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ANNUAL HUNTERS POINT HOLIDAY LIGHTING CEREMONY

November 30, 2012 by editor 1 Comment

Sorry readers, but there are no beer hall putsch’s, brewery openings, bbq contests, pig roasts, offal tastings, or other childrens activities planned for this weekend in LIC. The 7-train is working though, so maybe it is a good opportunity to head to Manhattan before the cold weather really hits. In fact, they just lit up the tree at Rockefeller Center, what could be more in the Christmas spirit than taking a journey to midtown to see it? With the throngs of strangers from New Jersey, Kansas, Scotland, and Beijing, my guess is the wait to get within three blocks of the tree is under ninety minutes this early in the holiday season. Followed up with a trip to Toys R Us in Times Square and an early dinner at Bubba Gump’s, I think the penultimate NYC Xmas tradition is definitely doable in a day from LIC. Or, if you prefer your fill of yuletide gemutlich to be a little more provincial, may I suggest the following:

For those of you still with dial-up service like myself, and don’t want to wait for the invitation to download, the ceremony will take place this Monday, December 3rd, 6pm at LIC Bar. Also, here is another local holiday event, this one for dog owners and the people who worship them, planned for tomorrow:

Holiday Party For Pooches at Breadbox Cafe

LIC Lights FLyer_sm

THOUGHTS ON THE NEW GANTRY PARK PLAYGROUND

November 28, 2012 by editor 5 Comments

We need more than a ball and a wall for the “kids”

In light of the paucity of news coming out on LIC, it is time to make our own news with an advocacy push. Currently, Long Island City has numerous playgrounds serving its youngsters: Rainbow, Murray, “Train”, and probably Shady again by early 2013. What do they have in common? They are all geared for children aged 1-5 years old. While that constitutes the current majority of kids in our neighborhood, it is time for our cutting edge community to look to the not-too-distant future. Specifically, the new playgrounds slated for Hunters Point South should be geared to an older demographic. With that in mind, I have provided a link to a recent story in the Wall Street Journal about some of the more sophisticated equipment being put in today. One of the playgrounds they highlight is in our “sister” city on the other side of Manhattan: Hoboken. So if you are reading this and have children of any age in LIC, I urge you to click thru to the story, think of the possibilities, and put in a word with the powers that be. Isn’t it better that our kids are motivated to be outside in the park doing physical activities, rather than hanging on the couch with their pals Tivo, Wii, and Zuckerberg?

Are Playgrounds Too Safe? – it’s for their coping skills, shouldn’t every child be a master of(her own) universe?

SNOWFLAKES ON CENTER BOULEVARD

November 26, 2012 by editor 3 Comments

Riverfoliagebkgrd — Another autumn holdout(click on pic)

Well the news is still slow when it comes to LIC, we have a total of three articles today and the third is a stretch, but maybe that is because the holidays are seemingly in full swing. Center Boulevard has some new and tasteful holiday lights on its lampposts, and with them comes the cold and omnipresent winds off the river, as winter is finally evincing its presence. Thus, I too will spare you any lengthy dissertations so you can spend more time with your loved ones, new or old. Just one word of advice: bundle-up!

After Sandy, Some NYC Parks Stay Shut – TV interview about Shady Park, aka Andrew’s Grove, or is it the other way around?

A Battle of LIC’s New Luxury Condos – hmm, not really sure it’s apples to apples

School Rezoning’s Border Wars – it always comes back to the school issue. Want to know exactly what powers and influences a CEDC(Community Education Council) actually has and does not have? Then this is your article.

NY TIMES GIVES M. WELLS DINETTE TWO STARS

November 21, 2012 by editor 7 Comments

Two stars and a NYT “Critics Pick” for the latest rendition of M. Wells. In tandem with night filming on Vernon Boulevard and the return of the Christmas tree sellers on 47th Road and 5th Street, LIC is back in the swing of things just in time for Thanksgiving and the onset of winter. Yet as we have noted since Sandy, while the overwhelming majority have it in their rear view mirror, there is still a small group for whom it is front and center. So give thanks for what you have, and have avoided, and keep those neighbors less fortunate in mind, both this weekend and going forward.

NYT Restaurant Review: M. Wells Dinette at MoMA PS1 – would have been 3 stars had they served horse meat

LIC Businesses Struggling From Sandy Look for Help

LIC Waterfront Real Estate May Be Impacted By Superstorm Sandy – or there may be zero effect according to the content of the article = a non-story story

Big Bicycle Donation to LIC’s Recycle-A-Bicycle(RAB)

ROADTRIP: GREENPOINT

November 19, 2012 by editor 8 Comments

GnptBrownstones3 — Brownstones not towers

GnptLICcontrast3 — So close, but such a contrast

PeterPan2 — Homer Simpson would be very happy in Greenpoint

Queens is renowned for its diversity, but sometimes we get so caught up in our everyday life that we do not get much of a chance to experience the neighborhoods nearby. With that in mind, we at LICtalk have initiated a new category, RoadTrip, to explore these exotic locales, write about them, and sum it all up in a pictorial triptych(remember, you can click on pics to enlarge). Hopefully, it will entice you, our readers, to break out of your comfort zone and forgo your regular Saturday night outing to Olive Garden in Times Square. Or, if you prefer, you can view this series as ‘They do it for me, so I don’t have to leave my couch.’

For our first road trip destination, we have chosen the neighborhood most accessible to many residents in LIC: Greenpoint. In doing so, we have immediately broken the three most important tenets of our RoadTrip series: 1) One does not need a car to visit Greenpoint, nor even a bike 2) Greenpoint is in Brooklyn, not Queens and 3) Is it really a roadtrip if it’s the next town over? Fear not, because if you are a regular reader of this site, you know that LICtalk frequently exhibits a complete lack of decorum, as well as a passion for breaking all the rules, even if they are our own. Most importantly, despite its proximity to LIC, once you step off the Pulaski Bridge and make your way west to Manhattan Avenue, it is like you have entered a different world far, far away! There is one word that sums up the major difference between Long Island City and Greenpoint: quaint. Whether it be the main retail drag of Manhattan Avenue, whose stores range from old world to so retro they are now an anachronism, or the residential housing stock, which is 45th Avenue in LIC times ten in terms of beautiful side by side brownstones. Then there are the inhabitants: hipsters economically pushed out of Williamsburg, Polish emigrants, and the increasingly well-off who are buying up all those beautiful brownstones from the previous two. What else differs vs. LIC? Well they have more, and more diverse restaurants, and that alone is worth making a trip. As for living there though, a large part of the small town feel comes at the price of inconvenience, particularly when it comes to commuting to Manhattan, which I get the strange feeling a lot of the inhabitants are not doing on a regular basis. Fortunately, you live right next door, so throw caution to the wind like I did, and grab the golden donut …or pierogi.