Quitoxic Queens

 Queens the second populated borough next to Brooklyn, the most diverse and where130 languages are spoken (BB, p493).

The first stop is Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, once marshland, then the Corona dump, the dumping site for Brooklyn was then converted by Robert Moses from marshland to grounds for the World's Fair ( BB, p. 497). 

Now the park is home to the Queens Museum of Art, World’s Fair, the Uni-sphere, Mets Stadium (once called Shea now  known as Citifield) and the US open. 

Just a little trivia....Shea stadium was the only baseball field in the league to be named after an attorney (Unique New York, p.158).

The World’s Fair:http://www.queensmuseum.org/about/aboutbuilding-history

it's symbol was the  Unisphere it is 700,000lbs. of stainless steel, 12 stories high  & 120ft. high. Now it is a representation of the borough of Queens (BB, p.497).

“ Man’s Achievements on a Shrinking Globe

 in an Expanding Universe” (BB, p. 497).

Queens Museum of Art (QMA) has two permanent exhibitions the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Lamps and New York Panorama.

1. Neustadt was an immigrant from Austria…..he bought his first Tiffany lamp in 1935 and soon became an avid collector even purchasing 500 crates of glass when the company went bankrupt.

2. NY Panorama was is an architectural model of New York Comminsioned by Robert Moses for the 1964 World’s Fair ad updates

in 1992.

( BB, p.497)

The main exhibit was the Caribbean Crossroads of the World. The artists expressed the diversity, complexity of Caribbean life. Reflecting on the human condition and economic developments.

  

On my way to Astoria I passed LaGuardia Airport, named after the Mayor of New York. He was traveling back to New York when he landed in Newark. He refused to get off the plane and demanded to be flown to NY because that is what his ticket said. They flew him to a field in Brooklyn where he held a press conference stating that New Yorkers should have access to airports (Unique New York).

Astoria is a section in Queens that is home to the largest community of Greek people of Greek Heritage outside of Greece (BB, p. 499).

It has restored its film industry making it the most successful filmmaking property on the East Coast (BB, p.499).

Museum of the Moving Image its main exhibit is “Behind the Screen” which gives the viewer an inside look at the technical aspects of producing movies and TV.