A Visit to Jackson Heights

Today I'm heading out to meet a friend in Queens; I've not been there for some time. Queens is not terribly easy for me to get to as there's really no way to do it on less than three trains.

We met on the platform of the E,F,G,R,V line in Jackson Heights, a station (74 St-Broadway and Roosevelt Avenue) that is finally getting its deserved renovation. One more stop on a local train and we were off eating Malaysian food, which is just as good as, and quite a bit cheaper than, in Manhattan.

We adjourned to a bar right near the Jackson Heights station. I'd not seen the station from the outside for several years and it appeared that the renovation is nearing completion. However, I found the outdoor station to be rather ugly. The 74 St-Broadway station is an express stop in Queens and also connects with the elevated number 7 train. After Queens Plaza, I would imagine this is the busiest station in Queens.

Imagine a small airplane hangar, cut it in quarters, and plunk down one quarter at the point where these lines cross. Perhaps this provides a picture of this new station. The high part of the quarter is opposite the 7 line and the entrance to the underground E,F,G,R, and V lines. Its walls are all poorly designed glass, distributed in small rectangular windows that say 1960s, and glass block, that says... Well, it says, ugly as far as I'm concerned.

However, once we left the bar, I had the chance to venture into the station to catch a train back to Manhattan. It was about a quarter past two in the morning and as I walked into the station, I found myself quite pleased. The large interior space is effective in tricking us into thinking that the station is far larger than it really is. Furthermore, the interior succeeds because of its simplicity: one large stairway up for the 7, one large stairway down for the E,F,G,R, and V. While I mocked the exterior earlier in the evening, it wasn't hard for me to understand why it won the bid after experiencing the interior.

And, of course, the E was running on a different line into Manhattan. For once this worked to my advantage since I was going to visit another bar on 58th Street.