Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Union Turnpike/Kew Gardens














































The second in an occasional series of stops along the F line. This is a much better exit point than Van Wyck Boulevard. You get out at the intersection of the Turnpike & Queens Boulevard. The stores along the Boulevard are pretty generic, but if you cross over (bearing in mind its Boulevard of Death tag) there's the Supreme Court, and Queens Borough Hall, with modest landscaping & a bunch of folks sitting out enjoying the summer. Borough drones, court officers, lawyers, jury men & women, those on trial, & vaguely shiftless types hanging out at the edges of the scene. It's not a place I feel any urge to return to, but there a couple of minor points of interest. The Queens Tourist Office is a defunct number 7 subway car, with appalling ventilation, and a guide who was pretty chirpy, but then fell horribly silent when I identified the place where I work. Further along Q.B., right next to a subway exit, is the Statue of Civic Virtue, which was booted from its spot in front of City Hall by La Guardia, and "donated" to (hah!, forced upon, more like) the new borough hall.