Amish Market’s foodcellar manifesting signage. Queens West, LIC.

Ok well it’s still being brought to us by the Amish Market, but the first actual grocery store to manifest in Queens West (and Vernon/Jackson) is named foodcellar. We’ll have to make the mental shift now. It’s a big one, but we can do it.

Prowling about on Vernon Blvd »

From the inbox:

ASTORIA MUSIC NOW!

*The First Annual FREE Music & Arts Festival of its Kind. *

For one day, on July 26th, people will be treated to some of the finest local music our area has to offer. This event will highlight and benefit the arts in one of the most culturally diverse communities in NYC. Come enjoy nine hours of local music and arts absolutely FREE!

Hula Hoops, Magic, Comedy, Face Paint, and Much More!!!

WHERE: Astoria Park – The Great Lawn – Ditmars & 19th St. Astoria, NY 11106

WHEN: Saturday, 7.26.08 – 12-9pm

• Astoria Music Now complete line up

Deitch Studios, Hunters Point waterfront, Long Island City

LIC continues to manifest in commercial media, this time serving as the backdrop for a Rhapsody MP3 player commercial. Not to mention Ugly Betty, which is getting a lot of attention since Miz Lohan has been gracing us with her uh, presence. Though LIC, as we all know, has made many cameo appearances on screen including Munich, The Darjeeling Limited, Third Watch, Gossip Girl, and Grand Theft Auto.

In other news »

Dark skies over Court Square? April 2008, Long Island City

Interesting article this morning about the downsides of working in Court Square which included: lack of basic stores like pharmacies, grocery, dry cleaning etc, for errands during the day; the challenging commute from Jersey; the industrial ‘ghetto’-like vibe; few options for lunch. Upsides were: commuting from Brooklyn via the G train, quiet & low-key. Some felt that LIC offers a nice relief from congestion, others felt that Queens is beneath them. On this blog, we’ve heard a lot from the LIC resident point of view, but not so much from the working population.

Here’s a taste »

Hunters Point waterfront, Long Island City

liQcity went kayaking with the LIC Boathouse last night, and if anyone in LIC is looking for nature, you might as well be looking for your nose. It’s right there.

First up in the latest LIC linkage »

CUNY dorm proposal, LIC

Yes. A couple of weeks ago, the CUNY dorm proposal went before the BSA, as it’s final hurdle. We can smell blood in this thread already, but here’s an attempt to sort out the complicated situation »

Kayaking with LIC Boathouse

Have you ever noticed that LIC is on the water? Taking full advantage of our waterfront location is the LIC Boathouse, a sponsored community group that gets you out onto the East River kayaking until your heart’s content. Unless, you happen to be slightly unsavvy and ignore the instructions of your gracious guides. Anyway, don’t let that get in the way of experiencing a gem that very few NYC neighborhoods possess.

Remarkably active this summer »

10 Court Square announces its arrival, Long Island City

A few weeks ago, the Post reported on the Skidmore Owings & Merrill-designed commerical tower for Rockrose, that’s going up next to the Citicorp Tower in Court Square. The building, surprisingly entitled 10 Court Square looks like it takes up almost an entire city block, having bought out most of the building owners since 1988. It’s delivering a whopping 800,000 SF to the face of Jackson Ave, conveniently located at the site of the Jackson Ave beautification project.

Reported in June »

Ivy covered building on Vernon Blvd, Long Island City

It’s been a while since we’ve hooked up some LIC linkage… this morning we have a little petroleum smell with your coffee. Aah, but that’s old news. What’s new news is the pile driving that started somewhere around Vernon/Jackson yesterday morning. We’ve been getting reports that Arris Lofters are losing lots of sleep thanks to Rockrose’s pile driving on the infamous site of the Building That Should Have Been Landmarked. Well, there are lots of those sites in LIC, and Queens in general. But we digress.

You can thank the End of Tax Abatement »

Dear liQcity readers,

If you’re noticing that comments are occasionally randomly being deleted, it’s because we’re manually deleting spam, and occasionally a real comment gets accidentally erased.

