The borough that I identify with is Queens, and the area is Flushing, specifically Queensboro Hill. It’s the long narrow neighborhood stretching from the Flushing Meadow Park eastwards to 164th Street and St. Mary’s Cemetery. From north to south it runs from the Queens Botanical Gardens and Kissena Park to Mount Hebron Cemetery, John Bowne High School, Queens College, and the Pomonok Houses.
I lived in three different separate residences - row houses - on Lawrence Street from the time I moved there in the early 1950’s until I moved out to College Point in November 1978. During that time I went to kindergarten at PS 120 at 136th Street and 58th Road, and the Saint Elementary School at 146th Street and 58th Road.
At PS 120 I have recollections of getting blamed for a lot of things, from picking flowers, fighting, spitting, knocking a paint tray over to name a few. St. Ann’s was even worse, as the nuns used religion to punish you and assure your guilt. To be honest, I got to really hate school by this time. As the Beatles’ song Getting Better goes:
I used to get mad at my school
The teachers that taught me weren't cool
You're holding me down
Burning me round
filling me up with the rules
Outside of class, there were things that made life worthwhile. At PS 120, we played pickup ball games, and I got to explore its hallways and rooms. We also played ball at St. Ann’s.
High school was in Brooklyn, at Saint Francis Prep, which was located in Northside at the time. I would come back to Queens for college, at Saint John’s University. It would be like being back in high school, unfortunately, with all the restrictions as a few years ago, but expected to be more mature. No wonder I could not wait to enlist in the armed forces.
There were plenty of other escape routes for me. There was Flushing Meadow Park, Shea Stadium, the Iron Triangle, Adventurer’s Inn, the Flushing YMCA, and the shops in Downtown Flushing. Among the stores that were my favorites (neither exist today) were Upstairs Records at 40-23 Main Street and the Aqua Pet Hobby Store at 137-24 Northern Boulevard, across from Flushing High School.
What I loved and still love about Flushing Meadow Park was that I could walk through there and just escape everything. Yes, I did play some pickup ball and also watch Little League games there. The ultimate trip for me was in 1964-1965 when the World’s Fair was there. I got to travel the world, learn about companies, and enjoy rock music (at the New York State Pavilion) for next to nothing. Today I can watch soccer and cricket matches at various locations.
Completed at the same time as the World’s Fair, and still there, but in its last season, is Shea Stadium. It’s the home of my favorite baseball team, the New York Mets. In its early years I used to go to games and sit in the general admission seats and eventually end up in the box seats. Since it was a weekday, and the crowds were small, they staff did not mind. In 1964 I got there during batting practice and got 6 players and coaches to sign a baseball for me (it’s stashed away safely in my house) and later in the season participated in one of the first banner days. We did not win a prize, but I had fun walking around the field. In August 1965 I was in the parking lot when the Beatles arrived in an armored car for their concert. We ran after the car and I saw Sir Paul staring out at the nuts chasing them in their truck. I would lose interest in baseball and all sports for a few years but got hooked again in May 1983 after going to a Mets-Dodgers game and now try to go at least once a year, if time and money permit me to.
Across 126th Street from the Shea Stadium grounds is a set of streets in a right triangle, bounded by Northern Boulevard, Willets Point Boulevard, and 126th Street that is a maze of auto business and junkyards, called the Iron Triangle. There was also a freight siding and the vestige of the Long Island Railroad’s Whitestone Branch at the edge next to the Flushing Creek until the 1980’s. In 1961 there was a flea market type of store called the Farmer’s Market on Willets Point Boulevard that I often frequented, going over on my bicycle. It was there that I bought my first model cars and started a new hobby that would displace baseball for years. The junkyards would also fuel my interest in cars, and would also contribute to the displacement of sports. However, the Iron Triangle is an important part of my New York since it is next to a baseball park, a subway line, and has automobile industries there. In addition, a street corner, Roosevelt Avenue and 126th Street, forms the basis of my main Yahoo address – roosevelt126@yahoo.com.
While not contiguous with the three just mentioned, but a short ride away by car, was the Adventurer’s Inn, and located at Linden Place and the Whitestone Parkway (later Expressway). It was an amusement park with a miniature golf course, as well as a pinball arcade and catering hall inside. I would spend time there on the driving type arcade games, and enjoy a tune by the Zombies on the jukebox. The amusement park part closed in the 1960’s but reopened in 1976 for a few more years. By the 1980’s it was all gone and today it is the site of a Toys R Us and the Whitestone Multiplex Theatres. My wife Ellen and I have patronized the Toys R Us and have seen several good films at the theater complex.
