Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Workin' on the Shack

Work has suddenly sped up on the Shake Shack on Austin St., scheduled to open sometime in April...



Sunday, January 24, 2016

Abandoned Car Creating Traffic Concern

One reader sent me this email tonight:

"Uber drive abandoned his car in the middle of 72nd drive, between 112th/ 113th street.
The street wasn't plowed at all and all cars on that street are stuck.
Driver hasn't returned and city hasn't responded.
Monday morning will be hell on 113th street and 72nd road when all the school buses coming off the van wyck try to come up against the traffic created from this one car."


Digging Out











More Reader Pics of the Storm

Thanks to Megan for these great shots!



Thanks to Tom for this shot of the Courthouse during the storm....

And thanks to Larry for these beautiful shots...



Fresh Direct Truck Rescue in Kew Gardens

Thanks to Kathy for sending in this video of a Fresh Direct truck being rescued during the Blizzard on 118th Street in Kew Gardens. She says it was stuck on the street for 8 hours yesterday...


Snowy 71st/Continental Ave.


Forest Hills was—mostly—open for business the day after the blizzard. Many shops and restaurants were open. The challenge was mostly traversing the snowy and icy stretches in front of those business that hadn't yet shoveled out—and there were less and less of them as Sunday wore on...

Blizzard of 2016 Reader Pics

We'll be posting reader photos of the historic Great Blizzard of 2016, now officially the second biggest snowstorm since New York City began keeping records in the 1800's!

Email yours to edgeofthecity@gmail.com

Thanks to Gilda for sending in these pics of snowy, and desolate, Queens Blvd.!




And thanks to Esther for sending in this photo of a snowplow stuck last night at 72nd and 112th Streets...


Saturday, January 23, 2016

NYC's Friendliest Snowplow Guy

Blizzards can bring out the best in people, even snowplow drivers!  He gave me a honk of the horn and a peace sign as he plowed 71st/Continental Ave. as the Blizzard of 2016 raged today...



The Great Blizzard of 2016

I don't use the word "Great" lightly.

I have been through so many Nor'Easters in my lifetime and I have to say this is a really ferocious one. I can't recall a storm making it this difficult to walk just a few blocks! I did manage to make it from the north side of Queens Blvd. to Austin Street though, but I wouldn't recommend it!

What struck me is the mix of normalcy—a lot of stores were open at midday, Key Food, Starbucks, McDonald's, Radio Shack, food vendors were open, some people were walking their dogs—contrasted with the unusual: major roads virtually impassable and completely empty of cars, parked cars buried, snow drifts...






















Friday, January 22, 2016

Blizzard of 2016

Edge of the City is officially in "Special Blizzard Alert Mode." The National Weather Service just upped its forecast to 12 to 18 inches for the City, making this officially the Blizzard of 2016 (that is, if it doesn't miss us and we get nothing like last year's Blizzard of 2015.)


Sunday, January 17, 2016

First Snow of 2016

The quite late first snow of the season left a pleasant white covering around Forest Hills tonight...




Friday, January 15, 2016

Subway Horror

Should we tell these 300,000 poor souls that we have access to several subway lines, the Long Island Railroad which gets you into Manhattan in 20 minutes, as well as express buses? Nahh.....

Tunnel Repairs Could Disrupt L Train in Coming Years

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

5 Things I'm Looking Forward to in 2016

1) Shake Shack on Austin: I was just eating at the one on the Upper East Side yesterday. The place was packed even at 2 o'clock in the afternoon on a Monday in a mostly residential part of the city. The Oatmeal Cream Pie shake I had was to die for (available limited time only), to be replaced by Chocolate Banana next week, I think. May the Lord help my waistline.

2) Target Express: Yes, my toilet paper supply is running low again. And, no, I don't look forward to schlepping a supersized pack home on the subway again from Rego Park or wherever that mall is a few stops down on the R. I only hope the new Target isn't too much of an "Express" version and still has some supersizes...


3) A Nicer Queens Blvd.: The City apparently has been making faster progress on improving Queens Boulevard down near Jackson Heights than they originally thought, so there's a chance that new bike lane and some much-needed beautification may make it all the way down here this year. I'll pray that something—anything—good happens to our inappropriate neighborhood thoroughfare in 2016.

4) Austin St. Development Resumes: The construction site, first thought to be an H&M and then another—God knows why—urgent care center, next to Bareburger, has been stalled for a couple of years. Here's hoping they solve whatever fuck-up has been keeping it a grotesque, undeveloped eyesore and something nice is built there this year.

5) More Summer Concerts at the Stadium: I'll use this as an excuse for an inexcusably belated RIP Mr. Bowie...



Recent Writeups about Forest Hills

There's been some recent coverage of the neighborhood in the press that I thought I'd throw my two cents in about. One, excellent. The other, pretty darn bizarre.

First, the excellent one. Kudos to amNewYork for their really good article about the neighborhood that appeared in the paper last Thursday: Forest Hills, Queens: 12 places to know in the neighborhood

Of course, no single newspaper article is going to be comprehensive about all that our neighborhood has to offer today, but this one was the best one I've read in a long time, and also the most accurate. There were a few minor mistakes (Station House isn't tucked behind the LIRR station, for example, it's actually right smack in front of it). But compared to the dreadfully inaccurate coverage of our neighborhood that is normally in the mainstream media, this article was terrific.

One other issue is it didn't even touch on Metropolitan Ave., except to call that small movie theater down there an indie theater, which it isn't. It's more of a second-run theater, that is getting some more first-run movies these days. But, again, that's nitpicking. I'll take the great coverage—finally—of some of the greatest places we have today, like Station House and Jack and Nellie's. And the more accurate depiction of the neighborhood as diverse, instead of populated by only one or two groups.

Now that I've got you all so happy, I will ruin that by linking to perhaps the most bizarre coverage of Forest Hills I have ever read. That's the infamous Q&A that appeared recently on Vice.com:
Awkwafina Cherishes Buffalo Wild Wings and Other Forest Hills Chains

What can I say about this? It's so inaccurate, so strange I really don't know where to begin? Lines around the block outside of Bareburger, which she calls "the pride of Forest Hills"? A neighborhood filled with chain restaurants, when we have two?  "There used to be a tennis stadium there?" (What is that large structure where I saw all those concerts this past summer? Hmmm...) The rest is so out-of-touch with the neighborhood, it's really not worth commenting on...


Friday, January 8, 2016

Picture of the Day

Just because you ate too much over the holidays doesn't give you an excuse to stop sending in your pictures of the day. Yes, I'm talking to you!


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First Poll of 2016!

I haven't done one of these in a while. Here's a food one. I'll have a non-food one posted up soon...

Wednesday, January 6, 2016