Citizen of the Month » The Slummification of Kissena Boulevard

The Slummification of Kissena Boulevard

This is where I grew up and where my mother still lives. It may not look like much, but it is one of the nicer apartment buildings in my Queens neighborhood. My grandmother lived a few blocks away, in a lower-income apartment. When I was in elementary school and my mother went back to work, I went to my grandparents after school. My grandmother made an excellent tuna fish sandwich, with chopped celery and dill.

My father was a physical therapist at a city hospital and my mother still works in publishing, so they never made that much money. They worked hard to put me through two very expensive private colleges, just so I could obtain two completely useless degrees — a B.A. in English and an M.F.A. in Film. I was totally spoiled by them.

I had an excellent childhood growing up in the Flushing/Kew Garden Hills area of Queens. The public school was good, the public library was two blocks away, and the neighborhood was incredibly diverse — blacks, Jews, Puerto Ricans, Indians, Chinese. I’m still good friends with guys from the neighborhood who I’ve known all my life. They’re the first people I see every time I fly into New York.

I am so diverse — here I am with my Jewish childhood friend Barry at the Blue Bay Diner in Bayside last week, which looks exactly the same inside as it did when I was in high school.

When I was a child, Queens felt isolated from the excitement of Manhattan, but it was close enough to travel to by subway. (…ok, first you take a bus to get to the subway) My parents took me to museums and concerts all the time, so I was able to participate in the “high culture” of the city. We also lived near Queens College, which had a symphony orchestra. I spent many weekends in the audience with my parents, falling asleep to Schubert.

Although the stores in my neighborhood weren’t very fancy (still no Starbucks!), you could get everything you needed just by walking down the block. There were grocers, a bakery, a Radio Shack, a cleaners, a pharmacy etc. This was perfect for my parents, who didn’t drive a car. It also created entertainment for me. After school, my friend, Rob, and I could pass several hours just stopping in the Kissena Boulevard shops, or reading the comic books in the stationary store.

I only felt embarrassed about “Queens” once I went to Columbia, and met rich kids from the Upper East Side, Beverly Hills, Boston, etc. They had actually gone skiing in Aspen and visited museums in Florence. All of a sudden, Kissena Boulevard was very small time. I began to feel ashamed of my background, like a Jennifer Beals in Flashdance, moving from the steelmill to the hoity-toity ballet studio. It felt as if the entire borough of Manhattan looked down on Queens. The only reason to visit Queens was to go to the airports or see a sporting event. There was even talk about building a new stadium in Manhattan, so there would even be less reason to travel to Queens. Queens was the home of misfits, from Archie Bunker to Ugly Betty. During snowstorms, Manhattan was quickly shoveled by the plows since it is the center of the business and tourism worlds. Queens was always plowed last. Queens had her big moment in 1963-64 when the World’s Fair was in Flushing Meadows Park, but then most of the fair buildings was just left behind to decay.

“Sorry, we don’t have enough money in the budget to fix the NYS Pavilion.” - Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Eventually, I learned to embrace my Queens neighborhood. There was a cool mix of people on the street, and it felt more “New York authentic” than many of the streets of Manhattan. Today, “Sesame Street” reminds me of Queens, not Manhattan. Big Bird could never afford Manhattan. Sadly, whenever Sophia comes with me to visit my mother, I’m always disappointed that she can’t see the area in the same positive way I do.

“It looks like a slum,” she said recently, as we walked down Kissena Boulevard. This hurt my feelings, especially because, in my heart, despite my romantic view of the neighborhood, I believed the same. At one time, the street was lively, with all sorts of shops and ethnic food. Gene Simmons, who grew up nearby, even named his group KISS, after Kissena Boulevard. Now, the neighborhood has deteriorated almost beyond recognition.

Half of the stores on the block are gated and closed — some stores have been empty for five years! Can’t the management company find any tenants? What happened to the bakery, the pharmacy, the seafood store, the stationery store, the women’s clothing store? Surely some business can make a profit here? People are afraid to walk outside at night because everything looks so abandoned. Why has this happened?

