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

fulton in 5 years

Used to always bug me when I was in Brooklyn, the mediocrity of Montague Street. One of the few things with any personality was the used bookstore, which eventually moved and shortly thereafter went out of business.

I remember that bookstore. Where did it move (before dying?)

There was a cool used bookstore on 5th ave, near 9th st I think, for a while, maybe, but that's long gone. Glad the one on Court survives. That guy must own the building. Him and his dog.

Wish we could talk about great used bookstores in Queens!

The other side of Atlantic, not sure exactly where, never went. I think there is a facebook page. Yeah, Book Court guy owns the building- is it two buildings? - and was able to expand and keep his overhead down I guess. Don't even want to think about bookstores in Queens used or otherwise, recently went in that really junky one in Astoria and remember every time there was some vacant commercial property on 37th Avenue somebody would say "Wouldn't it be nice if it was a bookstore?" and it usually ended up being another beauty parlor.

that junky one going out of business fwiw

that junky one going out of business fwiw

Yeah, I saw that. fwiw I went through the whole basement of that place and found two or three things I might have been interested in buying which was some kind of absolute-zero approaching record low.

I wasn't talking about Book Court, Community Bookstore a few blocks down. The one that closes for a few months so he can go on vacation. That's a classic book store. Book Court is obviously doing well.

Community Bookstore is still there? Good for him. Haven't been down that far down Court in a while and I was kind of figuring he had succumbed to the inevitable.

Last I checked it was there. Haven't been around there for a while myself. I used to live on Court btw Kane and Baltic, circa 1999-2002 or so.

Ha, just read the yelp page for that which is actually kind of amusing. Some entries from December so I assume that he still there.

What was the name of the little bookstore that lasted a year or two on Sackett Street off Court right before that? Spyglass, Looking Glass, Seeing Eye?

Tell-Tale Books.

I was able to remember somehow. Brain getting ready for Wikipedia blackout.

I think it's somehow appropriate the Queens thread is also the "old-school Brooklyn" thread (and you know what I mean by "old school").

Now can we talk about Don's Music?

And Happy Cow records?

Sorry, didn't go in Don Music's too much for some reason and don't really remember Happy Cow. Do always think of the theme music of this thread as "Brooklyn-Queens" by 3rd Bass and often hear auditory hallucination of Steve Martin saying "For me?" whilst reading.

Don was awesome. Carried great CDs but didn't have enough turnover on used vinyl. Prices a bit higher than I liked for vinyl, would've been perfect if they were a few bucks cheaper and he'd sell more and get more used stock in. He'd tell great stories though. A few years ago when I did the Part Time Punks festival in LA he came out. He has/had a store there, Don's in Eagle Rock.

Holy Cow (not happy!) was this guy, I think Steve was his name? It was on 9th st just below 5th avenue. Nice selection, unpretentious, store. friendly.

Trying to remember, there was this weird faceless little CD store on Montague Street named something like Sound Exchange or Record Exchange- there was a sister store in the Slope or somewhere-that actually turned out to be pretty good. Even more surprising was that sometimes the kids that worked there would be playing something that I didn't know at the time and I'd buy it- Eddie Palmieri, The Sun of Latin Music and My Favorite, The Happiest Days of Our Lives come to mind.

My Favorite...big in Long Island!

Were they actually big somewhere? They had that mopey mirror star Morrissey vibe so I never could tell

They had a decent sized regional following and some indie-success/attention outside of Long Island/Brooklyn, but never quite broke through.

If only nabisco had held his current position back then when he could have given them the push that they needed.

While we are walking down Court Street memory lane here are some other names that just came to mind, for good or for bad- Cousins, The Bagel Point, La Carciofa, Roberto Cappuccino- the last one seems to still be there.

Bagel Point...which turned into Court St Cafe or whatever it was called, which I really liked, same guy went on to open the mediterranean place on 5th avenue whose name I can't remember.

But Bagel Point...I heard some serious stories about sexual harassment from one of the owners.

Carciofa was my corner, is now Watty and Meg, right?

Cousins I get mixed up with Cody's Ale House. One of them I used to go to for brunch on weekends for pub grub. No Waterfront Ale House but decent.

