FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MAY 23, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 21
Brewery launches summer ‘Cruiser’ from LIC to Rockaways
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Th ough the founders of Rockaway
Brewing Co. began making beer in their
Far Rockaway homes, when they fi rst
scaled their business, they ended up having
to move their operation to Long
Island City.
Since then, they’ve been making moves
to maintain their connection to the beach
where they originated, opening up a second
taproom in the Rockaways in 2016.
Th is summer, the brewery is introducing
its own transportation system between
its two locations to bring the beach closer
to LIC.
Th e brewery will begin to provide a
direct route from their location in Long
Island City to their location in the
Rockaways for a $20 round trip ticket.
“Our fans in LIC will fi nd the same
relaxed vibe, and the same tasty craft beer
at the Rockaway Beach location, but will
enjoy the more expansive space, beach
culture vibe, busy slate of events and
live music off ering,” said co-founder and
Brewmaster Ethan Long.
Th e Brew Cruiser, a 28-person coach
bus, will run a total of six loops every
Saturday starting June 1. Th e bus from
Long Island City will leave at 9:45 a.m.,
12:15 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Th e return trips
back to LIC from the beach location will
leave at 4, 6:15 and 8:30 p.m.
Th e size of the bus may expand with
demand. Th e shuttle is slated to run weekly
from June 1 to Aug. 31. Without traffi
c, the trip will take in 45 to 50 minutes.
Passengers will be able to enjoy Rockaway
Brewing Co. beer on the cruiser and the
brewery plans to off er a special beach pack
to those that want to purchase beer at the
LIC location, before they board or at the
Rockaway location when they disembark.
Th e cruiser will off er storage for beach
chairs, blankets and surfb oards underneath
in addition to air conditioning in the cabin.
Th e bus will operate rain or shine.
Th e Long Island City location’s address
is 46-01 5th St. and the Rockaway location’s
address is 415 Beach 72nd St.,
Arverne.
Tickets for a round trip ride are $20
and kids who can sit on a parent’s lap go
free. Tickets will be for sale in advance
through Eventbrite at http://bit.ly/
BrewCruiserRockawayShuttle. Additional
information can be found at rockawaybrewco.
com.
Bandits strike
unsuspecting
victims in Qns.
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com
@QNS
Police are looking for two women
who stole property from their victims
on two separate occasions in Flushing
and Fresh Meadows.
According to police, at 5:10 p.m. on
April 12, a 20-year-old man realized
that he had left his backpack at Coco
Fresh Tea, located at 39-22 Main St.
When he went to retrieve his backpack,
he found that someone had taken it.
An investigation found that an
unknown woman had taken the backpack,
which contained the victim’s
personal items and electronics, before
fl eeing in unknown direction.
Police described the suspect as a
black woman in her late teens or early
20s who was last seen wearing all dark
clothing.
Th e NYPD is also looking for another
woman who stole a woman’s wallet
at a Fresh Meadows hotel and used the
credit cards inside to go shopping.
Police say that at 9:40 a.m. on April
15, a 64-year-old woman was inside the
Fairfi eld Inn, located at 183-31 Horace
Harding Expressway, when she realized
that her wallet was not in her purse.
An investigation found that while
the victim was sitting in the hotel
restaurant, an unknown woman sat
behind her and took her wallet from
her purse.
Further investigation found that the
victim’s credit cards had been used at
the Queens Center Mall.
Cops described the suspect as a
Hispanic woman between the ages of
20 and 25 years old, standing 5 feet, 6
inches tall and weighing 155 pounds.
She was last seen wearing a pink track
suit.
Anyone with information about the
identities of these females can call the
NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at
1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish,
1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Th e public
can also submit their tips by logging
onto the Crime Stoppers website,
on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls and
messages are kept confi dential.
Rego Park school honors Poway shooting victim
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Jennifer Gruet, a dance teacher at
Stephen A. Halsey J.H.S. 157 in Rego
Park, said she was surprised and touched
when she came back from a family funeral
to learn that her school’s gardening
club made plans to plant a tree honoring
her relative.
In this case, Gruet’s family tragedy took
on national signifi cance. She had just
arrived from San Diego, where she had
mourned the loss of her cousin Lori Kaye,
who was killed in the Poway Synagogue
shooting in California last month, shielding
her rabbi from the gunman’s bullets.
“It was unexpected — I had no idea they
were going to do this in her honor,” said
Gruet of the tree planting. “Everything
they said at the funeral was all about
growth, acceptance, tolerance and preaching
love instead of hate, so I think the tree
is a nice representation of some of the
ideas they talked about.”
When they heard about Gruet’s relationship
to Kaye, the Green Team, a group of
student gardeners, and the Parent Teacher
Association snapped into action, fi nding a
spot for an Eastern Red Bud right in front
of the school’s main entrance. Students,
parents and community members held a
tree planting ceremony Th ursday aft ernoon.
“Th at’s why we’re here today. In remembrance
and in celebration of those three
rights that we enjoy: hope, love and peace,”
Principal Vincent Suraci said during the
ceremony.
Gruet told QNS that she had inherited
her love of dance from her cousin, who
she grew up with. Coming from a family
of teachers, Gruet and Kaye were the two
performers of the bunch.
“Kaye did this program called ‘Up
with People’ when she was 18. She toured
with this program across the country
singing and dancing and just trying to
spread love,” Gruet said.
During the May 16 ceremony, Gruet
joined members of the Green Team to
shovel soil and mulch over the tree’s roots.
Th e tree planting is one of the many service
projects that the student landscaping
crew has taken on to improve their
school.
In its fruitful year and a half of existence,
the team has redesigned the facade
of the building, built a greenhouse, created
a makeshift hydroponics system and
started a farm-to-table program, and it’s
about to put in a drip irrigation system to
start conserving water.
Th e Green Team dutifully took part
in the gardening work during the ceremony.
Gruet said that for the most part
her students hadn’t made the connection
between the national news coverage of the
Poway shooting and their dance teacher.
But she did have one class that heard
about so she talked to them in very factual
terms about what happened.
Photos courtesy of the NYPD
Photo courtesy of Rockaway Brewing Co.
Max Parrott/QNS
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