Perhaps the answer can be found on the website of the management company, Pelcorp. On the site, they advertise the entire block, not as available individual stores catering to a community, but only as a 240,000 sq. ft. shopping center. There had been rumors that the landlord isn’t renting out the stores because it’s interested in selling the entire block to a big-box entity like Kmart. This might explain why no stores never seem to be rented, despite having “For Rent” signs plastered on the gates of shuttered stores. Is the management company waiting for the opportunity to unload the entire property at once?

A view of Kissena Boulevard at noon, a far cry from what this busy street used to look like.

The management company has every right to sell the entire complex if they want to, but should they be allowed to thrust the entire neighborhood into a downward spiral? Who wants to live in an area where more than half the stores have been closed for years?

It is pretty sad state of affairs. I remember how The Garden Bakery made the best onion rolls I’ve ever tasted. There was “Sweet Donut,” a little coffee shop/donut store. Dr. Sakow, the friendly optometrist, fitted me with my first pair of dorky eyeglasses in the third grade. All of these stores are now gone, with no replacements.

Even if the management company does want to sell the entire property, shouldn’t they at least be responsible for its upkeep? What about all the garbage and graffiti everywhere? Why should I be embarrassed to show my wife the “old neighborhood?” Why should my mother have to walk past the junk in the parking lot? People still LIVE in the neighborhood.

At one time, the landlord/management company was a local one, headed by a New York builder. He was always seen around the area because he also created middle-income housing across the street. After his passing, his son took over the real estate property, and it didn’t surprise me at all that his management company is based in Palm Beach, Florida! Out of sight, out of mind.

From their website:

Our President, Prescott Lester, is the fourth generation of Builder Developers. He is responsible for building and developing nearly 3,000 residential units in Palm Beach County, Florida. Projects included Lakes of Laguna in West Palm Beach with 2,204 residential units and Cascade Lakes in Boynton Beach having 556 dwelling units.

Mr. Lester’s Greatgrandfather began building in Brooklyn, New York around the turn of the century. He was followed by his son David Minkin who became one of New York City’s Master Builders. Mr. Lester assisted and succeeds his great uncle, David Minkin, in running the family’s building, management and brokerage operations.

Here is a promotional photo of the late David Minkin, Prescott Lester, and former NY Mets (yeah, Queens!) pitching great Tom Seaver, who has apparently sold his New York baby boomer appeal for some hard cash.

Despite a history of New York building, the fourth generation of builders now “specializes in the marketing and sale of luxury properties in Palm Beach County. This includes waterfront, country club, and other estate properties.”

The Kissena Boulevard holdings, one of their four retail holdings still in New York, must be their least attractive holding, compared to their shiny new malls in Florida. No wonder they seem so disinterested in the upkeep of Kissena Boulevard!

I talked to a few people in my mother’s building and they are very unhappy with the way Kissena Boulevard looks. Some say they would even move away, if they could afford it. The shopping area is pretty disgraceful, and much of the blame must go to the management company. They have played a major role in making the area look like a slum. Of course, since Pelcorp is in Palm Beach, and the executives don’t get to come to Queens very often, I’ve included some photographs of Kissena Boulevard for Prescott Lester and his partners to see.

The Pharmacy, now closed, the letters falling from the sign

The Laudromat, closed

The shoe store, closed

The graffiti along the “Wholesale Liquidators” wall

The garbage along the wall, opposite the closed shoe store

The kosher deli, closed

The Rainbow Women’s Clothing Store, closed

The pharmacy, closed, is now a haven for pigeons

The Bakery, closed for years

The fish market, closed

Ugly graffiti and disrepair along the property walls

Tags: Flushing, Flushing Meadows, Kew Garden Hills, KISS, Kissena Boulevard, life, New York, New York City, Pelcorp, Queens, real estate, shopping areas

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I love this post. LOVE it.
Maybe it is because even though it is a million worlds away from my homogenized Mormon upbringing I understand it all.

I am very sentimental about my childhood home and neighborhood. I was devastated when my parents moved while I was at college. Even though their new home was much nicer, it wasn’t as wonderful to me.

P.S.
So does all this mean that you’re still “Jenny from the block”?

