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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. During this membership driver, we're breaking it up with some fun each day in the form of a New York, New Jersey geography quiz. We've been going borough by borough and region by region with guest quiz leaders every day. Today, it's on to Long Island, Nassau and Suffolk counties. If you think you know Long Island, call in and take a shot at a quiz question, 646-435-7280. If you get two in a row right, we’ll give you a prize of that Brian Lehrer Show New York City skyline mug, 646-435-7280.

Who knows where things are on the island? You don't have to be from Long Island to enter, so call up and play wherever you're from at 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280. Get two questions in a row right and you win yourself a Brian Lehrer Show New York City skyline mug. Our quiz leader for this is a many times guest on this show. It's Larry Levy, executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University. He’s also the vice president for economic development and professional studies there. Larry, always great to have you. Thank you for doing this quiz with us.

Larry Levy: Oh, thanks for having me on something that is not just about the serious politics and other academic stuff.

Brian Lehrer: Right, even though people are going to learn from this quiz. It’s one of the things that's been most satisfying about this little geo-quiz here is people are saying, “I didn't know this. I didn't know that.” The stuff that's coming up with mucho credit to our producer, Lisa Allison, who has drawn up so many both fun and educational quiz questions for the series.

While calls are coming in, give people who don't know the island a basic population stat. People know they're almost nine million people who live in New York City. The New Jersey population is about the same. The State of New Jersey and the City of New York have approximately the same population, eight million-plus. What's the population of Nassau? What's the population of Suffolk County?

Larry Levy: The combined is around three million. It's been fairly steady. There was a little bit of a surge due to the pandemic. Nobody knows if it's going to last, if it's permanent. From the time my parents moved out there, it was almost entirely white. Now it's about 40% non-white. That's Black, Latino, and Asian. That's been probably the most significant change both politically and socially and economically. It's not my mother and father’s suburbs as I and about 100 other academics like to say.

Brian Lehrer: Three million people might surprise people who are not familiar with the island. That's a whole lot of people. If it was a state, I don't know exactly where it would rank, but it would be a fairly big state. Let's take our first contestant from the first town across the Northern Queens border. It's Howard in Great Neck. Howard, you're on WNYC. Thank you so much for calling in. You’re ready for a quiz question? 

Howard: Yes, I am Brian. Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: Larry, hit him.

Larry Levy: Howard, Halloween is coming up, so let's start with the scary question. Where is Long Island's most famous haunted house? Oh, I hear silence. [music]

Howard: Oh, boy. I think you got me on the first question. I'm going to say Glen Cove.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, that's not—

Larry Levy: [laughs] There are some people in Glen Cove who might agree with you, but I don't think that's the case. [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: I hear a little North Shore competitiveness fair. You live in Great Neck and you say the scariest house is in Glen Cove. Howard, thanks for trying. We're going to give one more person a shot at that question before we have to reveal it if they don't get it and move on. Shobha in Nassau County. Hi, Shobha, you’re on WNYC.

Shobha: Hi, good morning. Is it Amityville?

Larry Levy: Should I repeat the question?

Brian Lehrer: You got it. It's Amityville.

Larry Levy: Yes, it is.

Brian Lehrer: I was going to give Howard the clue, thank movies. He blurted out the wrong answer too quickly. Shobha, you're right. Oh, Shobha’s line disappeared. Shobha, call us back. If you can get back through, we’ll put you right on and see if you can get a second question right. I'm not sure what happened there. Let's go on to another caller then. Here is Angela in Cold Spring Harbor. Hi, Angela, you’re on WNYC.

Angela: Good morning.

Brian Lehrer: Larry, what you got for Angela?

Larry Levy: Morning, Angela. Roosevelt Field was among the first shopping malls in America back in the ‘50s and it's still among the biggest. Did you know that it was also an airfield before becoming a mall? The question is, what is that airfield most famous for?

Angela: Charles Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic, I believe.

Brian Lehrer: That is correct.

Larry Levy: Correct.

Brian Lehrer: That's one right. That's right. How many of you knew that, folks, that Charles Lindbergh's famous flight was from Long Island and Roosevelt Field? I always wondered why that mall was called a field rather than a shopping center or something like that. Now I know. I did not know that myself. All right. One more.

