The new Queens Public Library Children’s Discovery Center was formerly my nightclub discovery zone called the ‘Encore’. Think of the ‘Shadow’ nightclub without all the diversity. Just bamboo earring chicks from the Southside and Hollis doing the cabbage patch in velour Fila tracksuits. Polotron lived on Hillside and 168th St. so the Encore on Merrick Ave. directly across from the 164th Street bus terminal was like playing a home game.
The New York Times (where I swiped the image from) talks about the city’s direction in giving good design criteria a priority when constructing and retrofitting public buildings. I’m proud to say that I’ve been part of this effort for over a decade. In that time I’ve watched New York City be transformed into it’s modern metropolitan masterplan.
There’s still spots which need to be fixed, but everytime I go to a 1st Saturday event I think about how the museum entrance retrofit made the museum more accessible to people and transformed the Prospect Heights neighborhood to the point I see single white females standing on the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Nostrand after midnight. Great architecture informs, educates and ultimately it gentrifies.
