LIC Spot

Click That ‘Hood is an open source browser game created by the 2013 Louisville fellowship for Code For America. The game challenges players to click various neighborhoods throughout different cities as quickly as possible. The open source game began with a clickable map of Louisville, KY, currently includes 86 different locations spanning 11 countries (include separate NYC boroughs), and is constantly growing as users from around the globe add their own towns and cities.

We hope you know where LIC!

Yesterday WNYC presented a cool map that broke down neighborhoods by most popular dog names and breeds, but in their dogged attempts to catalog the names of their canine overlords, they ignored the most important statistics on dogs available: where they’re pooping. Or more specifically, where their owners aren’t cleaning up their poop and infuriating their neighbors.

We’ve noticed a considerable amount of poop throughout Long Island City, and often it’s the same sidewalk and same dog (yeah, we can tell). There may be 40 complaints for dog waste in LIC, but I’m sure many many more don’t receive any complaints.

Please curb your dog, otherwise we’ll be forced to hire mottocrottes (like in Paris) to vacuum the streets in LIC.

A vacuum on a motorcycle, picking up dog poop…in Paris!

via gothamist.com

Sure, you’ve got the Holiday Market coming up this Saturday and a new home store in LIC, not to mention a handful of shops to buy last minute gifts. But did you know you can also search on one of the World’s largest classifieds site and find a gift in LIC?

We’ve compiled a small list of odd (and interesting) items we found on Craigslist in Long Island City. Enjoy!

• Gorgeous vintage lamp
• Foldable Glass Dining Table and sofa-bed, chair, fan etc - $1
• Stanton ST-150 Turntables w/ Pioneer DJM-300S Mixer - $750
• ESCORT PASSPORT Original 8500 Radar Detector @ - $139
• Cubicles + More office furniture
• WWF WWE WCW/NWO Nitro Streetrods 1/24 Scale lot (5 cars) - $99
• iMac 24″ 2.66 GHz (iMac9,1), 640GB Hardrive, 4GB DDR3 - $699
• Special Delivery - (L I C) antiques – by owner

That last one baffles us…

“I still love NY t-shirt”

Sebastian Errazuriz created this wonderful “I Still Love NY” t-shirt available on Grey Area. 100% of the profits from the shirt go to Hurricane Sandy relief programs. They also made a “Manhattan Blackout” Hurricane Sandy relief t-shirt. Their studio was affected by the hurricane so they decided to make these t-shirts to help those in need.

“Manhattan Blackout Hurricane Sandy”

photo by Jesse Winter

We’d like to show you what a meal looks like at the new M.Wells Dinette at PS1, but we just couldn’t hold ourselves from devouring the goodness.

Oh well, you’ll have to check it out yourself…

photo and story by Elijah Buck

Well, there you have it.

Ever since Sushi Siam rolled its last piece of sushi and Spice put up plywood, it appears there is a bitter gang war over the turf on the Northeast corner of Vernon and 48th. The gangs included are the Bloodies, the Crisps and a new gang called “21″, perhaps named for 21st street? So far, the Bloodies are winning the battle with three tags, the Crisps have two tags and “21″ has one. We reached out to local gangbanger, Stewart “Beef Stew” Williams, and he said “curry and money are green but right now the only colors that matter are red, blue and black”.

Only time will tell which gang will win out, just be sure to rock the right color when Spice opens its doors…otherwise you’re guaranteed to get inundated with their take-out menu under your door all winter long!

by Elijah Buck

Update: It seems like some readers think this is real…it’s not. What should have given that away? Well, there are no gangs called “Crisps” or “Bloodies” and any gangbanger who’s nickname is “Beef Stew” would probably be outcasted by the gang itself. Oh yeah, also, we’re not in the 80′s anymore in LIC. So please, don’t call the cops.

photo by Jesse Winter

Walking down Vernon Boulevard past 46th Rd. you’ll notice a gated lot with a handful of bizarre things that will stop you on your tracks. Metal cows, a blue car and a couple of giant tanks. Well, you can thank LIC Spot for the detective work because we’ve figured out why they are there.

The cows are the work of Isabelle Radtke. A local artist who has created these metal life size cows that have been in numerous galleries (including Socrates Park).

The large blue tanks belong to Plaxall and are filled with plastic pellets. They hope that some day it will contain beer.

Finally, the car…is just a car!

Walk up to the door at Breadbox and look to your upper-right side…you’ll see it.

We love Breadbox Cafe. Some of the items on the menu are pretty good and it’s an easy lunch spot for many locals (and commuters). We also love the rolling pins that decorate the outside of the establishment. Each personalized pin is put up there when a donation is made to the NY Foundling who help children in need (seriously, please donate, they are an awesome foundation).

Breadbox’s initiative allows you to buy a rolling pin to be placed on their facade. It’s pretty cool, in fact I’ve purchased one myself. However if you walk to the entrance and look above to your right (above “Paper Enterprise Inc.”), you’ll notice something that just isn’t right. It’s either a joke, or the sad state of our education system.

What do you think?

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