Long Island City: the waterfront and the art
The restored gantries, the PEPSI-COLA sign, and the whole Manhattan skyline straight across the river. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Gantry Plaza State Park
Start at the water. The black gantries that once loaded rail barges still stand at the river's edge, and across the East River the whole of Midtown lines itself up for you. Come towards sundown and the lights do the work.

2. The PEPSI-COLA sign
Walk north along the railing to the old red neon sign, kept and landmarked when the bottling plant behind it came down. It's the one thing in this view older than the towers, and it still lights up at night.

3. The NYC Ferry pier
The ferry stops here on the East River route. You don't have to take it, but it's a transit line in its own right — a cheap way to ride the harbour back to Midtown or down to Wall Street if you'd rather end on the water.

4. 5 Pointz
Inland to the corner where the great graffiti warehouse stood until it was whitewashed overnight in 2013 and later demolished. A glass tower holds the spot now. Worth knowing what was here, even with nothing left to see.

5. MoMA PS1
The contemporary wing of MoMA, in an old public school building with the radiators left in. Heavier and stranger than the Midtown branch; the summer courtyard parties are the thing people come back for.

6. Court Square
End under the Citigroup tower — the tall blue-green one you've been using to navigate all afternoon. The E, M and G trains are here; the 7 is a block back if you want the elevated ride west.

Long Island City: the waterfront and the art