LIC Spot

Workers putting down the gate at Gantry State Park – photo by Michael Connors

Well there you have it folks! Gantry Park’s northern boardwalk is finally open to pedestrian traffic!

Now you’ll get to bring a loved one under the glowing lights of the Pepsi Cola sign and ask her (or him, we’re in NY) to marry you! Or perhaps you can push that stroller a bit longer until your baby falls asleep! Or better yet, you can now walk directly to Anable’s Basin and enjoy some great grub on the water!

Either way, we’re glad to see the new stretch open up…and excited to be one of the first to report it (thanks Michael!).

Update: Here’s a quick video of the (quiet) area Sunday afternoon. It’s somewhat surreal!

Well it’s that time again for another “Then and Now”, brought to you by the Greater Astoria Historical Society!

This week we get to see what Monitor Square looked like in the early 1860′s. Who knew it would end up hosting massive billboards for the entrance of the Midtown Tunnel!

If you like these pictures, feel free to check out some of the other awesome stuff the Historical Society has for sale!

Monitor Square in Hunters Point, where Vernon and Jackson Avenues meet.
Laid out in the early 1860s, this area was once the hub of a new and
growing Hunters Point.

Monitor Square in Hunters Point, at the intersection of Vernon and
Jackson Avenues faces west as a brand new condominium has risen on Borden
Avenue behind the billboard’s steel latticework.

In case you missed Googa Mooga this year, here’s a video by Jesse Winter at Googa Mooga with M. Wells. Serving up their foie gras horse bologna grilled cheese sandwiches. One bite of the sandwich had only 8,000 calories. Enjoy!

M. Wells GoogaMooga 2012 from Jesse Winter.

From the Village Voice

According the Village Voice blog a new smokehouse is opening up in Long Island City. John Brown Smokehouse will be closing its doors in Astoria and moving straight to Hunters Point, serving the Long Island City community with their “off-the-wall” smoked meats and such. Do we need another meat joint in LIC? Yeah. Does America need one…no, not really. But we don’t care. We welcome new restaurants in our neighborhood as long as it’s not another Italian restaurant (sorry, too many to choose from!).

John Brown Smokehouse will be opening some time in mid July and will be located at 10-43 44th Drive, south of the Queensboro Bridge, and a couple blocks from the 23rd Street-Ely Avenue stop on the E and M trains, and easy walking distance from the 7 and G trains, too.

Photo by Jenn Ackerman from the New York Times

A recent article in the New York Times talks about a VIP section for people who want a front row seat to watch the Fourth of July fireworks display on the Hudson River next week (yeah, we got screwed again). The Hudson River Park will be charging $200 per person for these VIP seats (surprise! they’re broke too!) where they will have access to food and music.

We here at LIC Spot would like to propose VIP seats to watch the fireworks display for HALF the price. That’s right. We are officially selling VIP seats for only $100 to watch the top half of the fireworks display from an undisclosed building top on Center Blvd.  If you can’t afford this price, don’t worry. We are also offering $10 seats for a strictly auditory experience of the fireworks display, right down on the LIC waterfront. It’s our way of saying “thank you” to all of the politics that went into losing the fireworks display from the East River.

Happy Crappy Fourth!

Tony Vaccaro at his apartment – Photos by Jesse Winter

In every great community there wanders a wise person who has seen it all and for LIC that person is Tony Vaccaro. Over the last 90 plus years of life, Tony served humanity first in WWII, then as a prolific photographer of fashion, commerce and celebrity, all while staying committed to his family and community. Wishing to make a move from Madison Avenue, he came to LIC in 1972, choosing a place on 47th Avenue for his work studio. The ‘ Italian Village’, as he refers to it, was an inspired place of industry and grit, artistry and intellect, culture and peaceful restoration. In 1985 he decided to make it his full time residence.

Having survived the hardship of war, traversing the globe on pressured assignments, and battling the front lines of the NYC photography business he found that when at home in LIC it was the silence that gave him contentment. One of his first endeavors here was to rally his neighbors to work together and keep the streets clean, he explains, while showing me notes from them proclaiming he helped make it a ‘paradise’.

Over the years Tony has collected art from local creatives which hang on his walls with a mixture of the unknown and uber famous, the great and the forgotten, piles of collected history filling every inch of the apartment he now shares with his sister, Sue, and son, David. He is dangerously generous with his work, always willing to give and inspire. We can all view his large original prints of Pablo Picasso, Georgia O’Keefe, Coretta Scott King, Jean Renoir, Ana Magnani and Shirley MacLaine (whom he still speaks with regularly) on display at Manducatis Rustica.

Good fortune placed me across the street from Mr. Vaccaro over 8 years ago and with all the stories I’ve heard and things I’ve seen in his archive, each interaction brings new insights from a veteran of life. Rather than holding on tightly the past 90 years, Mr. Vaccaro keeps his welcoming eyes wide open to the new neighbors settling into town. He muses, “..the success of LIC is that it’s closest to the culture center of the world and what they have done along the waterfront is just marvelous, it’s the left bank of the east river.” As the village of LIC begins it’s new renaissance it’s a special gift to have such a treasure among us sprinkling wisdom and kindness.

Sometimes forgotten in the hustle, the greatest value in this land of ours is it’s people and as he sits back in silence Tony Vaccaro fits the portrait of a great survivor, friend, mentor and LIC citizen.

by Jesse Winter

Photo by Jesse Winter

“Hey, I’ve seen that sign”

Yep, if you’ve ever walked on 47th Ave. and Vernon Blvd. you’ve definitely seen it. But who was Joe Imps? Go back to the 80′s in LIC and imagine a great food joint  run by Joe Imps himself. Born and raised in Long Island City, Joe Imps opened “JOE IMPS” on Jackson Ave. (and is still apparently a full-service restaurant)  that served great burgers to the community, but more importantly, Joe helped locals a lot and was quite active at St. Mary’s Church.

So what does he get for all of his love? A whole block in LIC. We think that’s pretty cool…and yeah, we’d like to see “LIC Spot Drive” some day too.

photo by Jesse Winter

Music festivals are on their way in NYC and there is no shortage in LIC.

Yesterday’s Make Music NY Festival featured J. Walter Hawkes and Pat Irwin at Gantry State Park.

An erratic deposited in the heart of LIC – photo by Jim Henderson

This may come as a surprise to some of you, but 10,000 years ago we had slow paced glaciers in Long Island City. And it turns out that some of those glaciers started melting and depositing these giant boulders throughout their path called “erratics“.

If you’ve ever seen the erratic on 12th street and 43rd Rd. in LIC, you know how massive they can be. According to some super scientific site (Wikipedia) “Since they are transported by glaciers, they are one of a series of indicators which mark the path of prehistoric glacier movement. Their lithographic origin can be traced to the parent bedrock, allowing for confirmation of the ice flow route”.

Now if we can only get one of those glaciers to pass by during this heat wave (skip the boulder please).

Update: We just found this photo on Google street view…awesome parking spot!

Photo by Elijah Buck

Now, these could very well be the product of someone not spaying and/or neutering their cats, but that’s not their fault.

These two adorable kittens (and a very camera-shy third sibling) were spotted at Gantry Park Monday night. Judging by the can of cat food on the street that they probably purchased at the Food Cellar (or maybe someone else has seen them too), they are not going hungry but they do need a home. The kitties were playing and most probably enjoy scaring the geese out of the park.

So, where are these adorable kittens?  If you want to see them, you’ll have to do some searching, but good luck trying to pet them…they run away pretty quickly (and they may need a bath).

by Elijah Buck