54-46, that's my number: the Queens thread

I don't know why I capitalized "Pizza". I should probably go to bed.

haha yeah me too, I'm staying up for no real reason

the last two times we went for dinner there was this same local dude singing cheeseball covers, sorta annoying actually. also we've always had problems with the service speed, though that's true for a lot of places around here.

75$ of the time we're there for breakfast and I get the huevos a la mexicana and/or pastries. their tortillas *are* really good, any idea if they use nixtamal's?

errr 75%
gnite!

yeah the one time we went for dinner they had the singer. Really strange move. I don't think they use nixtamals. Certainly we were going there before nixtamal opened and my girlfriend has never mentioned a difference. The quesadillas don't use tortillas at all really, more like a masa pancake. So good. Chicken or shrimp inside (pork and veggies are the other options but not as good) with cheese and mashed potato inside and more cheese on top, and tons of the red and green salsas. Service used to be great because it was always just one of these two women, but as they've gotten busier they always seem to have some new person who's not on top of things. Still it's a gem for the neighborhood.

I've been trying to do some research on the 'fedders renaissance', I hadn't really thought about it beyond 'haha...queens sure is ugly' until now.

apparently 'fedders building' was coined by a bay ridge activist some years back. it seems like it's worth taking seriously beyond like 'lol cheap buildings' - I mean it's the result of a lot of individual decisions and market incentives. depends on how you define it, but I'd imagine that it's quite possible that at this point there is more fedders housing stock in NYC than historic brownstone so it's not an insignificant part of 'new york city'.

thoughts:

- how has fedders cornered the low-end AC market so well? (+ freidrich) like okay sure, they're the cheapest but how'd that happen? idk a lot about AC, I think it should be illegal btw.

- why does light pink brick seem more popular in queens than brooklyn? it's not absent in brooklyn, but brooklyn-style fedders seem to be a tad more colorful.

- would there be a way to incentivize 'good design'? the typical solution, density bonuses...prob not gonna appeal to queens crapper / bay ridge types - the people most invested in the issue. and beyond that - I mean, what is good design? facades in sunnyside and jackson heights don't look *that* different from nycha buildings or fedders when it comes down to it - nicer brick, uniform streetscapes, subtle but not super complex architectural flourishes. how much more does it really cost for a developer to include some simple brick flourishes?

- a 'nice' building doesn't make a nice neighborhood - sorta a prisoner's dilemma thing for developers, why spend time on design if nobody else will and the hood is pretty ugly anyway? this makes sense for the majority of queens and certain parts of brooklyn - but there are still fedders in pretty parts of brooklyn - seems like they're throwing away money?

- how much of this is cultural? new flushing buildings are generally asian developers and a majority of people living in the fedderiest parts of the boroughs are 1st/2nd gen.

- how much of this is just snobbery? is there someone out there that thinks "wow, that's a great new building, lots of parking and a balcony"? look at that shiny stainless steel!

- is the demand for housing in the nyc area is so strong that people will live in literally anything? if it's that simple, this phenomenon isn't so different from 'why are all new williamsburg developments (even the non-fedders) so ugly?' and if that's the case it's pretty much guaranteed that all development outside of manhattan is going to ugly for decades to come.

I um, didn't say so before but I def think of that style of building that posted, with the ugly protruding balcony and the metal awning, as "immigrant housing." Probably because that kind of thing in Jersey City is all Filipino and in Greenpoint it's Polish and I'm sure in other places it's Russian or Puerto Rican or whatever. But yeah. I don't know how to address that any more deeply.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2011/03/03/2011-03-03_rezoning_push_would_add_flavor_curb_development.html

queens blvd infill is good but again this goes back to earlier discussion about making queens blvd livable first. I find the skyscrapers+highway aesthetic that the blvd takes outside of sunnyside sorta weird.

sidewalk cafes on skillman is great, queens blvd pointless, I wouldn't go. until it looks like this again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEPwYcM1qTs

http://gothamist.com/2011/03/06/5_pointz_may_be_eliminated_in_owner.php

sad but prob practical? there are other gigantic buildings to paint that aren't in huge transit hubs

Too bad, it's a real landmark and a great site to see when the 7 train comes above ground and loops around. I don't know what they're doing throughout LIC. Is there need for more apartments? I thought they couldn't fill some of those buildings? QB Plaza is insane. Still empty buildings, empty storefronts, strip clubs but also expensive properties and brand new developments. Tons of construction and "new traffic patterns" throughout the plaza itself, new dividers made up of jagged boulders. I don't know how long it will last as an arts hub, despite PS1. The spaces I've seen are often overpriced and people are getting priced out and moving to Bushwick (or Sunset Park).

nyc big picture there's absolutely need for more housing - there's a steady population increase projected and people gotta move somewhere. these parts of queens have the proximity / subway lines / space.

there's plenty of overpriced 'luxury' buildings in LIC and maybe the market won't support those kinda places forever but in the meantime more dense housing is more dense housing. is LIC still an arts hub? I don't think it really needs to be - I mostly look at it as a secondary business district + transit hub.

the new jagged boulders are pretty wtf landscaping, I agree. the eventual path along qbp is gonna be pretty and green though.

sunnyside railyards also needs to be built over, someone's gonna make billions when that finally happens. what a crazy use of land.

