One of the reasons I chose to spend ten days in New York rather than just a week, was because I wanted to give myself chance to get the feel for the city. I knew I wanted to do all the big touristy stuff, but I also wanted to have time to sit in coffee shops and wander round back streets and generally pretend I was a New Yorker.
Okay, so I knew that ten days was never going to do much more than lift the hatch on New York, but at least the hatch would be lifted.
Ten days also meant I had time to get out of Manhattan. Technically I was out of Manhattan every day as I deliberately chose to stay in Brooklyn, but I also wanted to spend a day exploring somewhere that wasn’t Manhattan. I looked at ways of getting out to the Hamptons or upstate to the Catskills or even to some of the towns along the Hudson, as they all seemed the sorts of places New Yorkers would go when they wanted to get out of town. But none of them really worked for a day trip without a car.
Step forward Corona, Queens. Yeah, I hadn’t heard of it either. Corona, that is. Of course I’ve heard of Queens.
New York city, in case you don’t know, is made up of five boroughs – Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Staten Island and Queens. If I’d had a car, getting to Corona in Queens from where I was staying in Brooklyn would have been quite a quick trip. As I was reliant on public transport I had to take the subway via Manhattan which was rather like travelling round the two long sides of an Isosceles triangle. Although it took quite a bit of time it was an easy journey and cheap too, as a single journey on the New York subway costs just $2.75 regardless of the distance and whether or not you have to change lines.
I got the idea of spending a day in Corona from my AirBnB host, Shannon, who has lived most of her adult life in New York and is passionate about the city. There’s not much she doesn’t know about New York and once she knew what I was interested in she was full of good suggestions.
The main reason she suggested a day in Corona is because it was where jazz musician Louis Armstrong had lived and his house is now open to the public. I can’t say I knew much about Louis Armstrong other than that he was a famous jazz musician, but I love looking around houses, particularly when they still look the way they did when they were lived in.
Once I’d decided to go to Corona, Shannon was full of other ideas of what I should do to make a full day of it.
The subway stop was about ten minutes walk from Louis’s house and as I didn’t have my data switched on, I’d downloaded the route on Google maps. It wasn’t signposted so I was glad I’d done this.
Corona was, and still is, a working class neighbourhood. Compared to English working class neighbourhoods though, the houses were huge and mostly detached and the streets were wide with room for plenty of parking. The only way I, as a Brit, could tell it was working class was by the shops and eating places. There was no shortage of either and they were all pretty much bargain/cheap places. The English equivalent would be a high street lined with pound shops, betting shops, charity shops and takeaways with a Lidl thrown in for good measure, as opposed to a more middle class high street with artisan bakeries, independent bookshops, delis, cafes serving brunch and a Waitrose.
Once I was in Corona I walked everywhere. I hadn’t realised just how big Corona is and so it did take me longer than I’d expected to get from place to place. I didn’t mind however, as it was a nice day and walking really gave me a chance to get a feel for the place.
Louis Armstrong’s House
First up was Louis’s house. His wife, Lucille, had bought the house in 1943 using her own money and not actually told Louis anything about it until the first time she brought him here. He was suprised to find out that he owned such a house, but quickly settled in and refused to move anywhere else even after making lots of money. As I mentioned already, Corona is a working class neighbourhood and people were always surprised that Louis and Lucille were happy to stay here.
To see the house you have to take a guided tour. The guides are really informative and tell lots of stories about the couple as they take you round. Whilst you wait for your tour to begin there’s a small museum to look around and a short film to watch.
The house was huge compared to English houses – no way would this be a working class home in England, or even a home most middle class people could afford. But this is America and houses are bigger. The Armstrong’s might not have spent much of their money on buying a lavish home in an expensive area, but they did spend it on getting that home exactly as they wanted it.
Lucille was in charge of decorating and decorate she did. The bathroom is entirely mirrored with all gold fittings. The kitchen has wooden cupboards that she had lacquered over and over in turquoise until they looked like laminate; the insides of the cupboards are covered in a heavy duty aluminium foil so they shine and reflect the light when the doors are opened.
A huge stove, a dishwasher, a massive fridge and attachments built into the worktops for appliances like the blender show that she embraced technology as much as she did shiny decor.
This was definitely a house with the wow factor, but it was also easy to see that first and foremost it was a home.
It wasn’t allowed to take pictures in the house, but the website has some 360° images which are pretty good.
I could take pictures in the large garden filled with mature trees though. A patio area has a full-size bar and Lucille had a toilet put in and steps up to the kitchen so guests at parties in the garden wouldn’t have to keep walking through the house.
