December 23, 2006
TO JOE and ALL on OKG's:
From OUR HOME to YOURS - May ALL have a wonderful Holiday with Good Health, Peace and Love. Sitting here typing to my dear friend's OKG's site brings me such pleasure to know that somehow WE ALL re-connect. Although I only lived in KG's (SILVER TOWERS and COURTHOUSE PLAZA) in the 70's - and was raised in Forest Hills - I love KG's with ALL it's charm.
May ALL have a BLESSED Holiday
And a Happy and Healthy New Year.
Hugs from Bonni Watson from Forest Hills HS Class of 1965
PS: Any ex FHHS Alums from the classes of the 1960's? I have a site set up. This is for classes from the 60's only please? E-Mail me at or follow the link Joe so graciously posted here for me.


December 21, 2006
This is in answer to an email for me posted LAST January�.obviously, I forgot all about this site and was just looking up something. Anyway, someone by the name of Linda Wiesner posted an email to me. I�m not sure how this works, but my response to her would be��I actually, didn�t know the Magid Triplets, but I remember who they were, and after Googling them, found out about the website.� From Ellen Goldberg Kaye, Jamaica High School 1964 graduate�from Briarwood. Live there 1958-1967; attended P.S. 117 for only 4 months; then junior high 217 (Van Wyck). P.S. After getting married in 1967, moved to Rego Park. I left NY in 1975�spent 30 years in southern California, and now live in south Florida.
Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year to All



CB 9 calls for repairs to statue
December 18, 2007
Editor's Note:  Click on the link below to read a story in the current issue of the local Queens Courier about efforts to have the beleaguered Civic Virtue Statue by Borough Hall repaired.
Click here to read the story


PowerPoint Presentation
Kew Gardens Then and Now
Date:   Friday, January 19, 2007
Time:   7:30 PM
Place:  Leonard Center, 112th St. and 86th Ave.
           (southeast corner)
Admission: Free
    The Richmond Hill Historical Society's Open Meeting will include a Powerpoint Presentation by Joseph DeMay, Jr. entitled "Kew Gardens ~ Then and Now". Mr. DeMay is a Board member of the Society, and is also the webmaster of OldKewgardens.com. Mr. DeMay will feature many of his vintage photographs from his large collection of Kew Gardens.
BOOK SIGNING
    Also, during the course of the Open Meeting, a Book Signing for the new release of "Images of America: Maple Grove Cemetery", by the authors, me and Carl Ballenas will be featured; Only $19.99.
Nancy Cataldi
President, Richmond Hill Historical Society
[To contact Nancy Cataldi, click here]


December 14, 2006
I have just viewed, on the Kew Gardens Civic Association site, the new construction in the Kew Gardens area over the last year or so. If this keeps up, in 10 years, Kew Gardens will no longer be recognizable, its charm, 19th & 20th century homes will all be gone.
Edward "Nick" Garrett
Kew Gardens native-1952 thru 1971
[To contact Edward "Nick" Garrett, click here]


Queens Crap
December 12, 2006
A new web site focuses on the problem of overdevelopment in the Borough of Queens. It's not a pretty sight, and the web mistress does not mince words.
http://queenscrap.blogspot.com/


A CHRISTMAS STORY WITH A MORAL!
December 9, 2006
    There once was a �gadfly� who lived in Richmond Hill (Webster defines �gadfly� as �a person who annoys others or rouses them from complacency�).
    This fellow was a known troublemaker in the area harassing not only his own neighbors and the storekeepers along the Jamaica Avenue, but also the local constabulary (namely, the nice guys from the 102nd. precinct just down the street from where he lived).
    He would tail patrol cars at all hours and submit written reports to the precinct captain whenever he saw what he thought was an impropriety. Most of his complaints were considered to be frivolous and he was marked as a kook!
    But there was an incident in which his snooping caused one cop to come close to divorce (and I don�t think I have to draw pictures) and that did it � it was open season on this guy!
    If it wasn�t �the night before Christmas� it was close to it when a couple of New York�s finest spotted the him slowly making his way down a dark dead end street (known to be the local lover�s lane) peering into the windows a parked cars, and they figured that it was the right time to strike!
    Making certain that they weren�t being watched they stealthily followed their prey until he reached the end of the street. Before he could make the dead end u-turn on went their bubble gum machine and siren forcing him to stop. Stunned by the appearance of a cop at his car door he began screaming the usual �what did I do wrong � why are you picking on me � I�ll have your badges for this� and so on.
    Unshaken by his ravings, the officer calmly asked for a license and registration which our villain begrudgingly produced. It is important to note at this point that years ago NY State driver�s licenses and registrations were made of paper and not of the laminations that we use today.
    As the officer perused the license he very carefully tore off a tiny piece of the registration certificate, put it in his mouth and then chewed and swallowed it! Of course, the guy sitting behind the wheel couldn�t believe what happening and really started to go crazy.
    To make a long story short, the cop ate the entire registration piece by piece and then announced to the �violator� that he was about to receive a summons for not carrying his registration!
    This was followed by �you can�t get away with this � I�ll see you in court� etc.
    The next thing you know the guy is in his lawyer�s office telling him the story and demanding that the case go to trial. The lawyer (who happened to be a very smart fellow) advised him just to plead guilty and pay the fine and, above all, never to repeat the story to anyone.
    Ignoring his counselor�s advice the idiot finds himself standing before a traffic court judge detailing exactly what occurred on the night in question. As his tail unfolded you could hear snickering in the audience and the judge also found it difficult to contain himself.
    Toward the close of his testimony the judge said �all right Mr. So and so, I�ve heard enough � sit down�.
    The arresting officer was then summoned to the stand and sworn in. The judge looked directly at him and said; �officer so and so, did you or did you not eat this man�s registration?� With great certainty, the officer replied; �your honor, not only didn�t I eat the defendants registration but in all my years as a police officer I have never eaten anybody�s registration!�
    To this the judge proclaimed the defendant guilty as charged and fined him appropriately. After the pronouncement he had to virtually be carried out of the courtroom in hysterics!
    The point must have gotten across to this fellow because he never made trouble for anybody again!
    The moral you say? I�ll let you be the judge of that!
A. Linsky (with season�s greeting to all)
[To contact Al Linsky, click here]


