Jackson Heights Life

My family owned a home for several decades at 80-18 24th Ave. In 1957, the city bought out the house via eminent domain to put up a landing light  for LaGuardia Airport. The 1940s tax photos do not have an accurate photo of this particular house, which was located on block 1044, lot 9, the corner of 81st St and 24th Ave.

It looked like this on the 1980 tax photo. http://nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/RECORDSPHOTOUNITQUE~1~1~200554~179036:dof_4_01044_0006?sort=borough%2Cblock%2Clot%2Ceasement&qvq=q:block%3D%221044%22;sort:borough%2Cblock%2Clot%2Ceasement;lc:RECORDSPHOTOUNITQUE~1~1&mi=11&trs=12

If anyone has a photo of this corner prior to 1957, would appreciate it.

oh wow, it must be so cool to unearth this kind of family history. many, many years ago, in my first nyc apartment (on sixth street off avenue D), the doorbell rang one afternoon and a very elderly man asked if he could come in, saying he'd been born in our ground floor apartment years before -- this was 1983 and he was in his eighties. he told me and my friend all sorts of stories about the place, the judge who occupied the other two floors with his family, and he seemed so thankful to be back "home."

My mother has identified the house that my family lived at 80-18 24th Ave before the city took over the property via eminent domain for the airport landing lights. The property is now part of Landing Lights Park.
http://nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/NYCMA~9~9~214958~975407?sort=borough%2Cblock%2Clot%2Czip_code&qvq=q:block%3D%221044%22;sort:borough%2Cblock%2Clot%2Czip_code;lc:NYCMA~9~9&mi=29&trs=30

Nope. This is not the house we lived in. Still searching for a photo of 80-18 24th Ave before 1957

Very cool website!