Queens

With your indulgence, I’m going to break format to talk about Tom Seaver, one of my childhood icons (when I was a kid, I was lucky to have three: Seaver,…

By SERGEY KADINSKYForgotten NY correspondent In my search for an exciting park by the ocean, my children have taken a liking to Beach 30th Street Playground in the Rockaways. There…

That might seem to be a simple question. If asked, many Queensites would say it’s at Citifield, because MTA signage for the past few decades has proclaimed the stop between…

Bowne House, on Bowne Street north of 38th Avenue in Flushing, Queens, was built in 1661 by English settler John Bowne and, unlike many other colonial houses from the 17th…

The word “utopia” comes from two Greek words meaning “not” and “place,” and so, the word literally means “no place.” It was coined in 1516 by St. Thomas More as…

I write this the day I turn 63. I feel terrific! Except some mornings, when my back is sore and only walking around will ease it. An affliction tailor-made for…

If you stopped a Jackson Heights resident on the street and asked them which “Jackson” Jackson Heights is named for, if they had any guess at all they would probably…

As Forgotten New York readers know I’m fascinated by street layouts. In Queens, the borough in which I live, there are hundreds of numbered streets both east-west and north-south that…

This white enamel directional sign can be found on Seagirt Boulevard just east of Beach 9th Street. It was probably placed there and is incomplete; it likely had an arrow…

I seem to return to the lost neighborhood of Laurel Hill, Queens, time and again. I think whoever lives and works there call it West Maspeth these days. It’s a…

Where can this Queens scene be, which looks to be way out in the countryside with a few scattered houses near the horizon and a single railroad track in the…

Fire alarm boxes of various shapes and sizes remain familiar sights on NYC streets. In general you can find a fire alarm on every other corner as you walk NYC…