Astorian Weekend Edition, 16.07.09

Looks like another nice weekend in Astoria. Thursday evening brings plenty of fun things to do in town, from a free wine tasting, to a celebration of pampering, to Green Drinks in LIC, to an evening of style shopping. It's my birthday that day, so I'll be celebrating as well.

This weekend head over to the Sculpture Center (44-19 Purves Street) on Saturday to get your fill of social, cultural, and artistic discussion. Remember that nearby you'll find Dutch Kills Bar (27-24 Jackson Avenue), so head over there to continue the discussion over a cocktail.

And don't forget Astoria's own Musical Saw Festival on the 18th at Trinity Church (31-18 37th Street)

Summer weekends are all about relaxing, so LIC's newly expanded Gantry State Park (behind 47-20 Center Blvd) could be perfect on Sunday for a relaxing afternoon of lazing around. A swim could be fun, too. Or spend the time over on 30th Ave at Ovelia (34-01 30th Ave) sitting outside with a frappe and friends. Il Bambino's new outdoor patio (34-08 31st Ave) is newly open, too.

Enjoy your weekend, whatever you do!

This Weekend at the Sculpture Center

A heady and fascinating presentation. From the website:

Saturday, July 18, 2009, 2:00 PM - 7:00 PM
The University of Trash presents:
Architectures of Crisis/ Architectures of Resistance

Architectures of Crisis/ Architectures of Resistance highlights the role of built space past and present in organizing radical movements and documenting shifting economic, social, and political climates.

Schedule:

2:00 PM
MLAB as Social, Cultural, and Sustainable Entrepreneurship

Marion Wilson devised an interdisciplinary curriculum at Syracuse University called "Social Sculpture" for artists to offer spatial solutions to social and cultural concerns. Wilson started MLAB, a non-hierarchical collaborative design team, as a result of her belief in the revitalization of urban spaces through the arts. Original team members will present a powerpoint of their first project, mobile literacy arts bus -a 1984 RV renovated into a traveling classroom, gallery and library to address the crisis of space and resources in the Syracuse City School District.

MLAB (the vehicle) will be on-site at SculptureCenter and open to the public with activities and demonstrations from 11-6pm.

3:30 PM
The Center for Urban Pedagogy will present Nehemiah! A Case Study of Radical Pragmatism, a slideshow and discussion about a visionary project made real.

Nehemiah! A Case Study in Radical Pragmatism is the story of how religious leaders, Alinskyites, and architects worked with the City bureaucracy to build 3,000 single-family homes for low to moderate-income buyers -- and build community in Brooklyn's poorest neighborhoods.

Center for Urban Pedagogy is a Brooklyn-based nonprofit organization that uses the power of art and visual culture to increase the quality of public participation in urban planning and community design. CUP specializes in creating interdisciplinary collaborations that bring together designers, educators, advocates, and community residents to improve urban life in New York City and beyond.

5:00 PM
Teddy Cruz and CUP's founder Damon Rich will discuss the economic crisis in relation to Rich's current exhibition Red Lines Housing Crisis Learning Center at the Queens Museum, and Cruz's ongoing work with the trans-border urbanisms at the US and Mexico border region.

6:00 PM
Open Discussion

The Sculpture Center
44-19 Purves Street
LIC

Astorian Weekend Edition 13.11.08

Saturday looks like it's going to be a rainy Saturday, so why not check out one of Astoria an LIC's own museums? The Noguchi Museum (9-01 33rd Rd), the SculptureCenter (44-19 Purves), and P.S.1 (22-25 Jackson Ave) all have exhibitions running currently.

Make sure you take the opportunity to stop by Freeze Peach (22-00 29th Street), too - they've lost their space so their existence is limited (their going away party is 11/22). Hopefully they will find a new space, though - it would be a shame for them to completely disappear.

For a while now, I've been hearing about great affordable massage found in the Ditmars neighborhood. Chinese GongFu Tui-Na is the name and $50 gets you a full body massage. They also do foot rub/reflexology.

And if I haven't mentioned it before, Soho (22-11 31st St) has amazing turkey bacon. I recommend it, along with the whole wheat pancakes.