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| Minor Musings on the MLP
February 26, 2007
Long Day's Journey into Queens
Ah, Queens, how I love thee. That is, except for your total inaccessibility when it comes to commuting in from Brooklyn. Screw the Second Avenue subway line and 7 train extension. We need a circle line subway that connects Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan in one quick, express stop swoop.
After incessantly whining about losing a Saturday, I got on the bus-train-bus to Jamaica, Queens this weekend to continue work on my housing research of Addisleigh Park. I have had a lot of apprehension about this project, mainly because it makes me nervous to lurk around a residential neighborhood and photograph people's homes. I really have no issue with photographing buildings and apartments/tenements, however when it comes to taking shots of single family houses, I become very bashful. Even though I am not actually on the owner's property or using some huge honkin' telephoto to photograph their bathroom from the front window, etc., the act makes me feel very invasive. I doubt I would appreciate someone lingering about my home snapping photos of it.
Regardless, that is what I did for most of Saturday. If you live in St. Albans or Addisleigh Park and observed a very bundled woman wandering the streets with a camera checking off houses that she photographed on a Sandborn fire insurance map from 1926, that was me. If I stood in the street and stared up at your house, I was actually looking at what type of roof it had and envisioning its interior layout. And to the person whose house was right at the corner sidewalk where I eventually wound up sitting down on and spreading out my papers for a few minutes, I'm sorry. There was no place else to sit and I was lost. Very lost.
The best part of my Saturday exploration was feeling like an alien in a foreign land. Yes, it was only Queens, but at the same time, I had never ventured that far out on foot. The experience, which involved giving up on the buses on Merrick Boulevard because I had no idea where the fourteen that stopped there actually went and taking a wrong turn and nearly walking to JFK Airport by mistake, was quite humbling in a very good way. Aside from reminding me that I am very much in need of a bus map and a compass, it also reinforced the fact that you can never get bored with your surroundings if you push yourself to look in different directions.
You also will never get bored if you attempt the public transportation nightmare that is Queens to Brooklyn on a Saturday afternoon, which goes something like this: Q4 to Jamaica Station/Archer Avenue, E train to Manhattan, change at Forest Hills for the G—but wait! No G train this Saturday! Wait for the E again, E train toward Manhattan, change at Queens Plaza for the G, wait 20 minutes, G train to Smith/9th, change at Hoyt-Schermerhorn for the A train, A train to Jay Street (Hi Beth!), change at Jay Street for the B61. Wait 20 minutes. Walk home from Jay Street.
Total commute time from Jamaica station: 1.5 hours.
Posted by callalillie at February 26, 2007 11:32 AM | City Life
, Graduate School
Just curious, but why so far out in Queens? I lived in Woodside for awhile and also Long Island City (in a pretty little 3 bedroom row home) and LOVED it. I heart Queens, I really do. In LIC, I was about 2 seconds from the subway and 7 minutes from Manhattan. The grocery store was close and so was my favorite diner, Zante. I'm in Austin, TX now, which is so great (especially since I found a place that ships H&H bagels direct from NYC), but I still get homesick for my little neighborhood in Queens. Good luck in your search.
Posted by: aspen at February 26, 2007 12:51 PM
Oh, I have no urge to live that far out in Queens. This is research for a seminar presentation for grad school. The area is interesting for a variety of reasons, both architectural and historical...I'll write about it more when I have my presentation more whipped into shape.
Posted by: corie at February 26, 2007 12:57 PM
Wow...that was an adventure. Did you find a lot of consistencies in the architecture or styling? Was there a lot of apparent changes to the houses? I would have loved to have wandered with you, presupposing what the houses would've been like when they were first constructed. I can only imagine the stories those building could tell.
Posted by: Jenifer at February 26, 2007 2:37 PM
Most of the houses looked similar to what I think they probably were when they were built. I noticed a few razed lots-- it looked like some had been torn down to perhaps build larger, more modern homes. Some had been re-faced but for the most part, those that I looked at seemed pretty similar to the period photos that I have. Next week I'm going to go back and do the whole thing all over again.
Posted by: corie at February 26, 2007 5:47 PM
did you try to get on the a train from queens? there might have been a bus from jamaica that goes to the a train in far rockaway or in ozone park. i'm not 100% sure, though, and while the A train is long (so very long) it might have been easier than all the transfers.
i do agree that there needs to be better transportation between the boroughs that doesn't involve going through manhattan. we're neighbors after all, we should have to always go through the island.
Posted by: katie at February 26, 2007 6:41 PM
Posted by: Alex at February 26, 2007 8:10 PM
Took me 2 hours to get from Middle Village, Queens to Park Slope, Brooklyn a couple weekends ago.
M to J to uptown F to downtown F, due to a whole bunch of messed up MTA stuff.
Posted by: Julian Bennett Holmes at February 26, 2007 8:52 PM
Take the LIRR from Jamaica to Atlantic Terminal. 20 Minutes. You should really buy a map or get a sense of direction.
Posted by: justin at February 26, 2007 9:12 PM
Actually, I did take the LIRR to Jamaica from Flatbush on the way there. By the time I got near the LIRR station I had a wait for the next train, so I attempted the subway back to see how long it would take. And now I know.
Posted by: corie at February 26, 2007 9:16 PM
I feel your pain. I actually abandoned party plans on Saturday night in Sunnyside, Queens because I couldn't bear the thought of the subway (plus shuttle bus, thanks to the 7-line construction) commute from Park Slope (and didn't have the cash to fork over cab fare both ways).
Posted by: Mandi at February 26, 2007 9:47 PM
the b61 stops at queens plaza.
Posted by: chris at February 26, 2007 10:25 PM
True dat. I considered it...but at the pace that the B61 runs, I was probably better off just taking the G at that point.
Posted by: corie at February 26, 2007 10:32 PM
Q54 from Jamaica Station to Williamsburg. Then transfer to the B61. Natch. I always carry bus maps with me. They come in handy.
Posted by: mrd in nyc at February 26, 2007 10:35 PM
what about including the Bronx in that circle subway line? 'cause it's ridiculous that people can live in queens a stone's throw from their work in the bronx and have to take two or three trains, through manhattan, to get to work...
Posted by: kelly at February 27, 2007 2:39 PM
