After bombarding you with LIC news on Friday, we once again encounter the occasional lull in local news. What does one do at a time like this if they are straddled with a curious mind? Stray from your comfort zone. Fortunately we live in a neighborhood located in curious mind central: Queens! Now had you asked me a decade or so ago, I would have condescendingly replied something along the lines of how “I don’t do bridges and tunnels.” Yet that antiquated view went out in the last century, as Williamsburg eclipsed the West Village for hip nightlife(now only to also be on the verge of passe). Which brings us back to Queens, the next Prague, Paris in the 20’s, Phuket, or Phnom Penh. Well maybe that’s a bit much, as we don’t quite have the architecture of the first two, or a concentrated, bustling nightlife, nor any signs of a counterculture. But what we do have is an unparalleled diversity, genuineness, and lack of pretension. Those qualities are extremely hard to find in a no-stone-unturned 21st century planet. So if I’ve enticed you enough to leave the confines of an increasingly gentrified Long Island City, then let me also pass on what I think is the best guidebook to all the aforementioned qualities, as it encompasses them itself: QueensNYC.com. I love reading all its posts, as I know the sights and sounds are all reachable and attainable. Unlike say, reading an article in the New York Times Travel section about taking a 41-mile hike in remote Piaui, or one on a debaucherous, over-the-top bachelor party weekend in Tallinn. In addition to introducing you to all these great, new, frequently undiscovered places in Queens, they have terrific photographs. In fact some of them are so enticing, the only advice I can give you is to not read it before mealtime. So am I jealous of all the wonderful stories QueensNYC puts out? Sometimes, but I like to think my musings and utterances stand up on their own. I mean didn’t Hemingway read Steinbeck?
Hey folks, we always try to keep you apprised of all the disparate programs going on in LIC; here’s a great one for kids, and it is still open for registration:
Musical Theatre with AudraRox Inc.STARTING APRIL 9TH at the New York Irish Center!10 weeks for $300***Our 3-5 year old drop-off class has become a big hit!!
Audra’s Musical Theater Class is back by popular demand! If your older child loves music & drama they will enjoy the theatrical element to this class. This is a class was created specifically for our older students, building on Audra’s extensive theater background and successful experience teaching Aardvarks. Through song we will activate our imaginations & re-inact some of our most beloved childhood stories! From The Gingerbread Man to The Wizard of Oz – we are going to act them out with SONG! The result is a creative and dynamic drama class where kids will develop their writing, performing and collaboration skills- resulting in a final performance. Plus, it’s fun way for your older kids to stay connected to making music with AudraRox.
QueensNYC – lots of wonderful places to go, and the best thing is you can still sleep in LIC after visiting them
An Urban Adventure in LIC – video
Building a Better Tech School – all about Cornell Technion, coming to Roosevelt Island. You can live in LIC and send your kid to the MIT of NYC, and he can sleep at home and have all his meals cooked and laundry taken care of, another great reason to live here!
Q says
April 15, 2013 at 9:36 pmQueens is king!
Anonymous says
April 15, 2013 at 9:50 pmDoes anyone know what’s going on with the building in the picture and with the ferry I. The basin? Is the beer barge really happening?
Anonymous II says
April 16, 2013 at 9:33 amThat barge needs an enormous amount of work to be compliant. I highly doubt it “sails” summer 2013.
JDF says
April 20, 2013 at 11:16 pmIs the Saboroso bldg. still Matthew Barney’s studio? It used to be…
anony mouse says
April 16, 2013 at 7:57 amQueens Rox, tee hee
Ro says
April 16, 2013 at 12:19 pmAs far as I know the floating beer garden is an old ferry and not a barge.
JP says
April 16, 2013 at 4:49 pmWe may not have a concentrated nightlife hub right now, but TF Cornerstone is looking to put one in Court Square. More importantly they have the $ to put it into place and maybe subsidize it’s start-up.
Phil says
April 16, 2013 at 5:30 pmI fail to see what the advantage of a “concentrated, bustling, nightlife” is. It’s the uniqueness of local places and quirks that make them interesting. Queens has those in abundance.
Anonymous Bosch says
April 17, 2013 at 9:58 amBe careful what you wish for: it may not only be Court Square that turns into Disney Adultland, but Vernon Boulevard also has that proclivity as the leases roll over.