Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Flushing, Queens: tourist destination!

From the Washington Post travel section:

Even though I go to Flushing, N.Y., fairly often, I'm always caught off guard by how quickly things change in the Queens neighborhood. Sometimes it will be just a new restaurant, or maybe a new hotel, but last year, as my train was pulling in, I noticed a whole new stadium. Shea was gone, and Citi Field was in its place. The area has an energy to it that I just want to bottle and sell.

Citifield is in Corona, on the other side of Flushing Creek, not in Flushing (no matter how hard the Wilpons pretend). I do sometimes fantasize about marketing "Eau de Flushing", though...

Here's a neighborhood that really seems to be part of China, only with New York City street signs.

Yes, we've noticed.

When I step off the train at Main Street, get my first whiff of scallion pancakes, make my first sighting of a new menu or find some ingredient that exists nowhere else in the Eastern United States, I know that I've come to the right place.

The first thing you smell when you step off the train at Main Street is definitely not scallion pancakes.

I'm not kidding about the stepping-off-the-train thing. There are Chinese street food vendors right under the elevated tracks.

Yes, we've noticed.

When it comes to shopping, I always set out with a goal; it could be a pair of jeans, an ethernet cable or some cereal bowls. And I can guarantee that I'll never find what I want and will come home with something else. Last time, it was my favorite Fisherman's Friend cough drops in Chinese packaging.

I'd resist the urge to consume any food product in Chinese packaging these days, pal.

The neighborhood is filled with malls that look more like third-world market stalls, and a small storefront could be a gateway to dozens of tiny vendors and even more food.

Finally, a dose of honesty!

Flushing Meadows Corona Park never seems to be on anybody's list of favorite parks.

Another dose of honesty!

At the Queens Museum of Art...head for "The Panorama," a model of New York City as it existed in roughly 1992. At 9,335 square feet, it's the world's largest architectural display. I can't visit it without crying.

Neither can I. New York before Bloomberg. A wonderful place. When they finish updating the panorama, it will show all that we've lost and the crap that we've gained in its place.

At the end of the day, take a walk down Main Street. Embrace the crush of the crowds, browse in the shops, grab a few snacks and pretend for a moment that you're in Asia.

No need to pretend. "Am I still in America?" is a phrase I have said many a time while strolling down the main drag.

Just as I was thinking that this was as urban as a place could be, I heard a rooster crow.

Heh...

Yarvin is a writer and photographer in Edison, N.J.

Ah, that explains it.

22 comments:

cherokeesista said...

Would you like to bottle and sell the STENCH from Main Street to:(
I live in Flushing and you couldn't pay me to go to Main Street:( IT'S DISGUSTING!!!!! Oh lets not forget how vibrant it is:(

Anonymous said...

Hahaha. Eau De Flushing Bay. I too live in Flushing, a couple minutes walk from Main st. but you'll never catch me there. I avoid that place like the plague. And it's only going to get worse.

Anonymous said...

I want to bottle some water from Newtown Creek to sell to the tower people. It's going to be called "locally sustainaibly harvested" purified water. Sold in recyclable glass bottles of course.

I live not too far away from the "vibrant and bustling part" of Jamaica. I avoid its run-down buildings and filthy streets like the plague. Downtown Flushing and Jamaica are the two major cesspools in Queens.

Jeffrey Tastes said...

archie bunkers since Ellis Island have been saying the same thing as you, Crap. Don't make the same mistake your parents did by hating the Beatles.

cherokeesista said...

Jeffrey Tastes said...
archie bunkers since Ellis Island have been saying the same thing as you, Crap. Don't make the same mistake your parents did by hating the Beatles.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

My parents LOVED THE BEATLES:)and Elvis:) ohhhh don't even get me started on him:)

Queens Crapper said...

Archie Bunkers weren't saying anything about Flushing back then because a) Flushing was gorgeous back then b) there was no such thing as an "Archie Bunker" back then.

Anonymous said...

