Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Queens tourism center opens

After years of work and nearly half a million dollars to get it up and running, an old subway train, one of the last of the redbirds finally opened for business Tuesday as the Queens Tourism Center.

Old Subway Train Finds New Use As Queens Tourism Center

The redbirds started running when Dwight Eisenhower was president in the 1950s and the last was not retired until 2003. They were painted red to ward off graffiti. Many of them found a watery last resting place, dumped in the Atlantic Ocean as artificial reefs.

But for this one the last stop was Borough Hall.

"People can come not to only find out what is in the local area, but also some good restaurants, all different kinds of things that we have in the borough," said Queens Borough President Helen Marshall. "Where cultural institutions, where parks are, everything we have in the borough a person can come here and find out about it."


Yes, please send them to Flushing Meadows, that jewel of a park that perfectly represents what the city thinks of our borough. Then maybe a Queens Crap tour through adjacent Corona or Flushing.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's at Borough Hall.... What asshole picked that site? Has Borough Hall become a tourist attraction?

Anonymous said...

Borough Hall... the asshole of Queens.

Anonymous said...

First of all....
my dear dim witted borough president....
the best place to put this kind of info center
would be at Queens Plaza.....the gateway to our borough....not in the hinterlands!

Oh well.....
if anyone stupidly decides to drag their ass
out to visit the "red bird" tourism center.....
perhaps we can begin with a tour
of the late Donald Manes' office.

This is a must see....
the birthplace of corruption in Queens
which continues unto this day.

I think Marshall has a family of Cuckoo birds
nesting in her outdated bouffant-like hair do!

I'll volunteer to do the Tommy Huang Tour
of Flushing.....unless that Dr. Jack....what's his name....takes umbrage!

Anonymous said...

Terry Osborn, head of Queens Tourism should be removed.

She is a machine hack awaiting the green light for some office.

Remember, culture in Queens, like any self-styled 3rd world country, has politics (immigrants!! gays!! immigrants!! blacks!! immigrants!!
etc etc etc) trumping content with a healthy dose of accolades for fearless leader.

georgetheatheist said...

Get your barf bags ready! Next Tuesday is Marshall's State of the Borough address: Colden Auditorium at Queens College. (I'll be looking for you there. Will you be looking for me?)

Anonymous said...

"public Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The hours are really crappy too! How could a tourist center not be open on weekends?

I do miss the redbirds, though.

Anonymous said...

Frank's right - weekdays 10-2 is not going to even see any tourists. But that's not the point - it's to LOOK like you're doing something for tourism. To paraphrase Billy Crystal's character: "It's more important to look good than to be good."

Anonymous said...

Friggin Idiots !
That train car is painted like a Redbird but its not the Classic car we rode as kids on the #7 line
Originally called "Bluebirds" the real deal had BIG WIDE bay windows with round corners. These "Bluebirds" were ordered for the 1964 World Fair and strictly ran on the Flushing #7 line.
Ed Koch added some other cars to the line and had them painted all the same as "Redbirds" to hide rust and track grime.

I cant beleive they balled this up !!

Once again leave it to city officials to F#$* it up.
......burp this gives me agita.

-Joe

Anonymous said...

To keep up with the Queens Crap tradition for Accuracy.

This is a R36WF (WF=Worlds Fair) car not the bogus painted IRT car !
Note the two 3 over 1 “picture windows” per side
http://www.orenstransitpage.com/otpnycpics/flushing6.jpg

me said...

"georgetheatheist said...
Get your barf bags ready! Next Tuesday is Marshall's State of the Borough address: Colden Auditorium at Queens College. (I'll be looking for you there. Will you be looking for me?)"

HAHA, 10 AM on a Tuesday.. I wonder who can make this wonderful display of politics. Marshall is lucky I am off from school until the 22. I will be there.

Sal from Ridgewood

Anonymous said...

Small correction.

The car sitting in front of Borough Hall is car #9075, which is a part of the R33/R36 Mainline set of cars.

http://www.nycsubway.org/cars/r3336.html


So it's technically not a WF series car.

georgetheatheist said...

Hey Sal. Marshall's yearly laff-fest at York College was packed to the rafters. Get to QC early to get a seat. Things to look for again this year:

1. Marshall's classic Ralph Kramden imitation: "Ah-humina-humina-humina! Queens is the most diverse place on earth"

2. Closeasthis gal pals Courier publisher Vicki Schneps sitting next to Grandma Claire Shulman and Dolly "What the hell does she do? DeThomas

3. Dog and Pony power point slide show showing all the "beautiful" new buildings

This year's sorry BS yuck festival again will be the "height" of Queens society.

Anonymous said...

Queens’s tourism.

Why, to invite more crappers to move in?