Jackson Heights Life
Get Connected => Jackson Heights of Yesteryear => Topic started by: jlw611 on March 28, 2018, 04:29:39 PM
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I was born in Jackson Heights in 1949. Went to PS 69 and PS 145. Lived on 75th Street between 35th and 37th Avenue. Left Jackson Heights in 1964. Thought it would be fun to try to reconstruct the stores on 37th Avenue between 74th and 82nd Street from about 1954 to 1964. Turns out it was a lot harder than I thought. Here's my list - would appreciate adds and corrections.
74th Street and Roosevelt Ave.
Ferns Stationary
Lamston's
Merit Farms
Jay Dee bakery
Fanny Farmer candy store
Miles shoes
National Shoes
Between 74th and 75th 37th Avenue
Carvel
Chinese Restaurant
Bruson Building
Newtown Lanes (in basement of telephone building)
Cleaners
Between 75th and 76th 37th Avenue
Frank's Dress Store on corner of 75th Street and 37th Avenue
Mollies (aka Sam's) (Owners Molly and Lefty) Ollie worked there.
High end chocolate shop (a lot of European chocolates)
Chinese Laundry
Bohak
Italian Bakery (best sicilian slices)
Toy City
Drug store (Royal Pharmacy was on the other side of 76th Street
Wexlers (When I was 15 I used to work there preparing trays of herring, pickle, potato salad and cole slaw trays - remember smelling like fish all the time)
Travel Agency
Between 76th and 77th 37th Avenue
Key Foods
Toddle House
Hamburger Express (run by Arthur Landau's parents)
Radio Repair Shop
Royal Pharmacy
77th between 37th and 35th Avenues
Pizza place (slices were 15ยข in 1963)
Between 77th and 78th 37th Avenue
P.S. 69
Raja's Candy store (Louie and Willie) (previously Moe & Archie's??)
King Edwards Deli
Between 78th and 79th 37th Avenue
Post Office
Fruit Market (owned by Sal)
Baars
Between 79th and 80th 37th Avenue
Teddy's Butcher Shop (my brother delivered meat for them on a bike in the 50s)
Between 80th and 81st 37th Avenue
Don't remember any
81st and 82 37th Avenue
Jan's Ice Cream Parlor
Arts 'n Flowers Florist Shop
Weiss's Stationary
Fields
82nd Street and Roosevelt Ave.
Colony Movie Theater
Woolworth
Thom McAn Shoes
Florsheim Shoes
The Record Store
Clark's Women Clothing
Schrafft's Restaurent
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I'm 8 years younger than you, but my father owned and ran Toy City until he sold it and went back to school to become a clinical psychologist in 1968. I remember hanging out in the store and the always-present smell of smoked fish from Wexler's. I don't have nearly the memory of all the stores that you have, but I certainly remember Jay Dee, Carvel, Bohack and Shop Wise, Jahn's (still there) and Field's Dept Store (my mother always took me there to shop for clothes). I particularly remember the roof behind Toy City which can be seen from 76th Street as it comes down to about 4 feet above ground level and rises sharply towards 75th Street. My brother (2.5 years older) and I would play ball (and we had the choice of just about any kind of ball--Spaldines were the primary plaything) back there as if we were the only people on earth. Great topic--hope you get more comments.
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I remember Wexler's and Toy City and most of the rest. Wasn't there a Kosher deli between 75th and 76th, on the south side of 37th. Also, the drug store opposite Royal was called Almadine or something like that.
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Wow! Nice list! I remember some of the businesses you mention, but in 1980s Jackson Heights. Here are a few:
Fern's Stationery
Lamston's
Merit Farms -- Interesting tidbit... new business owners continued using the Merit Farms name for a few years before it changed.
Jay Dee Bakery
Carvel
Bruson Building -- There was a fire at the Bruson back in 2014. It's only recently that new business have leased ground level space.
Toy City
The two Key Foods
Jahn's
Field's
The Colony
Woolworth
The Florsheim
Clark's
For anyone living in Jackson Heights in the 80's, do you remember Numbers Records & Tapes? I spent a lot of time hanging out in there. There was also a small used book store on 37th (between 76th & 77th) near what is now Due Fratelli, I think. Memories!
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I believe that the used book store was between 77th and 78th, in the spot where the realtor is now (next to the old City Coffee).
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I believe that the used book store was between 77th and 78th, in the spot where the realtor is now (next to the old City Coffee).
Yes. I new it was located in the vicinity of the mid to high 70s. It was the kind of place where you had to climb over stacks of books!
