In many old ads, postcards, and other instances where an address might be listed or written, I noticed it was once quite common for cities and towns on Long Island to have “LI” “L.I.” in addition to the place name as part of the address, or even replace “NY” for the state. For example, someone might give their address as:
Joey Bagadonuts
34 Trans Am Dr
Bethpage, LI, NY, 11714
Or, go back a few decades, and it’s
Vincent Eymheuje
542 Mingia St
Massapequa 3 L.I.
This practice seemed to continue into the 1970s and 1980s.
Why was Long Island singled out for this special treatment in postal addresses, but not other parts of other states? You don’t see “Marquette, UP, MI” or “Guyman, PH, OK”.
I believe people would write 123 Elm St, Brooklyn, NY 12345 for addresses. Of course Brooklyn was a separate city until 1898 but they kept using those addresses after they merged with NYC
Because there were two Greenports in New York state – one on Long Island, and the other in Columbia County near the Hudson.
But, more seriously, the post office didn’t standardize things until relatively recently and were willing to accept anything that helped them deliver. By putting a “L.I.” on the address, it narrowed things down, especially in the days before zip codes.
Long Island denizen from '66 to '92. I never ever saw mail addressed to me or my family at “Great Neck, L.I., NY.” It was just “Great Neck, NY, 11021.”
OTOH, people still address letters to Brooklyn, NY or Queens, NY. Though you’ll be more likely to see something more specific, such as “Park Slope, NY” or “Astoria, NY.”
Actually, to this day, “[Neighborhood], NY” is the correct way to address mail whose destination is Queens. (Maspeth, NY; Forest Hills, NY, Astoria, NY, etc.) However “Brooklyn, NY” is used for all of Brooklyn.
This is because Brooklyn was once an independently incorporated City, while Queens is made of towns and villages that grew together until they merged.
I’ve heard the [city name] + [one digit or two digits] designation before–I think in old movies or T.V. shows. I’ve always assumed that that was the precursor to the zip code. So East Hollywood was “Los Angeles 27”–it indicated the post office of what later would become the zip code area.
Los Angeles may be a special case (like that’s a surprise). I don’t know if there are any other major cities like this, but the zip codes around downtown L.A. all start with ‘900’. For example, ‘90027’ is Hollywood - which is really just a neighborhood / district of L.A., not its own city. A famous neighborhood, to be sure, but even so.
The post offices around L.A. would know that “Los Angeles 27” means “90027.” I suspect that they still do know it, but they really don’t want to encourage that kind of messing with the zip codes.
As an example on the other coast (and of Queens) my address was Bayside, 64, NY, which became Bayside, NY 11364. I’ve never seen mail addressed to “Queens, NY.”
New York was the same way. Even Schenectady had postal zones before zip codes – Schenectady 7, NY.
The zones* were established inthe 1940s, long before zip codes. In fact, the “Zip” code comes from “Zone Improvement Plan,” which established postal zones outside the cities.
When I was growing up on Long Island, we’d get mail both with and without “Long Island” on it.
Zip codes began to be implemented in 1943 for some larger cities, and by 1963 were in use nationwide. The whole point was to make it easier for manually sorting the mail, thus speeding up delivery.
You can still send a letter that is improperly addressed, such as ommiting the zip or even the state, and it will get there. It just takes longer and is more likely to get misdirected or returned.
Having been a resident of Flushing, Astoria and Brooklyn, I concur.
Of course, this all dates back to when Brooklyn was its own city and Queens just a smattering of small municipalities between farmland. Zip codes make city names on addresses redundant, but redundancy can help if the Zip code becomes illegible or there is a mistake. New York City is so big that it helps to maintain the old municipal names, even if they were abolished a century ago.
I don’t think the U.S. Post Office cares one way or the other about Brooklyn’s or Queen’s organizational history. As long as the ZIP code is right (and the street address is right), I don’t think the post office even looks at the city, so mail addressed to “NY, NY 11217”, “Brooklyn, NY 11217” , “Park Slope, NY 11217” or even “Groovyville, NY 11217” would all get delivered just as quickly.
If the ZIP code or street address is messed up, then the city will get looked at, and the post office will have to figure out where the letter is supposed to go. Best case then is that the city part of the written address exactly matches the name of a particular post office (so nobody has to think at all), next best case is that it allows a human being to figure out which post office it should go to. So even if there’s no “Park Slope” post office, that probably narrows it down pretty well for the average human, better than “Brooklyn”.
why do the addresses in New York have hyphens in the numbers, e.g. 143-10 41st Ave, Flushing , NY? Would this be written 14310 41st Ave, Anywhere, USA, or is the hpyhen significant?
It’s really only in Queens you see this, and the hyphen is significant. The first part of the numerical address signifies a nearby numbered cross street, the second part the number in relation to that cross street.
The address you selected, is somewhere near the intersection of 143rd st/ave/rd and 41st Ave.
I have no idea where or how this system of numbering arose, but it is not generally used in Brooklyn.
Of course not. But in determining what the official address is, the Post Office applied local custom.
If you go to the USPS ZIP Code lookup, and enter a Park Slope address with “Park Slope” in the City line, it will tell you such an address does not exist. Park Slope is not an official USPS City designation. Kew Gardens, NY (located in Queens) IS an official USPS City designation, by contrast. The reason for the difference in what is considered an official “City” for the “City” line of an address, is the historical difference in the boroughs, already described by me and others.
Only certain Queens addresses are like that, as far as I know. The part before the hyphen generally indicates the cross-street, so 143-10 41st Ave. is on 42st Ave. off 143rd Street. Or what would be 143rd Street, if it didn’t have a name, which it does.
Yes, the question was “why in New York” which is why I answered “you only see it in Queens and it means this” – the “in New York” being understood from the question.
I am not trying to say what a hyphenated address would mean in a place other than New York.