61st Street-Woodside Station (Flushing Line)

This is the 61st Street – Woodside station in Queens at sundown. It is an express station on the IRT Flushing Line of the New York City Subway located at 61st Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside, Queens. It opened on April 21, 1917. This station has two island platforms and three tracks. The two outer tracks are used for the full-time 7 local service while the bidirectional center track is used for rush hour peak-direction 7 express service.

Dragon Boat Race at Meadow Lake in Queens

The 23rd annual Hongkong Dragon Boat Festival took place over the weekend at Flushing-Corona Meadows Park in Queens. The two-day event attracted thousands of spectators and participants. Nearly 200 teams competed with 2,500 participants at Meadow Lake. Dragon boating is a boat of several paddlers, a drummer and a steers person paddling to cross the finish line faster than their competition.

According to the event's official website, dragon boat racing is based on a legend of the ancient patriot-poet Qu Yuan who lived from 340-278 BC. He was a Court Minister who advocated reforms for his home state of Chu. The King of Chu, however, disliked him for it and banished him from the state. In exile, he wandered the country writing poetry expressing his concerns for his homeland and its people. In 278 BC when Qu Yuan heard that his home had been invaded, he jumped into the Ni Lo River and drowned himself. Legend has it that local fishermen raced out to the river to save him, but couldn't. To prevent his body from being eaten by the fish, they threw rice dumplings into the water as an offering to his heroic spirit. This was the beginning of Dragon Boat Racing. Today, rice dumplings are eaten on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, which is commemorated each year on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. 

Cooling Off Beneath The Unisphere (And The Rainbow) In Queens

The iconic Unisphere, a giant steel globe perched above the Flushing Meadows- Corona Park is a beautiful spot for Queens residents to stroll, play, relax, and cool off during the summer months. The Unisphere is centered in a large, circular reflecting pool and is surrounded by a series of water-jet fountains, attracting kids to cool off under the globe to beat the heat. Built for the 1964-1965 World's Fair as a symbol of peace, the Unisphere is also a reminder that the world does live in Queens, the most ethnically diverse urban area on earth. 

7 Train (International Express) To Woodside, Queens

The 7 subway train from midtown Manhattan to Flushing, Queens is sometimes called the "International Express." It serves a span of interconnected neighborhoods where immigrants from all over the world live. In Woodside, the area's main commercial district is along Roosevelt Avenue, under the elevated tracks, where diverse ethnic restaurants mix with commuter-oriented businesses, cargo and travel agencies, financial services and jewelry stores. It may not be the prettiest part of the city but the area is so diverse, so New York. 

Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside, Queens

This is a section of Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside, Queens. Above Roosevelt Avenue is the overhead subway and train (the Long Island Railroad stops in Woodside). Woodside, a neighborhood in the western part of Queens. This particular neighborhood along Roosevelt Avenue is filled with many cultural restaurants including popular Thai, Filipino, Colombian and Ecuadorian eateries. A "Little Manila" stretches from 63rd to 71st Streets at the strip of Roosevelt Avenue. 

The Unisphere of Flushing Meadows - Corona Park in Queens

The Unisphere is a giant stainless steel globe perched in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, New York. The US Steel Corporation built it as a symbol of world peace for the 1964-1965 World's Fair. The Unisphere is 140 feet high and 120 feet in diameter. It weighs 900,000 pounds. Since the continents are the heaviest parts of the all-steel sculpture and they aren't evenly distributed, the Unisphere is top heavy. It was carefully engineered to account for the unbalanced mass. The Unisphere has remained popular among visitors, soccer players, museum and theater goers, Mets fans, and locals.

Jollibee in Queens, New York's First Branch of the McDonald's of the Philippines

Jollibee is a fast-food chain from the Philippines that opened its first New York branch six months ago beneath the No.7 train tracks in Woodside, Queens. Also known as the McDonald's of the Philippines, Jollibee is now the largest Filipino food company. According to food experts, Jollibee owes its success in the Philippines to the fact that it caters to local tastes, unlike McDonald's. Gene Gonzalez, a restaurateur and food consultant who runs the Manila-based Center for Asian Culinary Studies, said Jollibee adjusted its burger to taste like the meatballs that Filipinos like. "Unlike Americans, Filipinos do not like pure beef patties, which can be bland. They like their burgers to taste like meatballs, which are stronger-flavored, with flavor extenders - spices, garlic, onion, celery," he said. Jollibee is located at 62-29 Roosevelt Avenue at 63rd Street in Woodside, Queens.