Few clubs would want their headquarters in the Willets Point section of Queens, a massive, muddy cluster of auto repair shacks — but the Queensboro Motorcycle Club is perfectly happy wedged in there among the junkyards and salvage shops.
“It’s sort of like a bunch of kids with a clubhouse in the weeds somewhere,” said Victor Crozzoli, 55, a 35-year member. “We can rev our engines — I mean, we could shoot off fireworks — and there’s nobody around to complain.”
At 103 years old, Queensboro is perhaps the oldest motorcycle club in New York City. For more than 70 of those years, its home has been the modest clubhouse on the parcel it owns on 34th Avenue, a half-block from Citi Field.
But the clubhouse’s future is now in question, with the city in the process of clearing this area, known as the Iron Triangle, to begin a massive residential and commercial development project. The club had been negotiating to sell its property to the city, which would then sell the club a suitable property elsewhere in Queens, but those talks have stalled, said the club’s vice president, Billy Goldstein, 54.
“The city has told us to sit tight for now,” he said. If the city tries to use eminent domain to oust the club, the members are ready to rumble, Mr. Goldstein said before one of the club’s monthly meetings began on a recent Thursday night.
