Long Island City is still quite commercial and is a must-visit for fans of urban infrastructure and industrial photography. Don't let the factory facades and elevated train tracks put you off to staying here. Shopping, art festivals and excellent dining opportunities are around every corner.
It is home to major artistic institutions like P.S. 1, The Noguchi Museum, Five Pointz, Silvercup Studios, Socrates Sculpture Garden and The Museum of Moving Image and in Astoria, you'll find Kaufman Astoria Studios. The Live at the Gantries Music Festival is very popular in the summer.
Staying here is just as convenient to Midtown Manhattan as, for example, the Upper West Side or lower Manhattan. You can even walk across the 59th Street-Queensborough Bridge right into Manhattan.