P.S.S.
It’s really late…Can I get a “Forgiveness Pass Due To Exhaustion” for that last bit?

it’s a shame that the street is no longer as vibrant and bustling as it was.

i stayed in queens when I was in NY, probably fairly close to there and it was interesting. (like, i prob wouldn’t want to live there but it felt quite comfortable and easy to get around)

That is a terrible shame!

the little village where i grew up still retains it’s charm, even though it has amalgamated with the city i now live in, but that’s mostly because it’s where our mayor lives and it’s what she wanted. my daughter is currently in manhattan doing a field study on it’s urban planning success, maybe they should have gone to queens instead.

I am surprised at how similar Queens looks to so many rural communities here after a walmart has moved in. It’s sad. And not just in a nostalgic, things aren’t the same kind of way, but a present things aren’t the way they should be, or could be.

Right ON, Neil! I hope you’ve already emailed this post to Prescott Lester…or are maybe planning to send it to him in Palm Beach via certified letter…with the kind of receipt that HE has to sign for in person. (You’re gonna send it to Bloomberg, too, right?) This post made me tear up because this has happened to so many of our little hometowns and neighborhoods, including mine. As Caron noted, sometimes Wal-Mart is the culprit–that’s what did in the downtown in my little town. Please keep us posted on what happens after you send this to Pelcorp. Shall we bombard them with emails on your behalf?

Please don’t let Queens become like Florida; it has no personality! You were lucky to grow up where you did. That is the real New York.

What Queens needs is an influx of gay residents… that usually gets the ball rolling on neighborhood resortation.

Amen Finn!

I loved reading this post, loved it. The sense of place, the sense of loss, the photos, the research, the call to action.

And I haven’t had a good onion roll since my dad pulled the family out of NY in 1974….

Caron is right. Queens looks like so many other places in the U.S. today. Really quite sad.

Sorry to hear about your old neighborhood, Neil. It’s painful to see.

I totally understand where you’re coming from (and where you came from). I grew up in a small town in NJ that could be in better shape today. Although we don’t have all the closed stores, things have gone downhill. I feel the same nostalgia for the older, better days.

It must be so bittersweet to visit your old neighborhood, with all those businesses closed up. It looks like it was a really nice place to grow up.

I recently took my husband back to the neighborhood where I grew up and had a similar experience. It was heartbreaking to see how run down it had become- and to know my husband will never know it as the wonderful place I played in as a child.

I love this post, too, and can relate on so many levels. My hometown in West Virginia isn’t New York, but the similarities of disrepair and neglect are just as evident. And just as heartbreaking.

Still, it’s home, you know?

Yes, of course you know.

that makes me sad.

My mother still shops there all the time, where the old Wainrites used to be. I remember that store fondly, but it’s gone now.

My mom sent me to another store, a check cashing place, last year to get my watch fixed when I was in town.

She warned me about the polish lady who fixes the watches, who is nice, but watch out for her mom who makes nasty comments about everyone in Polish.

My mom never lets on that she understands.

The ethnicity of that neighborhood has changed tremendously since our childhood. It’s heavy Russian, Polish, and Palestinian now.

BTW take a look a few blocks up in Kew Garden Hills and see how the place is booming.

Wow, I could find my way around there with my eyes closed. I actually shop on Kissena relatively often. Families we know who live in the Electchester buildings, or in the Dara Gardens apartment complex, use the remaining Kissena stores too, because of proximity.

I find that Kissena Farms still has the most variety and best prices of any of the area fruit stores. My husband likes it because he’s foreign, and with its earthy, grungy feel he says it is “what a fruit store should be”. Plus, my kids like seeing the lobsters in the tank. But you have to be willing to deal with garbage-laden parking lots, smelly cess-pool puddles, and icky shopping carts (I once found an abandoned crate of kittens in one!)

Also, Pathmark on nearby Aguilar Ave. has great prices on groceries, and a sizable kosher selection. That’s my stock-up place.

Growing up, we lived even closer to Kissena in a townhouse we rented when we moved to the area in ‘84. Wainrite was my mother’s shopping haven, as she doesn’t drive and it was the closest store in walking distance. I still remember the big rubber bouncing ball we got there from those ball cages near the register.