Oh look it's Jeffrey, the foodie who runs around Jackson Heights looking for taco carts. No surprise that he thinks the critique and not the ridiculous article is what's lame.

Anonymous said...

"Don't make the same mistake your parents did by hating the Beatles."

It's not the Beatles I hate, but the roaches...

Anonymous said...

"Don't make the same mistake your parents did by hating the Beatles."

How old do you think we are?

My mother is younger than Paul McCartney.

kingofnycabbies said...

Did I miss something here? If you step off the #7 at Main Street, where are the elevated tracks? The station is underground. Did he mean the LIRR trestle? That was clear as Gowanus mud.

faster340 said...

I love how people who don't live with it every day think it's so wonderful. They think they are on vacation... I guess they are, vacation from reality...

LibertyBoyNYC said...

Go back to San Fran, Jiffy, and take your camera with you!

Anonymous said...

Barf bags. Get your barf bags heah!

Anonymous said...

I believe the taco trucks are called roach coaches in California.

Anonymous said...

"'Am I still in America?' is a phrase I have said many a time while strolling down the main drag."

Yes, you are. But isn't that what makes Queens as a whole unique? I think the racist undertones on this blog have seriously got to stop. I subscribe to your blog b/c it occasionally provides local news that normally won't be covered by the media. (Even NY1 didn't go to the CB7 FC meeting last week-what a shame...) If a blogger wanting change really wants the unity of fellow citizens and bloggers, have some decency.

Anonymous said...

I think the racist undertones on this blog have seriously got to stop. I subscribe to your blog b/c it occasionally provides local news that normally won't be covered by the media. (Even NY1 didn't go to the CB7 FC meeting last week-what a shame...)

Hey troll, if you don't like the comments, don't read them. I'm sure the racist comments about the "round eyes" in Asian publications are better. Right? Perhaps the comments aren't racist but reflect the truth. Ever consider that???

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't have a problem if the immigrants transformed Main Street into something resembling an upscale retail shopping district in Hong Kong or Beijing, but it was transformed into a kind of Kowloon Walled City, which, by the way, was also a tourist destination for years.

Queens Crapper said...

"Yes, you are. But isn't that what makes Queens as a whole unique? I think the racist undertones on this blog have seriously got to stop."

So I am supposed be thrilled that there are people in Queens who don't want me to shop in their part of town so they discourage me by not making their signs bilingual? THIS is what makes Queens unique all right. This would not be acceptable anywhere else in America. It's those racist undertones that need to stop.

Anonymous said...

Flushing is ugly and unsanitary. It's the type of slum that used to be condemned for an urban renewal project. Today we dance around like it's great and actually encourage it to become more of a dump. Amazing.

Snake Plissskin said...

Flushing is ugly and unsanitary. It's the type of slum that used to be condemned for an urban renewal project. Today we dance around like it's great and actually encourage it to become more of a dump. Amazing.

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Absolutley correct.

Its like wasting taxpayers dollars on the trying to promote the slum under the 'International Express' of the 7 line. You can't put lipstick on a pig.

This mess was created by 'Honest Joe' Crowley and the machine by tweeding programs and chasing out the middle class.

Now its a pigsty and they need to put a positive spin on it - and in the tradition of one party states that use to call grim Eastern Bloc cities 'worker's paradise,' they write glowing tributes to urban waste that are the direct result of their programs and policies.

Racist undertones? Bullshit.

Hell, the Americans are the most tolerant people on earth.

Anonymous said...

I need a new place for local news. Sometimes there are legitimate concerns about safety and sanitation but the blog discussions are stale tirades about how people feel put upon by immgration in Queens. Boring!

Anonymous said...

I need a new place for local news. Sometimes there are legitimate concerns about safety and sanitation but the blog discussions are stale tirades about how people feel put upon by immgration in Queens. Boring!
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by all means read the weeklies. if its 1980, or 1990, or 2000, or 2010 its vibrant! diverse! immigration!

we understand: for some people it is a challenge to think and they get a headache from it.