Special sections include Cherry Circle, Fragrance Walk, Perennial Garden, Arboretum and Pinetum. The Victorian Wedding Garden, complete with a footbridge over a babbling stream, is a favorite spot for couples to exchange vows. Built in 2007, the visitors center was the first New York City building to earn a “Platinum” rating from the United States Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. The center has a planted green roof that minimizes storm water run-off, solar panels that generate 17 percent of the building’s electricity, geothermal heating and cooling that uses 55-degree water pumped from an aquifer to maintain the building’s climate, graywater recycling that cleans water from its sinks, dishwasher, and showers for use in the building’s public toilets, compost toilets for staffers and bioswales that capture storm water to reduce pressure on the city’s overburdened sewer system. Inside scoop: The garden abuts Flushing’s Main Street on one side. This thoroughfare is the heart of the city’s biggest Chinatown with Asian restaurants, boutiques, hair salons, and stores that sell vegetables and fruits that don’t have recognizable English names. Address: 43-50 Main Street and www.queensbotanical.org. Quens Theatre Queens Theatre includes an intimate setting with 464 seats in its main stage, an 80-seat black box space and a 75-chair cabaret. The theater presents about 300 performances a year — from dances to concert to theater — to an estimated 100,000 individuals. In addition, local arts organizations rent the site for exhibits. About 75 percent of patrons are from Queens, and the borough’s diversity is reflected in its programming. The Latino Cultural Festival and the Asian Cultural Fest take place there, as does The Afro-Semitic Experience, a musical show highlighting the African-American and Jewish- American musical heritages. Inside scoop: The venue sits next to the New York State Pavilion, an extremely popular exhibit during the 1964 World’s Fair with three tall towers, a 26-foot scale replica of the St. Lawrence hydroelectric plant, art from local museums, and Texaco Company’s map of New York State. The map had 567 terrazzo mosaic panels, each weighing 400 pounds. As it is currently not in use, a group 26 QUEENS IN YOUR POCKET • www.itsinqueens.com
QIP2015
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