So my friend who lives in Sunnyside noticed the BID office and goes to talk to them and see what's up. Says something like "I'm interested in maybe a certain kind of restaurant" and guy says "we don't need restaurants, restaurants fail. We need the GAP." He then asks if guy lives in Sunnyside and he says "no".

So that pretty much sums up Queens Blvd for you. No cheap rents, no interesting development. People on the sunnyside blog may post about how short-sighted this is and how people aren't going to be attracted to the neighborhood and move here but I guess that's not really the case. I imagine Sunnyside will get slightly misguided hype and maybe even the types of people who live in the LIC towers may read about this "liveable" cheaper neighborhood and they'll move in and they'll be happy when Banana Republic opens.

Unless some people hurry up and do something interesting. I mean that wouldn't change things, but it would be nice for those of us who live here.

LIC meanwhile, my god. Stopped there yesterday to go to the supermarket that's in one of the towers. The entire waterfront is a college campus of wealthy people who've likely never been further east than Vernon. I picked up some LIC newspaper magazine that had an editorial from one of the realtors behind a few of the developments. He wrote:

It is our responsibility as local residents to patron these restaurants, coffee shops and clothing stores because, if we don't, who will? I have spoken to many friends throughout LIC about the quaintness of the area, that we don't have a Starbucks or a Banana Republic and I agree about keeping the charm that we have right now alive, but with that means much less random streetwalkers and window shoppers that would normally pop into Testaccio for a bowl of pasta and a glass of wine on a Saturday afternoon in February. So this is why I want to see each and every one of you out in the neighborhood more often. Is that too much to ask for? Celebrate you birthday at Masso! That that blind date of yours to El Ay Si! Buy your wife a dress from Etheral. C'mon LICers, we need your help.

Part of the context is he's talking about the weather, but the big picture is the realization that he's promoting a charming/quaint neighborhood but the people buying his apartments aren't utilizing the neighborhood.

that dude who runs the BID is from jersey and got it cause his dad knew the guy who owns the white castle. (I know this from the sunnyside blog.)

Go Queens.

I think you're right and it's inevitable that those LIC folk are gonna head over, but from the longer-term perspective I think that it has more to do w/ the good transportation and proximity to manhattan.

LIC isn't really a neighborhood, it's like one *street* (vernon) and some other streets, but really one *street* ya know? and it doesn't matter how many nice restaurants you have on one street if it's still only got one street w/ a real urban vibe. that's why I'm sorta for the 5 pointz thing.

jackson ave seems like it's on its way but still is more of a car street than a foot-traffic street. that transition is essential to LIC turning into a real neighborhood.

I have my eyes on two places. Just to the right of Dutch Kills is a building that says "Jules Printing, since 1933, for all your stationery needs" or something. It's occupied but filled from floor to ceiling with paper junk. Doesn't look like they do any printing there. On the other side of Dutch Kills is a garage/warehouse for rent by owner. I haven't called. I'm sure it's out of my range.

Around the corner is The Sculpture Center. That part of LIC is in spitting distance of PS1 and Sage, but is a bit rough and car-oriented for Baby Gap. I'd say it would be great if more arts oriented places opened up along there, but do we need another Space Womb. Anyway, the corner of the street that houses the Sculpture Center has some super fancy condo. Around back there's more empty spaces and raw industrial stuff, then you hit Arris Lofts.

I think it's over. Even the arts buildings I've looked at...not to generalize too much, but they tend to be older artists, hobbyists. Some established craftspeople and perhaps good artists, but a lot of mediocre stuff. I think it's all about Bushwick now, as far as "the youth" is concerned. 5 pointz was one of the only affordable buildings when it came to art space rentals, but they had to empty that after the accident I think?

what are you gonna be using the space for?

I've been looking at spaces for a few months now to set up primarily as a printshop. I have some pipe dreams of having a storefront one day and being able to exhibit and sell cheap prints in a gallery-style space up front. And/or a design bookstore. But initially a place to do freelance design/print production as well as letterpress and silkscreen and maybe some other types of printing. I've seen spaces in LIC, Sunnyside, Woodside, Greenpoint and Bushwick and nothings really been right. I'm also looking for people to share the space with, preferably people with interest in the aforementioned activities, if you know anybody.

nope I know like zero art people.

I am in the far-far-far future perhaps interested in setting up a small business somewhere around here though so I try to keep an eye on commercial rents just out of curiousity.

