Bloomberg is Coming, September 2

So, if you have any questions for him...

Fading

The name Marmara is slowly fading away.

Owning Marmara

A sign on the door of Marmara, I noticed today.

Another Business, Gone

A store on the same block as Marmara is closed and looking for a new tenant. Sigh.

Life in Marmara?

Marmara restaurant, located at 39th Place and Queens Boulevard, has been closed for months. But tonight, walking by the restaurant windows on 39th Place, I saw two men inside the kitchen.<

Maybe a sign of a re-opening?

Let's hope. But maybe, this time, they could get their liquor license. Here's the Chronicle's restaurant review from December 2007:

"With its pastel-colored interior, track lighting and ample space offered between tables, Marmara has a romantic ambience and is as good a “date restaurant” as any you will find a few miles west in Manhattan with prices that are far more reasonable. Marmara has not obtained its liquor license yet, but patrons are allowed to bring their own bottle of wine if they desire."

R.I.P. Ivan Cortes

Here's the sidewalk memorial for Ivan Cortes, who died on August 5 on Queens Boulevard.

Anybody know more about what happened?

Sunnyside

The novel! Its main character is Charlie Chaplin. Anybody reading it?

About the book, from Amazon:

Sunnyside opens on a winter day in 1916 during which Charlie Chaplin is spotted in more than eight hundred places simultaneously, an extraordinary delusion that forever binds the overlapping fortunes of three men: Leland Wheeler, son of the world’s last (and worst) Wild West star, as he finds unexpected love on the battlefields of France; Hugo Black, drafted to fight under the towering General Edmund Ironside in America’s doomed expedition against the Bolsheviks; and Chaplin himself, as he faces a tightening vise of complications—studio moguls, questions about his patriotism, his unchecked heart, and, most menacing of all, his mother.

Fom the author:

My great aunt Ingrid, a journalist, was Chaplin's neighbor in Switzerland; family legend has it that he dictated parts of his autobiography to her.

So: in 1914, Chaplin was barely even a film comedian, Hollywood was a farm town where the lights went out at 8 o'clock, and America was more or less a great big cornfield with an occasional city poking among its rows. And in 1918, Chaplin was a genius, Hollywood was the world's aspirational mecca, and America... well, America was in serious trouble, in that it thought it had won the War.

Sunnyside is the story of this rapid transformation as Chaplin and his adopted country lose, one more devastating time, their innocence.

46th Street Going Car-Free

On Saturdays in August. From Peter Davis:

Beginning on August 1 and continuing for the rest of the Saturdays during the month, the city will close down 46th Street between Queens Boulevard and Greenpoint Avenue to cars from noon to 7 p.m. and replace the cars with open space and events for community residents to enjoy.

[skip]

In addition to having tables and chairs set up as the main feature of the plaza, Bonilla said they are planning some special events for the car-free Saturdays. Already, they have scheduled a memorial concert in honor of the famous American jazz musician Bismark “Bix” Beiderbecke for August 8, and there is a free program for children planned in connection with the Queens Library for August 22.

The New Beer Garden

looks pretty cool.

Judith and Megc have more on it over here.

The details:

35-33 36th Street (between 35th & 36th Avenues)
Long Island City
Monday through Friday, 4 p.m. - 4 a.m.
Saturday, Sunday, and Holidays, 12 p.m. - 4 a.m.
718-383-1001

Future Planning

liQcity has a great list of upcoming events nearby:

Thursday 5/28

*It’s Ladies Night every Thursday night at Shi Restaurant, offering 2 for 1 drink specials. 4720 Center Blvd, LIC, 347.242.2450
*Manducatis Rustica is hosting live music from 7:30-10pm in the form of a jazz/funk band recreating classic old Italian songs. 46-33 Vernon Blvd, LIC, 718.937.1312
*‘Trans-positions along the Queensboro Bridge’ opens today, a contemporary art production in which 44 artists exhibit their work in 5 LIC venues: Henry DeFord III Gallery at CitiGroup (One Court Sq 44th Dr at Jackson Ave), Space Realty Group, Packard Square Lobby, Holiday Inn Manhattan View, and the Clocktower Building (29-27 Queens Plaza N, ground FL). On view 9am-5pm, Mon thru Fri at all 5 venues. Opening reception on Saturday, May 30, 6-8pm. Running through July 31. Check the website or PDF for more QB Bridge Centennial events.
*Enjoy 5 straight days of live original music in Astoria and LIC with the Astoria Music & Arts ROCK ODYSSEY event series. Thursday kicks off the ODYSSEY with music, dance, a short film festival, and DJing at Astoria’s Club SANM. Doors at 7pm, $5 cover. See flyer for details – ROCK ODYSSEY live music events run through Monday, June 1 at venues such as Hell Gate Social, Lucky Mojo’s, and LIC Bar. 35-15 36th Ave., Astoria, 718.786.0874

Friday 5/29

*Bar Domaine hosts the local Steve Blanco Trio twice a week on Tuesday and Friday. 9p-midnight. 50-04 Vernon Blvd, LIC, 718.784.2350
*Opening reception of Craig Stewart’s exhibition at Dean Project in conjunction with Queens Council on the Arts. 6-9pm. 45-43 21 St, LIC, 718.706.1462
*‘Queensboro Bridgescapes’ exhibition by artist Antonio Masi opens at The Space’s Fardom Gallery. Wed & Fri 12pm-9pm, Thurs & Sat 12pm-6pm. Through June 26. Reception and artist talk on June 3, 6:30-8:30pm. 21-17 41st Ave., LIC, 718.752.0331

New Terry Signs

The most romantic little mystery in the neighborhood is continuing, with a slightly new sign from the girl who is looking for Terry.