Until a few months ago, our bank was Astoria Federal, right on Kissena. To echo your sentiments, Neil, I eventually switched over to another bank because walking around in an area that’s deserted while going to deal with checks or withdraw cash felt a little, well, creepy.

There used to be a deli on the block of Astoria, right across from Wainrites (I think it was kosher, definitely not glatt) where we often went for a hot dog and those old-fashioned Dr. Brown’s soda in the glass bottles.

My brothers got their bar mitzvah suits in the men’s clothing store that is also no longer.

While it’s true that Main Street a few blocks away is bustling, overall the neighborhood is a little shabby, and not all of the business that close reopen in much of a timely manner.

It is somewhat cleaner on Main Street these days thanks in part to the men of The Doe Fund, which helps the homeless find employment doing cleaning and general caretaking of public spaces. They ought to bring them over to Kissena, as there’s plenty of work.

Thanks for highlighting the local situation here. It’ll be a huge shame if things continue to slide downhill. Regardless of whether developers have their sights set on the area, it ought to look better than this!

Great post Neil. It seems it has become more and more difficult for neighborhoods and small towns to remain vibrant, since most people seem to prefer big shopping malls.

Such a great post, Neil.

Wonderful post Neil. It reminds me of how I felt the last time I went home.

So interesting and sad. That neighborhood is so ripe for revitalization but I wonder if it will ever happen. It could turn into a hip Silverlake or Echo Park if someone takes the lead but of course that’s dependent on local residents who would want and work for a new commercial corridor. I agree that an influx of gays would do wonders for the hood. It looks like the neighborhood doesn’t have a strong ethnic identity at the moment so it can’t even turn into one of those great pockets we have in L.A. like Little Ethiopia on South Fairfax or the Thai neighborhood in Hollywood. Those pictures just look depressing as hell. (I love the one of you and Barry, though–he looks so much like “a guy from the neighborhood!”)

Prescott Lester should be ashamed of himself.

I am Born & Bred in this Neighborhood. So I can attest to what you’re talking about first hand.

I grew up and still live in Electchester, and am as upset about the state of the neighborhood as you are.

This was an amazing visual insight into where you grew up. So sad to see a place fall into such disrepair and emptiness. I hope it has a rebirth soon!

What great insight to where you grew up, I love this post. I’m sorry your “home” seems to be deteriorating.

God, that’s depressing. There are parts of my old stomping grounds (Union Turnpike) that look similar, but overall, it’s done pretty well for itself; even got a Barnes & Noble and a Coldstone’s not too long ago, while still managing to retain a few of the mom-n-pop shops. Not many, but a few.

And, an aside: I practically LIVED at Blue Bay as a kid; it was my parents’ favorite diner in the world. When, I got to be a teenager, my friends and I hung out at Hilltop, however. But when I go home now, it’s Blue Bay we go visit, usually on the way home from the airport. Their fries are to die for.

For those who know the area — I don’t think this has anything to do with the “changing” area. In some ways, there is less crime than years ago, when the “welfare” housing was down the block. There is plenty of retail activity around. There are three banks within a block of each other — not something you usually see in a depressed neighborhood. There are stores on the adjacent block. I’m specifically talking about this section of Kissena Boulevard that is down the block from my apartment building. I’m sure some Russian or Pakistani grocery would do well there. I’m most upset about the management company not taking care of the property and letting shops sit there empty for years, gathering garbage, as if this doesn’t affect the lives of the local residents, both aesthetically, economically, and even spiritually. At least sell it to Kmart already!

Folks, remember this post every time you shop at Wal-Mart, K-Mart, or a shopping mall with chain stores. Please try to shop at independent stores located in the community core whenever possible. Money talks.

Lovely post Neil.

This made me really sad

Plain Jane — I’m not totally against Kmart, Walmart, etc. I love independent stores, but it is difficult to fight the power when local residents actually want these stores for better prices, etc. I shop in Target, etc.

Kmart on Kissena Blvd. might actually be good for the area. My biggest complaint isn’t with Kmart, but the management company that clearly wants Kmart money, but just seems waiting around letting the street decay until the right time to sell it.

I call it “kid-vision.” Everything looked better when we were kids. Very sad about your old neighborhood. Hopefully, something will happen soon to revitalize the neighborhood.

