Long Island City Kleaners

Time Out says

Fri Apr 8 2011

Frustrated by the sparse streetwear options in his neighborhood, Queens resident Mark Garcia brought his favorite local brands together in this cozy boutique, art gallery and design studio. Inspired by gritty NYC storefronts from the ’80s and ’90s that posed as dry cleaners but hosted illegal activities, Garcia decorated the space with vintage sewing machines and T-shirts hanging in plastic dry-cleaner bags (leading some potential customers to mistakenly drop by with their dirty duds!). But instead of peddling drugs or running a gambling front, he hawks street clothing, skating goods and limited-edition collectibles. Standouts include Lush Life tees featuring hip-hop photographer Ricky Powell’s prints ($30) and Whoami? T-shirts designed to color-coordinate with the latest sneaker releases ($25). Dark cabinets showcase vintage dead-stock snapback hats ($40–$60), brand-new Upper Playground fitted gingham-print caps ($45) and limited-edition consignment shoes, like Alife x Reebok low-top running sneakers ($70). A glass display case holds skateboard parts ($14–$56), street-photography books ($20) and JuiceBox vibrant stretchy wristbands with bold-typeface words like super rad and party time ($5). The walls are adorned with patterned skateboard decks, including DGK styles with candy-wrapper–inspired prints ($50). The quarterly rotating art gallery currently exhibits work from two Brooklyn artists: photographer Seana Cavanagh’s pictures of pregnant women ($300 each) and printmaker Nicholas Rispoli’s etched prints ($1,200 each) and ink drawings on rag paper ($600–$825).