HAPPY NEW YEAR to all my Rego-Forest Preservation Council members & friends, friends' friends, & their families!!! Oops, I am 100 years too early......
Let's countdown to 2012, a year of health, happiness, and advocacy for the historic preservation & conservation of Rego Park, Forest Hills, and adjacent neighborhoods, and the hopes of many history-related events and a tree giveaway to come.
These photos are on display at Nick's Pizza at 108-26 Ascan Ave, & capture the feel of Forest Hills in the early 20th century... A window to our past! Thankfully, our fine craftsmanship and green landscapes have not changed much in some sections of our neighborhood.
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| An audience of children pose in a public space in Forest Hills, presumably in the auditorium of Public School 3. Note the early 20th century fashions. |
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| A classic out front of "small town feel" rowhouses |
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| The residents of Forest Hills were fortunate to have a trolley line among the dirt roads of Queens Blvd. Hop on & journey back in time! |
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| Snowy Queens Blvd when it was less civilized, & offered a field perspective towards the Forest Hills Inn of the Forest Hills Gardens. |
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| Based in the Cord Meyer Section, Public School No. 3 was Forest Hills' 1st elementary school, & today it is known as PS 303. It was also known as the Little Red Schoolhouse. |
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| East side of Continental Ave towards Austin St & Queens Blvd. Spotlight on the Forest Hills Theatre, which was our first theater, which witnessed silent films & the advent of talkies. This early 20's theater had an organ too! Today it is more predictable as Duane Reade & Staples. In the foreground is a wood & brick Tudor style business building. It was one of the first buildings to grace Austin St, circa 1910. It housed Garcia Grande Cigars & Sporting Goods in this image. |
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| The Continental Garage & Service Station was conveniently situated just west of Continental Ave, serving motorists on Queens Blvd. It housed a Texaco shop. Note how garages & gas stations were embellished in Colonial design, & how the medians of Queens Blvd had tasteful stonework. Lane Towers sits at this site today. |
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| Pennsylvania Drug Company was a famous community pharmacy which offered a soda fountain, a commonality of the times. Note the Tudor feel of what was called Forest Hills Village, at the foot of the south side of Queens Blvd & Continental Ave. Today, the building on the right proudly stands, but sadly the charmer on the left is now home to the mundane black glass Cord Meyer office tower. |
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| 1 Continental Avenue Building, a Tudor commercial & residential gem at the entryway to what was known as Forest Hills Village, on the SW corner of Continental Ave & Queens Blvd in 1936. |
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| Forest Hills Inn at Station Square, Forest Hills Gardens. Celebrities & tourists would stay at the Inn, which could conveniently be accessed by the classic Pennsylvania Station. Many postcards and ads boasted that it was 15 mins to Manhattan. The Davis Cup, Wightman Cup, & US Open were played at the nearby Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, which boosted profits at the Inn. Today the Forest Hills Inn houses apartments. |
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| Sage Foundation Home Company truck - In the teens, it was praised how admirable a planned community, the Forest Hills Gardens (1909) becomes, when it's designed on the principles of an architect and a gardener working in harmony. |
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| Greenway Terrace, Forest Hills Gardens |
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| East side of Continental Ave between Austin St & Burns St. On the left is the 20s era Corn Exchange Bank, & the right is a route to the Forest Hills LIRR train station, based in the Forest Hills Gardens. |
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| Man & his best friend in a Forest Hills park |
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