Jackson Heights Life

I heard him say that line on jimmy kimmel. I was laughing for like 3 minutes straight. and so were they on the show. wow thats funny. he is awesome.

Going back to the era of Radio, Joseph Curtin, the voice of Mr. North of Mr. & Mrs. North mystery radio show lived on 80th St. He was Jane Curtin's uncle.

And his daughter, Valerie Curtin has also had a noteworthy career as a writer and actress.

Our nation's next Attorney General, Eric Holder, grew up in East Elmhurst.

The New York Times
High Achiever Poised to Scale New Heights
By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ
Published: November 30, 2008

Nine-year-old Eric Holder sat in the basement of his family’s house in Queens, enraptured by the inaugural words of the fresh-faced president from Massachusetts. The broadcast on the tiny television set faded in and out, muffled by the steady roar of jetliners at nearby La Guardia Airport, but John F. Kennedy’s call for hope and change was enough to stir the boy’s desire to serve.
 
By ninth grade, Ricky, as he was known to his friends, was standing before his peers in the auditorium making his case for student body president. In high school, towering above his classmates and teachers at 6 feet 3 inches tall, he passionately debated how to rid African-Americans of their second-class status.

Now, four decades later, Eric Himpton Holder Jr., 57, the Bronx-born son of Miriam, an Episcopal church secretary from New Jersey, and Eric Sr., a real estate broker from Barbados, is expected to be nominated on Monday by President-elect Barack Obama to become the attorney general of the United States. He would be the first black person to do so.

“I didn’t have any idea what I would be when I grew up,” Mr. Holder said in an interview last week, his first public comments since reports of his selection emerged in November. Attorney general, he added, was “not on the radar.”

Growing up in East Elmhurst, Queens, Mr. Holder lived in two worlds. There was the neighborhood kid, a basketball addict who drew smiles from girls and once cut class to watch the Mets. Then there was the overachiever, a history scholar who buried himself in books and newspapers and was plucked from his local public elementary school to attend a program for gifted students at another school.

(Follow link for complete article)

Chester Carlson, inventor of the Xerox machine, lived in JH, though his experiments were conducted in Astoria.



Inventors of Queens

There was a story that Ruby Keeler (does anyone remember her?)'s family lived above Cincotta's Fish Market on Northern Boulevard when she married Al Jolson and that he bought the family a house on -  84th Street, or maybe 85th - on the south side of Northern.  The story was that the house had an indoor pool.  I used to walk up and down those blocks and try to guess which house it was. In biographies they mention that she was born in Manhattan, but this was a story I heard fairly often growing up and the old people were specific that it was above Cincotta's that the family lived.

OMG!  I've never heard that.  I love watching silent films, but one of my all time favorite movies is the talkie/musical 42nd Street, starring Ms. Keeler.  Can you picture a 10 year old singing along to 42nd Street?     Thanks for sharing!

Examiner.com has a story today on former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher, Billy Loes.  According to the story, Loes lived in Jackson Heights after his retirement from baseball before moving to Arizona.  He worked as a cab driver.  Imagine that!  Can anyone see A-Rod retiring and driving a cab?   

Billy Loes, former Brooklyn Dodger and Long Island City native, dead at 80

I am writing a book about Gene Simmons' childhood and came across this most interesting thread.  Gene's mother survived the Holocaust and I created a Facebook page in her honor called "The Flora Army". Gene loved the site and featured it on his tv show, webpage, and Twitter account.
I would love it if any of you could share any personal memories of Gene Klein/Simmons with me either on this thread, PM, or my e-mail: originals_2@yahoo.com
Thanks!
Ross