was connected to the bridge plaza from the elbow bend near Union Avenue by the Grand Street Extension (now named Borinquen Place) and this became the main flow for car traffic. In 1950, Grand Street was severed by the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway (BQE) between Marcy Avenue and Rodney Street.

In popular culture

The street is referenced in songs and books from many local artists, including

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

and

Kathleen Brennan Kathleen Patricia Brennan (born 1955) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and artist. She is known for her work as a co-writer, producer, and influence on the work of her husband Tom Waits. Biography Brennan was born in Cork, ...

("I Don't Wanna Grow Up", popularized by the

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United St ...

) and Matt & Kim (the title of their album ''

Grand Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and comm ...

'', as well as in the lyrics of their songs "Cameras" and "

Daylight Daylight is the combination of all direct and indirect sunlight during the daytime. This includes direct sunlight, diffuse sky radiation, and (often) both of these reflected by Earth and terrestrial objects, like landforms and buildings. Sunligh ...

").

References

External links

Grand Street Bridge history at bridgesnyc.com
{{NYC Bridge Elmhurst, Queens Maspeth, Queens Streets in Brooklyn Streets in Queens, New York Williamsburg, Brooklyn