Bayside Life

Bayside Life On the Edge of Modernity (1939-1941)
	Bayside Life: On the Edge of Modernity offers a close-up look at the little village that was becoming a town prior to the U.S. ’s entry into the Second World War, as captured in the pages of Bayside Life. Published between 1939 and 1941, this short-lived magazine sought to promote a sense of community, hometown pride, and neighborhood spirit, by focusing on local achievements and happenings at the exclusion of world affairs. Both literally and metaphorically on the edge of change, Bayside was experiencing a population explosion, massive home construction, and travel made easier by the opening of the Cross Island Parkway, Whitestone Bridge, LaGuardia Airport. The New York World’s Fair contributed to an atmosphere heady with optimism following America ’s Depression years. Yet, at the same time, war was declared in Europe and Bayside residents pined for a time when neighbors knew each other and life was less complicated.

Bayside Life: On the Edge of Modernity offers a close-up look at the little village that was becoming a town prior to the U.S. ’s entry into the Second World War, as captured in the pages of Bayside Life. Published between 1939 and 1941, this short-lived magazine sought to promote a sense of community, hometown pride, and neighborhood spirit, by focusing on local achievements and happenings at the exclusion of world affairs. Both literally and metaphorically on the edge of change, Bayside was experiencing a population explosion, massive home construction, and travel made easier by the opening of the Cross Island Parkway, Whitestone Bridge, LaGuardia Airport. The New York World’s Fair contributed to an atmosphere heady with optimism following America ’s Depression years. Yet, at the same time, war was declared in Europe and Bayside residents pined for a time when neighbors knew each other and life was less complicated.