This past fall, my fiancee and I went to Europe. Among our many stops, we visited this really charming medieval village set in the hillside…
OK, that was a test. Did you believe me for a second? Or am I the only one that thinks Forest Hills, Queens looks really out of place for New York City when viewed from up high?
-SCOUT
Cypress Hills Street might as well be called the Graveyard Highway. A wide, four-lane thruway located in Glendale, Queens, it cuts through The Cemetery Belt – a sprawling collection of cemeteries established after the State Rural Cemeteries Act of 1847 forbade the creation of any new cemeteries in Manhattan. I was out there recently to…
Last week, I was scouting in the Middle Village/Glendale area of Queens when I realized I was close to an address I’d been meaning to check out. Only thing was, as I pulled up to the house, I couldn’t remember why I’d written it down. Over the years, I’ve saved up a number of Google…
Last week, I went the New York Hall of Science in Queens to take some scout pictures, my first time visiting. The Hall of Science was originally built for the 1964 World’s Fair, and while it’s gone through many renovations over the years, this oddly-shaped cement portion speckled with black dots clearly dates back to…
I was driving down 27th Ave in Astoria the other day when a rather large tree in front of an auto body shop caught my eye. Nothing too special about a random tree…but something didn’t seem right… …And then I realized: was that tree growing through the auto body shop??
Note: this has since been removed. I was driving along Vernon Blvd in Queens when I spotted something you don’t usually see under the 59th Street Bridge… A bicycle garden! Or, to be specific, a row of flowers made out of old bike parts: Very inventive stuff – check out this sunflower… The group responsible…
Last week, I was scouting office space in a building in Queens. My guide brought me to this totally unassuming elevator: Really, I have to show you this as I encountered it:
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hahahaha. the best.
Do NYC-Based productions use this as a stand in for generic Europe?
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was several years ago and Cop Out in 2010. Quite a few tv shows also come to the neighborhood to shoot.
I used to live in that rounded tower! I recently wrote an article about Forest Hills and its history that might be of interest to you – (http://ventilateblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/forest-hills-gardens-from-manhattan-to-tudor-village-in-20-minutes/)
The tennis stadium in the neighborhood used to host the US Open and rock shows, including the Rolling Stones and the like. It was used in “The Royal Tannenbaums”, where Richie loses his cool on the court. It also made a brief appearance in “Mad Men”, when Draper goes to scout out the Stones for a possible ad relationship.
Always enjoy your site!
Recent independent film Roadie, Remake of Mildred Pierce and Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train were all filmed here. Peter Parker grew up on Ingram Street. I’ve been told that this was one of the first “planned” communities; a project of Russell Sage & F.L.Olmsted, Jr. and their take on the Garden City Movement.
I live two blocks from the stadium. The homes are beuitiful, but the sad truth is people spend their lives in these houses and when they change hands your looking at a total re-hab. Not to mention, some of the materials and building techniques that were introduced in the construction of these houses have not proven the test of time.
You had me! I was trying to think of where on Eastern Europe I saw it!
I’ve always wondered why the images used in these posts are so small.
Was this area all built by one developer, around the same time? From the air (via Google maps) it is probably the most heavily treed (?) area in Queens. And the buildings so similar in design, but designed as a mixed-use community with houses, apartments, and commercial spaces.
Nope, sorry, even in a cocktail-addled state this European wasn’t fooled.
It’s a bit like the faux-medieval Nikolai-Stadt the GDR installed in Berlin.
You should really consider covering some stuff in Forest Hills. The buildings aren’t quite as old, but a lot of cool 1930s/1940s architecture. I’m about to move there and the building I’m moving to has a great facade, a cool lobby and a good deal of available information.
I got to see the band Genesis and then Peter Gabriel at Forest Hills tennis stadium back in the early 80’s. That stadium was the former site for the US OPEN.