Filming in Forest Hills 1921: Sentimental Tommy

I Have Often Walked: Filming in Forest Hills, 1921
by Queens Historian Ron Marzlock

Members of the Hasselriis family of Forest Hills Gardens walk up the hill on 66th Road toward the movie set for “Sentimental Tommy,” in 1921.

Due to the movement of stone and soil during the last great ice age, Forest Hills sits atop of a glacial moraine, then the land dips down sharply to where the Grand Central Parkway now runs.

The very steep 66th Road didn’t offer the best land for building homes back in the 1920s. But for Astoria Studios of Long Island City, the upward climb toward Queens Boulevard was perfect.

That’s where Astoria constructed the set for “Sentimental Tommy,” a silent film made in 1921. From 102nd Street — where Forest Hills Hospital, the former LaGuardia Hospital, now sits — to 110th Street the studio transformed 66th Street in the style of an old European village. With no other apartment houses obstructing the view, the Forest Hills Inn tower could be seen in the distance, as in this photo.

Hollywood was just developing in the early ’20s, and movie production had not yet relocated west. Queens County was ideal for making movies due to its rural state. Shortly after the filming “Sentimental Tommy,” Astoria came back to Forest Hills to use the original Cord Meyer Building (which was torn down in 1967) on Queens Boulevard, successfully passing it off as a college in a movie.

Today these great silent films in which Queens County was used are rapidly being lost due to the unstable nitrate film base they were shot on.
 
Source: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20396452&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=575602&rfi=6

Rego Park & Its Superstitious Old Farmers by Historian Ron Marzlock

Queens Chronicle - I Have Often Walked
12/3/09

Farming and building near Queens Boulevard and 63rd Avenue in Rego Park, July 1925

Rego Park was founded and built on the old 27-acre Thomson farm. The agricultural operation had been willed through the family to a daughter, one Mrs. Howard, who left it to her son John Howard. He sold the land to the Rego Construction Company in 1923.

The Rego Construction Company — Rego being short for “real good,” hence the mural below the trestle on 63rd Drive — was a group of German Americans who operated out of an office on Fresh Pond Road in Ridgewood. The firm was headed by President Henry Ludwig Schloh, whose partners were Charles Hausmann, Franz Muller and Herman Timmerman.

During the big building boom on Booth, Wetherole and Austin streets, Rego Park was just a real estate term. The original deeds to the properties read Elmhurst.

As development progressed, the community and media became aware that farming was soon going to be extinct in the area. In July 1925, local newspapers tried to do a story on the Chinese farmers still working the land south of Queens Boulevard and west of 63rd Avenue. The superstitious farmers attacked the photographers and drove them away with farm implements, believing their souls would be taken by the camera when their image was put down on film. This photo, in which some of the farmers are barely visible behind the billboard, was one of the few shots the lensmen managed to get.

Today, a great many people in rapidly growing China have cameras. But even now there are some elderly Chinese who believe that photographers capture not just images, but souls.

Origin: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20393026&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=575602&rfi=6
Featured with permission

A Must-Attend Free Event on 12/7: Coffee Talk with Karen Ansis, NY Landmarks Conservancy's Funding Programs

Monday Morning Coffee Talk with Karen Ansis
New York Landmarks Conservancy Neighborhood Preservation Programs

When: Monday, December 7, 2009 at 8:30 AM

Where: Neighborhood Preservation Center
http://www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org/
232 East 11th Street, Manhattan

Maintaining and restoring historic buildings is crucial to preserving our neighborhoods for the future. Come to HDC’s December Coffee Talk and learn about the various financial and project management assistance programs available through The New York Landmarks Conservancy to assist individuals, businesses and non-profits in this effort.

Karen Ansis, who manages the Conservancy’s revolving loan fund for restoration work on all types of buildings, as well as grant programs for non-profit organizations, will explain her organization’s neighborhood preservation initiatives. Karen will discuss the guidelines for each program, application procedures, how low-interest loans work, and other types of assistance available. She will also highlight some of the successful projects they have recently completed. Come join us and learn if you might qualify for assistance to restore your historic property!

