Whitestone-Beechhurst

Neighborhood · Queens

Whitestone-Beechhurst runs along the East River east of the Whitestone Expressway, with Beechhurst's waterfront reaching toward the Throgs Neck Bridge approach.

  • 1.89 square miles
  • 28,408 residents, 2020 Census
  • 335 street corners
  • 9 bus routes

Dutch farmers founded Whitestone in 1645 and named it for a large white boulder on the shore, and in the silent-film era Beechhurst's waterfront estates made it a favorite retreat for the wealthy. The Bronx-Whitestone Bridge opened here in April 1939, in time for the World's Fair, and Francis Lewis Park, which the bridge crosses at its Queens end, honors the Declaration of Independence signer who retired to Whitestone in 1765.

Sources: Francis Lewis Park History (NYC Parks); Bronx-Whitestone Bridge (MTA Bridges and Tunnels); Beechhurst, Queens (Wikipedia); Whitestone, Queens (Wikipedia).

Map

Open the map full size

Whitestone-Beechhurst borders three areas, and Cross Island Parkway holds more of its corners than any other street, 32 of 335.

Street map of Whitestone-Beechhurst, Queens, outlined among Murray Hill-Broadway Flushing, Bay Terrace-Clearview and College Point, with Francis Lewis Park.Bay Terrace-ClearviewMurray Hill-Broadway FlushingCollege Point
  • Whitestone-Beechhurst
  • A neighboring area
  • Park

Neighborhood areas and streets: NYC Department of City Planning. Parks: NYC Parks. Stations: MTA.

Neighboring areas

Getting around

Buses on nine routes stop in or at the edge of Whitestone-Beechhurst.

  • 6 local bus routes
  • 3 express bus routes

Local bus routes

  • Q15
  • Q16
  • Q44-SBS
  • Q50
  • Q61
  • Q76

Express bus routes

  • QM2
  • QM20
  • QM32

Safety record

Between 2021 and 2025, its corners averaged fewer police-reported crashes than the average Queens corner.

  • 699 police-reported crashes at its corners
  • 2.1 a corner, on average
  • 5.2 the average Queens corner
  • 119 corners with a clean record

Signal or safety changes on City record, at ten of its corners

Accessible pedestrian signals
5
Turn calming
3
Leading pedestrian intervals
2
Barnes Dance all-way crossings
2
Enhanced crossings
1

Camera tickets

In 2025 its corners had more school-zone speed camera tickets than red-light or bus-lane tickets.

  • 0 red-light camera tickets
  • 15,427 school-zone speed camera tickets at six corners
  • 0 bus-lane camera tickets
Most speed tickets
Cross Island Parkway & 165th Street, 12,800

People and homes

The 2020 Census counted 28,408 residents in Whitestone-Beechhurst, about 15,000 per square mile.

  • 11,200 homes, 2020 Census
  • 316 homes added since April 2010, net, by City Planning's count

Half of its 6,336 residential lots hold buildings from 1950 or earlier, and 31% of them date from before 1940, by the City's tax lot records.

Parks and landmarks

Parkland
31.9 acres of NYC Parks property
The largest pieces
Francis Lewis Park (10.2 acres), Little Bay Park (9.4 acres) and Harvey Park (9.1 acres)
Designated landmark
The Wildflower

Streets and trees

Trees
6,979 in NYC Parks' records, most often London planetree, Japanese flowering cherry and pin oak
Street with the most corners
Cross Island Parkway, with 32 of the area's 335
Height above sea level
From 8 feet at Utopia Parkway & 14th Avenue to 88 feet at 148th Street & 10th Avenue
Honorary street names
7 at its corners, enacted by local law

Schools and libraries

The City lists six schools and one library in Whitestone-Beechhurst.

Public schools
3
Charter and private schools
3
Library
Whitestone Library

Public safety

How complaints are counted

In 2025 the NYPD recorded 248 major felonies at places in Whitestone-Beechhurst.

Recorded by the NYPD at places in Whitestone-Beechhurst

  • 249 major felonies in 2024
  • 537 other felonies, misdemeanors and violations in 2025

In 2025, on the streets along the edge of Whitestone-Beechhurst, the NYPD recorded another 21 major felonies. Counting the streets along its edge, in 2025 the NYPD recorded 9.5 major felonies for every thousand residents the 2020 Census counted in Whitestone-Beechhurst.

Map of Whitestone-Beechhurst: 13 shaded patches of its streets, each numbered with the major felonies the NYPD recorded at public places there in 2025; unshaded areas are not counted on this map.
Major felonies recorded at public places in Whitestone-Beechhurst, 2025
  • 5 to 9
  • 10 to 19
  • 20 to 49
  • 50 to 99
  • 100 or more
  • Not shaded: fewer than 5, held back under the rules in How complaints are counted, parks and public-housing grounds, and land in no patch
Each shaded patch is a set of whole street blocks and corners of Whitestone-Beechhurst, most about 1,500 feet across, and its number counts the major felonies the NYPD recorded at public places on those streets and corners in 2025. The streets along or across the edge of Whitestone-Beechhurst are not shaded. Homes, shelters, schools, child care, health care, houses of worship, hotels, mailboxes inside buildings, private parking lots and garages, buses and taxis, parks and cemeteries, highways, bridges, tunnels, the tramway and places the NYPD did not name count in the figure above for Whitestone-Beechhurst and stay off the map. How complaints are counted gives every rule.
Police precinct
109th
Major felonies recorded at places in Whitestone-Beechhurst, 2021 to 2025

From January to June 2026 the NYPD recorded 122 major felonies at places in Whitestone-Beechhurst, against 130 in the same months of 2025.

Sources: the NYPD's Complaint Data Historic, updated April 28, 2026, and Complaint Data Current (Year To Date), updated July 27, 2026, on NYC Open Data. Figures to June 30, 2026.

Street corners

How the figures above are measured: Methodology.