Coming Soon

That Sprint PCS Store seems to be on its way to opening.

Cleaning Up the Neighborhood

Here's the before-and-after of the wall along 39th Place just off Queens Boulevard, which used to have graffiti on it. Before I called 311 about it a few weeks ago.

Sometimes, the Pickups at the Bar

Work out well:

Jennifer, 36, director of communications at the Daily News, and Owen, 36, a computer programmer at Katz Media Group, met at a bar in Sunnyside, Queens, in January 2007.

After nine months, the couple started dating. Owen proposed on Sept. 1, 2008, while they were on vacation in the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland.

Take heart thirteenwinters.

The Race from Aubergine Cafe

Which starts here, and goes to Columbus Circle, was won by a guy on a bicycle, who beat out a guy in a taxi, and another guy in a subway.

The story:

NEW YORK—When you’ve been in a hurry to get to work or to catch a show, have you ever wondered what form of readily available transportation would get you there the fastest? That is the spirit behind Transportation Alternatives’ 8th Annual NYC Commuter Race, where three commuters-one by bike, one by subway, and one by taxi-raced to see who could make their commute the fastest. And in the end, the winner by more than 15 minutes was Bronx librarian Rachael Myers on her bicycle.

"As soon as I saw all the traffic backed up on the Queensboro Bridge, I knew this wasn't going to be a fair fight," boasted Myers, who rode her bicycle to victory. "I actually was able to finish a cup of coffee before anyone else made it to the finish line.”

Myers finished the four point two mile race from the Aubergine Café in Sunnyside, Queens to Columbus Circle in Manhattan in 20 minutes 15 seconds, beating out transit rider Dan Hendrick (35:16) and taxi rider Willie Thompson (47:11).

Replacing 'The Grind'

Will be a Sprint PCS store, and a health food store, according to one of the construction guys working on the place.

It'll be located at 39th Place and Queens Boulevard. The Grind is actually still in business, operating just around the corner.

More About Terry

I emailed the person who is looking for Terry, and she said:

If you see him, he is tall, light skin and black hair. I believe he has a Ukrainian background or similar. He's grown up in Queens. I am sorry I didn't ask for his contact that night....he was so sweet. he walked me home in the rain under his umbrella. i was soaking.

I'm not sure how successful this venture will be, but it strikes me as sweetly nostalgic. From another time way back when before people found other people
on jdate, craigslist, etc.

Looking for Love by the 7 Train

This flier was by the 40th Street station in Sunnyside this morning. Here's what it says:

Terry
Studying electrical engineering?
Walked with me home in the rain?
Crazy as this is, I’ve been looking
for you everywhere.
If it’s you, and by some random
Chance you see this, contact me.

J.
thirteenwinters@gmail.com

Resuscitate Journalism, and Coffee Shops

By combining them:

The newsrooms-cum-cafes are part of a new venture in so-called hyperlocal journalism, which aims to reconnect newspapers with readers and advertisers by focusing on neighborhood concerns at a neighborhood level: think garbage collection schedules, not Group of 7 diplomacy.

Hyperlocal publications have been springing up across Europe and North America as newspapers seek a formula for survival. But the Czech plan, the project of PPF Group, an investment firm, goes unusually far in its goal of weaving journalists into the communities they serve.

“There is no option to close the door” between the cafes and the adjacent newsrooms, said Roman Gallo, director of media strategies at PPF. “It’s a feeling for the reader that you can touch your editor and tell them what you want.

“The position of the journalist is not just to be observing and writing something on the newspaper or on the Web, but also to help people have the tools to do something in their community.”

Cleaning Up Barnett Ave. & 50th Street

The intersection of Barnett Avenue and 50th Street is so desolate, and out-of-the-way, that Google maps doesn’t even go there.

It’s also been a haven for illegal dumping, as the Times notes. It's been driving some people around here nuts, like community board 2 chairman Joe Conley, and the vice president of Friends of Sunnyside Gardens Park, Ciaran Staunton.

Buried in the story though, some good news:

Jennifer Manley, the Queens liaison from the mayor’s office, was able to cobble together some assistance for the area.

Some city agencies will be chipping in later this week, providing maintenance workers and machinery to haul away the heavy appliances that find their way onto the stretch, and to level out the soil enough to create a walkway. And on May 16, residents will clear out the remaining small litter and plant flowers and shrubs along the path.