IT’S been a few years (April 2021) since I have been in one of my favorite joints, Millard Fillmore’s on 65th Avenue and 166th Street near Queens College. It’s a neighborhood bar/restaurant in a brick corner building with the date “1912” emblazoned at the roofline. The restaurant isn’t that old, but it looks like it was once a living space that was converted into a bar several decades ago. I have been in dozens of times and the “postgame show” for one or two Forgotten NY tours has been here. The light was just right for this shot on a quiet day in 2021. (Since COVID-19 was still gripping the world, it was quiet all over. Note the ‘sputum screens’ dividing the tables.)
New York State-born Millard Fillmore was the second president who wasn’t directly elected on a national ticket, taking over for Zachary Taylor after the latter’s death. His views on slavery were complicated (see Comments below)
Brooklyn has two streets purportedly named for him, the Landmarked Districted Fillmore Place in Williamsburg and Fillmore Avenue ,one of the few named streets in number and letter-dominated Marine Park (though I can’t vouch if that street was specifically named for the president). Fillmore Street in Morris Park, Bronx appears alongside streets named Garfield and Taylor, so that’s a good bet for a namesake street. In his portraits, Fillmore resembles Alec Baldwin, to me at least.
Staten Island checks in with Fillmore Avenue in Willowbrook, Fillmore Place in Rosebank, and Fillmore Street in New Brighton, a neighborhood that also has a Buchanan Street.
As for Fillmore’s of Fresh Meadows, get the blackened meatloaf. That’s what I always have. I used to be able to get Killian’s Red there, but I’m not sure anymore.
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4/23/24