This event is FREE to the public. Reservations are required, as space is limited. For more information, please contact Lauren Belfer, HDC’s community coordinator, at (212) 614-9107 or lbelfer@hdc.org

Also, please contact Rego-Forest Preservation Council Chairman Michael Perlman if you are interested in attending &/or learning more about preservation funding programs for property owners: unlockthevault@hotmail.com  After gathering parties of interest, information will be communicated to the appropriate parties.

The Neighborhood Partners Program is sponsored, in part, by Deutsche Bank, Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Assembly Members Jonathan L. Bing, Deborah J. Glick, Richard N. Gottfried and Daniel J. O’Donnell, and State Senators Thomas K. Duane, Liz Krueger & Diane J. Savino.

Volunteer Opportunity: Restore Green Space To Historic Our Saviour Lutheran Church, 92-14 63 Dr, Sat, Nov 21, 10 AM - 12 PM

The Rego Park Green Alliance is a soon-to-be non-profit that Rego-Forest Preservation Council highly recognizes! Part of the RFPC mission statement is to preserve and commemorate our architectural and cultural history, but many of us take for granted that it also ties into preserving our mature trees and bushes, and maintaining and restoring our green spaces, to frame our architectural landmarks, and most of all, to initiate beauty and respect our environment.

The Rego Park Green Alliance is working with the Our Savior Lutheran Church, 92-14 63 Dr (on Wetherole St off Queens Blvd), Rego Park to create a much-needed park on the side of their property for use by all generations of the community. They have a vision, and both the RPGA and Our Saviour Lutheran Church should be greatly commended!

This is how YOU can help.....

On November 21st from 10 AM - 12 PM, you can start the transformation. If you are available, please come and help create a park for our entire community to use and cherish for years to come. For more information: yvonne@kidstechlabs.com

This is the RPGA blog: http://regoparkgreencommittee.blogspot.com/  Founder & Chair Yvonne Shortt, explains the following:

How did the idea come about? While sitting at a jazz concert on Our Saviour's property several months ago, I saw a 400 square foot space sandwiched between Our Saviour Church and another building. In an area with no green space anything green is an opportunity. I spoke with Pastor Neil and asked if the Rego Park Green Alliance could create a park that could be used by the community. Pastor Neil and the congregation agreed.

What is the design? If you look at the design, you'll see that with Colta Ives help we have created a quiet space for people to go to read and talk. Right outside of the garden is Honey Suckle that will evetually climb the fence. When you enter on the left will be some trumpet vines. On the right will be two raised beds, Further back, a clumping birch tree. At the rear, three kinds of evergreens. For ground cover, bark mulch. However, in some areas will have have a little rock to give the park some texture.

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Recent & vintage photos of historic Our Saviour Lutheran Church and its grounds, courtesy of Rego-Forest Preservation Council (unless noted otherwise): http://www.flickr.com/photos/8095451@N08/sets/72157617607756277/

RSVP: Parks Dept Seeking Volunteers To Help Preserve The NY State Pavilion, A Queens & National Icon!

Volunteer on November 21 & 28, & take part in the introductory stages of preserving a Modernist masterpiece, the NY State Pavilion.... an enduring symbol of the 1964 World's Fair, Queens, and a National icon! Become a part of its history for a more rewarding future. Read on....

1964 postcard courtesy of Michael Perlman Postcard Collection

Source: http://hdc.org/blog/2009/11/17/parks-department-seeking-volunteers-to-help-preserve-new-york-state-pavilion/

Designed by famed American architect Philip Johnson for the 1964 World’s Fair, the large-scale terrazzo art pavement was commissioned by Governor Nelson Rockefeller for the New York State Pavilion. Johnson’s Pavilion featured a complex of structures: a Theaterama building, three observation towers, and the “Tent of Tomorrow,” a 12-story open-air elliptical pavilion capped by the world’s largest suspended cable system roof fitted with colored acrylic panels. The “Tent of Tomorrow” became a symbol of the fair, and for its main floor, Johnson designed the largest-known representation of any area of the earth’s surface: a 130-foot by 166-foot terrazzo replica of a Texaco New York State road map.

Although the Fair buildings were intended as temporary, 1965 plans for creating Flushing Meadows-Corona Park identified the Pavilion for preservation and reuse. While the Theaterama was later successfully renovated as a community theater, the remaining complex is closed and derelict. Today the Tent is used for storage, and the Road Map is in an advanced state of deterioration from weathering, vandalism, and past inappropriate recreational uses.

