I resided in eastern Flushing, or western Auburndale, depending where you draw the border, between 1993 and 2007 at 43rd Avenue and 159th Street. It was a 4th floor apartment and I was kept in some semblance of shape by ascending and descending four flights at least once a day. Many of those times I carried a bicycle up and down those four floors. In 2007 I moved to a first floor garden apartment in Little Neck and while I have done a lot of walking and bicycling since then, by all metrics I can’t be in as great shape as in those years, especially when you consider those added years. So, I suppose I have to consider myself proud of doing those four flights every day.
In this post I sing the praise of the NYC corner deli. Most, if not all, NYC neighborhoods have a corner deli where you could get a breakfast bagel, cold cut sandwich, pack of cigs, lottery tickets, that kind of thing. Gourmet it isn’t, but convenience it is. This corner deli at 43rd Avenue and 163rd 160th Street kept me in Diet Coke and potato chips for 14 years; during that time it was called the DJ Deli. Don’t talk to me about aspertame in Comments; they’ll be rejected. I have used it regularly since 1975 and I’m still here. In 2022 I gave up chips, though I will still occasionally have a few with a sandwich. I gave up bagels as well and eat fewer sandwiches. No donuts or cookies. But if all that stuff became safe tomorrow I’d go back in a heart beat.
We had a convenience store in Little Neck as well, right by the railroad tracks. It was run by a succession of Korean families during my 16 years here. Yes, I have now been in Queens for thirty years. The covid pandemic “put paid” as they say in England to that convenience store. Recently, a gourmet dessert shop opened in its old space. More stuff I have to stay away from.
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8/11/23
15 comments
I lived over a place on Voorhees Ave and Dooley St in Sheepshead Bay. I’d order a burger, and the lazy owner would comment, “I suppose you want fries with that!” Ah Olde New Yawk.
My friend and I used to ride our bikes to that deli in Little Neck to buy candy in the late 60’s! That narrow street next to it was the way to “the Manor”
I grew up on 163rd Streeet just off 43rd Avenue.. no deli there. Where is this?
43rd and 160th. I was incorrect
I once read about a man who spent 14 years on a diet consisting solely of Hostess Twinkies, hard-boiled eggs and Scotch whiskey, yet was in perfect health.
It’s largely the Fickle Finger of Fate how long you live. But my blood tests were leaning toward prediabetes and I made changes.
As his only liquid intake was Scotch whiskey, even if his health had been lousy I doubt he would have noticed or cared …
Anyway, with respect to Little Neck, going from a modest deli to a gourmet dessert shop may seem like an upscale development, as a practical matter it’s far less useful to the residents.
My Mom drank Diet Coke for years (one a day) and she is now 95.
At one time, there were clusters of stores every few blocks that always contained a candy store and a delicatessen, and often a small grocery store, a luncheonette, and a drug store. The mom & pop grocery and drug stores disappeared first. By the mid-‘7Os, the Jewish run candy stores and the German and italian delis were fading fast. The merchants had their own personalities that reflected in the atmosphere of these unique establishments. I left town over 3O years ago and found out that most of America is run by chain stores and the small merchants in the boroughs of NYC were destined to be priced out of existence. The unique flavor and convenience of these small, neighborhood establishments is a great loss that I didn’t fully appreciate until I moved away.
Steve:
You forgot the filling stations that in addition to selling gasoline, featured 2 – 3 service bays for maintenance & repairs (they also sold replacement tires). The modern convenience store is located near these
automotive facilities. This new paradigm is quite popular across middle America.
Folks, you are forgetting yet another partner in that retail grouping – the neighborhood tavern, or bar. They, too, were often on corners, but that served two purposes. Yes, the corner would provide better exposure for potential patrons. The second purpose was to be found in the older taverns. The main entrance was at the corner itself, often under a rounded turret, small witches hat, or some other minor architectural detail. But, further down on the longer side of the property, a second entrance would be found. This was the “family” entrance. Traditionally, the front door was for men and the “family” entrance was for women, or families. When you entered on that side entrance, you could go one way, toward the bar, or the other way, which led to a back room or a rear garden yard. I remember many such in College Point, Whitestone and Long Island City back in the 1950’s and 1960’s. While women freely entered via the front door by then, those old entrances still existed.
Amazing how the zoning works, that you can get a small apartment building in amongst one-family homes just so a ground-floor bodega can be fit in and the nearby neighbors don’t need to haul themselves up to the main thoroughfare.
Got a kick out of “But if all that stuff became safe tomorrow…” You never know which way the needle will swing! Kevin, hope the “mobility issues” referenced elsewhere subside / moderate or vanish altogether.
That’s Flushing. Grew up a few blocks away
Love the spotlights on Flushing! My father lived on 33rd road and between 153rd. and Murray St. by Triangle Park in the 1940’s and 1950’s. He passed away in 1998. Whenever I’m in NY, I always spend a day walking around Flushing thinking of him… thanks, John.