apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

now i'm curious, too

There are a couple of cute little restaurants on there too. Our apt. is in Queens so when we go to Costco, we often take a spin around Roosevelt Island. Heck, it even has a Starbucks now...

Roosevelt Island is like many modern english towns- I like to people friendly aspect of the island

I live in Long Island City right across the bridge connecting LIC and Roosevelt Island. I think Roosevelt island is cute. It has great tennis court, little restaruant and even a Starbucks. There are alos great views of the East side...During the MTA strike, I was able to take the TRAM over with a one swipe of my Metro card, and then walk to work from 60th.

Didn't the hospital become that new rental building, the octagon? I remember reading something on curbed about that, but I could be wrong.

It's a very strange place that feels like you're in some Stepford miniature of Canada. I've never been to Canada, though. All the buildings on it are either very old and used to be sanitoriums where you'd go to be quarantined from the world if you had a terrible disease, or they were built in the 1970's through now as condo-looking things. Not bad, but kind of strange.

And it's eerily quiet there. You can see the city, but not really hear it.

I thought the cable car got stuck last year. Sorry too lazy to look it up! Is it running again?

The first time I rode it (my only round trip) my friend & I were waiting with all the tourists and joking about the Swiss Alps and damned if the operator didn't turn out to be Swiss! I think that was unusual but it's my understanding they would come over to train operators.

If it is running and you've never done it--it's a must-do activity with kids in NYC.

Oh Curtis you should come to Canada, especially Montreal, I think you'd love it. So much history, it a little mini Europe. ;)

sorry "it's"

i could've sworn that horror movie 'dark water' was filmed on roosevelt island. that about sums up my understanding of the island - the creep factor is huge!

My impression, having been there only a handful of times, is that it's sort of like being in a Star Trek episode. There is one main street and all of the buildings match in a 70s sci-fi sort of way. You begin to expect a Klingon will walk by any minute.

Doesn't Roosevelt Island also have that really cool suction trash system? The New Yorker had an article about it a few years ago:

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/11/17/031117ta_talk_taylor

I heard there's a sub-species of pigeon there. LOL.
seriously i am a frequent east river boater and love how the island splits the east and west channels of the river. unlike nearly all of of NYC it seems more connected to the maritime environs.

Roosevelt Island is a dump. Soviet-style architecture, no services of any kind, definitely no cute restaurants (there's one subpar diner and one horrible Chinese restaurant). Plus the F train is totally unusable in rush hour -- it's so packed with Queens commuters that you have to let several go by until you swallow your pride and shove yourself in. It's also overcrowded now with all the recent building, so the transportation problems will only get more acute.

I remember reading a piece somewhere a few months ago that said that there were practically no restaurants on RI. Only maybe 3 total. There is a state agency that owns most of the commercial real estate on the island, supposedly for purposes of developing it. But there is so many administrative hoops to jump through just to get a run-of-the-mill commercial lease that no one is opening any small businesses out there. For someone like me who relies heavily on take-out, it would be a tough place to live.

Dark Water was filmed on Roosevelt Island: http://gothamist.com/2005/07/08/roosevelt_island_gets_the_star_treatment_in_dark_water.php

I've never been there but that movie definitely made it seem like a creepy place.

Curtis, as a Canadian, I thank you for the great start to my day although my throat is still sore from trying not to laugh while swallowing coffee.

"a very strange place that feels like you're in some Stepford miniature of Canada...Not bad, but kind of strange"

Too funny.

Roosevelt Island does feature the tidal-powered Grosstedes!

Read about it here: Bloomberg.

NYT had a more recent story (Aug 13th), but it is now blocked by Times Select...I thought that was ending?

I"ve been on that Island twice. Can't say much about it except that they get the best city views.

All of the caveats about creepiness, crowdedness, and Canadian-ness make me want to go all the more! Thanks for the link to the trash thing, too. I remember hearing that Disney had that but I thought it was a myth! I have always been very careful about what I throw out when I visit there, though, as a result of the now-proven myth. In my younger days I feared losing my umpteenth retainer or pair of big, round, preppy, tortoise-shell glasses by inadvertently dumping them with the contents of my tray. It's good to know there's a slight delay!

Hmmm... it sounds a lot like Battery Park City!

Check out today's post about possible Roosevelt Island development on Curbed...crazy!

first time my boyfriend and I saw the tram we went "WTF IS THAT" completely disregarding the fact that it was in Spiderman. We pop over just for funsies, to read books in the little park, and to use up time on our 2 hour wait for frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity...

I live on Roosevelt Island and have started a blog called, surprise, http://rooseveltislander.blogspot.com/. If anyone is interested in learning more about Roosevelt Island I think the blog is a good place to start. I have posts about a variety of current issues of concern to residents as well as links to upcoming events such as The Encampment public art project, video of the Tramway ride over the East River and a Thomas Edison early 1900 film of an East River boat ride along Roosevelt (then Blackwell) Island. I also posted the report about the skyscraper development on Roosevelt Island that Curbed linked to.

We moved onto Roosevelt Island only about a year and a half ago (the day the tram got stuck) and have enjoyed it ever since. Like RooseveltIslander I maintain another blog about life on the island. It started as a place just to compile my own videos nad others I found about the island but has grown beyond that with a focus on issues that affect my family and that I care about.

http://RooseveltIsland360.blogspot.com

I live on Roosevelt Island - not a kid any more - "Soviet era" architecture? Teh 70s era buildings were designed by Philip Johnson!!! and the apts are more spacious than average manhattan apts. many languages spoken, the relief of some green spaces and trees, the river, its breeze, a kindly community - call me boring but it's fine with me. I was invited out here several years ago for homemade Indian dinner (how can you top that invitation?) - i stood on the terrace of the wraparound apt. and listened to the hum of Manhattan (of which RI is legally a part) and recognized that I was apart from the hum, giving my nervous system a break. True, no takeout or restaurants and once in awhile we do get marooned but i like having a nice kitchen to cook in and floor to ceiling windows and nice floors. My nice apt in midtown east was good for all those takeout things but now i am more conscious of what i eat because i cook it! The one thing i miss about life outside the NYC area are simple dinner parties which were always routine in my life elsewhere and so much warmer than trendy nightspots. RI might well be for the boring raising children or recuperating from so much excitement. recently i had an injury and came to appreciate my neighbors even more - i couldn't walk so they shopped for me and took my garbage out! Hip is overrated.