Five Towns facts for kids
The Five Towns is a group of villages and hamlets in Nassau County, Long Island, in the United States. It's not an official name, but people use it to describe this area. The main five communities are Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Woodmere, Hewlett, and Inwood.
These communities are all part of the Town of Hempstead. They each have a stop on the Far Rockaway Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. Woodmere is the biggest community in the Five Towns. Even though it's called "Five Towns," none of these places are officially called "towns" by the government.
The area also includes other small places like Hewlett Bay Park and Woodsburgh. The "Hewletts" actually include several villages: Hewlett Bay Park, Hewlett Harbor, and Hewlett Neck, plus the hamlet of Hewlett.
Sometimes, North Woodmere is also considered part of the Five Towns. This is because its students go to the same local high schools. Atlantic Beach is also culturally connected, as its students attend Five Towns schools, even though it's on a separate island.
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History of the Five Towns
The name "Five Towns" started in 1931. At that time, local charity groups joined together to form the "Five Towns Community Chest." This group included Inwood, Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Woodmere, and Hewlett. The name became popular and is still used today to describe the whole area.
In 1933, an article in The New York Times mentioned a Girl Scouts of the USA camp. It was organized by the "Five Towns Council," which included the same five communities.
The Five Towns area is known for having a mix of different types of communities. Some parts have very large homes and private neighborhoods near the water. Other parts, like Inwood, are more urban and have a wider variety of people from different backgrounds.
Education in the Five Towns
There are two main public school districts in the Five Towns area. These are the Lawrence Public Schools (District 15) and the Hewlett-Woodmere School District (District 14).
- The Lawrence school district covers Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Inwood, and parts of Woodmere, North Woodmere, and Woodsburgh.
- The Hewlett-Woodmere district covers all of Hewlett and part of Woodmere. It also extends into nearby villages like Lynbrook and Valley Stream.
Besides public schools, there are many private schools in the Five Towns. Some of these include Lawrence Woodmere Academy, and Jewish schools like Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR), Hebrew Academy of Long Beach (HALB), and Yeshiva of South Shore.
Five Towns College Connection
Five Towns College was originally planned to be built in Lawrence. However, the location wasn't available when the college officially started in 1972. The college is now located in Dix Hills, which is in Suffolk County. So, the college doesn't have a physical connection to the Five Towns area today.
Jewish Community Growth
Since the 1980s, the Five Towns has become home to a large Jewish community. By 1980, it was estimated that about 35,000 Jewish people lived in the area. A growing number of these were Orthodox Jews.
By 2010, the Five Towns had many synagogues (Jewish places of worship), Jewish private schools, and kosher restaurants. The Orthodox community grew so much that many families also moved to nearby areas like Far Rockaway and North Woodmere.
Notable People from the Five Towns
Many interesting people have lived in or come from the Five Towns area. Here are a few:
- Henry Abramson (born 1963), a dean at Lander College of Arts and Sciences.
- Lyle Alzado (1949–1992), a former NFL football player.
- Bruce Blakeman, a politician.
- Lil Tecca (born 2002), a rapper.
- Ross Bleckner (born 1949), an artist.
- Jake Burton Carpenter (1954–2019), who founded Burton Snowboards.
- Michael Cohen (born 1966), a former attorney.
- Howard Deutch (born 1950), a movie director.
- John DiResta, an actor and comedian.
- Debra Drimmer, a TV executive.
- Gordon Edelstein, an artistic director for theater.
- David Friedman (born 1958), a former US Ambassador to Israel.
- Jane Friedman, a former CEO of HarperCollins publishing.
- Jeffrey M. Friedman (born 1954), a scientist who discovered leptin.
- James E. Gaffney, a former owner of the Boston Braves baseball team.
- Hayden Gise, a politician in Washington D.C.
- Lisa Glasberg (born 1956), a radio DJ in New York City.
- Barbara Gaines, an Emmy Award-winning TV producer.
- Rande Gerber, a nightclub owner.
- Brent Glass, a director at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
- Louise Glück, a poet who won the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature.
- Carolyn Gusoff, a news anchor.
- Joan Hamburg, a radio personality.
- Mickey Hart, the drummer for The Grateful Dead.
- Karen Friedman Hill, who lived in the Five Towns.
- Red Holzman (1920–1998), a former head coach for the New York Knicks basketball team.
- David M. Israel, a TV producer and writer.
- Donna Karan (born 1948), a famous fashion designer.
- Aline Kominsky-Crumb, a comics artist.
- Stan Lee, a famous comic book writer and co-creator of characters like Spider-Man.
- Peggy Lipton (born 1946), an actress.
- Steve Madden (born 1958), a shoe designer.
- Gene Mayer, a professional tennis player.
- Harvey Milk (1930–1978), the first openly gay man elected to public office in the United States.
- Bruce Murray, a radio show host.
- Danny Porush, an investment banker.
- Evan Roberts (born 1983), a radio host.
- Seth Rudetsky (born 1967), a composer and talk show host.
- Jim Steinman (1947–2021), a music producer and composer.
- Rob Weiss, a director and producer.
- Stuart Weitzman (born 1941), a shoe designer.
- Leslie West (born 1945), a musician from the band Mountain.
- Alan Zweibel (born 1950), a writer and producer.