I, too, grew up in a small town. The shopping district where I used to ride my bike past Newberry’s and various delicatessans is now full of chain stores like Crate and Barrell, Victoria’s Secret, Cheesecake Factory, etc. The small town, independent shop owner vibe is almost gone. Sigh.

The developers are waiting out gentrification. You know, when all the residents are almost gone and they start selling “luxury condos” and giant box stores start moving in. I lived in Queens from 1986-1994 (Ozone Park, the former home of the Bergen Fish and Hunt Club) (cough cough Gotti cough cough) and it was going downhill when I left. You probably would have had a better time walking the streets of Bed Sty where all the noveau hip live. No more crime in Bed Sty, just a good time!!

Oh Neil… This is so awful. It’s always bad news when a developer who doesn’t live in the area takes over but this is truly destructive. Copies of this post should be sent everywhere that can help.

There was a strip mall near my mom’s house that lost all of its tenants a few years ago. It became a real eyesore. About a couple of years ago, they tore it down and built new townhouses on the land.

I knew someone who owned property, and took the attitude “milk it for all it’s worth”. He didn’t keep it up, let it deteriorate, etc. Disgusting. Disgusting way to treat property you own, and disgusting way to treat the people living in the neighborhood. Just because someone has enough money to own or manage property, doesn’t mean they deserve it.

It is a sad sight…this familiar neighborhood of yours. I’m sure it hurts to see it in its present state.
However, I do love the name of the closed pharmacy: Script City. Perhaps that was a subliminal message for you to go to film school…

Yeah, that’s really sad. The Fiance grew up in Rego Park. We recently went back to his old neighborhood. He said the same kind of thing as you..it looks more dilapidated than it did. And his old house was torn down and a huge ugly duplex built on the land.

Big management corporations are the devil.

You’re such a great writer.

Wonderful, beautiful post, Neil. I know nothing of New York, but I could say the same about my hometown, and it’s slow death. Maybe I should write about it.

Thanks for that, it really got me thinking.

That is Horrendous, Neil….Sad Sad Sad…! One wonders how and why the owners of this entire block could have lost such interest in the individuals that live there and who need these shops….I think I would find it deeply depressing to see all my childhood haunts closed and just rotting away in such a non-caring manner….I feel for your mother, who must miss many of these stores….Where does she shop? Is there another Kosher Deli she can go to? It must be depressing for her, too!

I am not familiar with that particular Street, but having grown up, waaaaay before you, further out on that same LIRR line—I am familiar with the names of Flushing and Bayside and Douglaston, etc., etc…And I thought about the First World’s Fair…the 1939 Worlds Fair which really put Flushing on the Map…..I have wonderful memories of that. We went there many many times and of course I wish I had a dollor for every time I drove through flushing…later, in the ’50s and some of the ’60’s….and BTW: I had no idea that KISS was named for Kissena Blvd!

This made me so sad. All that beautiful history just ignored. Thank you for sharing your great childhood stories and showing us the pictures of where they happened.

Hats off to you for an excellent post.

I will agree that you were doted on, not spoiled. Your parents gave you everything they have because …that’s what parents were supposed to do. This is so different from today where parents are so caught up in being as cool or cooler than their kids and they just can’t get their ass-sized egos out of the way.

So YAY for Neil’s parents!

As for the slummification, I think the website for the company should also read:

“Mr. Prescott Lester is also damned well trying to forget his middle class roots. His properties in Queens are a mere footnote in the family history, along with memories of onion rolls, kosher delis and pharmacies where everyone knew your name. Today, Mr. Lester lives in Palm Beach with his eighth wife Brittney, where they employ many illegals to do everything for them.”

“It felt as if the entire borough of Manhattan looked down on Queens.”

It didnt feel that way, Neil; Manhattanites do look down on Queens, as well as the rest of the city. I mean, really, is there a term of contempt so altogether base and loathsome as “the bridge and tunnel crowd?” And be happy you still have the buildings to look at. I’m from Highbridge, Woodycrest Avenue and W. 167th Street, and absolutely nothing from my childhood survived the burnout in the 1970’s.

