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Say Goodbye To The Queens Tourism Center That's Housed In An Old Subway Car
By
Emma Whitford
Published Jul 10, 2015
Modified Jul 10, 2015
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By
Emma Whitford
Published Jul 10, 2015
Modified Jul 10, 2015
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Today, after seven years of very light foot traffic, Queens' only tourist center housed inside of a 1950s-era Redbird subway car is shutting down.
“Today is the last day the Redbird will be open to visitors at its current site," said a spokesperson for Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, who ordered the closure. Why? "The decision was made recently upon review of the limited utility of the Redbird at its current site. In the past, it has had on average 12 visitors a day, majority of whom were not tourists."
Luckily, the subway car itself is safe, at least for the 'time being.' According to a statement issued by Katz's office, "Afterward and for the time being, it will remain on display for the public."
While the Post claims brashly that "no one has set foot in the Redbird Tourist Information Center in Queens since it opened its doors to tumbleweeds in 2008," we'd like to point out that we did, and enjoyed it very much.
Named after that iconic "Gunn Red" exterior paint—a 1980s update meant to dissuade graffiti artists—the city's Redbird fleet retired back in 2003, taking with it the last of the individual metal handholds. Eventually 714 Redbird subway cars were sunk off of the coast of Delaware, intended to form the pleasantly alliterative Redbird Reef, but one remains within city limits, at 120-55 Queens Boulevard in Kew Gardens.
The Queens Redbird, formerly of the 7 line, has been on stationary display since 2005, and went under a $500,000 renovation under then-Borough President Helen Marshall, the Post reports. Since 2008, the tourist center has maintained steady, if minimal hours—weekdays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Roxanne Solarsh, the tourist center's sole employee, has long been on hand to provide tourists with information about local restaurants, transportation routes, chambers of commerce, and business improvement districts.
However, Solarsh told the Post that the majority of her visitors over the last five years—15,000, according to the Queens Courier—have actually been Queens residents coming too and from the nearby Criminal Court. "Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who go to the court," Solarsh said. "We get a lot of people from jury duty."
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queens
redbird
redbird tourist information center
subway
Emma Whitford
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