Spam sucks. It’s insidious. Terrible. Truly a virus. And it’s actually All Your Fault, liQcity readers, that we’re being bombarded with it now. When the blog launched six months ago, we truly thought we’d be talking to virtually no one for at least that long. But of course, we underestimated the fervor of LIC residents, and the diabolical power of Curbed.

So, »

Hanging at Gantry Park for ‘Live at the Gantries’ by the QCA, Long Island City

The ‘Live at the Gantries’ summer performance series brought to us by the QCA continues tonight at Gantry Park with Blue Pipa, Chinese folk music.

“Along with her accompanying musicians, Min Xiao-Fen of Blue Pipa is renown for her exploration of traditional and modern music from all cultures. Famed for her virtuosity and fluid style on the pipa, she has recorded and performed with Björk.”

The show starts at 7pm.

• Queens Council on the Arts Event Info
• Blue Pipa website

As it’s been noted, the prime Queens fireworks waterfront viewing spots were rendered useless on Friday, since Macy’s moved the barge further downtown towards the Brooklyn Bridge for what seems to be controversial reasons.

Macy’s, the corporate sponsor of the fireworks, seems to have been influenced by NBC, who seems to have been influenced by Tishman-Speyer, to move the barges further south this year, so that the televised view of the fireworks would display more of the city skyline. Gothamist also points out, that Stuyvesant Town was curiously displayed over 7 times as the backdrop for the fireworks. Seems Tishman-Speyer, the owners of Stuy Town, are having some trouble renting out their market rate apartments. Cashing on their relationship with NBC (they own the headquarters), they were able to somehow get Macy’s to move the barges. Somehow there’s a missing link in the hip-bone-connected-to-the-knee-bone chain, but the ad campaign for Stuy Town is a bit too obvious to ignore.

Now why is this important to us? »

Legal streetart coordinated by Chashama, Vernon & Borden Ave, LIC

5pointz may have been the first legal walls for streetart in Long Island City, but now they’re not the only ones. Simone Development, the developers behind the Hunters Point Condos double whammy, have collaborated with Chashama, an non-profit arts group, to beautify their construction site walls with streetart created by local artists.

“The creators described the idea »

Under Public Farm One aka P.F.1., at P.S.1., Court Square, Long Island City

Nothing marks the arrival of summer in LIC quite like the PS1 Warm Up parties. If there is any entity that can lay claim to putting LIC on the mainstream radar, it’s PS1. While many complain about the nuisance factor of the Warm Up party attendees’ disruptive passage from PS1 to Water Taxi Beach in their endeavor to continue partying, it’s really a cool event. This year, the courtyard installation kicks up more than a few notches with an urban farmland installation entitled ‘Public Farm One’. Aka P.F.1.

Having checked out the installation sans throngs of swaying hipsters »

Proxy/Fiction by Jonathan Lev opens tonight at Art-O-Mat

From Art-O-Mat gallery:

Just a reminder to ignore those threats of rain & come join us tonight. (Well, maybe bring an umbrella.)

You are invited to an Opening at Art-O-Mat TONIGHT, June 26 from 6 to 9 pm.

Art-O-Mat is pleased to present Proxy / Fiction – Paintings by Jonathan Lev

Our First Summer exhibition will open tonight, Thursday June 26, with a reception from 6 to 9pm.

There will be food, drink, and live music »

From the Queens Council on the Arts:

“Celebrating the rich musical and ethnic tapestries of Queens in boisterous style, Live at the Gantries, LIC’s new summer performance series begins tonight in Gantry Park at 7pm.”

The free, outdoor performances »

Remediation tent at Queenswest

You didn’t think we’d post that video, write inflammatory content, but do nothing? After contacting Joe Conley, Chairman of Community Board 2, he contacted the DEC and this letter arrived in the liQcity inbox today:

Hi Joe:

I inspected the Site today morning and discussed dust problems with Site contractor and engineering consultants. The dust blowing in the video was emanating from the sand which was used to pre-grade the tent (second) lay down areas. It was a very dry and windy day about 2 weeks ago. Since that time, a sprinkler system has been laid out along the truck route and has been effective. The areas near the East River have been covered with a layer of clean fill cover and are in the process of being rolled. After the area is rolled the material will be stable preventing dusty conditions.

As an additional temporary measure…