Bayside Historical Society

Edification value  2/5
Entertainment value  3/5
Should you go?  2/5
Time spent  24 minutes
Best thing I saw or learned Theda Bara, Bayside Historical SocietyIn 1915, Theda Bara, about 30, so-so looks, minor acting credits, exploded into the Madonna of her time. She ranks as the first ever “vamp” in cinema, playing a succession of seductresses and destroyers of men. Every femme fatale since traces her lineage back to Ms. Bara, Bayside resident.

Bayside, Queens, is a neighborhood at the far frontier of New York City, just before it turns into Nassau County.  Today it’s not known for much, except for nice houses and high property values.

Bayside Historical Society, QueensBut just in case anyone is curious about Bayside’s past, it does have a Historical Society, which occupies a little castle of a building on the grounds of nearby Fort Totten.

Originally the officers’ mess and meeting rooms for the Army Corps of Engineers, the building looks excellent today. It shows its age, but is clearly lovingly maintained. And it boasts a modern HVAC system, which I appreciated on a warm summer day. The museum tells essentially one story, that of Bayside’s sole claim to fame. Which is, in fact, fame itself. Continue reading “Bayside Historical Society”

Fort Totten Visitor’s Center & Water Battery

Edification value  
Entertainment value  2/5
Should you go?  2/5
Time spent 33 minutes (at the Visitor’s Center and historic Water Battery; longer in Fort Totten Park total)
Best thing I saw or learned Ostensibly Spanish-American War era “Remember the Maine” graffiti in the tunnel linking the armament storage with the Water Battery.  I’ll never forget.

Graffiti, Fort Totten Water Battery, Queens, New York
Original (?) Spanish-American War Graffiti

Fort Totten, Queens, New York

A Capsule History

In my Park Avenue Armory review, I wrote about the slight envy I feel for the  era when arsenals and shoreline fortresses sufficed to protect the city against threats from abroad. Fort Totten is one of those shoreline fortresses. Continue reading “Fort Totten Visitor’s Center & Water Battery”

Socrates Sculpture Park

Edification value
Entertainment value
Should you go?
Time spent 28 minutes (it was chilly)
Best thing I saw or learned Bryan Zanisnik’s “Monument to Walken” (2016) A bunch of cement heads of Christopher Walken, sprouting from the ground like malevolent mushrooms.  If I had a garden, I would absolutely want one or two for it.

Socrates Sculpture Park is a fantastic place to see, well, sculpture.  Located on the East River waterfront in Queens, it hosts changing exhibitions of works designed for an outdoor environment. Continue reading “Socrates Sculpture Park”

Isamu Noguchi Museum

Edification value
Entertainment value
Should you go?
Time spent 100 minutes
Best thing I saw or learned It’s surprisingly difficult to pick a favorite! But I will call out Walking Void #2 (1970), which is a highly finished piece of granite, utterly harmonious and balanced.Isamu Noguchi Museum, Walking Void #2

Noguchi. I’d always meant to visit the Isamu Noguchi Museum in Queens.  I love Japan, and it always sounded like a good little museum to visit.  But then again, I only really knew Noguchi from blocks of stone that looked unfinished to me, like the sculptor gave up halfway through, and that famous curvy wood and glass coffee table from the 1950s.

So it never made it to the top of my to-do list.

To sum up, it’s amazing. I won’t look at or think about his work the same way again.  Seeing it in its own company, and understanding how it evolved, or how he evolved, was joyous and eye-opening. Continue reading “Isamu Noguchi Museum”