Here in Hollis, Gotham Greens is constructing the 60,000-square-foot rooftop greenhouse pictured above. The company expects to grow more than 500 tons of hydroponic produce per year at this facility.
The building beneath the greenhouse was once part of the Ideal Toy Corporation's manufacturing complex. Founded by the American inventor of the teddy bear, Ideal produced many famous toys and games over the years, including Betsy Wetsy, the Magic 8 Ball, Mouse Trap, and the Rubik's Cube.
Located at 89-19 187th Place, this garage looks like it may have once been a carriage house. Standing next to it on the property is a stately, similarly styled dwelling where Lawrence Gresser, who served as the fourth Borough President of Queens from 1908 to 1911, moved in with his son and spent the final months of his life before passing away in 1935.
Gresser was the third in an illustrious string of four consecutive borough presidents who were brought down by charges of corruption. Two of them ended up in prison, while another left for Italy on a steamer two hours before he was supposed to appear in front of a grand jury for questioning. Gresser, the saint of the bunch, was removed from office by the governor not because of any particular misdeeds on his part, but merely because he was deemed "inefficient and incompetent and . . . neglectful of his duty to protect the city and the Borough of Queens against fraud and corruption on the part of his subordinates".
Keeping up with the Joneses? Check out these Street View photos of the next-door neighbors' driveway in 2013 ("David and Goliath") and 2012 ("Baby Hammer").
This tiny park (Street View) honors the life of Benigno Aquino Jr., the Philippine political leader and bitter foe of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. Aquino's assassination in 1983 galvanized opposition to the Marcos regime and catapulted his widow, Corazon Aquino, to the presidency, which she held from 1986 to 1992. The couple's son, Benigno Aquino III, currently serves as president of the country, having been elected in 2010.
To the best of my recollection — i.e., I might be totally wrong — I believe the Philippine flag flying over the monument is the only foreign flag I've seen on display in a city park.
From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 22, 1930:
Queens Boy Asked to Choose Grandmother's or Dad's HomeThe headline two days later: "Boy, 12, Spurns Father to Stay With Mother and Grandmother". Little Francis "said he had been happy with his grandmother and mother, and pleaded against being taken away from them."
Francis Morra, 12, who has been living with his grandmother, Mrs. Caroline Caputo, at 91-28 184th St., Hollis, since his father and mother separated six years ago, will have to [choose] between his mother and maternal grandmother on the one hand and his father and step-mother on the other when he is taken before Justice Burt Jay Humphrey In the Supreme Court at Jamaica Monday.
Justice Humphrey yesterday reserved decision on the writ of habeas corpus sued out by the father, John Morra of Manhattan, to gain custody of the boy from his grandmother. The Justice directed the grandmother to bring the boy before him Monday, saying that he would then let the boy decide with whom he wishes to live In the future.
The grandmother stated In an affidavit that the boy has lived with her since his mother, Mrs. Sarah Morra, left her husband in 1924, after repeated beatings at his hands and threats against her life. Last September, the affidavit stated, Morra procured an Enoch Arden divorce [named for Tennyson's Enoch Arden] from his wife and subsequently married another woman, promising at that time, the grandmother said, to pay her $7 a week for the support of the boy.
He told the grandmother, according to the affidavit, that he was afraid the boy might cause trouble between him and his second wife. When Morra's first wife learned of his second marriage she went to the home of her mother and has since assisted her In caring for her son, the grandmother said.
A spinoff of Jake and the Fatman debuting on CBS this fall.
But seriously folks.
H.G. Maybeck is a local manufacturer that has been in business since 1907 and currently specializes in laundry bags and carts. Its name doesn't show up much in the newspaper archives, but I did find an awning industry ad in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1923 — "You Are Going to Need AWNINGS, ORDER NOW" — that lists H.G. Maybeck as one of the members of the Canvas Goods Manufacturers Association of Greater New York, a group of "Makers of Awnings of Dependability".
Putzmeister — which means "Plaster Master" in German, and something else in Yiddish — makes concrete pumps, primarily. The one pictured above is a relatively modest affair, but the company is best known for its extremely long boom pumps. On a number of occasions, in fact, Putzmeister machines have set new world records for pumping concrete the greatest vertical distance, with the most recent record-breaking performance of 1,988 feet achieved during the construction of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The company's boom pumps have also been utilized in disaster response efforts, most notably at Chernobyl, where they helped entomb the plant's damaged nuclear reactor in a concrete and steel sarcophagus, and at Fukushima, where they pumped seawater to cool the overheated reactors.
This cultural center has been located here on Jamaica Avenue since 1979.
These colorful flags are a common sight in Indo-Caribbean neighborhoods.
Built around 1900 "in a de-shingled Shingle Style", this was originally the First German Presbyterian Church of Jamaica, and the partially boarded-up house at left (old photo, Street View) was the manse.
One Sunday evening in 1910, the Rev. Ferdinand O. Zesch, pastor of the church, was preaching to his congregation from the pulpit. According to the NY Times:
As he continued talking he became more and more spirited in his delivery. Suddenly, in the middle of a highly charged sentence, his uplifted right hand fell upon the Bible, his face became convulsed with pain, his voice stopped, and he caught hold of the pulpit stand to steady himself.
After wavering a moment back and forth he staggered over to a seat at the back of the stand and sat down. Many of the women in the congregation began to cry. Several men ran to the stricken preacher. He indicated by gestures that something had gone wrong with his heart. He was lifted over to a cushioned pew, where he lay down.
Dr. Phillip Wood . . . was sent for, but Mr. Zesch died before he arrived. The doctor said that death had been caused by the bursting of a blood vessel in the region of the heart, due to excitement and a diseased condition of the heart. Mr. Zesch was 60 [or perhaps 58] years old.
According to the Parks Department: "This playground takes its name from Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States."
Why would a playground in Queens be named for Harvard University? I suspect it was not actually named for the university, but rather for Harvard Avenue, the former name of the street on which the playground is located. (It was changed to 179th Place in 1919.)
Located in the well-to-do neighborhood of Jamaica Estates, this old Jamaica Water Supply Company pumping station was apparently intended to look more architecturally refined than its brethren in other parts of southeastern Queens.
Gamewell (awesome logo) was the dominant manufacturer of fire call boxes in the US, but it's quite rare to spot one of the company's boxes here in NYC. Within the city, they're apparently found in just a few Queens neighborhoods. This one in Jamaica Estates is only the second that I've noticed, and the first intact one: the other was retrofitted with a modern fire/police button unit.
The cylindrical thing on top is a mechanical Arrestolarm, which would have blasted a "loud and distinctive warning shriek" whenever the box was triggered. This was intended to discourage pranksters from setting off false alarms by drawing immediate attention to anyone reporting a fire, like the hastily robed young woman below.
This one is also located in Jamaica Estates, just a couple of blocks away from the previous one.
Fresh Anointing International Church, the former Conservative Synagogue of Jamaica Estates
