Screening of Punching at the Sun

from urbanseashell.blogspot

ACCLAIMED ASIAN-AMERICAN MOVIE MADE IN ELMHURST AND JACKSON HEIGHTS TO HAVE LOCAL PREMIERE AT THE MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE

Screening of Punching at the Sun with director Tanuj Chopra in person
Friday, February 2, 2007, 7:30 p.m.

"...Filmed on location in Queens, and featuring a remarkable cast of first-time film actors who were discovered at local youth and theater workshops including SAYA! (South Asian Youth Action) in Queens, Punching at the Sun follows the struggles of Mameet, a South Asian teenager, after the death of his brother during a hold-up at the family store. With its distinctive visual style, the film captures the energy and cultural diversity of Queens..."

The screening will be followed by a discussion with Chopra moderated by Chief Curator David Schwartz. The Independence World Cinema Showcase is made possible with generous support from the Independence Community Foundation.

Stable, quiet Jackson Heights set for major condo project

By Cara Tabachnick for The Real Deal , January 2007
Conversion would have 190 units, second largest for Queens

...Plans for Stratford Hall at 80-09 35th Avenue in Jackson Heights were submitted in October. The project is slated to have 190 units.

"It is groundbreaking," said longtime resident and broker Michael Carfagna of MPC Properties. "It is the first conversion in Jackson Heights in last 20 years. The fact that the owner is choosing to convert shows there is real underlying strength in the market."...

..."Jackson Heights is an undiscovered market. It's mostly through word of mouth and referrals," said (Michael) Carfagna. Buyers are mostly drawn to the neighborhood for its prewar housing stock, not sheetrocked $800,000 apartments with bamboo floors like those in Manhattan, he said...

..."Most of our new residents moving to the neighborhood are disgruntled Brooklynites, some from Manhattan," he said. "They can't believe what you can buy for the money."...

Jan. 11 protests

from NY Protest Calendar

NEW YORK
Jackson Heights (Queens)
Demonstrate against Bush’s “troop surge”
Wednesday, January 10, 5pm - 7pm at the Army Recruiting Center
82nd St. & Roosevelt Ave., SE corner
Subway: #7 to 82nd St/Jackson Heights.
[or E, F or weekday V or G to Roosevelt Ave. stop]
Called by the Queens Antiwar Committee, World Can’t Wait/NYC

Moving for the Food

By SETH KUGEL for the New York Times, December 31, 2006

...MY new fourth-floor co-op in Queens measures about 800 square feet, pretty good for one person. It's in a well-preserved apartment at the graceful Hampton Court, built in 1921 in what is now the Jackson Heights Historic District. Its eight windows all overlook the stately trees and manicured shrubs of a one-acre courtyard, not visible from the street and accessible only to residents.
There's a light-flooded room perfect for a work-from-home journalist like myself. And then there is the great storage space in the basement, friendly neighbors, low monthly maintenance, and a five-minute walk to the E and F express trains that reach Midtown Manhattan in 15 minutes.

Whatever. I moved here for the food...

...Arriving here in Jackson Heights in October was like being pardoned by the governor. The first time I was home at lunchtime, I nearly bounded around the corner to Seba Seba for stewed beef, meat-and-potato soup and a shake made from the South American fruit the Colombians call lulo. I got it to go and ate it as I sat on a wooden bench in the courtyard, basking in the October sun and my own good fortune...

...Years ago, I officially declared the place my own choice for best taco in New York, and I made a vow: whenever I found myself in Jackson Heights, I would get a carnitas taco from Tacos Guicho...

...My move to a one-bedroom co-op in Jackson Heights -- at 35-36 79th Street, and at a cost of $284,000 -- perplexed some of my friends, even those who realize Queens is not outside our solar system. They always ask: Why buy now, in this market?

I look at them quizzically. Earth-stopping tacos for $2, a Thai place with a Gourmet Magazine article in the window and an entire menu for under $10, Peruvian chicken dinners for $4 -- if Jackson Heights isn't a bargain, then I don't know what is...

Pio Pio: Better Than The Other Food

from Epifurious.com

...Pio Pio is a Peruvian pollo a la brasa restaurant of such exceeding amazingness that I couldn't bear to even throw away the menu, let alone imagine a future without perfectly prepared roast chicken, french fries, red beans, rice, tostones. It seemed a bleak, colorless existence. So it remains, sitting on top of my fridge with the bus schedule and the pot holders.

Let me explain...

...The sangria is boozy and full of cubed apples and orange slices. You feel warm, and the winking lights of the restaurant bathe you in flattering, sultry light. From somewhere else in the restaurant, a Peruvian band plays music that would irritate you on a subway platform, but here seems just right. The conversation swirls, intimate, vertiginously returning again and again to the food itself. Everyone is smiling, you are full, you can't stop eating. You are drunk--on sangria, on food, on the atmosphere. You wonder why everyone doesn't eat here every night. You wonder why YOU don't eat here every night...

...For those enticed: It is at the corner of 85th Street and Northern Blvd., in Jackson Heights...