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Timeline

QueensWest.com and the Queens West neighborhood, 1997 to 2013.

Dates come from the site itself (home pages captured by the Wayback Machine), from Jason’s files, and from published press. Building details are as the site described them at the time.

  • 1997 – Citylights, the first building of the Queens West development, is finished in late 1997. Jason buys an apartment there after months of reading the Long Island City Webboard (LICWEB).
  • 1998 – QueensWest.com goes online, “a production of Digital Wild Fire.” Gantry Plaza State Park is dedicated the same year.
  • 1999 – The site posts notes from the January 21, 1999 Queens West Task Force meeting, opens its first discussion board and updates its popular polls (the latest asks about the air-conditioning and heating units at Citylights). The earliest Wayback Machine capture of the home page is from January 25, 1999.
  • 2000 – A redesign moves every discussion board into its own section, adds FAQs, picture galleries for each section and a new area for the Avalon Riverview building.
  • 2001 – Avalon Riverview is under construction (started December 2000). QueensWest.com reports on the June 7, 2001 Queens West Development Corporation hearing and, on September 12, posts a message to neighbors after the World Trade Center attack.
  • 2002 – The site covers New York City’s selection as the U.S. candidate city for the 2012 Olympics, with the Olympic Village planned for Queens West, and adds an Olympics picture gallery.
  • 2003 – The rebuilt local business directory launches in January. On July 26 the QueensWest.com 1st Annual Bar Crawl starts at Gantry Plaza State Park.
  • 2004 – The “Spring Has Sprung” Pub Crawl meets in the Avalon Riverview lobby on March 20.
  • 2005 – In February the New York Times reports that “intrepid Web surfers on queenswest.com” found a permit application to demolish the power station’s four smokestacks. The 2nd Annual “Spring Has Sprung” Pub Crawl follows on May 21.
  • 2006 – The 4th Annual Pub Crawl (March 25) and the Pub Crawlathon (November 4). A neighborhood-board debate, “LIC vs. Williamsburg,” becomes the New York Times story “The Duel Over Cool” (December 10).
  • 2007 – The 2nd Annual Taste of LIC (June 6) and the 5th Annual Pub Crawl (June 16). Late in the year the site relaunches as “the new QueensWest.com” and celebrates with relaunch drinks.
  • 2008 – QueensWest.com marks the 10th anniversary of Gantry Plaza State Park and links a New York Times piece that mentions the site (“When Home Is More Like a Cruise Ship”).
  • 2009 – The 2009 rate sheet quotes the site’s January 2009 statistics: over 12,000 unique visitors and over 375,000 page views a month, and over 2,500 registered members.
  • 2010 – The site moves to a larger server. In May the New York Times’ “Long Island City Comes Into Its Own” quotes the site’s founder. The 5th Annual Taste of LIC is held in Gantry Plaza State Park on June 8.
  • 2011 – News of the Steven Holl design for the new Hunters Point (Queens West) library, and the 6th Annual Taste of LIC.
  • 2012 – “Join QueensWest.com at the biggest Long Island City food event of the year”: the 7th Annual Taste of LIC.
  • 2013 – On May 1, 2013, “QueensWest.com Says Goodbye”: the site closes after more than 15 years.
  • 2026 – This archive is restored from Jason’s own files and the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

How the site described itself

  • 1998 – “QueensWest.com is a production of Digital Wild Fire. Content Copyright 1998.”
  • 2001 – “QueensWest.com is a production of Blue Wild Fire.”
  • 2001 – “A community portal for Queens West”
  • 2000–2002 – “QueensWest.com is a local community portal for the Queens West area and new development in Long Island City, NY (Queens).”
  • 2007–2013 – “The online community for Queens West & Long Island City since 1998.”

After 2013

After the goodbye notice the queenswest.com address showed the farewell page for a while. The sister address longislandcity.info was parked and offered for sale by a previous owner between 2014 and 2018 (Wayback Machine) before Jason took it on. In 2026 both names were brought back: longislandcity.info for the living neighborhood, queenswest.com for this archive.

Sources: Wayback Machine capture Jan 22, 2000; Wayback Machine capture Oct 26, 2007; Jason’s archive: index.shtml; Wayback Machine capture Dec 6, 2000; Wayback Machine capture Jan 25, 1999; Wayback Machine capture Dec 11, 2000; Wayback Machine capture Apr 26, 2001; Wayback Machine capture Nov 12, 2001; Wayback Machine capture Sep 24, 2001; Wayback Machine capture Nov 29, 2002; Wayback Machine capture Jan 28, 2003; Jason’s archive: bar_crawl_map_2003.pdf; Jason’s archive: qw_spring_pub_crawl_2004.pdf; www.nytimes.com; Jason’s archive: bar_crawl_map_2005.pdf; Jason’s archive: bar_crawl_map_2006.pdf; Jason’s archive: 20061104_crawlathon.pdf; Jason’s archive: The Duel Over Cool - New York Times.pdf; Jason’s archive: taste_of_lic_2007.pdf; Jason’s archive: bar_crawl_map_2007.pdf; Wayback Machine capture Dec 18, 2007; Wayback Machine capture Dec 16, 2008; Jason’s archive: 2009 QueensWest.com Rate Sheet.pdf; Wayback Machine capture Mar 7, 2010; Jason’s archive: 2010-05-09-nyt-lic.pdf; Wayback Machine capture Jul 20, 2010; Wayback Machine capture May 10, 2011; Wayback Machine capture Sep 16, 2011; Wayback Machine capture May 28, 2012; Wayback Machine capture Jun 23, 2013