I’m sorry, for the non-New Yorkers, Highbridge is in the Bronx; it’s the neighborhood where Yankee Stadium is located

What a beautiful homage to your childhood home. I’ve always wanted to go to New York, but I think the version I want to go to requires time travel.

Kissena Blvd. Did you know Bobbie Levy who lived there? She went to Queens College, married, and moved to the southwest. A cute short girl with a scratchy voice. So nice to read your lovely memories of the decrepit hood. I had the same sadness with my Upper West Side hood in the seventies-eighties. Now, it’s another kind of sadness: a gated community of sorts, no room for normal folks with normal incomes. Change, it can hurt sometimes. I wonder how you feel seeing your mother still there — she and the hood (and us) aging, and being so far from each other.

first off - do you know what that property on Kissena is worth? a fortune..you may have left nyc, but the money is still here. .. a Jewish boy from Queens moves to Hollywood to be a writer..talk about your cliches.. Didnt I see you on Entourage.. I am Queens Blvd.

I grew up in Electchester, my dad was in Local 3. That part of Kissena was our back yard…we used to go to Wainwrite’s all the time, then to Wholesale Liquidators, and Kissena Farms…burgers at McDonalds..chili at Wendy’s. Sad to see the state of disrepair this part of the old neighborhood is in. I remember that bakery…the owners were the first Jewish people I ever knew and I loved going in there to learn about their religion, the holidays, etc. and of course, to get sweets! My mom would buy challah bread from there and make the best french toast ever! Great post. Thanks for the wake up call and trip down memory lane.

Uh, I think pretty much every commentator on this blog missed the point.

As Neil mentioned, this overall neighborhood is NOT in decline. In fact, it is booming, and property values for retail sites are among the highest in the country. You can’t buy a decent house in this area for under a million. People likening this area to West Virginia or the Rustbelt or the stereotypical “changing” urban neighborhood have no idea what they are talking about.

There are thousands of expensive condo units and huge shopping complexes planned or under construction to the north, in downtown Flushing. To the south, Kew Garden Hills has soaring property values from the rapidly growing Orthodox and Israeli communities. Just try and buy a house in prime Kew Garden Hills.

The issue is that property values are so high that it makes sense to demolish sites and rebuild bigger. This would normally be a good thing for the neighborhood, but this developer apparently is taking his own sweet time rebuilding the site, and the neighbors have to suffer without local amenities.

Thanks very much for this post. I was born and raised in NYC (still living here!) and am saddened by the toll gentrification is taking on the city–in a myriad of ways. It’s good to know that there are others who are seeing and talking about these changes.

I posted a link to this on my blog this morning. Very sad indeed. Also very typical of Queens these days.

From a guy who grew up down the block (Kissena Blvd @ Kissena Park) thanks for a well written piece about the neighborhood.

I think the point is what is this situation is very similar to what is happening to much of Queens. Properties are being allowed to be turned in to something completely out of context to the rest of the community. Either by turning single family houses in to 4 and 5 families dwellings or here, the elimination of numerous stores that served the community. K-mart would do just as well on Kissena as it did on 188th St, which is to say, not well. It doesn’t serve the community of which it is a part of.

Queens has always been diverse and growing up I had friends of every nationality and religion. But then it was about fitting in, making the place you lived a better place. Now it’s about making as much money without thought to the community.

I lived in Electchester from 52-69. I went to 200, 168,Francis Lewis an then Queens College. I even worked in J and J Liquors situated in that very same shopping center. This take on Kissena Blvd is exactly the same as old diehard Dodger fans have of Brooklyn of the 50s.

Face it, the neighborhood changed. My mother moved out as did the others who supported that businesses. Populations changed—look at downtown Flushing. So the businesses changed too.

As children, Kissena Blvd was new and exciting, but now 50 years later, it’s older and falling apart. The state of Kissena Blvd mirrors what’s become of us. It got old.

Thanks for the photos and memories–they will remain fresh and vibrant forever.

I love this entry. I like hearing about your past.

Dear Neil,
Really enjoyed your article (and felt the same way about my childhood.) I also appreciate your concern for the area in its present condition…My parents are still there too..

