Day 566


Day 566

Ashramagogue of the day

July 18th, 2013



The former Young Israel of Jamaica is now home to the America Sevashram Sangha.

Day 566

King Manor Museum

July 18th, 2013



Standing out dramatically from the Jamaica streetscape, this house and the park that surrounds it were once part of the estate of Rufus King, a framer and signer of the Constitution (note the words of the preamble running across the top of the fence) and a US senator and diplomat. You can learn about the house's live-in caretaker and see a couple of videos of the interior here.

Day 566

Portal of the day

July 18th, 2013



This massive fence encloses a garden behind the King Manor Museum.

Day 566

Barberz #80

July 18th, 2013



Presumably owned by Cathy

Day 566




Like PS 207 in the Bronx, this public school (the Young Women's Leadership School of Queens) was originally a religious institution (the Jamaica Jewish Center).

Day 566

Red steps, green grapes

July 18th, 2013


Day 566

The ringing of tiny bells

July 18th, 2013



celebrates Surasa's 2,000th mile at the Self-Transcendence 3,100 Mile Race.

Day 566

Portable shade

July 18th, 2013



Ashprihanal, now in first place, is sporting an amazing hat (much better shot here) as a defense against the sun's brutal assault. The high today was 99-100 degrees, and the runners just kept going.

Day 566




past the world's coolest tire cover.

Day 566

Peering through the fence

July 18th, 2013



at the entrance to Aspiration-Ground

Day 566

Lookin’ sharp!

July 18th, 2013



Scrawled on the window of this '65 Pontiac is the following message:

CAR BROKE DOWN PLEASE DONT TICKET!! THANK YOU :)

Day 566

Portal of the rays

July 18th, 2013


Day 566

Mount Hebron Cemetery

July 18th, 2013



I've already paid a pedestrian visit to my grandparents in this cemetery, but I had forgotten exactly where my great-grandfather was buried — until I unexpectedly spied him through this fence at the dead end of 138th Street! That's him on the far right of the row just on this side of the little road, the tall gray stone next to the even taller black one.

Day 566

Meadow Lake

July 18th, 2013



Created for the 1939-40 World's Fair, this is the largest lake in New York City (not counting the Jerome Park and Central Park Reservoirs). Visible in the distance are the abandoned Astro-View observation towers that were part of the New York State Pavilion at the 1964-65 World's Fair.

Day 566

Meadow Lake bird blind

July 18th, 2013



Watch without being watched.

Day 566

Back here again

July 18th, 2013



Another look at the Tent of Tomorrow, with the aforementioned observation towers lurking in the background. Here's a great shot of the towers in action during the 1964-65 World's Fair.

Day 566




The Vatican Pavilion was one of the most visited sites at the 1964-65 World's Fair, owing largely to the fact that it housed Michelangelo's Pietà, which had been painstakingly packaged and shipped across the Atlantic from St. Peter's Basilica. The sculpture had never been removed from the Vatican before, and it hasn't left again since. It returned from its journey in good shape, but several years later was attacked at St. Peter's by a mentally disturbed, hammer-wielding, Hungarian-born Australian geologist claiming to be Jesus Christ. Typical.

Another feature of the Vatican Pavilion was the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, much of which — most notably the beautiful stained glass windows — has since been incorporated into Saint Mary Mother of the Redeemer Church in Groton, Connecticut.

In 1975, this monument to the pavilion took on new life when it became home to the shrine of Our Lady of the Roses, serving as a gathering place where Veronica Lueken, a housewife from Bayside, Queens, would be visited by the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and an assortment of saints, relaying the often apocalyptic messages received in her ecstatic visions to her throngs of devotees. The group originally met in Bayside, but moved here to Flushing Meadows after a local civic association sought an injunction to prevent the hordes of worshipers, sometimes numbering in the thousands, from descending on the neighborhood. Lueken died in 1995, and her followers subsequently split, bitterly, into two factions. As far as I can tell, both still hold regular prayer vigils here.

Day 566

The Unisphere

July 18th, 2013



Since our last visit back in April, the centerpiece of the 1964-65 World's Fair has come to life, offering the youth of Queens a drenching refuge from the blazing July death-sun.

Day 566

Blast off!

July 18th, 2013



I saw several kids, like the one at left, using the Unisphere's powerful water jets to launch various objects and articles of clothing into the stratosphere.

Day 566

Merry Christmas

July 18th, 2013



from your friends at Gatorade.

(A less colorful version of this.)

Day 566

Corona Plaza

July 18th, 2013



Now pedestrianized!