Ice Queen in Queens

The Great Hall

The quiz is behind us. I think we all learned something about Queens--and, maybe, about ourselves. Time to party. With Bjork? Yes, Bjork is in the Hall. The Great Hall of the New York Hall of Science, that is. We don't get Icelandic superstars everyday in Queens (and it's been a long time since the Beatles played Shea Stadium), so this is big news. Bjork chose the Great Hall for her science-themed Biophilia spectacle, complete with commentary by Richard Attenborough.

Well, that wacky, undulating, valle de verre space (built for the 1964 Worlds Fair) sounds just about right for Bjork or maybe Devo (oh please, Hall of Science, please bring Devo), but it is not a likely candidate for the music venue Queens has needed for a long, long time. Tomorrow, I'll revisit Queens' punk and glam-rock legacy. And unveil a possible successor! In the meantime, here's Bjork from the Hall. Looks like science to me.

The Reckoning

Congratulations Giants, tough luck Pats. Now it's time for the score that really matters: Yours. Here are the answers to the Queens IQ Quiz, Part II:

(6) Monty McFadden, played by Tom Waits, is one of a group of friends from Astoria gathering for pal Ray (Ken Olin) and Patty's (Chloe Webb) wedding in Queens Logic. Patty's friend Carla (Linda Fiorentino) on Monty: "Cute? The guy buys a new Monte Carlo every year because his name is Monty." Here's Monty in action:

(7) Traveling west to east, Metropolitan Avenue takes you past the Linden Hill & Ahawith Chesed cemeteries (at Grandview Ave.); the Mt. Olivet Cemetery; the Lutheran Cemetery; and St. John's Cemetery. It takes you within a block of Maple Grove Cemetery before terminating in Jamaica. That's a lot of dead metropolitans.

69 and fine

(8) It was a "troubled" '69 El Camino that future governor Andrew Cuomo worked on for weeks and then, on a test drive, and against his brother's advice, dropped the hammer with disastrous results. He goes for Stingrays these days. The story is told well in this Times piece.

(9) Michael Griffith was struck by a car and killed on the Belt Parkway. He and two friends were fleeing a gang of white youths in Howard Beach. His friends survived, though one was badly beaten with baseball bats.  Four of the white youths were convicted of second degree manslaughter and assault and sentenced to 15-20 years. Sadly, it was not to be the last hate crime in Howard Beach.

(10) Vince's indy film was Queens Boulevard. The final line: "I am Queens Boulevard." As far as I know no one has yet made a film using QB's nickname "Boulevard of Death." But don't pinch it, it's copywrit.

(*Bonus*). How did Karol Kozlowski get from his lodgings in Greenpoint across the Newtown Creek where he could get a subway to Astoria? He took the a trolley across the Vernon Avenue Bridge. This map shows the extensive streetcar network operated by the BMT in Brooklyn and in Queens in 1924. The Vernon Bridge was replaced with the current Pulaski Bridge in 1954. By then, expansion of the subways had made the trolleys redundant. Kozlowski commuted on the G train for the last few years. Poor bastard.

Well, how'd you do? If you scored a 10 (or 11 with the bonus), give a holler. You've got a Cardvark T-Shirt coming your way.

Quiz Time, Part II

Okay, Queens Cognoscenti, how'd you do on Part One? The answers follow the photo below, so if you haven't taken it, there's still time.

In the Triangle (Courtesy Bridgeandtunnelclub.com)

(1) Joseph Cornell lived and worked nearly his whole life in a house on Utopia Parkway in Flushing.

(2) Donald Manes was pulled over by the police on Northern Boulevard near 126th St. He was dazed and bloody, telling the cops he had escaped two men who had abducted him at knifepoint and forced him to drive to Flushing Meadows Park. The story came under intense scrutiny and details of the PVB (Parking Violations Bureau) payoff scandal came to light. Manes killed himself in his own home with a knife on March 14, 1986.

(3) Manes was succeeded as Queens B.P. by Claire Shulman who put the kibosh on her predecessor's dream of an Indy-style track in Flushing Meadows. Claire to developers: "Over my dead body."

(4) The Iron Triangle (see photo above), that bastion of hub-cap capitalism, is bounded by Northern Boulevard (north), Willets Point Boulevard (east), and 126 St (west).

(5) "The city seen from Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its wild promise of all the mystery and beauty of the world." That's Nick Carraway from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. The city he's referring to, of course, is Manhattan. Queens is basically the ash-heap between Manhattan and East Egg (aka, Great Neck, Long Island).

Grade your own quizzes. Remember, honor system! Now, get ready for Part II:

Queens logician

(6) Tom Waits' character in Queens Logic (1981), Monty McFadden, is known for doing one thing every year. What is it?

