Lunar New Year and more in the QNYC Evening Edition for Monday February 4, 2013

Lunar New Year in 5 cultures

Joanna Eng tells us about Lunar New Year in five cultures – Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tibetan, and Mongolian. And while Lunar New Year is February 10 this year, the big celebration here will be in Flushing on Saturday, February 16. You’ll get the chance to experience the Chinese and Korean takes in particular on this important holiday. Ways to celebrate are watching the parade, “wander from bakery to store to restaurant in Flushing, and order whatever they suggest for the holiday,” or head to Jackson Heights and enjoy some momos (one of the special foods for Losar, Tibetan New Year) in the neighborhood, which is increasingly moving from Little India to Himalaya Heights.

TONY discovers LIC, yet again

Time Out New York continues to have a crush on LIC, and posted a short bit on LIC cultural institutions, such as Gantry Plaza State Park, MoMA PS1, Chocolate Factory, and Oracle Club. Also, “Inevitably, however, regeneration brings the risk that some of the iconoclastic fringe element will be quashed—5Pointz Aerosol Art Center.” This institution is going bye-bye and new condos will be going up in its place.

The case of suspended weekend 7 train service – what exactly is the MTA doing?!?

Curious about what the MTA is doing while the 7 train languishes in LIC on weekends this winter? Well, one of the things they are doing is replacing old track with new track – the scene is pretty amazing, with these heavy, heavy section of tracks raised and lowered, and some parts of the track needing to be cut to accommodate the track swap. The MTA has posted photos of the process to their Flickr account and it’s pretty interesting. Definitely check it out to satisfy your curiosity.

Agenda for the next CB13 meeting is here – heads-up, Rockaways

The folks at Rockaway Emergency Plan posted the agenda on Facebook for the next Community Board 13 meeting on Feb 12. “Beach replenishment and stabilization” is on the schedule, which we expect will be of great interest to the surrounding community. About the meeting, REP says:

It’s been moved to a larger location, the auditorium inside Scholars’ Academy on Beach Channel Drive and Beach 104. We’ve reached out to the Army Corps with some of your questions posted here last month and we’ll publish a primer with hopefully some answers at the end of this week.

Yet your neon on, man

The guys who run Krypton Neon in LIC are holding some workshops where you, too, can learn how to bend glass tubes and create some neon art. These workshops are rare – maybe once a year – so if you’re curious, head on over and take a look-see on their site for class descriptions, timing, cost, etc. This could be exactly what you’re looking for.