From the NYC Municipal Archives (which has helpfully watermarked the photo by way of encouragement for you to buy the photo at their website without such obstruction) is this look at one of Queens’ striped directional poles that were so prevalent in the early 20th Century. We are at the NE corner of Northern Boulevard looking east. Out of the photo to the left is the massive Flushing High School. Since 1931, Northern Boulevard has been widened into a 6-lane behemoth at this point, and few of the private homes of the type you see at the right have survived. One surviving structure is the YMCA Building in the background right. (I keep saying I’ll finally take swimming lessons there, but I’d need to buy prescription goggles first).
Of chief interest for me is the post itself, as it points to several items that would probably not get highlighted today. First and foremost the neighborhood of Whitestone, attainable by driving up Union Street (former name Whitestone Avenue) which becomes Willets Point Boulevard, a major diagonal artery.
Beechhurst is the eastern end of Whitestone, wedged between the Cross Island Parkway to its south and Little bay and the Throg(g)s Neck Bridge to its east. It was a prominent real estate development of the early 20th Century.
The “New York City Airport” was not LaGuardia (its predecessor, the North Beach Airport, opened in 1932) but instead, Flushing Airport, used mostly for cargo and freight flights. Flushing Airport has been mostly abandoned for over 50 years, though some sections along its edges have been redeveloped. Its ground is quite swampy and local politicians and developers can never agree on land use for this relatively vast area.
None of these striped directional posts are in existence today, even in museums; perhaps some private collectors have a few of them.
Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop, and as always, “comment…as you see fit.”
1/22/18