(7) Queens has great cemeteries. Excluding the BQE, which single road would allow you to see the greatest number of cemeteries?

(8) Governor Andrew Cuomo loves muscle cars. In high school, he worked at a garage in Hollis and drove a AAA pick-up truck. He used to buy broken down cars, fix them up, and sell them for a tidy profit. The scheme worked well, but one prize eluded him. Despite weeks of work, when he took this "car"for a drive, he hit the gas and it exploded. What model was it? (Year optional.)

(Courtesy New York Times)

(9) In 1986, three black men whose car had broken down in Broad Channel were chased by a group of white Howard Beach teenagers, at least one with a baseball bat. One of the men fleeing was fatally struck by a car on which Queens roadway as he tried to elude his pursuers?

(10) In the HBO show Entourage, Vince made an indy about his native borough (also Turtle's, Eric's, and Drama's). What was the movie called?

Touché

(Bonus Question!) The great Polish-born memory painter, Karol Kozlowski, traveled every day from the house he lived in on India Street in Greenpoint to the Con Edison works in northern Astoria. Before the IND subway line connected Queens and Brooklyn, how did he get across the Newtown Creek? Hint: He didn't know how to drive.

Japan's Mt. Huzi

Answers tomorrow!

Pop Quiz!

Get out your number 2 pencils! It's time for the first annual BTB Queens IQ Quiz. 5 questions today, 5 tomorrow. They're all, one way or another, related to roads, cars, and drivers in Queens. Sorry, no multiple choice--and no Googling!

Blue Sand Box (1950)

(1) The artist Joseph Cornell lived and worked for nearly his whole life in a house with his mother and his brother Robert on this Queens thoroughfare.

(2) On January 10, 1986, a car being driven erratically by recently reelected Borough President Donald Manes was pulled over on which Queens roadway? (That's Donald below with Ed Koch and John McEnroe in happier times.)

Courtesy New York City Archives/DORIS

(3) "Over my dead body," said Bourough Pres Claire Shulman (she succeeded Donald). What was the project she was talking about?

(4) Willets Point Boulevard forms the hypotenuse of the "Iron Triangle."What streets comprise the other two sides?

(5) Name the author and the book for this quote: "The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty of the world."

Photo by Berenice Abbott

Answers to Part I tomorrow!

The Sentinel

Waiting on the 8:53 to Babylon

Take a look at this photo I shot from the LIRR platform in Woodside. Nothing special, right? If you look closer, though, you can make out the figure of a very white guy standing on the corner of the office building in the center. Take a closer look.

What's up, Doc?

I did a double-take when I saw him the other day. We've got a jumper flashed through my mind. Granted, a very very stupid jumper since the two-story fall wasn't likely to kill him. Fortunately, he would be right in front of the Total Body Healthcare center.

On second thought, I realized he was there to promote the healthcare center. I don't know about you, but there's something mildly creepy about a human size figure perched on the edge of a rooftop. Somebody should remind the good folks at Total Body that scarecrows are meant to drive away the crows, not bring them in.

Only the Drop Dead Know Queens

Is that Donald Manes?

Recent posts have focused on Brooklyn. Well, how else could I solve the BQE's most serious traffic problems? Beginning with yesterday's post from Cork Association of New York (aka, The Bantry Bay) in Long Island City, I begin to balance the scales a bit in Queens' favor. Thus, the new header photo above from the CUNY collection. It's labeled "Alley Pond Parkway." There is no such parkway; since Alley Pond Park is skirted by the Cross Island Parkway, I'm guessing that's it. Circa 1965, I'd say.

Queens is known for many things, including shady politicians and magnificent cemeteries, like the New Calvary Cemetery the BQE passes above. These photos are from a series by Bruce Gilden in which he set up a Mafia funeral in Queens. You can see more images and hear the photographer talk about the piece here. While it might not do much to dispel stereotypes of Queens, it's a nice piece of theater.

"Thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death..."

End of the Line

The home office

Things were already bad when I got onto the BQE in Woodside yesterday morning. The sign said "Road Repair at Morgan Avenue. Two lanes closed. Heavy delays." It wasn't lying. I bailed out at the Queens Midtown Expressway exit to take my chances on the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge. Traffic backed up solid. I had Calvary Cemetery on one side and the Bantry Bay on the other. I had to go one way or the other. So I left the Buick running, threw a fiver on the seat for gas money, and headed into the Bantry Bay. I ordered a pint then called the office from the bar's payphone and told my girl to cancel my appointments for the afternoon. I've been here ever since.