Blogs from Queens, New York, New York, United States, North America - page 5

Doesn't everyone of us have our very own individual spot that we feel almost magically drawn to without really knowing why? It could be a bench at the lake, a street or even a whole neighborhood. For me Flushing Meadows is one of those places. Since the US Open in early september I consider the Flushing Meadows Corona Park my american backyard. Not only is Flushing Meadows the venue for the annual US Open, it is furthermore the location where the World Fair 1964/1965 took place. An entire city had been built with numerous different pavilions ranging from Coca Cola over IBM to Ford and the likes, all presenting their ideas of the modern age. Firing up the proverbial really big guns! The fair, which was split up in two 6 months running seasons, was over ... read more

Birthdays usually do guarantee for good times because most people want their birthday to be an exceptional day with lots of excitement and fanfares. Since Saturday promised to be a huge day/night, my birthday on Friday was more like a pre-game, a quiet build up for what was about to come. After a nice italian-style apero in the office, we went out for dinner at the all-organic restaurant/food market "earthmatters" where we had - probably - one of the nicest burgers in New York to date. (Thanks for the tip, Mr Winiker!!) Just around the corner from that place is the Rockwood Music Hall, a place I like to call at least my second or third home. Stage 1 being so small that when you fill it with 70 people, the place is overly crowded. It ... read more

After hurricane season, it's US Open season in New York City. Sometimes it's a bit of a nuisance to live in Queens and get through an hour of subway ride coming home from Manhattan. But not these days: Flushing Meadows has become my favourite backyard. On day 1, I just wanted to check out the premises and suck in the atmosphere of a grand slam. Turns out that without a $50 grounds admission ticket, you don't even get close to a tennis ball. Since the all access ticket (including Arthur Ashe) only cost 5 bucks more, the decision was easy: "Please Mr Needaburger, swipe your credit card". So on that fateful monday night, little Martin sat in the world's biggest tennis stadium, watching Big Rog crush that dude from...who gives a damn where he was from. ... read more

As I'm writing these lines, Irene is knocking on my windows like a maniac! The media warned everybody in the world with never seen catastrophe scenarios to the extent that we all had a laugh about it. You know, just like that time when SARS was a big worldwide issue. As a weird side effect of the alarming media coverage, people start to no longer take the warnings serious. However, when the city started to close down the entire public transport system including ferries, subways and buses at noon on Saturday, there was this feeling in the air that something big and aweful might be about to happen. A crazy night at our mansion in Rego Park later, we found ourselves on the safe side of the world. Reportedly, one million people were out of electricity ... read more

If you see the skyscrapers of NYC for the first time, you're overwhelmed, amazed and can't stop looking around for yet even taller buildings. First chance you get, you hop on a terribly overpriced sightseeing bus that drives you to every big or must-see corner of the city. After a hot dog and a coke, you head south to the Staten Island Ferry, pass the Liberty Statue and return by the same ferry to Manhattan just in time to see the lights brighten up at twilight. During the next few days, you cross the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, Lincoln Center and the Financial District with Wall St from your to-do-list. And so on... That's basically the program of a typical tourist and it was my program during the first two weeks here in the States. Not ... read more