Larry Levy: The mall is located on the edge of where Roosevelt Field was. Hofstra University, a good portion of its campus is on old Roosevelt Field. It wasn't named after either of the two Roosevelt presidents. It was named after Theodore’s son, Quentin, who was killed in World War I. Most people don't know that.

Brian Lehrer: Wow. Angela, one more right and you're going to win a Brian Lehrer Showmug. Larry, give her her next question.

Larry Levy: There's a building in the shape of an animal on the edge of the Hamptons. It's a creature associated with Long Island farming. What is it?

Angela: The duck. I've never visited.

Brian Lehrer: That is correct.

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[crosstalk]

Angela: I am so excited. Thank you, both.

Brian Lehrer: All right. Hang on, Angela. We're going to take your address and send you a Brian Lehrer Show mug. There was a lot of duck farming on the island, right?

Larry Levy: There was an awful lot of duck farming. That's the famous Long Island duck. There were very few farms left. If a restaurant wants to say that they’re serving Long Island duck, their distributors will ship ducks to Long Island for a short period of time to be able to say they are from Long Island.

Brian Lehrer: Is that why the minor league baseball team there is called The Long Island Ducks?

Larry Levy: Exactly. Their mascot is called Quacker Jacks.

Brian Lehrer: Quacker Jacks, I did not know that.

Larry Levy: Quacker Jacks, yes.

Brian Lehrer: Shobha is back who got Amityville right for the most famous haunted house. She got back through. Shobha, I don't know what happened to disconnect your line. I apologize.

Shobha: Sorry about that.

Brian Lehrer: You want to do the little Amityville backgrounder because we didn't get to that after her line dropped off?

Larry Levy: Oh, yes, sure.

Brian Lehrer: How did this house in Amityville get the reputation of being haunted?

Larry Levy: A notorious mass murder took place there. Then, Harvey Aronson Newsday editor wrote a book called The Amityville Horror. That's spawned countless other iterations of books and articles and movies. I think there was more than one Amityville horror movie and it just took off, became part of the culture.

Brian Lehrer: Cool. One more question for Shobha, let’s see if she gets it.

Larry Levy: Sure. Long Island ain't Texas, but it is known for a couple of the largest. Can you name the nation's largest town or the state's largest village? A tough one.

Shobha: Is it Brookhaven?

Larry Levy: No. That’s actually a pretty good guess.

Brian Lehrer: Let me back up and give her one hint just to make sure the question is clear. This one place is both the nation's largest town and New York State's largest village. Am I understanding this correctly?

Larry Levy: No, it's the nation's largest town which has within it the nation's largest village, and they have the same name. That's the big hint.

Shobha: Is it Town of Hempstead?

Larry Levy: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: That is correct.

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Brian Lehrer: We're going to give it to you because I wanted to finish the question-

Shobha: Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: -with that hint before you said Brookhaven. Shobha, thank you very much. We're going to take your address off the air and send your Brian Lehrer Show New York City skyline mug. This will confuse people in the city and in a lot of other places. Why is there a village of Hempstead within a Town of Hempstead and that occurs to other places too? What is that structure?

Larry Levy: Originally, there were townships and Long Island was populated. Hempstead itself is populated in the 1600s. One of the things we always shake our heads about is all these different jurisdictions. When more people moved out, they wanted to have more direct control over their lives. Villages, incorporated areas, we had about 1,400 different taxing jurisdictions. That's really pretty much how it came to be.

Brian Lehrer: There you go. Then appropriately, we'll take our next caller from Hempstead. Ben in Hempstead, you're on WNYC. Ready for your first question that's not about Hampstead?

Ben: [chuckles] Yes.

Brian Lehrer: Larry, what you got next?

Larry Levy: Indirectly it is. The New York Islanders are just about to-

Brian Lehrer: I'll take it back.

Larry Levy: -move or have their first game at their new home after having to move between Barclays Center in Brooklyn and the Nassau Coliseum in the last two season. What sport is the new stadium's location better known for now? [crosstalk] The location of the Islander's new arena.

Brian Lehrer: It's better known for something more than hockey is what you're saying, right?

Larry Levy: Yes.

Ben: The new location?

Brian Lehrer: Right. Not going to be Nassau Coliseum. Not going to be Barclays Center. There's yet a new location for the wandering Islanders. It's better known-

Ben: I don't know.

Brian Lehrer: -for something else and it is another sport. Three.

Ben: I don't.

