Comments

I moved from Manhattan to FH in 1997, and could not have made a better decision in my lifetime. I traded crowded, dirty, noisy and expensive for safe, clean, unbelievable public transportation choices, and everything I could ever want within walking distance. Of course now it’s not as affordable as it was then… which is why I had to make the unfortunate choice to leave FH for the Rego Park/Elmhurst part of Middle Village last year. But lemme tell ya, if I should win the Lotto, you can keep your Manhattan penthouse AND your dilapidated walkups in dirty, deserted, inaccessible areas of Queens and Brooklyn (yeah, I also thought all that crap was “cool” when I was younger…). I’m buyin’ me a house in Forest Hills. And I too celebrate the glorious diversity of Queens… I’m a Queens gal for life. This borough rocks.

Posted by Laurie
on May 11th, 2007 at 11:59 am
I wouldn’t characterize Forest Hills as “clean”. It might be less dirty that some areas of Manhattan and other parts of Queens, but I still see loads of trash strewn across Continental and Austin every single day.

Posted by David
on May 11th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Hey, come on now - judging me by my work as a harpsichordist isn’t really fair. I didn’t touch your occupation in my blog post. And, being in my late 30s, I think I’m too old to be a hipster (I also prefer to wear pretty colored clothing).

I maintain that the parts of Forest Hills and Kew Gardens that I’ve seen - to me, having lived on LI on Suffolk County’s north shore (for school) and having lived in Southern California suburbs, and having lived in Berkeley, CA and now Astoria - seem suburban to me. Or at least partly. When I’m there, it seems like a combination of both city and suburb. For me, it’s a feel of the neighborhood, too. Now granted, I haven’t seen all of Forest Hills/Kew Gardens, but the parts I did see, felt more suburban than Astoria. This is my impression (hence the “Opinion/Editorial” category of my post). Is there anything in between city and suburb? I do appreciate how things do move a little slower there. I like all the trees and green in the summer, too. I bet your air is better quality out there, too!

And, according to locals who’ve been here for years, it’s taken LIC about 20 years to get where it is now. It might take Forest Hills a while to get the bistro, but it will (by that time, Astoria/LIC might be under water, who knows!). Trying to think of the bistros in Astoria…do you mean like Brick Cafe?

Oh, and I want to make sure you understand that I don’t see Forest Hills/Kew Gardens as “suburbia”, which is a whole other kinda thing.

Thanks for clarifying your take on the term “grungy”. To me, it’s always meant more like “dirty and gritty and gross” rather than “ramshackle”.

And Steve, thanks for reading and responding. The exchange of ideas is good. Keep up the good work at Queens Central.

Posted by megc
on May 11th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
I meant no offense by calling out your harpsichord playing! It was supposed to be a compliment, actually — being a professional harpsichord player is pretty cool, you have to admit. My occupation is too boring to mention in a blog post. Late 30s was too old to qualify as a hipster 20 years ago, but in today’s arrested-development society, I think it’s right in there. However, I do agree that the clothing probably disqualifies you. I hope you at least have the decency to have a couple of tattoos.

I see what you mean about the city/suburb combo, and it’s not entirely off base. But still, I associate certain things with suburbs: You have to drive everywhere. You generally have a yard. More people live in houses than apartments, and in fact, apartments are pretty rare to begin with. Strip malls, strip malls, strip malls. I don’t see those things in Forest Hills. Forest Hills is nothing like “the city” by New York standards, but it’s very urban when compared to most cities in the U.S. But you ain’t kidding about the air quality! I live on tree-deprived, traffic-clogged Queens Boulevard, yet when I walked out my front door this past weekend, I still smelled this grassy aroma I associate with my grandmother’s summer bungalow up in the Catskills.

You know what else I appreciate? How easy it is to cross the street, as long as that street isn’t Queens Boulevard. I can traverse five blocks in the Hills way faster than I can in Manhattan.

I’m not familiar with Brick Cafe, but the last time I was in Astoria, I passed a place simply called 718. That seemed about right.

And no problem on the reading and responding! I check OuterB pretty much every day — you and John do a great job over there.

