Before the Kleins sold it in 2003, this 1.4-acre property was the last family farm left in NYC and the final remnant of what was once a 200-acre spread purchased by Adam Klein in the 1890s. As of 1990, according to the Associated Press, the Kleins were growing "beets, carrots, scallions, radishes, basil, dill, parsley, cucumbers, squash, and kohlrabies" — "stuff that doesn't need that much room to grow" — on what I would guess was about half an acre of cultivated land located behind the old farmhouse pictured above. (The playground next door, which sits on land once owned by the family, is named Farm Playground in honor of the farm's unlikely longevity.)

Much to the chagrin of preservation-minded neighbors and civic leaders, who were hoping the farm could be maintained and run by the Queens County Farm Museum, the Kleins sold the place (for $4.3 million) to the notorious — and felonious — Huang family of developers. The Huangs subsequently leased the property to Ziming Shen, who opened a Preschool of America (a chain owned by Mr. Shen and his wife, Joanna Fan) on the site. In 2012, Ms. Fan and Mr. Shen pleaded guilty to embezzling $2.7 million of federal funds meant to provide food for children at their Red Apple chain of preschools. In 2014, despite being delinquent on the $5.2 million judgment from the Red Apple case, Mr. Shen bought the old farm from the Huangs for $5.6 million. The property lies within a "special planned community preservation district", making it difficult to develop, but the high sale price has local leaders concerned that Mr. Shen, who has already illegally cut down trees on the site, has some kind of underhanded scheme in mind.

JC & Sons signs are a common sight in certain parts of Queens and Brooklyn. When I first started noticing them a couple of years ago, their spelling was in need of some improvement/unimprotement. But they were fixed in fairly short order, and it's been quite a while now since I've seen one of these unimproved ones.

Here's a closer look.

Completed in 1928, this was originally St. Matthew's Episcopal Church. When I passed by in 2013, St. Matthew's had been closed for almost two years. But a few months after my visit, a new occupant — All Saints — began holding services here.

A historical sign outside the church seems to indicate that the property was a "burial site of early settlers". It turns out that the sign is referring to an old burial ground located behind the church. Known as the Wyckoff-Snedicker (or -Snediker, or -Snedeker) Cemetery (photos), its earliest gravestone dates back to 1793.

The dispatchers who work here handle all of Queens's FDNY-related 911 calls, as well as alarms coming in from fire call boxes (like the one at right, painted red) and building fire detectors.

This structure stands out from its siblings in the Bronx and Brooklyn, which look quite similar to each other.

The inscription above the center window reads "FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH STATION F.D.N.Y." This dates back to the days when fires were reported via telegraphic street-corner pull-box alarms. Many of the old telegraphic call boxes still exist in Queens, although the aforementioned box at right is one of the newer telephonic ones with separate FDNY and NYPD call buttons.

PAPD 37 refers to the 37 members of the Port Authority Police Department killed on 9/11. (37 human members, I should say. There was also one dog.) Here's a closer look at the stickers, many of which are 9/11-related.

Likes: America, the Yankees, God. Dislikes: work.

In 1966, this glacial kettle pond* (photos) in Forest Park was drained and turned into two baseball fields, one of which was later named for Lawrence (or Laurence, as the Parks Department usually spells his name) Strack, a local soldier said to be the first Woodhaven resident to die in the Vietnam War. The ball fields were frequently flooded over the years, however, and "in 1995, former Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern, after observing mallards in left field, proclaimed the site 'for the ducks' and authorized the restoration" of the pond, which was completed in 2004.

* As seen in this 1951 aerial image, there was indeed a pond here (two adjacent ponds, actually) before the ball fields were constructed. In a similar view from 1924, however, the area appears to be entirely forested, which suggests that the kettle filled in long ago and was originally restored as a pond sometime before the 1951 image was taken.

Is it talking about idling vehicles? Street vendors? Actual baby carriages? For what it's worth, there was a fair amount of loitering going on — not to mention a stationary baby carriage — the last time a Street View car drove by.

The former Demuth Company tobacco pipe factory