9. The Queens Borough Hall has a retired Redbird out front
Kew Gardens is also the seat of the Queens County government. The Queens Borough Hall, which houses the county offices and the Queens criminal court, sits along Queens Boulevard adjacent to the Kew Gardens/Union Turnpike subway station. One quirky aspect of the Queens Borough Hall is the old Redbird subway car on the lawn in front of the building.
Redbirds were introduced in the late 1970s and became ubiquitous in the ’80s on the number 2, 5, and 7 lines in the Bronx and Queens. Their deep red color was used as a graffiti deterrent, but over the years New Yorkers grew fond of Redbird’s unique paint scheme. Although the Redbirds were largely retired by the early 2000s, with the last car making its run in 2003, the retired Redbird was set up in 2005 in Kew Gardens to commemorate the train cars’ history. Until 2014, the train car was set up as a mini-museum and was open to visitors. It closed in late 2014 due to a lack of visitors, but the retired Redbird still sits proudly outside the Queens Borough Hall today.