Posted by Steve
on May 11th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Hey Steve - ok, my bad about intepreting your “harpsichordist” comment - sorry for reacting the way I did. It’s great and I love it, but it does make for a pauper’s existence - I can’t afford any of those fancy bistros, ironically! Ha ha! I hope things will change, though.

No tattoos, but I have a few piercings…but they are just in my earlobes.

Looks like I need to make a trip out to Forest Hills/Kew Gardens again to check things out, re-educate myself, and look for those more “city” elements. Awesome that it’s got both subway and LIRR, I will say (the more public transportation options the better, I say). I miss that grassy, sweet air living so near the power plants out here in Astoria. My friend also swears by a pizza joint out there, Nick’s I think it’s called?

718 I think is more French and Spanish. Brick seems more American to me, and more affordable for its genre.

I love Queens! So glad I live in this borough.

Posted by megc
on May 11th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
No prob! The written word is imperfect and good-natured snark sometimes comes across as obnoxious, I have learned. Yeah, everybody loves Nick’s, though, as I hate to have to keep admitting, I don’t eat pizza for reasons too embarrassing to reveal. But yes, judging by unanimous opinion, if you make the trek — just an N train and a 7 train and an E or F train away! — you should definitely check it out.

You know, after I posted that last comment, I went and checked out the menus for 718 and Brick online, and you’re right, Brick is pretty much exactly what I was talking about. 718 looks interesting, though.

And Queens, of course, does rule. I wish more people realized it is so cool to live here.

Posted by Steve
on May 11th, 2007 at 3:58 pm

The view from Astoria

Posted by Steve on Friday, May 11th, 2007

Can I make an entire blogging career out of recycling the same idea? Sure looks like it! At OuterB, Astorian harpsichordist Meg Cotner contributes an op-ed about my “hipsters don’t like nice neighborhoods” theory, which I salvaged the other day from the scrap heap of January. Her contention is that hipsters — she claims to be too old to be one, but come on, she’s a harpsichordist – like Astoria, and Astoria is nice. Ah, but Astoria is a big place, much bigger than Forest Hills, and I would suggest it has its grungy parts. Walking around there just a couple of weeks ago, I certainly ran into a few, just blocks away from some of the more ritzy parts of town. Don’t get me wrong — by “grungy,” I don’t necessarily mean dangerous and gross, I just mean a little ramshackle and chock-a-block with industrial architecture.

Here’s a good example: My wife and I have hip friends who used to live in one of the awesomest apartments I’ve ever seen, a three-bedroom on the top floor of a converted Astoria furniture store. This place had two, count them, two living rooms. Now, the neighborhood? A little iffy. About a 10-minute walk from the subway, it was dominated by bodegas and gas stations. It didn’t feel dangerous, but it didn’t exactly qualify as “nice,” either. Now they live in another, more-picturesque part of Astoria, around the Hell Gate Bridge and just a couple of blocks from Astoria Park. And it’s nice, but if all of Astoria were like this, I bet the hipsters would have discovered Long Island City first.

Meg also repeats the oft-heard “Forest Hills is kinda suburban” line. I’ve never really agreed with this. Forest Hills certainly has its suburban parts, but when I think of it, I think of the part where I live, mostly small storefronts lining the street and six-story red-brick apartment buildings. Doesn’t look much like the suburbs where I grew up. I completely understand why people say this: because the most famous part of FoHi, the Gardens, looks like the toniest of Westchester towns. And I’ve always loved that I’m a five-minute walk away from all that. But though my area doesn’t feel like Manhattan or the close-in parts of Brooklyn, it sure feels like “the city.” (I’ve always gotten a Chicago vibe from the Hills, in fact, even before I lived here.)

Where I think Meg is right on is in celebrating Queens’ diversity as one of its greatest virtues. I love that the same borough with Forest Hills Gardens also has the emerging LIC waterfront and Astoria and the Rockaways and Douglaston and dozens of other places that seem nothing like each other, yet still somehow seem connected in ways I can’t really put my finger on. So no, I don’t want Forest Hills to change that much — after all, I moved here for a reason, didn’t I? But I really, really wouldn’t mind a good casual, modern American bistro.