There was a reason for the use of West Lawrence as an address. When the first pioneers moved to Far Rockaway in the 1970s and 1980s, Far Rockaway had become a crime infested slum. 6 bedroom homes on Reids Lane were on the market for $18,000 and people couldn’t get mortgages for them ( my sister tried but the banks had redlined the area ). Customers had to be buzzed into the kosher bakery on Mott St because it had been held up so many times. My wife’s friend was pistol whipped in her apartment house lobby by a mugger during the daytime.
So, people who moved into the section of Far Rockaway that bordered on the western edge of Lawrence started using West Lawrence as an address to avoid the Far Rockaway stigma ( they still got their mail because they used the correct zip code )