Dan, I would patronize your printshop. Have you seen this place north of Astoria Boulevard called Sunnyside Printing (even though it's in Astoria?). It looks like it's fallen into disuse.

No, I haven't. There's lots of big commercial printers around my house in woodside. It's a big industry for chinese immigrants now.

It's all very depressing. First of all, most of the printing that you get in america, books, graphic novels, art stuff, is printing in China and Singapore. And I recently noticed a printshop in Greenpoint owned by immigrants who ordered their paper from Hong Kong. Even when printing in NY, it's cheaper for them to order a palette of paper to be shipped over from Hong Kong then it is to find and buy from an american vendor.

The printing industry used to be located around Varick st manhattan, but when rents went up almost all of them fled to NJ, the Queens/Long Island border and Long Island City. There's a few on the northside of Queens Plaza, a few on the southside but I think the big ones are actually across the train tracks over in sunnyside, near where the temp MomaQNS was.

There's also stuff down on Borden ave near Fresh Direct. There's a small offset shop where they print Showpaper there.

Asian paper is sometimes of really really questionable environmental standards. "Stock made from liquid rainforest" isn't really a selling point if the cust cares about anything EXCEPT price -- although IKPP woodfree is a lovely, lovely paper and comes in a 140gsm that is very nice and substantial feeling, one just can't feel good about using it.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/03/16/2011-03-16_staying_in_print_astoria_store_safe_after_news_rallies_readers.html

Interesting. When I first started looking at studios spaces there was constantly an ad from a "publishing company" in Long Island City, somewhere north of Queens Plaza, that was looking to share their space. Wonder if it was them.

I'd really love to be in Queens but it's looking more and more like Greenpoint or Bushwick money-wise.

yeah I mean w/ the kind of stuff you're gonna sell I'm not sure I would argue with that decision

I feel like food is the only safe bet around here

I'm not selling anything. That part was the pipe-dream. There's no storefronts in my budget. Hell, half the spaces I'm looking at don't have windows.

so warehouse space is really cheaper in greenpoint/bushwick? that does kinda surprise me.

It's mostly a question of how it's broken down. Most large industrial buildings stay that way. It's only the developers who see a value in creating space for artists and small businesses that take these huge buildings and chop them up into small spaces. A lot of those huge buildings around Sunnyside/LIC...warehouses in Woodside, Borden Ave etc, spaces start at 2,000 square feet. That's pretty huge. A good value, but out of my price range! When you get a bunch of people, the options increase. See Flux Factory.

Problem is once those developers start chopping up the spaces, some of them don't know where to stop!

ah that makes a lot of sense

There's a WSJ article on restaurants on 31st Avenue, Astoria.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703899704576204751138215070.html

I don't think any of these are worth going out of your way for especially; did you try the Mexican place yet Dan?

Phagwah Parade is this Sunday in Richmond Hill.

Going to Pachanga Patterson for my birthday tomorrow night.

Sweet afton is okay. Had some good drinks iirc

I went once. It was super crowded. I had a cocktail that was just ok, and fried pickles that were great.

Sweet Afton is super crowded on the weeekends. It's okay on weeknights, but there's still something kind of off about it. The pickle martini and the fried prickles and anything they do involving pickles works though.

Of that group, Il Bambino is the most low-key place, but I only go there because I live around the corner probably.

wanted to go to the parade but gotta work :/

So...Panchagna Patterson...

Pretty good. Definitely good for the neighborhood and good for queens, but I wouldn't say it's a destination restaurant. They bill it as the family dinners mexican cooks make at then end of a shift or whatever, which sounds exciting, but it seemed to be just slightly fusiony good to great mexican food, not a huge stretch. The food was good, but in the end, I don't think it was better then say, Nixtamal, where they get their tortillas, so you have to ask is it worth it? More expensive, and the place was packed...it was comfortable in the back but up front looked like a nightmare. I had a pretty exciting cocktail with some chocolate infused tequila or something.

we just came back from bliss, which we had never been to before and hadn't planned on going to (before we remembered that quaint is closed on tuesdays) anddddd will not return to

chocolate infused tequila sounds really good, how much are their cocktails?

Thanks for the report on Panchagna. I had a feeling it might be a little . . . "precious"?

My coworkers who live in the neighborhood and are Guyanese and went to Phagwah had a great time. They said there were a lot of "white people" (their words) there too.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/dining/23phagwah.html

I hate '# of white people as judge of authenticity/goodness'

http://gothamist.com/2011/03/23/queensboro_bridge_could_be_koch_bri.php

Our man Jimmy Van Bramer is fighting it

he seems like a decent guy actually

Totally. I've barely ever noticed who my council member has been while living in NY, but this guy is fighting the good fight and getting out there for sure.

Biting my tongue r.e. JVB.

So we should guess why you don't approve?

I want to hear queens library gossip!