The crowning jewel of Old Westbury is The College at Old Westbury, one of the campuses for the State University of New York. Also known as SUNY at Old Westbury, the college sprawls over a 600-acre wooded campus just 20 miles from the heart of New York City. Like many Long Island villages, Old Westbury had its first development boom and claim to fame with the Gatsby-era Gold Coast mansions. The area's original farms were replaced by palatial estates, one of which serves today as an exquisite home for the Old Westbury Gardens museum and arboretum. The village is also home to the New York Institute of Technology, created in 1963 from the former estate of Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney. Residents of the area enjoy easy access to a wealth of recreational and entertainment attractions, including the North Fork Theatre at Westbury.