Long Island City, Fall 2009

The Queens West Sportsfield:

Queensbridge Park:

You’ve perhaps heard of the Little Red Lighthouse. This is the Little Red Comfort Station at Queensbridge Park:

What’s called by one local newspaper Lake Vernon Boulevard at the stalled River East project:

The whimsical Recycle-A-Bicycle Urban Garden underneath the Queensboro Bridge along Vernon Boulevard:

Other stuff: A Drive Across the Queensboro Bridge; Silvercup Studios; Century Rubber Supply on Jackson Avenue.

The North Recreation and Interpretive Area of Gantry Plaza State Park is one of our new favorite spots. Every week we’d head down there after work to hang out. A series of pages from those days, which I’ve posted all in one chunk. First, trying to capture the moon setting over Lower Manhattan from the North Recreation and Interpretive Area of Gantry Plaza State Park on August 25, 2009:

Watching what seemed to be a recent graduate’s picture being taken for a portfolio of some sort at the North Recreation and Interpretive Area of Gantry Plaza State Park on September 1, 2009:

The setting sun and some pictures of the Pepsi-Cola sign from the North Recreation and Interpretive Area of Gantry Plaza State Park on September 8, 2009:

Just when they open the park, more work, this time for a children’s play area in the North Recreation and Interpretive Area of Gantry Plaza State Park, from October 6, 2009:

Four Wongs (And One Yee Li) Make A Night

Back in October, BATC friend Mary organized a duck tour of Manhattan’s Chinatown that included some of her favorite low-budget spots for roasted duck and Peking duck. She called it a duck tour — we’re calling it a Duck Walk. We visited five (!) places in about six hours: Big Wing Wong, Hoy Wong, Big Wong, Hsin Wong and Yee Li.

Big Wing Wong Restaurant, 3:40 p.m.:

Hoy Wong Restaurant, 4:33 p.m.:

Big Wong Restaurant, 5:11 p.m.:

Hsin Wong Restaurant, 6:10 p.m.:

I’ll take this as an argument for eating out more often:

We needed a break after Hsin Wong, so we took a short walk and visited Mei Dick:

Yee Li Restaurant, 8:14 p.m.:

Mary asked us to rate the places. Here were my notes:

• 1. Yee Li — though [this came at the end of the night and] we were stuffed, I think this may have been the best, plus [we liked the] floppy fish [which writhed on the ground near the tanks in front of the restaurant after getting dropped by one of the chefs]
• 2. Hoy Wong — [A local] favorite, right? I kind of agree . . . though the server may have extra beered us to inflate the check
• 3. Big Wing Wong — hard to remember, but I recall comparing this halfway through and thinking it was solid
• 4. Hsin Wong — then again, Hsin Wong (friendly server, right?) was pretty good, too — maybe switch with Big Wing Wong (or is that wong to say?) [Ed note: Ugh!]
• 5. Big Wong — if memory serves, this was saltier and not as fatty

I later learned from something called “Yelp” that Yee Li is apparently owned by the same people as Hsin Wong, which could account for some of our difficulty differentiating the different ducks.

Bonus points go to Yee Li for their useful “Mr. Wipes”:

No clue how you’d pronounce “Lrmgobao” toilet tissue:

Also at Yee Li, this fortune that I’m still trying to figure out:

So many places insist they don’t use MSG — then you see something like this on the street outside:

I believe this is known as the universal symbol for “happy ending”:

Historic Philadelphia Jail!

A visit to the Eastern State Penitentiary in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia back in October:

Al Capone’s well-appointed cell, restored to what it looked like when he had a stint there:

Some of the facility has been restored, but sections such as Cellblock 12 retain their dilapidated Romantic charm:

Nice views of Center City from the Exercise Yard: