Customer Reviews

Old Queens, N.Y., in Early Photographs: 261 Prints (New York City)

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Queens usually takes third place to Manhattan and Brooklyn on NYC bookshelfs but this terrific photo collection will go a long way to remedy that. There's an enlightening introduction about the borough and wonderful photos/captions for 27 neighborhoods. My personal favorite is on pp.122-123, a jaw-dropping 1906 view of the strange junction of Jamaica Ave., Myrtle Ave. and Lefferts Blvd. in Richmond Hill. Today, this unique street pattern remains but, alas, the Triangle Hotel, later the Triangle Hofbrau, where the likes of Babe Ruth and Mae West imbibed, recently closed down. I've shown this book to a couple of former Queens people and they were amazed. Don't miss it if you're from Queens or have even a passing interest in urban history. Hopefully, the publisher is correcting a page-order problem in the beginning of the edition I purchased at a museum last summer, but don't let that hold you back. This is a real gem.

For this former resident (Corona and Laurelton), Old Queens presented an engrossing, illuminating, and refreshing visual window on the area of New York that has received too little historical attention. Arranged by community, the book provides concise, individual historical narratives to go with a set of photographs of people and places and old maps that can only be called amazing. Indeed, the treasures of this book, for my taste, are the many photos from the era before the construction of the subway lines that transformed rural Queens into megalopolis. Many of the area photos (structures from the 1939 World's Fair, for example) will no doubt be familiar to many. What surprises, however, are photos such as the two page spread of an untamed, deserted pre-World's Fair Flushing Meadow, a lush meadow creased by the winding Flushing River, itself crossed by the vanished Strong's Causeway that carried Corona Avenue traffic across the soggy marsh to Lawrence Street in Flushing. Equally compelling are photos of the muddy looking thoroughly rural roads of Queens Boulevard and Merrick Road (in Springfield) from the early 20th century complete with isolated farm buildings. Perhaps the most symbolic photo, however, is the panoramic photo showing a spanking new IRT Flushing Line elevated tracks slanting across a nearly-vacant 1915 Sunnyside landscape that looks more like Ohio than New York City. This book helps the reader see Queens as it existed before the housing explosion. It also makes one wonder what might have been. In effect, Old Queens shows what was lost to all-too-rapid, unplanned suburbanization left entirely in the greedy hands of the marketplace. Lack of urban planning and nonexistent historic preservation is the unspoken theme that resonates often in this book. Who wouldn't want to live in one of those handsome, tree-shaded, Victorian homes on the shady, Lefferts Boulevard in Richmond Hill, Jamaica, or Elmhurst? The question is academic, since none of these homes survived the Queens building boom of the early 20th century. Suppose Robert Moses had actually carried through plans to turn the Corona Dump/Flushing Meadow into an honest-to-goodness park with kinds of recreational facilities he lavished on his Long Island state parks? Suppose the city fathers (and local politicians) had taken a more custodial role and protected Jamaica Bay and it surrounding marshlands from pollution for descendants of the gentlemen angler shown pulling his crabpot out of a quiet channel in Meadowmere? While this reader would have liked to view a few photos from vanished communities, such as Ramblersville (Ozone Park), Black Stump (Fresh Meadows), or White Pot (Forest Hills), he believes that Seyfried and Asadorian have assembled a fascinating book that appears destined for the coffee table hall of fame, that is, if rabid readers don't tear it to shreds, first.

I grew up in Hollis, Queens during the '50s & and '60s and thought that I saw a lot of changes in the neighborhood. But this book is a real eye-opener showing how the area changed from farmlands in the 19th century (including developer's ads) to a fully built up residential community by the 1940's. The book is a must read for anyone who has lived in Queens

If you are from Queens, lived in Queens, or wish to live in Queens, this book is for you! I never knew how special my hometown was, till I read this book. There are many great illustrations of early Queens also.

I guess we all have our own opinion of what we'd like to see in a collection of old photos and the history of a particular place. In the case of this book, there are lots of old photos and interesting memorabilia, like early maps and ads for housing developments, as well as a brief synopsis of each section of the borough through the photos' descriptions. The quality of the photo reproductions is quite good, overall, and the writing is fine. I only wish it was larger and had more from the area I grew up in but, never-the-less, still a worthwhile addition to anyone's bookcase or coffee table.

Book arrived on time in excellent condition. 100% satisfied with everything and will buy a couple more books as Christmas gifts.