Village with a friendly atmosphere, busy downtown
Perched on the edge of South Oyster Bay and stretching inland, Massapequa Park has a quaint, walkable downtown with local shops and restaurants, an appreciation for live music by local bands, abundant parks and a collection of waterfront homes backed up against canals. “It’s definitely a tight community,” says Susan Maddaleno, an associate broker at Keller Williams Realty who has lived in the Massapequa area for 44 years. “A lot of people grow up in Massapequa and then they stay in Massapequa. They grow up and they buy houses here, they want to stay here, they want to raise their kids where they were raised. So a lot of people know each other.” Massapequa Park differs from the rest of the area known as the Massapequas because it’s a village — a classification that comes with benefits as well as some strings attached. “It’s just really well kept,” Maddaleno says. “You have certain restrictions in the village, which some people like.”
Massapequa Preserve, Tobay Beach
As a waterfront village, spending time boating, kayaking, fishing or otherwise enjoying the water is part of life in Massapequa Park. Maddaleno says locals have access to a small local beach within five minutes from most homes, but as part of the Town of Oyster Bay, they also have access to the private Tobay Beach — which she says is her favorite part of living in the area. “For me, it’s about a 15-minute drive to the beach,” she says, adding that the public Jones Beach is about the same distance. “They have a great boardwalk at Jones Beach, they have a music venue at the beach, restaurants, things you can do at night, walking the boardwalk.” Running along its western edge, Massapequa Preserve offers 432 acres full of hiking and biking trails as well as fishing spots. Colleran Park is a small waterfront park popular for its newly renovated playground, Marjorie R. Post Community Park has a public pool and ice rink, and nearby, John J. Burns Park is a huge draw for its boat ramp and athletic fields, which frequently host sporting events for local teams.
Inland fixer-uppers from $500,000
Cape Cods and colonials are dotted along many of the neighborhood’s sidewalk-lined and tree-shaded streets, though there are also quite a few split-level homes. A three-bedroom fixer-upper can dip as low as $420,000 if it needs a lot of help, but they’ll most often start at around $500,000. A four-bedroom home that could use a little updating could climb to a little over $700,000. Fully renovated homes cost between $750,000 and $1.6 million. Many of the most expensive houses are located right up against a canal or the Great Oyster Bay itself with small private docks where homeowners can dock small boats and launch kayaks. The neighborhood’s CAP Index crime score is 1 out of 10. The national average is 4.
Summer concerts, yearly Blue Angels air show
Massapequa Park hosts frequent annual events, including a popular tree lighting ceremony around the holidays and a Fourth of July fireworks celebration. “There’s all kinds of outdoor music in the summer,” Maddaleno says. “They turn out in droves for Music Under The Stars.” The free concert series is held in John J. Burns Park from early July to mid-August. “We also have the air show at Jones Beach State Park every Memorial Day weekend,” Maddaleno says. “And a lot of people can hear it and see it right from their homes in Massapequa.”
Dining, nightlife in Massapequa Park's downtown
Massapequa Park’s coziest area by far is its quaint downtown, which is lined with small, locally owned shops and enough restaurants to make it feel like a foodie’s dream. With a green exterior that comes alive with flowers during the warm months, Jam is a go-to brunch spot known for its eggs Benedict and cinnamon bun French toast. Bacaro Italian Tavern offers Italian classics and frequent live music by local bands, and friends often meet up at The Good Life for dinner, drinks and live music in a relaxed English pub setting. “We have a lot of local bands,” says Philip Donnellan, an associate broker at Deans R E & Moving Homes and a lifelong Massapequa native with 19 years of experience selling here. “The Stray Cats started in Massapequa. They were a Massapequa band that made it big, and they’re still out there kicking; they’ve been around since the 1970s. And the guitarist for The Cars was a Massapequa High School guy.” Appreciation for live music runs deep — as does enjoyment of local nightlife in general. “There’s a whole strip of great bars there, and a lot of them have been there for 20 or 30 years; maybe the owners change, but the names don’t change,” Donnellan says. “You can walk to the train, so if you’re bar hopping in Rockville Center, you can hop on the train, take it a couple stops to Massapequa Park, get off, and you can be hanging out there in less than 20 minutes. And that’s what the young people do.” Outside of the little downtown, shopping centers provide more restaurants like Smokin’ Al’s, which serves Kansas-style barbecue alongside mac and cheese and cornbread that locals practically swear by. Sunrise Mall provides even more shopping less than a mile from home, while King Kullen and IGA Supermarket offer groceries.
Two campuses at Massapequa High School
The Massapequa Union Free School District is another major draw to the village. Niche gives the district, which is one of the biggest K-12 school systems in Nassau County, an A rating and lists among the top five best school districts for athletes in New York. Children can attend East Lake Elementary School, which has an A-minus, before moving to Berner Middle School and Massapequa High School. Both the middle and high school have A ratings, and the high school has two campuses. Ninth graders head to the Ames Campus, while the other grades head to the main campus.
LIRR, major highways to NYC and beyond
The Long Island Rail Road’s Massapequa Park Station brings commuters to New York City in about 55 minutes. Easy access to Sunrise Highway, Southern State Parkway and Bethpage State Parkway also make it relatively easy to travel across Long Island.
Photography Contributed By
Jeff Siegel
