Charlotte Damson Critical Studio Presentation-1pe13e2
The location I visited was Flushing, Queens. It took me an hour to travel, on the 7 train, to Main Street/Flushing and I spent over an hour exploring the area. I didn’t know anything about the area prior to my visit, other then the address and my must find locations (Super HK Supermarket and New World Mall). When I got off the train is was surround by crowds of people and I was surprised to see that this section of Queens was a Chinatown. I would have never have known. I later learned that this location is the largest urban center in Queens and it’s the second largest Chinatown in New York City. As I explored the streets, Chinese signs, stores, and restaurants were prominent. There were also American stores and businesses as well; the two cultures are blended together in this location. I wandered around and found the New World Mall. Every store and restaurant was Chinese. There was a fancy restaurant on the top floor and a huge food court on the bottom floor. I watched women hand make dumplings at one of the restaurants. I spent a lot of time exploring the clothing stores and the food court. After I walked to the Super HK Supermarket. Most of the food on sale was Chinese, but there was a small amount of American products as well. When I went to the back to take photos of the seafood, a man who was working behind the counter summoned me over to two containers. He opened one bin and show me huge alive frogs, and another one containing eels. I watched as he stuffed two frogs in a plastic bag for a woman. It should be noted that I’m a vegetarian, and I was unpleased with the site of the alive frogs. Despite this unpleasant encounter, my overall experience was really nice. I enjoyed exploring this area of New York, I would never have known it was there if it wasn’t for this project.