Brian Lehrer: Two. No? Sorry. Thanks for trying, Ben. We'll give James in Nassau County one shot at this. James, hi. You're on the air. Did you hear the question?

James: I did, Brian. Good morning.

Brian Lehrer: Do you have an answer?

James: I do. It's the new UBS Arena at Belmont which is known for horse racing.

Brian Lehrer: Absolutely right.

Larry Levy: Final leg of horse racing's Triple Crown.

[crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: That's right. The Triple Crown and the Stanley Cup hopefully will share a location. One more question for James.

Larry Levy: What is the busiest Long Island Rail Road station on the LIRR that's not in the five boroughs? It's not Jamaica and it's not Penn Station. The busiest station in Nassau and Suffolk?

Brian Lehrer: Wow, I have a guess.

James: In Nassau or Suffolk? I'm sorry, I didn't hear the last part.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, in terms of passengers, the busiest Long Island Rail Road station that's in Nassau or Suffolk that's not in the city. Maybe Penn Station will be the biggest. Maybe Jamaica Station will be the second biggest. What's the biggest that's actually not in the city?

James: I'm going to have to make a guess. This is tough. I'm going to go with Mineola.

Brian Lehrer: That was going to be my guess. Did we get right?

Larry Levy: No, Hicksville. Hicksville is where two major lines intercept.

Brian Lehrer: Right, because the line coming from Huntington and the one coming from Ronkonkoma. Something like that, right?--

Larry Levy: Pretty much, yes.

Brian Lehrer: Both wind up in Hicksville. I don't know if I have the exact lines right. Okay, James, thanks for trying. I said you don't have to be from Long Island to play. Here is Hillary in Bed-Stuy. Hi, Hillary.

Hillary: Hi, Brian. I'm originally from Center Moriches, New York.

Brian Lehrer: Okay, a ringer in Brooklyn. A ringer goes in Brooklyn.

Larry Levy: [laughs].

Brian Lehrer: Larry, Hillary in Bed-Stuy. A Long Island geography quiz question.

Larry Levy: Nassau County's 9/11 Memorial is in a park named for an American President. Which one?

Hillary: Oh my God.

Larry Levy: [laughs].

Hillary: I have no idea.

Larry Levy: It's a little bit far away.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, you got to go south from Center Moriches.

Hillary: This is just a guess. Ronald Reagan?

Brian Lehrer: Oh, there is no Ronald Reagan Park in Nassau County that I know of. We're going to run out of time. Go ahead. Wait. [crosstalk] Hold the clue. We're going to give one more person a shot and then we're going to be out of time. Here's Michael in Brightwaters. You're on WNYC. Michael, did you hear that question?

Michael: Yes, I heard the question loud and clear. I believe it would be President Dwight Eisenhower for Eisenhower Park in East Meadow.

Brian Lehrer That is-

Larry Levy: Correct.

Brian Lehrer: -correct. That's right. It honors the 348 Nassau County residents who lost their lives in the attacks. What was the hint you were going to give, Larry, not that we need it anymore?

Larry Levy: Which one? I was going to say that it was a president of the same party of Ronald Reagan.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, right, okay.

Larry Levy: [laughs].

Brian Lehrer: Last question of this quiz. Michael either will or will not win a Brian Lehrer Shine New York City skyline mug?

Michael: Okay, let's do it.

Larry Levy: Who gets credit for creating Jones Beach State Park with the art deco buildings? Who's the master builder?

Michael: This is a topic. I would love to say it was the land developer, Robert Moses. 

Brian Lehrer: Is-

Larry Levy: It's correct.

Brian Lehrer: -correct.

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Brian Lehrer: He wasn't a land developer, Larry, right? Of course, he was a public official.

Larry Levy: Right. When you said land developer, I figured he was going off to maybe the Levitt brothers who build Levittown. No. Robert Moses is the right answer. He's probably the most influential person in terms of transportation and open space on Long Island.

Brian Lehrer: Closed bridges on the southern state that the buses couldn't get through to the beach, but that's another show. Michael, I heard you being excited about that mug. I'm glad you won. Hang on. We're going to take your address. That's today's geo quiz. We will keep doing this for the rest of the week. Larry Levy is the executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University and vice president of their economic development and professional studies program.  

Larry, this has been great. You did a great job. Thank you for being our quiz leader.

Larry Levy: Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: Talk to you.

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