A mystery solved. I think.

THAT'S WHY

I absolutely cannot remember the random train of thought chugging along in the back of my mind which pulled into Consciousness Station with an odd delivery today, but I suddenly realized what was behind this odd phenomenon that I had blogged about way back in August 2015 - the French consider Long Island City, Queens to be a desirable tourist destination:

Mr. MacKay told of a recent conversation he had with a French journalist who was keen to tour Queens.
“She said, ‘I’m so excited to see Long Island City. Everybody in Paris is talking about Long Island City.’ And I said, ‘Really?’ ” Mr. MacKay recalled. “She said, ‘Can you take me to Sweetleaf?,’ ” referring to a popular cafe in Long Island City. “I said, ‘Sweetleaf?’ She said, ‘Yes! Everybody in Paris is talking about Sweetleaf!’ ”

I found this completely bizarre at the time, having worked in LIC and been to both Sweetleaf establishments in LIC. One Sweetleaf is a crowded funky coffee shop, the other is a restaurant, which is nice but I don't remember being especially excited by it.

And then I remembered the movie "Julia and Julie", which was about Julia Child an American who hosted a TV how called "The French Chef." Lots of scenes were shot in Paris. And it's also about a woman living in Long Island City who reproduced all of Child's recipes from one of her cookbooks.

And I bet anything that's why the French are so intrigued by LIC.

Speaking of American movies and the French, I found this web site Pardon My Titres  amusing.