Owned by the New York City Housing Authority, the development contains 96 buildings and 3,142 units accommodating approximately 7,000 people in two separate complexes (North and South).

[4] Queensbridge, the largest of 26 public housing developments in Queens, is located between Vernon Boulevard, which runs along the East River, and 21st Street.

[6] The original plans included some basic amenities, like a central shopping center, a nursery and six inner courtyards for play.

In the 1950s, there were also three playschool rooms, a library, a community center with an auditorium where shows were put on, a gymnasium with a wooden floor that doubled as a wooden-wheels roller skating rink, activity rooms downstairs, and a cafeteria upstairs where the playschool children ate their lunches.

Residents enjoyed concerts during the hot summer months in the square central shopping area, and the Fresh Air Fund sent children on trips out to the Peekskill mountains.

Across Vernon Boulevard lies Queensbridge Park, the primary place of recreation for tenants of the project.

Baby Park was closed due to debris falling from the bridge during maintenance work in the late 2000s.

[6] Queensbridge is well known for its contributions to hip hop and rap music, and has been home to some of the most influential musicians in the genre.

Marley Marl Williams was the first in a long succession of acclaimed artists from "The Bridge", which came to be one of the most famous hip hop neighborhoods in the country.

[8] Other notable artists associated with the Queensbridge hip hop scene include Blaq Poet, Cormega, Tragedy Khadafi, Nature, Screwball, Capone, and Big Noyd.

[9] Regarding the Queensbridge music scene, XXL columnist Brendan Frederick wrote: At a time when you can buy screwed & chopped albums at Circuit City in Brooklyn, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that hip-hop was once a local phenomenon.

During the height of the crack epidemic in 1986, Queensbridge experienced more murders than any NYCHA complex in New York City.