I grew up in KGH. It was, and is, a wonderful neighborhood. There's a small town feel to the area, in part, I imagine because the subway doesn't run to the neighborhood. It feels suburban and quiet. Main Street feels like the main street of a smallish town. There aren't high rises. You can see the sun. There are trees, grass, flowers. You don't have the noise of Manhattan. Families live there for many years, and you know your neighbors. I still visit often, and I still love it.
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My family moved to KGH in 1950, when I was 5 years old. My KGH "pedigree" is extensive. I was member of the first P.S. 164 graduating class, in 1956, to attend the from kindergarten through 6th grade. My Bar Mitzvah was at the Jewish Center of KGH and I am a Queens College grad. Junior High and High School took me out of the neighborhood -- Parsons JHS (confronted for my lunch money) and Forest Hills HS (dealing with what I perceived to be rich snobs). I knew S&G's younger brothers, Eddie Simon and Jerry Garfunkel. It was a great neighborhood to grow up in. Lots of kids close in age, playing basketball at the park on Park Drive East, stickball at P.S. 164 and every street game imaginable. Pizza at Stella D'oro and Chinese food at a restaurant that identified wonton soup as containing kreplach, an important clarification for the predominantly Jewish clientele.
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Julie, I have 3 "historic photos to send you" E-mail???
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My parents moved into 137-19 72nd Rd. the year before I was born, 1944. It was a wonderful neighborhood in which to grow up. We played potsie on the sidewalks, punchball in the alley, and rode our bikes everywhere. We walked to Main Street to shop at the butcher, bakery and other local stores. We attended and graduated from P.S. 164 where Paul Simon's mother taught. The subway stop was nearby and often went "into the city" for everything from appointments with our dentist to classes at the Art Student's League. It was a wonderful neighborhood and looks like it still is.
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These are my memories as well. My parents bought a house on 77th Ave with money from the GI Bill when my dad returned from WWII. They wanted to "escape" from Brooklyn and lived in their row house until 1975 when many original residents were selling. Growing up, we spent hours outside in the alley between the two rows of houses where there was always someone ready to play. At that time, the library was housed in the same building as the Queens Savings Bank and was an important part of the neighborhood back then too. The lack of proximity to a subway made going into the "city" a little more time consuming but also contributed to the village feel. Glad to see that the neighborhood is being appreciated again.
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My parents moved to 78th Avenue when they married in 1955. When I was born they moved up the block to a 2 bedroom with a patio in the back, one of only a few in that development.
I went to P.S. 164 which was a great school. Mrs. Simon was my sister's 1st grade teacher. Paul Simon came in one day to play for the class in 1967...amazing.
We used to play "squash" with a tennis racquet and a tennis ball at the handball courts at 164. Box ball and chinese handball and of course watching the boys play fungo against the wall of the school. A great neighborhood to grow up in.
I went to Campbell JHS which is now the CUNY law school I believe. I got a scholarship to a private school in Manhattan but would have attended Hillcrest HS.
I was already living in California when my Mom moved from 78th Avenue into Manhattan in 1979.
I went back to the old neighborhood about 10 years ago. Amazed how some of the private homes around our garden apartments had been torn down to build these epic McMansions.
It's nice to see it is still a thriving neighborhood.
Remember Dottie's corner candy store there on Vleigh Place? Also, there was a Key Food there before they built the Board of Elections. Freda Polony's dress shop...
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I lived at the corner of 141st and Vleigh Place, in the garden apartments from about 1953 till 1976 and graduated from PS 164 in 1961. I hung around Dottie's all the time. And so I'm sorry to report that there was a fire in Dec. of '16, and that whole block of stores burned to the ground. It's an empty lot last I heard. Here's the link:
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/12/30/queens-fire/
I really felt the loss on this one.
Naomi's pizza (and falafel). But not on Saturdays.
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Living in the Mitchell Linden area of co-ops north of downtown Flushing, I always found it interesting that the Reform Jewish population here has declined while the Orthodox Jewish area of Kew Gardens Hills has prospered. It seems the children of the founding tenants from the 1950s all moved away. The neighborhood is about 80% Asian and the Garden Jewish Center, formerly the hub of the community, is closed. The only vestige of the former population is a bagel shop, now operated by Koreans.
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You frightened me for a minute. I thought you meant the Jewish Center of Kew Gardens Hills, which is still open. I remember my grandfather taking me there in the 1950's , and I think he was one of the founders.
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My grandparents lived there. Good memories from childhood. Having to take a bus to Queens Blvd to catch the E train not so good.
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The article compares living in NYC with living on Long Island: "Moving east to Long Island, where more housing value is found, is not a complete solution, Mr. Meirov added. There, buyers lose convenience and pay higher real estate taxes. In Kew Gardens Hills, annual taxes average $6,000 to $8,000, he said." But it fails to mention the benefits of living on Long Island such as the saving of 3-4% in NYC income tax per individual living in the house, which can be a significant amount for high income households (especially since going forward an individual or a married couple can't deduct state and local income taxes to the extent that such taxes, together with property taxes, exceed $10,000) and would most likely more than offset the increased real estate taxes (probably an increase of $5,000 to $7,000--my guess) for living on Long Island. Other benefits include better schools generally and more personal development time--i.e., more reading/audible listening time during train rides--as a result of the longer commute (this is mainly applicable to people with too many distractions at home).
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I am so amazed how people complain about higher taxes on Long Island or other suburbs and forget about NYC tax and the fact that one does not have to deal with either sending their kids to poor performing schools or hire expensive tutors and cram of exams to get into city's coveted specialized high schools such as Townsend Harris is.
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that's funny...I've never seen a "longer commute" as a benefit...
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I am pretty familiar with this neighborhood as I have been known for coming here usually after a day game of the Mets. The reason is because my family would want something from Queens Pita and possibly Amalya Grocery. Other times, I do consider this area to be NYC's Little Israel due to its Israeli population considering the number of businesses here that happen to be such as well as those living here.
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