We mothballed this tired title last year after using it for four in a row, so I guess that makes it a [Read more…] about SPRING HAS SPRUNG 2017
SPRING HAS SPRUNG 2017
LONG ISLAND CITY CHOSEN AS ‘CENTER OF UNIVERSE’
One would think that Long Island City was the ‘center of the universe’ based on all the coverage it received in The New York Times this past weekend. Of course that’s an honorific LICtalk has repeatedly been bestowing on this town since we began publication, 160 years after the ‘Gray Lady’. Despite the Times incumbency, we were able to wrest the scoop of a book store coming to Court Square from a lengthy piece on the neighborhood it put out a day later. That article detailed the tremendous growth the neighborhood is experiencing, something we’ve been writing about ad nauseam for well over a year. The main difference in the two publications is that we don’t get drop-of-a-hat access to anyone named Elghanayan nor do we get exclusive scoops dropped in our lap – we have to fight for every scrap. Other than that I’d say we’re identical in every way, ex a few Pulitzers.
One recurring date on which we refer to LIC as the ‘center of the universe,’ is the Fourth of July. [Read more…] about LONG ISLAND CITY CHOSEN AS ‘CENTER OF UNIVERSE’
BOOK STORE COMING TO COURT SQUARE
“The books are to remind us what asses and fool we are. They’re Caeser’s praetorian guard, whispering as the parade roars down the avenue, “Remember, Caeser, thou art mortal.”
UPDATE: May 5, 11:30am – the NYT has just reported that “Book Culture, which has several Manhattan locations, has leased a 2,300-square-foot space at 26-09 Jackson” from Rockrose
Who says hard copy is dead? Not Rockrose. Who says retail is dead? Not Rockrose. Today at a Queens real estate event held by Bisnow, Rockrose SVP Patricia Dunphy announced that the developer will be leasing space to a book store in Court Square. While Patricia was coy as to which book store ((eg. Barnes & Noble, independent – I think those are all the choices in 2017)), I’m going to make a few assumptions. The first is that it will be located in The Hayden, their new mega-tower on Jackson Avenue. Secondly it will open by the end of the year at the latest – because unlike a restaurant, the buildout should be fairly easy.
What other tidbits were shared at the Bisnow event? [Read more…] about BOOK STORE COMING TO COURT SQUARE
FATAL SHOOTING AND LIBRARY DELAYS IN LIC
WHAT a day in LIC. It started early this morning at the Queensboro Correctional Facility where a guard who worked there ran down the street firing shots at her ex-boyfriend before turning the gun on herself. Due to bullets splaying all over the place and the eventual dramatic suicide, the story was widely reported on by NYC media within hours of its occurring.
More interesting to local readers, is a) the existence of this prison, and b) its location. The latter can best [Read more…] about FATAL SHOOTING AND LIBRARY DELAYS IN LIC
THE DOWNSIDE OF GENTRIFICATION IN LONG ISLAND CITY
THE New York Times is out today with a story on the emptying out of the Blanchard and Paragon buildings on Borden Avenue, in order to make way for higher-paying office tenants. Whole businesses are vacating the premises, typified by the protagonist of the story, a furniture upholsterer who is leaving for Long Island. LICtalk has previously profiled two businesses in the Blanchard. The first BklynBooks (aka iPodMeister) was mentioned in the Times story, and is moving to Paterson, NJ. The second, Manhattan Fruitier, has moved a little further east to the LIC/Sunnyside border. Prophetically, the owner of the latter sent me this quote when I asked him about the sale of the building a year ago: [Read more…] about THE DOWNSIDE OF GENTRIFICATION IN LONG ISLAND CITY