Jackson Heights Life
Get Connected => Jackson Heights of Yesteryear => Topic started by: JoeinQueens on June 30, 2008, 03:03:00 PM
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I hear some people talk about this in passing and I was wondering when this happend, & what were the stores that burned down, resulting in the current office complex/parking lot/Rite Aid.
Were all the stores on that side of the street one story high as the other is?
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I believe the block that you are referring to was all one story, all pre war architecture. There were several mom and pops stores. The only one that I now remember was a really nice stationary store. Before the area was landmarked there were two fires. One which partially burnt down the block---as a warning--- and an other one soon followed that burnt down everything in its' entirety. Although I can not personally attest to this, rumor had it that they were purposefully destroyed to make way for the monstrosity that currently exist. I remember speaking to the owner of the stationary store at the time and this is what he had told me. The block was low density and very quaint.
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Here's a New York Times article from 1994 on the subject of the building located at 82nd and 37th Avenue.
PERSPECTIVES; In Jackson Heights, a New Building Evokes the Past (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E01E4D81039F935A35751C0A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all)
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Three of the stores that burned were all favorites of mine:
The Continental Restaurant was exactly that a nice Continental Restaurant with a nice bar.
Mike's Deli was a deli where you could order a sandwich or hot food and sit in a booth and eat in.
Glendale Bake Shop - was on the 82nd Street side and in addition to being a nice bakery had a nice deli section.
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I think there was also a camera store there. Oldst yle, they sold all types of film, developed pictures, and repaired cameras.
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Florsheim's was the store on the corner of 82nd and 37th. I remember waking early that day (summer time?) and smelling fire. It was only later, when I came home from work that I saw what happened. It took years before the litigation regarding the height of the 'new' building was settled, and although arson was suspected, nothing was ever proved.
This was a real low point as that block was the cross roads of the 'old' JH.
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I remember the some of the shops, not the fire itself and then that area being a gigantic fenced off pit for the longest.
I remember a Hallmark and a bakery. I also remember when they were constructing the building my friends and I would get inside and throw snowballs off the roof onto the people below. ::)
The 'new' building is completely out of scale and really fucked up the quaint look of Jackson Heights.
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I think there was also a camera store there. Oldst yle, they sold all types of film, developed pictures, and repaired cameras.
Yes there was and I can't recall the name of it. They were one of the last places in New York City that repaired Super 8 projectors.
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I recall that between the two fires (the first having only taken out two thirds of the stores), the Hallmark store that did survive had its in door a sign (handmade, all signs were ... this was 1980s) saying something to the effect of "WE WILL NOT MOVE." and asking for witnesses to the (first)fire.