Flushing Meadows Corona Park

I was almost tempted to stay home today. I'm just a little exhausted from going non-stop for the last week. But, after a lazy morning, I figured I should do something. After all, I won't be here that long. So I googled Tiffany glass in NYC...one of my specific quests for the summer is to find as much Tiffany glass as I can. So, I discovered there is a Tiffany Glass exhibit at the Queens Museum of Art. The QMA is in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, where there were World's Fairs in 1939-40 and 1964-65. The QMA itself is in the only building remaining from the 1939 fair.

One thing you might have seen before that is in this park is the Unisphere, a big stainless steel globe that was built for the 1964 fair. I remember seeing it from the plane the first time I flew into NYC in 2001. So I was interested in seeing it for real. Much to my disappointment, the fountains that surround the Unisphere were dry....as were the reflecting pools and other water holding things throughout the park. It just looked kind of depressing.

So the QMA wasn't much to write home about.....the building was pretty ghetto, and there wasn't really any art there except for the Tiffany glass. BUT the Tiffany glass was beautiful, so I didn't mind. Basically the only other thing at the museum was an exhibit talking about the two World's Fairs that had been in the park. I am interested in history and World's Fairs in general, so that was interesting as well. Also, there was a very large panorama of NYC that was installed for the '64 fair. It was built on a scale with 1"=100ft (the Empire State Building was 15" tall)...so that was huge and interesting. All in all, it was a worthwhile trip.

Then I headed back to my apartment, stopping by the produce stand on the corner to get something to make for dinner, and then to the grocery store to buy a bottle of wine (my plan for the evening is to drink some wine and remind myself what happened in the final season of SATC before I see the movie). I walked around the grocery store a few times, never seeing wine on the shelves. There was beer, so I was looking at that thinking maybe I could buy some interesting beer - I enjoyed the Brooklyn lager I had with dinner last night, so that was an option. Then I finally noticed 2 racks of things that looked like wine. But the label said 'wine product.' What the hell does that mean? I was scared, and remembered seeing a liquor store, so off I went. Now I know that in NY, grocery stores can only sell beer, and liquor stores can only sell liquor and wine. Good to know.
The Unisphere - Built for the 1964 Worlds Fair, this sculpture is supposed to have fountains spraying around it, but the pool of water was dry and being used as a skate park for skateboarders.



Looking across a dry reflecting pool towards the Unisphere.



This thing looked really weird and I had no idea what it was until I read about the history of the World's fairs that had been here. This was built for the '64 fair, and was part of the State of New York exhibit. There are 3 observation platforms that people could ride up and overlook the park, but now they are rusting steel and concrete.




This was my favorite piece of Tiffany glass I saw - a wisteria lamp.