Quartz City

Train out to Queens.

Peeking in at a Mets game.

Wandering around Worlds Fair site.

Big Genius in Brooklyn. They’re an art supply store, an internet cafe, a coffee bar, and they sell videos of 60s-era garage rock bands.

Saw Comets On Fire last night (one sentence review: they were OK in 3 minute intervals, but not necessarily for a full show) and caroused around with folks until very late. Trucker hat count of 4, including an awesome sighting when a hesher-looking dude with trucker hat briefly leaned back to peek into Lit’s back room where we were sitting. It was like seeing a UFO.

My one last “urgent and key” NYC destination was the site of the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fair out in Flushing Meadows. Not much is left of the actual fair buildings. The only remaining 1939 building is the New York State pavilion which is now home to the Queens Museum Of Art.

Couple things from 1964 are still around – most notably the Unisphere. I somehow fulfilled a desire I didn’t know I had and played around in the fountain underneath it. Still unbearably hot out – could have sat in it all day long.

These things are still there, but I have no idea what they’re called.

The Queens Museum of Art was wonderfully great to wander around in. There’s obviously a lot of Worlds Fair-related stuff there including a terrific Salvador Dali exhibit with his designs, prototypes, and sketches for his surreal “Dreams Of Venus” building for the 1939 fair. The show runs through early September – check it out if you’re in NYC.

The most mindblowing thing in the QMS is a giant scale model of the New York City area. Originally built for the 1964 Fair (and since updated) the model is accurate down to the scale skyscrapers and buildings. It’s difficult to photograph, but to give you an idea of the size, yes that’s another person on the opposite side in this photograph.