IF you’re sick of all the racket at the U.S. Open, take a time out and a detour to the nearby Queens Museum of Art, where admission is free for the duration of the tournament.
“Roger Federer could probably hit a ball from the South Gate of the Open to our front door,” explains David Strauss, the museum’s director of external affairs. But he says being a good neighbor wasn’t the only reason to scrap the normal $5 suggested donation. The scene – tennis, traffic and otherwise – that is the U.S. Open has not been kind to the Queens Museum. “This year, for the first time, we decided to see if free admission would be enough of an incentive to get some of the tennis crowd to take the very short walk to the museum and discover what lies within,” Strauss says.
Here’s some more incentive: Located at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park – next to the Unisphere and the South Gate of the Tennis Center – the museum is host to quite possibly the single greatest permanent exhibit in town: the Panorama of the City of New York.
The 9,335-square-foot scale model of the five boroughs was commissioned by
Robert Moses for the 1964 World’s Fair and was most recently updated in 2002. Originally, fairgoers were able to take a simulated helicopter tour of the model, but even though visitors have to walk themselves around it now, it still totally rocks – and is certainly the best way to get a true sense of the size of the city short of taking the 2 train from 241st Street in The Bronx all the way to Brooklyn College.
Talk about a timesaver!
Should the weather gods turn out not to be tennis fans and leave you with a rain-out, you’ll have time to check out the other exhibits, too: memorabilia from the ’64 and 1939 World’s Fairs and an excellent collection of Tiffany windows, lampshades and mosaics. (Little-known fact: While the name Tiffany is more commonly associated with queens of the Elizabeth variety, Louis Comfort Tiffany produced his colorful masterpieces at his studio in Corona.)
Summer hours are noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, except Fridays, when it closes at 8 p.m. After Labor Day, it’s open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m. on weekends. The museum is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.