From High Above LIC
Recently, I received an invite to attend a Queens Economic Development Corporation (QEDC) mixer and cocktail event at the Z Hotel in Long Island City. Normally, this sort of business card exchange leaves me flat, but I’ve been eager to check out the view from the Z Hotel’s roof top lounge since it opened, so…
Recently, I received an invite to attend a Queens Economic Development Corporation (QEDC) mixer and cocktail event at the Z Hotel in Long Island City. Normally, this sort of business card exchange leaves me flat, but I’ve been eager to check out the view from the Z Hotel’s roof top lounge since it opened, so I gathered up my camera and convinced my wife to meet me in Queens Plaza after she got out of work in the city.
The views certainly did not disappoint either of us, and since my ulterior motive in attending the thing was to gather some shots, I left her chatting with a few other attendees and got down to business. Pictured above is mighty Queensboro on the right with a still quite industrial LIC acting as a frame for the East River, Roosevelt Island and Midtown Manhattan.
It’s hard not to take notice of the 1,396 foot 432 Park Avenue rising between 56th and 57th Streets over in the Shining City of Manhattan, by the way.
LOTS more after the jump, including special guest stars…
As mentioned, this was set up as a networking party, and there was somebody from every possible business sector present. I met telecommunications sales people, a fellow with a DJ firm, construction industry representatives, and even a very nice lady who was running a gourmet macaroni and cheese operation in LIC. There was a staffed bar offering drink specials, and libation helped to lubricate social interaction in the usual manner. Little groups of people began to introduce themselves and chat. Many exchanged business cards and or write things down on pads.
My wife got in on the QEDC vibe, and started handing out her card to interested parties (she’s in advertising and marketing). Having run out of cards myself around a month ago, I decided to get busy with the camera again.
Opened in 2011, Z Hotel is found at 11-01 43rd Ave in Long Island City, rising prominently alongside the Queensboro Bridge. It’s a hundred room boutique hotel, I’m told, and it’s 11 stories tall and was designed by Andre Kikoski.
Note: A personal policy is to never refer to this bridge using its modern nomenclature, meant to honor former Mayor Ed Koch. No offense is offered to the memory of Mr. Koch, but when they rename any of the ones going to Brooklyn I’ll start calling Queensboro whatever they tell me to. Ever notice that it’s the Queens ones that always are at the top of the list to get renamed? How’s about we start calling the Williamsburg Bridge “The Michael Rubens Bloomberg Williamsburg Bridge”? Sounds kind of bizarre, huh?
It’s Queensboro, just Queensboro. Grrrr.
As stated, the views from the roof of Z Hotel are awe inspiring, especially for a fellow like myself who is possessed of a certain historical perspective. The claims of a 5,000 unit growth around Court Square is apparent in the shot above, which looks past the Citi building south east towards the Long Island Expressway, Newtown Creek, and the infinities of Brooklyn. Lost in my photographing, I sensed a certain buzz in the air when an elevator door opened.
Suddenly, I regretted wearing shorts to this event.
Great Caesar’s Ghost!
That’s Melinda Katz, the Borough President of Queens!
I’ve been privileged to have interacted with many elected officials in Queens, but this is only the second time that I’ve photographed our new Borough President and the first time I actually got to interact with her. Never know who you’re going to meet at a QEDC mixer, as the old saying goes. Well, it’s not actually a saying, per se, but you get my meaning.
The Borough President made a short speech to the group, extolling the virtues of Queens and its business community. She counted off a series of advantages enjoyed by her commercial and industrial constituents, and described Queens as a brilliant place for entrepreneurial activity of all scales and sizes.
At Melinda Katz’s side is Seth Bornstein, who has been with the QEDC since 1979 and serves as its Executive Director. First time that I met him as well. As you’d imagine, once the speech was over, an aspirant and admiring crowd descended on the two of them.
A quick glance confirmed that my wife had actively reengaged with the small crowd of folks she was chatting with prior to the speech, and seemed happily occupied, so I decided to return to “photo duty.” The light was changing fast, and the sun was going to be setting pretty soon. There is no better time of day to photograph western Queens in this time of the year than the during late afternoon and early evening.
Looking north, over the Queensboro off ramps, the Queensbridge houses, a part of Dutch Kills, all of Ravenswood, and the East River side of Astoria. That’s the Big Allis power plant on the left, and on the horizon are the Triborough and Hell Gate Bridges. My wife found me and admonished that I should have a drink and be social in the spirit of the event. I was waiting for sunset anyway, so I had a gin and tonic, which is an ideal beverage for evenings in the late summer – in my opinion.