While the Whitestone Multiplex is now there for movies, there used to be two movie houses in Flushing that I went to with my friends, on dates or alone. They were the RKO Keith’s at Main Street and Northern Boulevard and the Prospect at 41st Avenue and Main Street. The RKO also had live shows, and in November 1965 saw Murray the K’s special featuring the McCoys, Little Anthony & the Imperials, and Freddie & the Dreamers. Earlier in that year I got a glimpse of the Dave Clark 5 when they went inside to promote their film, Having a Wild Weekend. A few miles away, on the Long Island Expressway and 190th Street, is the Meadows Theater. It was the scene of many of my first dates with the various ladies, and is still a great place.
As I mentioned, I went to college at St. John’s University after one year at Marist College (see that story at http://minot43.homestead.com/Marist.html). While at St. Ann’s School we had priests from St. John’s say the 9 o’clock Mass that we were required to attend, and in religion we had catechism filmstrips presented by St. John’s. These events put St. John’s in the forefront as a school to go to after being yanked out of Marist. Besides, most of the Queensboro Hill crowd went to either Queens College or St. John’s after high school. So I was quite enthusiastic when I first started there, but after realizing that there were no dorms to attract out of town students (the dorms arrived in 1999) or make weekend activities practical, that you had to be in a fraternity or sorority to be somebody, and finally realizing that I was wasting my time since I would be cannon fodder in Vietnam when it was over, I realized that this was a mistake. Besides, it reminded me of high school and even elementary school since I was living at home with my parents, who still treated me like a child. Therefore, when an Air Force recruiting sergeant called me up, I was glad to return the call. There were a few good things about the three years at St. John’s University – I met a classmate in philosophy class who would become a good friend of mine, as well as Ellen’s, to this day (his wife would also be friends with Ellen and me). Another friend got me into the Knights of Columbus at a council in Corona.
After St. John’s I was in the Air Force for just over 3½ years. There was not much activity in Queens during these years, since I was away in Louisiana or on Guam. When I came home in 1975, it was time for re-adjustment, which took another 3½ years. During this time I went to my first permanent civilian job (in Brooklyn) and had my first decent relationship in years. This lady was from Ireland, and while we spent most our time together in Manhattan and Nassau, we also went to the Queens Center Mall on Queens Boulevard, the Meadows Theater, and Peters Back Street Restaurant in Bayside where I had lobster for the first time. Unfortunately, she was conned into going back to Ireland – at least I think that is the case – by my former friend who had introduced us and I had the sad experience of saying goodbye to her at JFK Airport on April 28, 1976. So, it was too good to last. My parents had pestered me to go to graduate school since 1975, but I had such negative memories of college that I said no. However, this time I said why not, since I needed something to fill the void. So after meeting with the late great Professor Stapleton as to what courses to take, I walked into my first graduate school class, taught by Doctor McGowan, on July 12, 1976 in St. Augustine Hall. As I walked in still pining for the Irish lady, I noticed a cute Irish looking lady sitting in the front, and suddenly began to fancy her. Later Doctor McGowan asked the four ladies in the class why they were in the College of Business, and the lady in the front, who had an Irish surname, said that she was a former music teacher. Since I am a former musician, I knew that we had a lot in common. The only problem was a guy who sat next to her and began to walk her to her car each night. I decided not to push it since I did not want to embarrass myself again (as I did in 1971) with a St. John’s girl. However, this lady is my wife Ellen, and the whole story is told here: http://minot43.homestead.com/how_we_met.html.
During the Readjustment that lasted until I moved to College Point in November 1978, I worked for banks in Brooklyn and Manhattan, but also was full time graduate assistant for the last two semesters, and finally graduated in June 1978. In my last year I dated a lady from Staten Island, so not much time was spent here in Queens, other than school and sleeping.
Since my grandparents had both died between 1975 and 1977, the estates sold the houses that my aunt, uncle & cousin lived in, as well as the one that my mom, dad & I lived in. Both were on Lawrence Street in the 57-00 and 58-00 blocks. Finally in November 1978 we left Queensboro Hill for good. I moved to 23-20 130th Street in College Point, but remained there for only a year. My mom & dad moved to a high rise on Franklin Avenue, where my mom still lives. My dad passed away, in Flushing, in April 2009. He is interred in Flushing's Mount St. Mary's Cemetery.
Ellen our daughter Eileen and I come back frequently to visit my mom and among our favorite restaurants are the Malaysian Curry Leaves on 40th Road and Vietnamese Pho on Prince Street.
Possibly thanks to the roots planted at the World’s Fair, I have become quite international in my outlook and enjoy the opportunity to enjoy Asian cuisine and culture without traveling too far.
Besides the place where I met Ellen, St. John’s was also where we saw basketball games as alumni, and went to reunions. I also got to see the baseball team play Notre Dame (and win) and even play in alumni-varsity games in 2003 and 2004 (hopefully work schedules will let me do it again this year). When I was laid off in 2005 and forced out of a job in December 2007, St. John’s Career center helped with advice and moral support.
