Cross Queensboro, step on Queens and enjoy
This is how New York must have been years ago. It is what you will think when you enter any of the areas within Queens. Because of the diversity of nationalities that you see on the street, in shops, restaurants. How long will it last? It is the big question. With the prices of apartments and premises rising in Brooklyn, more and more people are trying to move to certain areas of Queens, more and more builders are turning places like the 5 Pointz, the graffiti museum, into large blocks of buildings designed for young people which they should attract with trendy cafes, big-table restaurants, and beers served in cans (why this sudden contempt for glasses?). But while all that arrives, Queens resists in its diversity . And here are 10 proofs of that resistance or 10 reasons why it is worth crossing the Queensboro Bridge.
1. TRY 30 DIFFERENT CUISINES FROM 27 COUNTRIES IN LESS THAN 7 BLOCKS
This can only happen in Queens. Specific, in the Sunnyside area, on Queens Boulevard, between 39th and 46th streets (reached by subway line 7 from Manhattan), you can take a gastronomic tour of the world through five continents in a pleasant walk and tasting: there are Chinese restaurants (several types), Japanese, Romanian, Colombian, pizzerias, Mexican tacos, Turkish, Lebanese, Irish, Indian, French and, of course, American donuts. It's no wonder New York Magazine named it one of the reasons to love New York in 2013.
Up up! the sunnyside mexican
two. DOUBLE THE WIZARD OF OZ OR SEE YODA
Or make a short stop-motion animation or a flipbook or see the girl in The Exorcist, Marlon Brando's prostheses in The Godfather or play the Super Nintendo or an Arcade. Anything is possible at the **Museum of Moving Image**, possibly the coolest museum in the city and without pretending to be . It just is.
Located in one of the buildings that belonged to the old Kaufman studios (where series such as Orange is the New Black ), its permanent exhibition tells the story of cinema and how a film is made, from the zoetrope to video games, from the script to merchandising. From a 1950s paint and color by Grace Kelly to the original Yoda figure from Star Wars.
From Breaking Bad to The Godfather, all in Queens
3. LISTEN TO UNRELEASED SONGS BY LOUIS ARMSTRONG
Sung by Louis Armstrong at Louis Armstrong's house , in Corona, where the trumpeter and his wife, Lucille, lived from 1943 until his death first in 1971 and hers later in 1983 and which has been, since 2003, a ** House Museum ** that honors and celebrates life and music by Armstrong.
It is preserved just as its owners lived it, how Lucille decorated it with silver wallpaper, golden taps, full of mirrors, travel souvenirs (such as the Lladró-style porcelain figurine that they gave her in Spain) and paintings, one of them a portrait painted by his friend Tony Bennett. Bennett is another of the musicians who lived and still lives in Queens, home of jazz during the 40s and 50s, when attracted by the tranquility of the neighborhood, they moved there Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, John Coltrane and many more. Although Louis Armstrong's house was the soul and center of this jazz community and still is.
Louis Armstrong practicing in the backyard of his house
Four. GALICIA HOUSE
You open the heavy door of this place in the 31 Astoria Avenue And you're not in New York anymore. Galician gentlemen play dominoes and they comment on their game in Galician, while they drink Estrella Galicia or a cup of coffee. Or maybe a Coca-Cola, served by young waiters who speak Spanish with a Galician and American accent. Some have been in the city for years, others were born here, but for all of them this is still one of their refuges, where you can have a glass of wine for $4 and a beer for $3, Galician-style octopus or hake, some xoubas and, of course, a Santiago cake.
It could be Compostela, BUT NOT
5. ADVERTISING PEPSI
Because you won't resist taking a picture of the old Pepsi sign presiding over Gantry State Park , and by the way you enjoy the impressive views of Manhattan and Roosevelt Island.
The Great Queens Pepsi Sign
6. EATING IN A SCHOOL CLASSROOM
Queens resists hipsterization, but having MoMA's hippest headquarters, **MoMA PS1**, in Long Island City is tricky. M. Wells Dinette is the museum's restaurant, or rather canteen, that pays homage to the building's former use: a college. With long desks and blackboards, daubed notebooks and chairs and a menu that changes daily (like in the school canteen), chefs Hugue Dufour and Sarah Obreitis (also creators of M. Wells Steakhouse) have elevated the classic museum cafe sandwich to a contemporary work of art.
Other hipster concessions in the neighborhood that are worth a look are the The Strand Smokehouse , a Texan corner in Astoria, with bait pulled pork excellent, rib roast like a good Texan eats it, large tables, craft beer and live music. And nearby, also in Astoria, is the Sweet Afton , one of those bars where Manhattanites cross Queensboro for their fried pickles.
Reminisce about your school canteen days
7. ICE CREAM, CANDIES OR SHAKES WITH 100 YEARS
At **Eddie's Sweet Shop**, a pride of Queens neighbors, with marble and wood bar. Giant, hypercaloric ice creams, where the presentation of cute places in manhattan (Magnolia Bakery, Serendipity) it doesn't even smell And there is no need to.
8. FOREST HILLS GARDENS OR AN ENGLISH VILLAGE IN THE MIDDLE OF NEW YORK
On one side of its large asphalt entrance archway, on the other red brick streets. The asphalt is that of normal Queens, the red brick was designed and laid by the Olmsted brothers in 1908 when they built this small, privileged and very expensive neighborhood with 800 houses (cottages) and 11 apartment buildings in Tudor and Georgian style . An idyllic setting with British aspirations right down to his favorite hobby: tennis. The US Open was held at his club until 1977.
gochos in queens
9.**RELAX IN A KOREAN MEGA SPA (OR IS IT A WATER PARK?)**
The ** Spa Castle **, a mega-resort in the Korean part of Queens, is a spa and a water park in one. A paradise of relaxation and kitsch at the same time. By its golden saunas with colored lights, its sparkling tiled pools, a swim-up bar, Korean restaurant, playground, massage chairs, and an audience ranging from stag parties to stressed-out yuppies. It is a jimjilbang, the traditional and popular baths where Koreans gather 24 hours a day to bathe, eat, see family. An experience that you will not live in Manhattan and neither in Brooklyn.
The rest of the yuppies
10. SEE THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS WHEN IT FINALLY SLEEPS
How poetic, right? But this is the view from the Calvary Cemetery Cemetery , the 19th-century Catholic cemetery, whose main 'stars' are Irish and Italian-American gangsters.
*** You may also be interested in...**
- 5 Pointz, the graffiti museum, in danger of extinction
- New York Guide
- All articles by Irene Crespo
Calvary Cemetery Cemetery
Manhattan, across the Queensboro Bridge, from Queens