The Insider’s Tour Guide Quiz:
So You Think You Know Queens?

By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

It’s not often that our Managing Editor Tamara Hartman gives me an assignment — but occasionally, she gets away with it. As a matter of fact, it was Tamara (or T, or Heartless — as I occasionally call her) who got me writing my weekly column after a multi-year hiatus.

“Well, since the Trib is publishing its first-ever Insider’s Guide to Queens,”  T said, “You should present a brief quiz to test if someone qualifies to be a tour guide for Queens.” She then printed out and gave me a Times article with sample questions that New York City gives on its tour guide test.

No surprise, the City’s test appears to be Manhattan-centric. So, I had to create one for the City’s best borough. Here you go:

Think You Know Queens?

1) Which bridge connects Queens to two different boroughs?

2) The famous Panorama of NYC can be found where?

3) Louis Armstrong is buried where?

4) Information about the adventures of former Beep Claire Shulman’s daughter would most likely be found in what Queens building? (Libraries don’t count)

5) What train would you take for the quickest ride from Flushing to Penn Station?

6) What train takes you to the USTA? What stop?

7) Addisleigh Park is a beautiful residential neighborhood in what Queens community?

8) The highest point in Queens is where?

9) Teddy Roosevelt visited the building which houses what Queens cultural institution?

10)  Horseback riding is available by what Queens park?

11)  The New York City building from the 1939 World’s Fair now serves as what?

12)  What Queens museum would most likely display a lamp made out of paper?

13)  First a school and now an art center – what is its name?

14)  Four-year colleges: Queens College, St. John’s University and what?

15)  Where in Queens can you go to the beach?

16)  Where can you find a working observatory?

17)  A windmill?

18)  The longest golf course in Queens?

19)  In what park can you fish while looking at the United Nations?

20) Rudolph Valentino’s former home is now what restaurant?

21)  You can watch takeoffs and landing from what Park which was once the site of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia’s summer home?

22)  Where was the US Open played before it moved into Flushing Meadows-Corona Park?

23)  What Queens neighborhood is best described as Chinatown?

24)  In what Queens neighborhood would you most likely find Latinos from a dozen different countries?

25)  To what Queens neighborhood would you go for Souvlaki?

26)  Bayside’s Ralph’s Ices was top-rated by Zagat’s, but the real Ice King is found in what Queens neighborhood?

27)  In what Queens neighborhood would you most likely find the greatest concentration of Southeast Asian merchants?

28)  In what building was the first meeting of the UN General Assembly?

29)  The New York State Pavilion from the 1964 World’s Fair now houses what cultural institution?

30)  Name the Queens catering hall which was built for a World’s Fair?

31)  Ed Charles, Marvelous Marv Throneberry, and Keith Hernandez exhibited their talents where?

32)  In what neighborhood would you find the home of the late mob boss John Gotti?

33)  Queens kid Paul Simon wrote “Feelin’ Groovy” about what structure? (The Queens name, please.)

34)  In what neighborhood would you find the home of the late music composer  Oscar Hammerstein?

35)  In what neighborhood do they make Steinway pianos?

36)  In what neighborhood is the Lubuvitcher Rebi Menachem Schneerson buried?

37)  If you come from Queens, what do you call the Interstate 495?

38)  In Nassau, it’s the Northern State, in Queens what is it?

39)  What two parkways run the length of Queens from North to South?

40) The 1657 declaration of religious freedom in the New World was issued where?

ANSWERS

1)   The Triborough.
2)   Queens Museum.
3)   Flushing Cemetery.
4)   NY Hall of Science.
5)   Long Island Railroad.
6)   #7; Willets Point Station.
7)   St. Albans.
8)   North Shore Towers Hill, Glen Oaks.
9)   Flushing Town Hall.
10) Forest Park.
11) Queens Museum.
12) Isamu Noguchi Museum.
13) P.S. 1.
14) York.
15) Rockaway.
16) Queensborough Community College.
17) Alley Pond Park - Environmental Center.
18) Clearview.
19) Gantry State Park.
20) Caffe On The Green.
21) MacNeil Park.
22) West Side Tennis Club (Forest Hills).
23) Flushing (downtown).
24) Jackson Heights.
25) Astoria.
26) Corona.
27) Richmond Hill.
28) Queens Museum.
29) Theatre In The Park.
30) Terrace on the Park.
31) Shea Stadium.
32) Howard Beach.
33) Queensborough Bridge.
34) Whitestone.
35) Astoria.
36) Laurelton.
37) L.I.E.
38) Grand Central.
39) Cross Island and Van Wyck.
40) Bowne House.  

