Bliss Street has a sweet ring to it, doesn’t it? It’s the original, early 20th century moniker of what was later renamed 46th Street in Sunnyside, Queens.
Bliss Street is probably associated with Neziah Bliss, a ship builder and real estate bigwig back when this part of Queens was farmland dotted with little villages.
In the mid-1800s, he founded a blink-and-you’ll miss-it industrial neighborhood bordering Long Island City called Blissville. The name barely survives today.
In 1982, Sunnyside residents decided they wanted Bliss Street added back to the map. It’s also the name of the nearby 7 train stop, 46th Street–Bliss Street.
Pleasant Avenue is, yep, pretty pleasant. This six-block stretch east of First Avenue between 114th and 120th Street was once the center of Italian-American East Harlem.
It still has a rep for being a mob stronghold; Tony Salerno ran the Genovese crime family from here. And Italian restaurant Rao’s is tucked into a corner storefront at the south end of the street.
On warm weekends, a nearby playground is always flooded with little kids having a good time.
Tags: 46th Street–Bliss Street subway station, Bliss Street, Blissville, East Harlem, Genovese Crime Family, Italian East Harlem, Long Island City, mob neighborhoods in New York City, Neziah Bliss, Pleasant Avenue, Queens, Rao's, Rao's Italian restaurant, Sunnyside, Tony Salerno
Ephemeral New York 
July 11, 2009 at 12:26 pm |
There may be a straight road name that you mentioned earlier associated with the name of the person, considering historical places.The story is quite interesting.
July 12, 2009 at 3:55 am |
i was at calvary cemetery just last weekend (my father and 3 aunts are there) and drove away through blissville.
July 23, 2009 at 5:24 pm |
There also used to be a Bliss Theatre, which became a Kingdom Hall in the mid-sixties. http://cinematreasures.org/theater/6175/
July 23, 2009 at 5:36 pm |
Cool–I love the link too!
September 10, 2009 at 6:22 am |
It’s not a question of probably. Bliss Street was named after Nehemiah Bliss, a Connecticut native who moved to Greenpoint in the 1830s. He was an inventor and industrialist who purchased most of the land encompassing Greenpoint and the area on the Queens side of Newtown Creek.
March 9, 2010 at 4:39 am |
Joe Z is correct. Bliss is considered the historical father of Greenpoint after he had a bridge built over Bushwick Creek, making it possible for development to spread north from Williamsburg.
March 13, 2010 at 1:59 pm |
Having been raised on 47th St., and an habitual Bliss Street station regular, I am familiar with the Bliss Theater which concentrated on Paramount and MGM presentations. The nearby Sunnyside Theater was with RKO and some others. The 43rd St. theater presented a bunch of grade-B movies double-featured. Later came the Center which showed British and fun oddball flicks. They were fun places to visit. And, of course, the 20 minute subway ride took us to Times Square and a few other movies and stage houses. Great place to live in the ’30s and 40s. Frank R