Happiness Island

Happiness Island is an island in the water surrounding Liberty City, officially part of the borough of Algonquin, and is the city's southernmost point. It is based on the real-life Liberty Island, complete with its own version of the Statue of Liberty, called the Statue of Happiness.

Happiness Island, as seen towards the south.

Unlike the real-life Liberty Island, Happiness Island has only a light police presence; if the player gains a wanted level, no reinforcements will arrive (apart from Police Mavericks and Annihilators), as the island is isolated from the mainland, and Predator patrol-boats cannot dock to transport foot police.) The island is large enough for the player to escape from a two (in some cases three) Wanted Level search radius on foot if they stay out of sight of police, which is useful for players hunting the six pigeons on the island, though there are several officers at the dock at throughout the island with M4 Carbine rifles/9mm's. In TBoGT, there will also be 2 cops near the entrance to the "building" under the Statue of Happiness.

There are forklifts on the south-eastern side of the island; a Faggio and a randomly-spawned vehicle can be found to the south.

Happiness Island is a great location for Team Deathmatch, as one can trap the enemy team on either of the 2 piers. This can easily result in 100-kill games in an Assault Rifles-only match. Trapped opponents may escape using the boats at the piers, however.

The island can be accessed once Algonquin is unlocked by either swimming to it or by "carjacking" a boat.

Trivia

 
The Happiness Is...Land Sweater found in Happiness Island.
  • According to Weazel News in the summer of 2007, a year before the events of GTA IV, TLAD and TBoGT, a whale had washed up onto Happiness Island.
  • There are six pigeons located on the Statue of Happiness.
  • The Happiness Is...Land Sweater is obtained on Happiness Island.
  • In Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars there are no vehicles on Happiness Island, and no normal way to take them across. However, there are two bugs the player can exploit to spawn them. Firstly, if the player hails a taxi, sets a GPS waypoint for the dealer Osama and skips the journey, the Cabbie will sometimes respawn upon the island. Alternatively, if the player obtains a two star wanted level upon the island, a Police Patrol may spawn on the island chasing the player. This does not work in GTA IV or its DLCs.
  • Strangely, a Uranus may spawn on the island.
  • In GTA IV if the player sets a way point on Happiness Island and hails a cab for a ride if they select skip then they sometimes will appear on the island.