Henry Stern:
Don’t Sell Our Birthright For a Mess of Pottage

Mayor Bloomberg has just presented his budget for fiscal year 2004, which begins July 1. As of this writing, the layoff of 15,000 employees is being projected by City Hall as a result of the failure of the State to restore the commuter tax or give the City financial aid, the refusal of the unions to make concessions, the lack of a rescue package from the Federal government, and increasing employee salaries and Medicaid costs.

We do not know what rabbits are in the Mayor’s hat or what, if any new taxes he proposed, or what last-minute agreements may be worked out between the parties.

One last minute proposal that could prove costly and damaging in the long run is the proposed sale of the City’s airports to the Port Authority in exchange for the site of the former World Trade Center. The carrot is $690 million in back rent which the Authority already owes the City and is now kind enough to offer to pay if it can take control of the airports forever. It is possible that someone will seize on this offer as a way of avoiding or reducing layoffs.

Nothing could be more foolish and shortsighted. 

If you are unable to pay your employees because you have over a quarter-million of them, you do not sell one of your most valuable assets to help stave off the inevitable reckoning by one year.  Michael Bloomberg would never have done this in his business; if he did he would not have been the success that he is. You do not sell invaluable, irreplaceable capital assets in order to avoid reducing a swollen payroll.

Even if the deal is made, the City will not have full site control downtown. The footprint of the twin towers is considered sacred ground. And don’t forget that the site has already been leased by the Port Authority – for 99 years – to Larry Silverstein, who has no intention of walking away from it. Then there are the insurance companies, in litigation over the payout which must be spent to reconstruct the destroyed buildings. Factor in the substantial current vacancy rate in downtown office space, without vast new construction in addition to 7 WTC, which Mr. Silverstein already has in design.  And consider the unmentionable: Would you spend eight hours a day on a high floor of the building which symbolizes world capitalism and has been attacked twice by Islamic terrorists?

The income which the City could gain from the airports – if properly operated – is enormous. There have been numerous complaints about the Port Authority’s operations, widespread thefts at JFK Airport, lack of security with regard to incoming narcotics, etc.

I am unable to evaluate these allegations, but in principle a change of management is often the remedy when one agency has become too fat, rigid or lazy to do the job.

My concern is that this proposal will be offered as a last minute budget saving solution, and whipped through before there is a chance to examine it on the merits.

My skepticism about this transaction should not be interpreted as dissatisfaction with Mayor Bloomberg.  

This idea is considered the brainchild of Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, who is widely known to have a healthy obsession with the 2012 Olympics. Before he was appointed as the $1 a year Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, he chaired the committee to bring the Olympics to New York City, where he did an excellent job, along with Executive Director Jay Kriegel.  We do not know yet how the land swap will impact the entire west side of Manhattan, but it has been said that there is a connection between the Port Authority deal and the search for public funds to build a new stadium on the West Side.

I believe Mayor Bloomberg is doing a good job. He was right on the ban on smoking, and the property tax increase, two issues which have lowered his poll ratings substantially. He has not been afraid to take unpopular positions... in fact he seems to relish them. He has appointed honest and competent commissioners and given them authority in their agencies. He is devoted to the City, and tries to advance its best interests.

But that does not mean that he is always right or that I agree with him on every issue. Executives are often as good as the advice they get, and the Mayor is still new to politics. He paid a lot of money (by our standards, not his) to get elected (which was important to him, and probably a benefit for us).  Now he wants to play the Mayor’s hand by himself. We hope he plays it successfully, because he represents our better nature (although that may not be exactly what we need right now) and our best hope for a peaceful and solvent city.

– Henry Stern was NYC Parks Commissioner for fifteen years and a Councilmember for nine. He is founder and director of NYCivic, a good government group. He can be reached at: starquest.nycivic.org.