Longing for Long Island City - The Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/longing-for-long-island-city/article1588354/
Globe and Mail, Tuesday, Jun. 01, 2010
Pepsi-Cola stopped making its sugary drinks in Long Island City a decade ago, but the area is known for creating a different kind of fizz. Once an industrial wasteland, the Queens neighbourhood is New York's newest centre of cool.
Factories, among them the former Pepsi property, have given way to art galleries and other hubs of creative activity such as Silver Cup Studios, one of the largest studios outside California where much of Sex and the City was filmed.
Former landfills are now sculpture gardens. Warehouse loft conversions are drawing Manhattanites across the East River to take up residence. And rumour has it a new Marriott is moving into the neighbourhood, joining a handful of other hotels – both budget and boutique – that have recently been built in Long Island City
in response to the growing tourist trade. Upgraded with sidewalks, lighting
and bicycle lanes, streets are teeming with new restaurants, trendy boutiques
and bars. Graffiti, which is maligned in Manhattan, is beloved in this
neighbourhood where an entire city block is devoted to the art of urban
scrawl on the walls of the five-storey, 200,000-square-foot 5Pointz,
a former industrial building.
“Long Island City is experiencing a period of explosive growth,” says
Jeffrey Travia of the Long Island City Business Improvement District.
CUNY School of Law is moving in, JetBlue Airways is relocating to Queens Plaza North
and New York's Department of Health will be moving into the 21-storey Gotham Center
office building when it opens early next year.
This is where, in recessionary America, real estate is booming and new businesses are arriving. Twenty years after New
York magazine first declared the area up-and-coming (after noticing New
York artists flocking to the Queens neighbourhood in search of cheaper rent),
Long Island City has definitely arrived.
ART LOVERS PARADISE Areas of Long Island City may still be covered with
warehouses, but these days they’re producing pop art, not pop bottles. Galleries
include MoMa PS 1, a contemporary outpost of the Museum of Modern Art
(22-25 Jackson Ave., 718-784-2084; www.ps1.org) and the Socrates Sculpture
Garden, an outdoor exhibition space with a view of Roosevelt Island
(31-34 Vernon Blvd., 718-626-1533; www.socratessculpturepark.org).
The Noguchi Museum, this year celebrating its 25th year in Long Island City,
showcases the work of the late sculptor Isamu Noguchi. 9-01 33rd Rd.,
718-721-2308; www.noguchi.org
A BEACH WITH A VIEW While just a stop from Midtown, the neighbour
hood also has its own sandy beach with spectacular views of the Empire State and
Chrysler buildings. Featuring 1,002 tons of sand spread over 44,000 square feet,
Water Taxi Beach at Long Island City at night becomes a playground for the 21-and-over
crowd with all-night dance parties taking place on the banks of the East River.
A four-minute water-taxi ride from Manhattan, the beach can also be reached by subway.
Open daily from June 7 until Oct. 10. Swimming not allowed. www.watertaxibeach.com
GREEN ACRES The Brooklyn Grange is a one-acre working rooftop farm that recently
took root high at the top of the six-storey Standard Motor Products building, an old
warehouse property. Consisting of a million pounds of soil and using a greenhouse
infrastructure to grow vegetables, it is said to be the largest commercial rooftop farm
in New York City. The urban farmers involved in the pioneering project plan to sell
produce on-site one day a week and supply several local restaurants, including the
popular Vesta Trattoria and Wine Bar in nearby Astoria. 37-18 Northern Blvd. www.brooklyngrangefarm.com
SHOP TILL YOU POP This is where to find dangly earrings fashioned after plumbers’
wrenches and coasters, bowls and clocks made from the Vinylux line of recycled albums.
Subdivision is both a gallery and a boutique that supports and promotes the work of
independent designers who create the clothing, handbags and jewellery artfully
displayed in the showroom. Funds from the boutique are used to run the gallery
and sponsor the creation and production of art and cultural projects exhibited in the gallery.
48-18 Vernon Blvd.; 718-482-1899; www.subdivisionart.com
KILLER COCKTAILS The speakeasy-style cocktail lounge Dutch Kills on
Jackson Avenue, a few blocks from the Queens Plaza subway station, is named
after a former Long Island City subdivision that was an important road during the
American Revolution. Inside the atmosphere is dark and moody. Outside, the neon
sign screams BAR (27-24 Jackson Ave.; 718-383-2724; www.dutchkillsbar.com).
Alternatively, Studio Square is an enormous new outdoor German beer garden offering
artisanal beer and bratwurst beneath a canopy of stars (35-33 36th St.; 718-383-1001).
FOODIES’ DELIGHT Comfort food and ethnic cuisine are among the culinary hallmarks
of Long Island City, where sushi bars and pasta joints are plentiful. Noteworthy are
Manducatis Rustica, an Italian grocery store/bakery/restaurant (46-33 Vernon Blvd.;
718-937-1312), and Café Henri, where you can linger over cups of espresso
(10-10 50th Ave., at Vernon; 718-383-9315). Tuk Tuk is an affordable
Thai noodle place for lunch (49-06 Vernon Blvd.; 718-472-5598) while Shi Restaurant
Lounge and Bar is where to go for a stylish Vietnamese-inspired dinner
(4720 Center Blvd.; 347-242-2448). In the summer, the laid-back Lounge 47
serves wasabi devilled eggs, pulled-pork sandwiches and seafood stew in its backyard
garden (47-10 Vernon Blvd.; 718-937-2044).
WHERE TO STAY
Country Inns & Suites 40-34 Crescent Street, countryinns.com/queensny
Several floors of accommodations offer panoramic views of the Manhattan skyline.
The interior design is bright and sophisticated, with hardwood style plank lobby flooring
and a lobby fireplace. Fitness room and meeting rooms on site. From $117 ($112 U.S.)
a night.
The Ravel 8-08 Queens Plaza South, 718-289-6101; ravelhotel.com
Long Island City’s first luxury boutique hotel features 63 guestrooms, with glass-enclosed
showers, HD plasma TVs, high-speed wireless Internet, 400 thread-count sheets and
some private balconies overlooking the Manhattan skyline. City views can also be had
from 6,500-square foot rooftop deck, a popular drinks spot. From $176 ($169 U.S.) a night.
. Photos by Audrey Gottlieb.