Driving in Queens

I rented a car today from JFK. I have a job offer out in Far Rockaway, Queens and wanted to give the place a good drive-around to get a feel for the neighborhoods. It's way too far to commute long-term - 2 hours via subway or train/bus from my place in Manhattan. Now Queens is a LARGE and Far Rockaway is about as far away from Manhattan as you can be and still be in New York City. Now my only views into Queens living have been when I've worked with folks in Astoria, Long Island City, Jackson Heights, and places much closer to Manhattan. Love the ethnic feel and food of each neighborhood - Greek, Indian, etc.. - but some of the architecture is hideous and tacky and not in a good retro-fun way. My subway rides out to Far Rockaway have been fraught with subway delays and views of not-so-nice neighborhoods. I just didn't feel super comfy taking the job without giving the place a good look from street-level.

Big hairy line at the Budget counter. Luckily everyone was civil except this one guy who showed up after I'd been there about a half-hour and went right up to the front of the line and seemed to be starting a second line for unknown reasons. Was he special? In urgent need of a vehicle to get to surgery? Who knows. Some folks just don't like queuing.

I started out driving southeast from JFK. Went off into parts of Lawrence to see GIANT homes on winding roads around country clubs and golf cart crossings. Not for my price-range or walking personality. As a white gal, I could fit in visually but after me opening my mouth about carbon footprints and water-wastage on golf courses, I'd be ran out of town.

Headed to Long Beach and Atlantic Beach which have some good vibe but older beachy community feels. Tolls, tolls, tolls. Have to pay them coming and going across each bridge. The western part of Long Beach with the streets named after states has a feeling similar to Venice Beach, CA. You look down rows of streets leading to the ocean and each is filled with little bungalows, shacks, and a few nicer small homes. The main street has surf shops, cafes, restaurants, and other essentials to the walking life. The main part of Long Beach is more high-rise and cheap resorty stuff but the train and all the amenities are right there.

Rockaway was pretty scary with a part of my map showing a cemetery but a housing complex was actually there. Some areas are pure residential - old, new, in-between - nothing to really call a town center or a good place to walk. The subway tracks sit above large swaths of the island heading west and it really doesn't result in a safe feeling about places to live there. I finally got to a more townish area of about 4 blocks as the Cross Bay Bridge dead ends into the island around 94th and 95th. The feel was more barrios than beach. I headed further west only to hit the more modern and strangely deserted feeling Bell Harbor which again lacked any walkability.

Then there are parks and Ft. Tildon buffering the white folks living the strange isolated life out in Breezy Point. The community is old with little gates guarding the sea-weathered-gray homes from main folk like me just driving out the island. Where are the grocery stores? Book stores? One sign for a bar but I couldn't find it. This gated approach was seen everywhere from Rockaway to Atlantic Beach to Belle Harbor - to get to the beach you need to belong, and pay for that belonging. But Breezy Point seemed more scary and insular, like those creepy Steven King novels about a town on an island or remote part of Maine where they sell on of their kids to the devil to keep safe. Bet they sacrifice any minority who shows up first.

Looped back on the island to check out the community of Broad Channel. Same old-time feel as Breezy Point without the creepy gates. I found the subway station hidden on a back street but couldn't find the beach I know is there given all the bathing-suited people who get off at that stop. Continued the drive across the channel and loved taking in all the green and water.

Continued my drive up to parts of Brooklyn. Liked the channel parts of Howard Beach (see above) and stopped to have an iced coffee. Sighted two cranes, one white one blue, fishing along the rocks by the channel right next to the parking lot. Amazing how nature just keeps pushing into urbanity.

Drove further west on Shore Parkway to Flatbush and up to Kings Plaza. UGH! Fricking hate malls now. Sears, Macy's, it all gives me the heebie-jeebies. Marina Park area didn't seem like me at all - more suburbia and car-centric. Hit a really cool storm driving Ave. U. Felt like I was in a Ghostbuster movie, surrounded by a dome of churning and billowing dark clouds forming a bubble around us. Freaky. Made it back to JFK. Now I'll gestate all I saw and figure out if this area can be my new home. Never thought of myself as a Queens Girl. What will the B&T people think?