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

Yeah. And I ate there once. It was terrible. They have karaoke and a live band called "Sax Appeal".

Cuckoo's Nest however, a few blocks away, is totally awesome. Great fish and chips and irish breakfast. Sunday "trad" session, the whole deal.

j/k

We were told by someone in the know that we could get a fairly large 1BR (like 750-900 sqf) in a co-opish building near the subway in Forest Hills for like $1600-1800. We're thinking we may suck it up and do a 1BR for a couple years, especially if we can get in-building laundry/dishwasher/elevator for stroller purposes. So it doesn't seem massively more expensive than Sunnyside/Woodside/JH.

Ok, tell me this though. Just say I wanted to do a quick, driving/walking tour of sunnyside and woodside to get the flavor of the area, where would you recommend going?

coming from brooklyn, take greenpoint avenue into queens, you'll see the south side of sunnyside, greenpoint is the main strip and there's lots of housing off of it. You'll cross QB when Greenpoint Ave turns into Roosevelt and gets a bit crappy under the train, but you'll pass La Flor, a nice little brunch spot. Take a left on 55th street then the next left on Skillman ave, that's the start of skillman, take that all the way down to 42nd or so street and that's the north side of Sunnyside. zig zag around there, drive on 47th or 46th or other streets through the gardens. Know you will not live there, but it is beautiful. Drive up to 39th Ave, all very pleasant. 43rd Ave and Queens Blvd have more food and whatnot.

For Woodside get back to Roosevelt and keep driving to 61st st where the LIRR and the express 7 stop is. That's my little downtown woodside, where my bank is, my dry cleaners etc. Beyond that woodside is really big and block by block, some of it's really ugly and not very nice, some is decent. Over where I live near Doughboy Plaza is really the border of Sunnyside and is pretty great. Because it's not "technically" Sunnyside Gardens, it's cheaper, but it's just a few blocks away, yet is closer to the trains.

Woodside also streteches north, the other side of Northern Blvd where you're near the M and R trains and start to border Astoria. I wouldn't necessarily want to live up there, but it's good that I can walk to those trains if the 7 doesn't suit me. I actually take the LIRR to work because they don't take my ticket so it's free most of the time and way faster way to get to the west side.

I second most of that except for the driving part. also qb is sorta the main drag more than skillman or greenpoint and sunnyside is the only part of queens where it's a (half) decent place to walk.

Agreed

Yeah, make sure your driving tour includes skillman avenue around 39 to 43--there is a big playground/ballcourt there, and thats where the farmers market is on weekends.

Where I live there is a little playground around 42nd and greenpoint, where you can also find the sunnyside library.

Also, what are your transportation needs? If you want something other than the 7, Jackson heigts, forest hills or kew gardens
have more options.

I can deal with the 7 to Grand Central (10 block walk to work from there or take the 6). The E is great for me which is another benefit to forest hills.

btw thanks all

Of course. Sunnyside (especially around Skillman in the low 40s) always feels like Sesame Street to me, so I highly recommend it for children.

Ok, nutha question. What's the deal with Flushing Meadows/Corona Park, specifically the part of it abutting forest hills? Is there an actual park there that can be accessed from Forest Hills or is it just kind of marshlands on the other side of a highway?

Do you mean forest park? I know there's parts of flushing meadows down there and maybe that's what you mean, but it does hit forest park which is closer to forest hills. Big park with some old growth and a vintage carousel. Only walked through once.

I mean flushing meadows corona, I think, which is on the north side of Queens Blvd, as opposed to forest park which is to the south.

I mean it looks on the map like there's this southern peninsula of that park with a giant lake in it.

it's not as close as you might think, cause the freeway is a barrier and there aren't many pleasant ways to get across. its not really park-y down there, just some pleasant lakes. I've jogged around there a few times and it was fine for that. and again, that part of forest hills is really just apt buildings and nothing else.

and yeah forest park is nice

ah ok, that's kind of what I thought. My gut kind of says it would be nicer to live south of Queens Blvd so as to not have to cross it as often to get to stuff. IDK.

def

I would look into the area between forest hills and kew gardens. don't rule out kew gardens.

do rule out rego park

yeah that's p much what a co-worker who lives in kew gardens told me.

thx btw

np

What's the deal with edible QUEENS?

edible
QUEENS

I mean, I like the look of it, but I wonder it deserves a more thorough reading than the casual flipthrough I give it

nah

it's a national magazine, there's also an edible brooklyn, edible long island, edible wherever. it's just casual reading / ads for places to eat and not really 'an institution' or anything

I was just down by the border of Ridgewood and Bushwick today (Jefferson L area) and it was kind of nicer than I thought it would be, although I don't think we'll move to Ridgewood b/c (1) bad commute and (2) probably same problem as other areas mentioned earlier in terms of childcare options. But it's funny how rents get like 20% cheaper once you cross into Queens even where it feels like the same neighborhood.