Book Signing by Deborah Emin
December 4, 2006
Click on thumbnail to view a web page about the book.
Editor's Note:  Deborah Emin, of Kew Gardens, will be at Linda's Organic Kitchen & Market, 81-22 Lefferts Boulevard in Kew Gardens, this coming Saturday, December 9th, from 1:00 - 2:30 PM to sign copies of her new book, Scags at 7.


December 3, 2006
the best job l ever had was working for blenderman's meat market; the old man "boss", his son henry and vinnie; this was 1960-'64; worked only on saturdays and made more money as a delivery boy than any of my friends that worked 5days after school and all day saturdays. l was loaded up on my bike with so much meat and eggs it wasn't funny. l can just imagine doing that now, leaving the bike in front of the apartment house doing a delivery; all the times l did it l never had anything stolen, just alot of broken eggs!! lunches were the best,henr y cut up cold cuts or chopped meat and l went next door to buy fresh rolls. l remember the little backyard between blenderman's, dr. jay's office and the homestead deli...never did see the sign however.
thanks
ronnie leiser; lived on talbot street
[To contact Ronnie Leiser, click here]


December 1, 2006
Click on thumbnail to view images.
Saw your pictorial of a walk up Lefferts. Here's two pics of a sign long since gone from the Lefferts landscape. It's the sign from Blenderman's Butcher Shop though it probably even predates that store. When Amy, the owner of Sabor, closed up shop she sold a lot of the fixtures. I inquired about the old sign, figuring it was covered up by the new Sabor sign. It had actually been sitting out in the back yard in the dirt for who knows how long though. I bought it from her and am trying to figure out how to hang it up in my apartment. It's two pieces of 1/2 inch thick glass - each piece is 5 1/2 feet long by 14 inches wide, making the sign 11 feet long. It's damn heavy!
    The sign says "Kew Gardens Market" - the letters are actually etched into the glass, not just painted on. At some point after Blenderman's closed up shop, some idiot removed the paint from the word "Market" using some kind of sandpaper, damaging the glass. That's why the sign looks like it says only "Kew Gardens" now. The word market is still there though etched into the glass.
    Anyway, here's two pics - one taken in my living room, and the other from the backyard of Blendermans.
Peter Hack
[To contact Peter Hack, click here]


Maple Grove Cemetery Lecture and book signing
December 1, 2006
Editor's Note:  Nancy Cataldi and Carl Ballenas (of the Richmond Hill Historical Society) will be at the Fresh Meadows Barnes & Noble at 176-60 Union Turnpike at 7 PM for a lecture and for their newly published book about Maple Grove Cemetery.


Bigger Images
December 1, 2006
Editor's Note: Since more people now have broadband connections and higher resolution screens, I am beginning to bump up the size and resolution of the images I display here. So, instead of averaging 20 - 35 KB, images will start to average 60 - 80 KB. If enough dial up users find these file sizes make viewing the web pages too slow, let me know and I will reduce the file sizes.


Get a Gmail Account Free
December 1, 2006
    Editor's Note: As of February 1, 2005, Old Kew Gardens [.com] got with Gmail, which is the Google web based email service. You've probably heard that Gmail offers two gigabytes [2,000 MB] of free storage. It's free, but available by invitation only. Invitations are so sought after that they are being offered for sale on eBay. I have invitations I can distribute to friends. I'm not selling them, I'm giving them away. They are available on a first come first serve basis. Just send me an email telling me you'd like one.
    Update: Unless I know you, your request must come from a bona fide working ISP email address. To prevent abuse, email requests coming from free web based email services like Yahoo or Hotmail will not be honored.
    Update: I will remove this post when I run out of invitations. If you're reading this, then there are still invitations left to give out.


Posting Messages Here
December 1, 2006
[Ed.'s Note: The reason each guest book posting does not appear here immediately is that I review each message individually before posting to eliminate spam or unwanted adult content. Email me if you want to make a correction to a message you have already posted or if you would like a message removed.]




How to contact Guestbook signers

Some Guestbook signers choose not to publish their email addresses. If you wish to contact one of them, send me an email identifying the guestbook signer you wish to contact and giving me the date his or her message was posted. Your email to me must contain your full name, and may also include anything else you wish to tell the signer. I will forward your email to the Guestbook signer you wish to contact, but with no cc or bcc to you. It will be the signer's decision whether or not to make contact with you. Any emails which contain spam, adult content, or appear suspect for any other reason will not be forwarded. ~The Editor..