Virtually the same point of view that opened this post, but this was just after the street lights came on.
Looking south, down the East River.
Finally, looking east, towards Queens Plaza with the Silvercup sign at center. The lights you see flaring on the left horizon are coming from LaGuardia Airport. Just to the right of it is the newish Tishman Building in Queens Plaza, Gotham Center.
Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman lives in Astoria and blogs at Newtown Pentacle.
Wow. I didn’t expect to start Queens Brownstoner’s most popular thread! Peole are even tailoring their screen identities to mine – what an honor!
Unfortunately, FH Guy is the only one who gets it.
Yes, I understand that most native NYers who weren’t raised in Manhattan refer to it as “the city.” That is irrelevant; lots of people do lots of stupid things. Not my point.
And of course I am technically correct that all five boroughs comprise NYC; but again, not my point. That should be obvious enough to most readers of this site (I hope). No comment necessary.
This is my point – if you love Queens, STOP saying it! It’s wrong technically, and it’s wrong culturally. The former point is not as trivial as it may seem, as the increasing number of transplants may get genuinely confused. But it’s the latter point that I care more about. Calling Manhattan “the city” is giving it undue deference. It simultaneously debases Queens and the other boroughs.
The fact that Malba girl always called Manhattan the “city” kinda proves my point. Malba is one of the most suburban-type neighborhoods in the city. Perhaps if I were raised there I’d use the same terminolgy. But Malba stands in very sharp contrast to many Queens neighborhoods, which are considerably denser and more urban-like.
Please see the image linked at the end of this comment. Just to be clear, the right side of this image is “not the city” and the left side of this image is “the city” – is that correct?
http://goo.gl/4vsDK0
And why exactly is taking the 25A west into Douglaston “going to the city” and venturing into Manhattan not?
Nobody here ever said that Manhattan is not part of the city. So venturing into Manhattan could very well be “going to the city” if someone is venturing into Manhattan from anywhere that is not the other 4 boroughs (for example, New Jersey, Long Island or Westchester).
But when someone is going from Queens to Manhattan, they are not “going to the city” because Queens is part of the city. This is not a “purist” opinion or a “non-native New Yorker” opinion. It is simply a statement of fact.
The reason people in the outer 4 boroughs call it “the city” dates back to before unification, when “the city” was, in fact, just Manhattan. It’s a tradition that was passed down throughout the decades. It’s not a case of “stupid people doing stupid things” and debases no one.
In the years before consolidation, the third largest city in the country was Brooklyn, and The City of New York was Manhattan and The Bronx west of the Bronx River. Taking a look at a copy of The Brooklyn Eagle from a couple of years prior to consolidation – http://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50335160/ – they refer to “the two cities”, and in an article on smallpox(!) the only way they describe the location is “the [Brooklyn] heights” and “in the city”.
I’m sure if you asked people living in downtown Brooklyn back then how to get to “the city”, they’d tell you to cross the river into Manhattan. Same as today. It’s just something that’s understood. It’s not wrong culturally. It dates back to the time when Queens was made a county made up of townships instead of just being a part of NYC. If people don’t like when natives call it “the city” I guess they’ll just have to deal with it because it’s not going to change any time soon.
So just because people said something over a hundred years ago, that means people who say the same thing now are right? Back before consolidation, you could argue that it was an accurate statement to refer to Manhattan as “the city”. Now, the city has 5 boroughs and it is simply a false statement to refer to Manhattan (and only Manhattan) as “the city”. So trying to use what people said over a hundred years ago as an argument for how people talk about the city today really doesn’t make much sense.
It’s unclear how “5 boroughs” somehow means “the city” isn’t colloquial. If colloquial is understood as everyday, informal speak, why does NYC having five boroughs mean there can’t be colloquialisms? Or, rather, give me a few examples of acceptable colloquialisms, and define how those aren’t impacted by there being five boroughs. Thanks for your time.
I actually agree with you. After 15 years in Manhattan, and having moved to Qns, I refer to it as Manhattan, not “the city”. I referred to it as “the city” when I lived in the ‘burbs though.
I didn’t leave the city when I moved to Qns, in my opinion. At least, not the part of Qns I live in .