Hey Guys, Literally grew up hanging out on Kissena Blvd (when you could just “hang out”)- a veerrryyy long time ago - But hey “Regina’s Pizzeria” is still there, I should know, my family has delivered pizza for them for years - what a blast!!!!! went to PS 163, IS 237 & Francis Lewis - the house “my grandparents” bought and I grew up in, has now been torm down - how sad progress - yeah right!! - Seeing the empty lot before they “put up a parking lot” (hahahaha-NOT) made me feel “lost”-Thanks for a great piece. “L.S.”

FYI: Pelcorp is an entity with many corporations, their Queens office is on Queens Blvd. in Rego Park.

A sad tale, well told. Better than much of the journalism out there Neil.

[...] Guy’s Tree House My Life as a Hotfessional awarded Magneto Bold Too Out of My Tree awarded Citizen of the Month Suburban Kamikaze awarded Miss Britt Drowning in Laundry awarded A Year Off Old Horsetail Snake [...]

That’s the same feeling I get when we’re driving through small towns out here and all the businesses are boarded up. Our little town used to have a grocery store and a hardware store, not to mention a doctor’s office. All we have left is a mini-mart where you can pick up a gallon of milk or gas up the car. And it’s not open Sundays.

[...] perfect post this month; this time over at Citizen of the Month. The post I nominated is called The Slumification of Kissena Boulevard in which Neil takes us on a tour of his old neighbourhood lamenting it’s demise (with some [...]

I can’t believe how down trotten it all looks even on a sunny day. I remember walking to any or all the stores, they were local they we good and reliable and it was easy on the pocket and easy on the feet. What a shame all local business’ have to go the way of the dinosauors. It breaks my heart to realize that the times they have a changed but not for the better. Neighborhoods are too important not to have the local businessmen and women included in its makeup and diversity. Have we as a society really alienated ourselves from each other so much that we can be over run without a shoot simply because we have no sense of who and what we are anymore. We are all little islands floating, and drifting in a sea of selfish and alturistic behavior, how sad for a generation that wanted to make a difference in the world and now we die with a whimper.

Wow,
I have not been back home for a few years. I lived right across from Parson’s Junior High my old school. Now I live in Florida.
This is very disappointing. Very good article though.

I grew up in that neighborhood too. My heart is broken…Loved the article though.

I was born at Hillcrest Hospital, I grew up on 72nd avenue and 160 street. I went to PS 154 briefly, attended IS 237 in Flushing, went to Jamaica HS and then went tot he State University of new York at Albany, although I attended classes at Queens College one summer. I had paper route at age 12 that covered a wide area, worked for Colony’s Card Shop from age 13 until I turned 16. I then worked for Wainrite’s until I graduated from HS. Although I came back to work for Wainrite’s 2 additional summers before their closing. Growing up there was like growing up in small Norman Rockwell-esque town with great ethnic diversity.
I had a wonderful childhood and I often return to visit my parents and friends that are still there. I now live on Long Island, I am married and have two children.

Wow i never thought it would have turned out like this. When i was young i used ta Bomb the Neigborhood From Parsons jhs to P.s. 165 to Pomonok break dancin and other things. Alot of good times and friends Valentinos pizza, Wainrites,comic store, olinskys

God! I was devastated when I saw how Kissena Blvd looked. I grew up there. It’s dirty and disgusting. I loved your site, it brought back great memories but also alot of tears. Even the pizzeria is not the same anymore. No more wendy’s either. Thank you for showing my neighborhood

[...] your laptop and write your screenplay. This isn’t Starbucks country. I already showed you last time I was home how half of the stores on the street have been shut down by some greedy [...]

Interesting article. I live two blocks from Kissena Blvd.for the last 34 years. It’s been a slow process with the closing stores. I’ve wondered about that Bakery forever. Until your article I didn’t realize just how many stores were closing. You can now add the liquor store to your list. They reopened across the street. I enjoyed reading the comments, it took me back to my childhood. I never thought of Kissena Blvd. as a slum, but I guess all these closing stores don’t make a pretty picture.

[...] up the Pelcorp Management Company again. On my last trip back to my old Queens neighborhood, I reported on how Kissena Boulevard, the street down the block, looked like a slum because 75% of the stores were shuttered, with [...]

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