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Queens Blvd. at 63rd Drive
Rego Park
Photo Gallery: Queens Blvd

Death Blvd
the mall
A pedestrian was killed crossing hereThe blood of Rego Park pumps from this intersection, its heart, 63rd Drive/63rd Road, the Drive on Death Boulevard's southwest and the Road on its northeast side. The Transit Authority and most locals simplify the directions as north and south, as I also tend to do, but in actuality, both the boulevard and the Avenue series roads travel on a slant as the crow flies. It is the street series roads that do the north-south thing, but from the perspective of the boulevard east of Grand Avenue, all the Avenues on the south side are hitting the boulevard head on, and since most people don't think in slanted terms, things have to be either north, south, east or west; not confusing combinations thereof. The irony is that "north" of the boulevard, all the intersectors are hitting it at a visible slant and the "northside" Avenue-Road-Drives are actually going eastward, as does the Long Island Expressway, with a mild slant towards the north. As the boulevard veers more purely westward past Grand Avenue, the angle at which the Avenues strike it becomes downright obscene, and unlike this section, where 63rd Drive comes up at a more or less 90 degree angle from the "south", 51st Avenue on the Elmhurst/Woodside border scissors across the boulevard at such a sick, crazy angle that makes crossing it the equivalent of a three block walk.

crosswalk
 Sometimes Rego Park's blood flows in more ways than just the figurative. 63rd Drive/Road is one of the Tier 2 killers, garnering the big yellow Be Alert warnings. Maybe the lack of southbound traffic from the northside helps to keep the death toll here more respectable. In the first photo, Junction Boulevard veers off to the left and 63rd Road to the right, flanking the Sears Mall. Just above us, you can see the infamous Sears parking garage, which suffered partial collapse not long after it opened. Past that is Park City.
 A closeup of the mall. I don't know why I'm so fascinated with it. Maybe I just miss Alexanders.
west
 The boulevard just to the west of The Drive. One of the newer members of the Green Line bus company heads east just beyond the double parked SUV. These newer buses are very roomy inside.

©2001, Jeff Saltzman. All right reserved.