Located at the intersection of 21st Street and Jackson Avenue in the Hunters Point section of Long Island City, Queens, it is served by the G train at all times.

21st Street was part of the first phase of the IND Crosstown Line, with service south to Nassau Avenue in Brooklyn.

[5][6] The patriarch of the Van Alst family was Belgian Dutch sailor Joris Stevensen, who settled in what was then New Amsterdam in 1652, and purchased land in Long Island City in 1670.

[5][7]: 2 [8]: 4 [9]: 7–2  The family later constructed a private cemetery (now an empty lot at the former site of the West Disinfecting Company facility) on Jackson Avenue and Orchard Street near modern Queens Plaza.

[5] The station has two tracks and one island platform, built with a slight curve, as is Jackson Avenue at this location.