As I wandered round the garden I was followed by a cute cat that I found didn’t actually belong to the house, but spends most of every day in the garden so it can get constant petting from all the visitors. Of course it got plenty of petting from me.
Mexican Food
Corona is home to a large Latin American, and in particular, Mexican, population. If you want to try real Mexican food whilst in New York this is the place to come. The place I’d been told to try was closed, but it was easy to find somewhere else.
One thing that surprised me and that I liked about New York was how all the streets, both in the city centre and in the suburbs, are lined with lots of independent shops and eateries. London’s the only other city I know of that has anything like this, but it’s nowhere on this scale and also has lots of chain places.
Corona is no different to the rest of New York and so if anything the only difficulty was choosing which place to have lunch in. In the end I chose a place with pictures of the food in the window and with some of the dishes labelled as vegetarian.
It was a tiny place with just a few tables and a counter. A TV in the corner had a football (soccer) match playing. The other customers were teenagers on their way home from school or mums with young kids. Everyone was speaking Spanish.
The woman serving behind the counter could only speak Spanish and didn’t understand what I meant when I said vegetarian. I took her outside and showed her one of the pictures in the window labelled vegetarian. She knew exactly what I meant then, and served me up with a couple of soft tacos filled with vegetables, chillies and guacamole.
It was difficult talking to her with my three words of Spanish and her three words of English, but I did ascertain that she was from Mexico. So I’m sure my Mexican lunch was as Mexican as it gets without actually going to Mexico.
I noticed everyone else drinking what looked like a milkshake and asked for one at the end of my meal. It turned out to be horchata which is a cinnamon flavoured milk drink. It’s more than just a milkshake though, as it has rice blended into too. I’ve looked up recipes now I’m back at home, but I haven’t made it yet. I really have to as it was absolutely delicious.
The Lemon Ice King of Corona
You can’t have a day out in Corona and not visit the Lemon Ice King. Seriously, this is not something you want to miss. The tiny corner store with a serving hatch opening onto the street sells real Italian ices. Not ice cream and not gelato. Ices. There’s no dairy involved so I suppose they’re a kind of sorbet.
The business was started by Italians in the 1940s and was sold to the present family, who are also Italian, nearly 30 years ago. The ices are all hand-made on the premises and the list of flavours is phenomenal. The traditional one is the lemon, but when I saw peanut butter on the menu I had to try it. Peanut butter’s great in ice cream, but I wasn’t sure how it would work in an ice. Let me tell you: it worked.
I expected the ices to be quite small and so thought I’d try a couple of flavours (they don’t mix them), but it was actually quite large and densely packed into a little paper cup. One was plenty, so the only way I’m going to get to try to the original lemon or any of the other flavours is to go back to New York. I guess I’d better start looking at flights.
Corona Park and Queens Zoo
Corona has a huge park. It’s not as big as Central Park but, like Central Park, it does have a zoo in it.
By the time I made it to the park, I had to go straight to the zoo to make sure I got enough time to see all the animals before it closed. And when I left the zoo it was close to dusk, so I didn’t get to see much of the rest of the park.
The reason I wanted to go to Queens zoo was because they have lots of native American (that’s the continent, not just the country) animals.
I bought my ticket, chatted with the ticket seller about the best route to take round the zoo and what we Brits think about Meghan Markle, and then set off on a circular route that encompassed pretty much everything I wanted to see.
I was losing the light and many of the animals were getting ready to turn in for the night, so it wasn’t the best time for photography, but I was still able to watch them and do lots of oohing and ahhing.
I saw bears, coyotes, lynx, bison, pumas, and teeny tiny pudu deer as well as Texas longhorns and giant rabbits. There’s also an aviary with raised paths so you can walk amongst the tree tops. I did get to see everything I wanted, but I wish I’d had more time just to stay and watch each of the animals.
Queens Museum
Queens Museum was on my list of things to do for the day, but I ran out of time. The museum seems to have mainly temporary exhibitions, none of which particularly interested me. The reason it was on my list was because it’s in Corona Park which I was visiting anyway, and because it has a rather wonderful diorama of New York City. I’d still like to see this, so it’s added to my list for next time.
I really enjoyed my day in Corona and would never have thought of coming here if I’d not been advised to. It’s a very different part of New York to the tourist and business areas of Manhattan which is all most visitors will see. If you have the time and want to explore a bit outside of the usual Fifth Avenue, Empire State Building and World Trade Centre itinerary, then I really suggest Corona.
What do you think? Would you like to have a day in Corona as part of a trip to New York? Have you already been? Is there anything I’ve missed? Do you know of any other easy day trips from New York? Share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments below.
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