Queens
Long Island City
Gantry cranes, glass towers, and the single best sunset seat in the city.
Long Island City grew up as the industrial engine across the river from Midtown, and its waterfront still carries the evidence: the restored black gantry cranes at Gantry Plaza State Park, built to lift rail cars off barges, and the giant Pepsi-Cola sign glowing above the lawn since the days when the bottling plant stood behind it.
The towers came quickly in the last two decades, making this one of the fastest-built skylines in America. What they all face is the point: a dead-on view of Midtown Manhattan across the East River, with the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings stacked above the water. At sunset, the piers at Gantry fill like theater seats.
Art keeps the neighborhood from being only a view. MoMA PS1, housed in a nineteenth-century schoolhouse, runs some of the most adventurous programming in the museum world. Between the piers, the galleries, and a Queens food scene a short ride in any direction, LIC rewards a full unhurried evening.
Restored industrial gantries beside new glass towers
The Pepsi-Cola sign glowing over the waterfront lawn
Piers that fill like grandstands at sunset
A contemporary art anchor in an old public school
Local notes
SculptureCenter
A nonprofit devoted to contemporary sculpture, founded in 1928 and based since 2001 in a converted trolley repair shop on Purves Street. Thoughtful exhibitions in a raw brick and steel space, a few minutes from Court Square. Small, serious, and worth the detour.
The Pepsi-Cola sign
The roughly 120-foot-long ruby neon sign went up in the 1930s atop the Pepsi bottling plant and stayed on the waterfront after the plant was demolished. Now it stands in the park at eye level with the lawns, a landmark the neighborhood kept on purpose.
Through the lens
This is a sunset and blue-hour location, full stop: the Midtown skyline sits due west across the river and lights up as the sky fades. The gantries make strong silhouettes and foreground frames. Arrive forty-five minutes before sundown to claim a pier rail, and stay twenty past it.
Editorial draft — core details last reviewed October 11, 2026. Confirm practical details with the official site before you go.
Best things to see
Where to eat & drink
LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS
Casa Enrique
Michelin-starred Chiapas cooking in a quiet LIC storefront that never stopped being a neighborhood spot.
Hidden Gem · $$$
LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS
Dutch Kills
A neon 'BAR' sign, hand-cut ice, and one of the city's great cocktail rooms hiding on Jackson Avenue.
Cocktail Bar · $$
LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS
Maiella
Handmade pasta under the Pepsi-Cola sign, with the midtown skyline across the water.
Date Night · $$$