Never heard those stories about BP owner, but yeah, place it turned into was OK.
Don't what is there where Carciofa was. Think Cody's replaced Cousins, not sure.

In other memories of Ct. St. past
Shakespeare's Sister: gone
Sweet Melissa: still there, apparently

Sweet Melissa's food was ok to great but I had the WORST customer service experience there.

That was always problematic but I'm wondering what exactly happened to you that was so bad.

I don't remember, just waiting for ever and ever as was all the other tables, and they were full, but they were clearly serving everyone who came in to get coffee or stuff to go, while we sat and waited for like an hour.

When did this become the Downtown Brooklyn thread? Is queens so boring that you have nothing to talk about except longing for other neighborhoods?

We used to refer to Community Bookstore as "Bipolar Books"

We just decidde to give the Unisphere a little rest, is all.

Ha. Was in the neighborhood yesterday evening so went by there and it was harder than ever to get into.

It reminded of what I read about the apartment of the late great cinemaniac Roberta Hill.

I miss that neighborhood even though it's a bit Hobokeny now (and noticeably moreso even than when I moved in about four years ago)

Yeah, I miss that neighborhood too, obviously. I even liked walking around there when I was completely bored and had no interest in going in any of those stores or restaurants.

It was hard to get into the Unisphere?

Can someone explain Forest Hills to me? I was poking around on Trulia, and on one hand I kept seeing all these extremely affordable coops near good schools, and then there would be these very ordinary looking single family homes for like $1.5 million. Is there like fake Forest Hills and real Forest Hills or something?

well there's the forest hills garden neighborhood which is like a wealthy suburb and then the rest of forest hills which is mostly yr average queensy apt buildings

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Forest_Hills_Gardens,_Queens,_NY.jpg

forest hills gardens

vs.

rest of forest hills

http://www.queensnewyork.com/realestate/dix/fh7992.jpeg
http://media.cdn-redfin.com/photo/79/bigphoto/066/2206066_1.jpg

forest hills garden = burt bacharach
forest hills = the ramones

forest hills gardens is also privately owned and so there are signs on every road that say 'no loitering' or whatever. it's basically a gated community w/o a gate that has the benefit of being on like 6 subway lines.

And for many years Jews weren't allowed, so it has that going for it.

Really, from the LIRR train station into the gardens, it's one of the most beautiful areas of NY, but you can't afford to live there, and the rest of Forest Hills is just ok. Some people are like "hey Brooklyn, I live in Forest Hills, it's on the train and it's so cheap so there!" except you're way out in Forest Hills.

what I find interesting is the contrast between the super pretty forest hills area and the brutal ugliness of the 239273-lane queens blvd around there. I guess all the pretty parts of queens are just little bubbles though. I mean, that's true for most places in new york I guess. but it's particularly glaring there.

Successfully stopped thinking about that for a while, but I guess the repressed always has to return

Yeah we just got a car and decided to drive out to the Trader Joe's in Queens, and MAN does it get ugly around Metropolitan Ave. I guess we were basically driving through Middle Village and Rego Park? Yuk.

haha yeah that part of queens is so oppressively ugly it's kinda amazing. when we lived in woodside we would go to that trader joe's once in a while cause there's a bus that goes directly there / sorta just out of fascination.

Hey Queens people and observant Jews: I need to send a shiva platter/basket to someone in Kew Gardens and I need to order it today or tmrw. Can anyone recommend where to order from? My normal go-to religious person that I can always ask for advice is the person I'm sending the food to, so I can hardly call her up and ask. :-/

I come close to being in that venn diagram but I don't eat in jewishy queens that often

web search suggests this place tho: http://www.yelp.com/biz/bens-best-kosher-delicatessen-rego-park

It also has to be glatt kosher/Star K-certified, but I guess I can call and ask them that. Thanks, E.

Any other suggestions also welcome.

That's probably "best". I imagine there's a ton of places out there amidst the bukharian jews but I wouldn't know where to start. Like this place:

http://www.kingdavidkosher.com/

20% rent increase. I probably actually am moving to Queens guys.

We don't want you anymore.