Flushing Meadows–Corona Park

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the film named Flushing Meadows, see Flushing Meadows (film).

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
The observatory towers in Flushing Meadows Park and the Unisphere.
Type	public park
Location	Flushing, Queens, New York City, NY, USA
Coordinates	40°44′45″N, 73°50′41″W
Size	1,255 acres (508 ha)
Opened	1939
Operated by	New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
Status	Open all year

Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, often referred to as Flushing Meadow Park or Flushing Meadows Park, is located in northern Queens, New York City, USA, at the intersection of the Long Island Expressway and Grand Central Parkway. The second largest public park in the City of New York (after Pelham Bay Park in The Bronx), it was created as the site of the 1939/1940 New York World's Fair and also hosted the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair. It is maintained and operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The park is at the eastern edge of the area encompassed by Queens Community Board 4.^[1]

[edit] Two World's Fairs

Main articles: 1939 New York World's Fair and 1964 New York World's Fair

The 1,255 acre (5 km²) park was created from the former dumping ground characterized as "a valley of ashes" in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. The site, known at the time as the Corona Ash Dumps, was cleared by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, in preparation for the 1939-1940 World's Fair. Faced with having to dispose of the mountains of ashes, Moses strategically incorporated a significant portion of the refuse into the bases of the Van Wyck Expressway running along the eastern side of the park, the nearby Interboro Parkway (now Jackie Robinson Parkway), and the Long Island Expressway that divides the park into north and south halves. The Grand Central Parkway separates a western lobe from the main part of the northern half, while the east-west Jewel Avenue bisects the southern half.

The Unisphere, in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens.

Some of the buildings from the 1939 Fair were used for the first temporary headquarters of the United Nations from 1946 until it moved in 1951 to its permanent headquarters in Manhattan. The former New York State building was used for the UN General Assembly during that time. This building was later refurbished for the 1964 Fair as the New York City Pavilion, featuring the Panorama of the City of New York, an enormous scale model of the entire city.^[2] It is currently the only surviving building from the 1939 Fair, and the home of the Queens Museum of Art, which still houses, and occasionally updates, the Panorama. The Unisphere, built as the theme symbol for the 1964/1965 World's Fair, is the main sculptural feature of the park. It stands on the site occupied by the Perisphere during the earlier Fair.

[edit] 1965-present

One of the sculptures at the park, dedicated to the sporting events

"The Rocket Thrower" by Donald De Lue, commissioned for the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair.

The US Open tennis tournament takes place in Flushing Meadows Park at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center; its center court is Arthur Ashe Stadium and its secondary stadium court is Louis Armstrong Stadium. Shea Stadium, home of the New York Mets, sits at the north end of the park.

Rental boats are available for rowing and paddleboating on the park's Meadow Lake, which feeds northward into the Flushing River and thence into Flushing Bay. Meadow Lake is also the site of the yearly Dragon Boat races, and NY teams practice in the lake during summer months. The American Small Craft Association.^[3] (TASCA) also houses a fleet of over a dozen 14.5' sloop-rigged sailboats which are used for teaching, racing and recreation by the club's members. Bicycling paths extend around Meadow Lake and connect to the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway. Paths around Willow Lake, in a natural wetlands area in the little-used far southern section of the park, are currently closed to the public.^[4] The many recreational playing fields and playgrounds in the park are used for activities that reflect the vast ethnic mix of Queens; soccer and cricket are especially popular.

The park is also the home of Queens Theater in the Park, the New York Hall of Science, the Queens Museum of Art, and "Terrace on the Park" (a banquet and catering facility, the Fair's former helipad).

The New York State Pavilion, constructed as the state's exhibit hall for the 1964/1965 World's Fair, is also a feature of the park. However, no new use for the building was found after the Fair, and the structure sits derelict and decaying. The other buildings left for a while after the Fair's conclusion to see if a new use for them could be found, such as the United States Pavilion, have subsequently been demolished. One such parcel became the site of the Playground for All Children, one of the first playgrounds designed to incorporate regular and handicapped-accessible activities. The design competition was won by architect Hisham N. Ashkouri and the facility was completed in 1981. It was refurbished and reopened in 1997.

On June 24, 2005, the park hosted the Reverend Billy Graham on what he stated was his last tour in North America.

A $66.3 million aquatic center, encompassing an Olympic-sized indoor pool and an NHL regulation-sized skating rink, opened in 2008. The facility, utilized by schools, leagues and community members of all ages, is the largest recreation complex in any New York City park, at 110,000 square feet. The complex incorporates features for the physically disabled.^[5]

[edit] Popular Culture

Unisphere is a mascot of a park, as well as a symbol of Queens Borough

Closer view of the Unisphere

The 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV features a full fictional recreation.
The great ash heap/valley of ashes in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby was spruced up for the 1939 World's Fair and is now Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
In the series finale of the police sitcom Barney Miller, Detective Ron Harris considers resigning from the NYPD when he learns he is being assigned to Flushing Meadows.[1]
Flushing Meadows is referenced in the 9th-season episode of The Simpsons entitled The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson. Homer Simpson, badly needing to go to the restroom, sees a bus headed toward Flushing Meadows and imagines himself running through a green meadow filled with many toilets.
In 2001, the show The Amazing Race used the Park as the final destination of the first season.
Flushing Meadows is seen in the 1997 movie Men in Black in the scene where Agent J (Will Smith) and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) attempt to stop the Bug (Vincent D'Onofrio) from leaving earth in the observation tower, which transforms into an alien space ship, then crashes into the Unisphere.
In the fourth episode of the 2007 HBO series Flight of the Conchords, Bret McKenzie takes a date to the Unisphere in the park.
In the opening credits of the show King of Queens, there is a shot of Doug and Carrie playing in front of the Unisphere.