We also drove around various parts of Astoria recently just to get a feel and didn't really think it seemed worth current rents, other than maybe the area around the park.

Whelp, put in an application on a large 1BR near the 71st Ave stop in Forest Hills. Market was crazy and everything was going before we could even see it, so we just felt like we had to take the first thing we liked. Price was more like what I was hoping for a lower-end 2BR, but it's the size of our 2BR now. We had a cheaper place available but only near the M/R and not as close to the good part of Austin St and whatnot, so we payed more for location mainly. Seems pretty alright. You cross the street and walk a block and you're in the beautiful part of FH, which is pretty nice to walk around. Right now we pay a lot more money per month and there's nowhere nice to walk around for a mile in any direction.

well, welcome to queens (presumably)

nick's pizza is really good

Kew Gardens Cinema is a gem.

haha I was trying to think of other recs in the area and that was the only thing coming up

used to be a porno theater?

Yeah, there's not a whole lot that's super exciting, I know. There seem to be some uzbek kebab restaurants. Honestly I'm at a point in my life at the moment when I'm happy to just have an express train that goes right to my office, some parks and playgrounds nearby, a safe area, conveniences, decent daycare/preschool options and the ability to save some money. I live in Williamsburg and I basically pay extra for a bunch of stuff I don't use now -- bars, trendy restaurants, music venues, stylish boutiques, single 20-somethings etc. Hell, even a Barnes & Noble is a bookstore -- I've spent plenty of happy afternoons in my life in Barnes & Nobles. I do wish there was one decent coffee place. One day maybe I'll open one there.

the two starbucks are always packed. the one near kew gardens is pretty big though.

but yeah you can get to more-interesting jackson heights in about 4 minutes on the train, fwiw. or lots of places. forest hills seems like a fine place to live.

Yeah. A few stops to LIC (PS1 etc) also.

Yeah, you can easily get to Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, LIC, switch to the 7 in Jackson Heights to Woodside and Sunnyside (or just walk). Or Flushing Meadows. The Zoo is a great little zoo. The Queens Museum of Art is decent and has the awesome Panorama. Elmhurst/Woodside has the best Thai in NYC (or most of America for that matter).

Kew Gardens Cinema used to be a porno theater. Down the street is a cute little german bakery, and across the street from that a russian jewish deli with good pickles.

Ben's Best is highly regarded for deli but i've never been.

Eddie's Sweet Shop. Wafa's is pretty good. Chalet Alpina looks like an adventure. There's plenty of exploring to do.

Repost from Rolling Latin thread:
Arturo O'Farrill is supposed to be the special guest tonight at Victor Prieto's monthly gig at Terraza. Featuring Vince Cherico on drums.

There now and it is sounding awesome

http://sunnysidepost.com/2012/07/26/site-of-donovans-pub-for-sale-and-pub-likely-to-close/

I was going to post that. I haven't been in ages. Getting shut by the health inspector didn't help. But still, f the haters, so long as you ordered medium rare and you're not the kind of person who's impressed by a tasty brioche bun and artisanal ketchup, it was a damn great burger. The best in the city, as Time Out controversially claimed all those years ago? How can one judge. But a damn great burger.

And I liked the fries.

yeah 'best burger' out of 300000 burgers is kinda an absurd idea regardless

weird lightning outside

I was picking up takeout from De Mole after getting veggies from the Sunnyside CSA (Queens superstar!) when the sky turned black. Crazy out there. In an hour and a half I get to drive to Laguardia to pick up girlfriend from a very delayed flight. Queens!

ha I got de mole takeout too!

anyone know anything about this guy?

http://madeinforesthills.com/

I feel like we are a long way away from 'made in forest hills' being a selling point. maybe he should change the name to 'made near brooklyn'

Well in any case, I'm moved in. Apartment is awesome. I haven't really gotten a chance to explore FH yet because I've just been working. So far my experiences are basically (1) Thai Pot is kind of disappointing but not terrible (2) the fastbreak convenience store has a surprisingly good beer selection and (3) on my train in the morning there aren't a lot of people who, uh, look like me? I mean not that I exactly looked like most of the people on my Williamsburg commute either, with my relatively boring business casual. (4) What I do like, so far, is that the neighborhood feels calm. You go a block off of Queens Boulevard and there are trees and gardens in front of co-op buildings and yellowstone park, and I don't have that feeling like watching my back is automatic. (5) the commute is super fast and easy, which is nice.

Given more time maybe I would have decided to move somewhere else, IDK. I was in this mad rush of trying to make everything work -- affordability, kid friendliness, safety, commute, and other things kind of took a back seat.

Another Queens convert. Welcome!

I don't know if I'm a convert yet, ha.

I found East Williamsburg kind of oppressive and I was glad to leave. I need more convincing that Forest Hills is the right place. Anyway it's good for at least a couple years of saving a little money while having space and an easy commute I guess.