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I believe that the used book store was between 77th and 78th, in the spot where the realtor is now (next to the old City Coffee).
Yes. I new it was located in the vicinity of the mid to high 70s. It was the kind of place where you had to climb over stacks of books!
Yes! They had Magick the Gathering cards and had some games going on Saturdays. And a lot of old, hard to get scifi books.
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Teddy's Meats was between 80th and 81st on the south side of 37th- La Boina Roja expanded into it.
On 37th:
78th-79th north side (partial)
a bank?
Newman's Jewelers
candy store
Larry's Appliances
Peter Reeves Market
Baar's Toys
Rae's Jewelry
79th-80th south side
Harry and Nick's Shoe repair and hat blocking
Bambachi's grocery and fruit (later owned by Sol and ? Feldman) - I may be confusing the name with a similar store on the SW corner of 81st)
Bloomgold and Goller real estate
Georgian Photo Studio- later a music school/guitars
Mac's Hardware
Krone's Antiques
Furrier (he later moved his store to 83rd-84th, and was killed there)
George and Sal's barber shop
Nylon and lingerie store
Sherman's Laundry
Hannah's Cleaners
Beauty Parlor
Edson's Restaurant
79th-80th north side (partial)
textile store
Kerman's Books
German delicatessen (the son died when he slipped and fell on the ice, hitting his head.)
Barton's Toys
beauty parlor
camera store
Irene's antiques
cleaners
80th-81st south side (partial)
Rich's Drug Store (later a candy store)
Syl's candy store
jewelry store
Teddy's meat market
grocery store
80th-81st north side (partial)
laundry
Steinberg Optometry
candy store
butcher shop
Lawrence Drugs
More later
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Newman's!
wow, that's quite a memory -- a place i frequented long before i moved to the neighborhood because it was just so packed with cool, old, odd stuff.
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that furrier story is sad
http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2014/Long%20Island%20City%20NY%20Star%20Journal/Long%20Island%20City%20NY%20Star%20Journal%201963/Long%20Island%20City%20NY%20Star%20Journal%201963%20-%200080.pdf
(search for "furrier" in the body of the pdf)
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Some more notes.
On 74th St- Key Food (later moved to corner of 73rd and 37th)
Archer Hardware
Pizza Boy? (corner of 37th-still there)
74th-75th- Armando's Italian Restaurant (Bruson Building, now on Northern Blvd)
75th-76th- I think the Landaus owned the high end chocolate shop (Artie was a classmate of mine and the family lived in my building.) Not sure if they owned the Hamburger Express.
Star Hardware (or on 76th-77th?)
76th, N of 37th-
beauty parlor?
Victor Parmentier Photography
76th-77th, south side-
nightclub Blue Angel? (burned out in the '60's)
Shopwise (opened c. 1953 in two stores that had been the Public Library, later expanded down toward 76th, where there had been several separate stores, including an art framer.)
Toddle House
77th-78th Raja was, indeed, Moe and Archie's.
Just to Raja's west were two narrow stores- a piano school and a button shop
The corner store, now a fruit market, was a women's hat store.
78th-79th Newtown Lanes was here, mid block entrance, N side. The alleys were under Larry's Appliances.
79th-80th The camera store was Barney's.
81st-82nd, north side
Jamaica Savings Bank
Battipaglia Liquors (later moved across the street when Fields expanded)
81st-82nd, south side
Arts and Flowers
Shelley's Bakery (later moved to Roosevelt between 82nd and 83rd)
Weiss Stationers
Ligett-Rexall Drugs
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the Baskin-Robbins was between 75th and 76th for ages, i believe.
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the Baskin-Robbins was between 75th and 76th for ages, i believe.
From my recollection, the Baskin Robbins dated back to at least the early 80s... don't know what was there before. I'm trying to remember if it was located at the Al Araf or Swim Two Birds space.
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Swim Two Birds. I worked at B&R for years. It opened in the mid-70's, if I remember correctly.
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Swim Two Birds. I worked at B&R for years. It opened in the mid-70's, if I remember correctly.
Wow! That's pretty cool, queenskid2 (pun intended :D)
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Baskin and Robbins was owned by a guy named Morty Hova. He was a good man and unfortunately died last year.
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Baskin and Robbins was owned by a guy named Morty Hova. He was a good man and unfortunately died last year.
I worked for Morty for years. I'm sorry to hear of his passing.
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Karen Wilders father owned a toy store near 77th