We’re looking for 12-40 volunteers to help out onsite on SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21 AND SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, performing a range of activities from removal of invasive vegetation, to the careful and systematic collection and bagging of map fragments that have been dislodged from the floor of the Pavilion. Instruction would be given to the volunteers on how to go about collecting the fragments before any work would begin. We’re looking for volunteers who are responsible, pay close attention to detail, and can follow instructions. Given the historical nature of the work, a certain degree of sensitivity is required. Everyday more of the famous map disappears, making the proposed conservation work critical.

Volunteers should meet at the New York State Pavilion in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, by 9 AM. All friends, family, co-workers and associates are welcome. There is a lot of work to be done and many volunteers are needed so please feel free to forward to others whom you think might be interested.

Additional details will be sent out closer to the volunteer work days. Please visit http://www.conlab.org/ to read about previous work done at the site by the University of Pennsylvania and the related exhibition held at the Queens Museum.

If you are interested in volunteering, please RSVP as soon as possible: 

Michelle.Langlie@Parks.NYC.gov
(718)760-6677

You're Invited: A Lecture with Catherine Croft - "How They Save Significant Modern Buildings in Britain" & Learn Tactics To Preserve Your Neighborhood, Nov 23, 2009, 6 PM - 8 PM

Find out how they save significant Modern buildings in Britain (and learn tactics to preserve your neighborhood): A Lecture with Catherine Croft, Director of the Twentieth Century Society (UK)
http://hdc.org/blog/2009/11/16/learn-from-londonand-the-rest-of-the-u-k/

When: Monday, November 23, 6pm – 8pm
Where: Neighborhood Preservation Center (http://www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org/)
232 East 11th Street, Manhattan

It’s hard enough convincing the Powers-That-Be to preserve a historic building, but if that building is from the recent past, the effort required is enormous. In New York City, we’ve recently lost 2 Columbus Circle, the Patterson Silks Building and the Trylon Theater to name but a few and while some modern buildings have been saved (Guardian Life Annex, the Manufacturers Hanover Trust, Chase Manhattan Plaza), we can certainly use all the help we can get to protect our modern landmarks. HDC hopes you can join us for a special talk with our U.K. colleague, Catherine Croft, about preserving modern buildings.

Catherine Croft is the Director of the Twentieth Century Society, the national preservation advocacy organization which campaigns throughout Britain for the protection of significant buildings built after 1914. The Society was formed in 1979, and has been successful in several campaigns, including expanding the British national heritage listings to include modern buildings over thirty years instead of having a cut-off date of 1939.

Ms. Croft will speak about attitudes to 20th-century buildings in the UK, and the campaigns she is currently involved in. These range from public housing projects to the Saarinen-designed U.S. Embassy in London and from buildings which are universally popular to those that are generally reviled. The Society works through public advocacy, directed campaigns, educational programming, awareness building and scholarly research. In addition to her work with the Society, she is the author of Concrete Architecture and writes on conservation and new design issues for many magazines and journals.

This event is FREE to the public. Reservations are required, as space is limited. For more information, please contact the Historic Districts Council (http://www.hdc.org/) at (212) 614-9107 or hdc@hdc.org

You're Invited: "Preservation in Context: Communities and Their Landmarked Districts," Nov 18, 2009, 6 PM - 8 PM

Preservation in Context: Communities and Their Landmarked Districts

Community Advocates Discuss Appropriateness
http://hdc.org/blog/2009/11/16/community-activists-talk-about-appropriateness/

 When: Wednesday, 11/18/2009, 6:00 – 8:00pm 
Where: At The Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, between Bleecker and West 3rd Streets
RSVP: frontdesk@aiany.org

More than twenty community organizations in New York advocate for the collective best interest of their historically landmarked communities. The composition of each neighborhood uniquely defines the needs of each historic district and directs the local organization’s relationship with the Commission. Representatives from activist groups representing varying community types (residential, commercial, mixed, tourist, etc.) will discuss how their neighborhoods were affected by district designation and the impact of new development.

Speakers:
Simeon Bankoff, Historic Districts Council
Lo van der Valk, Carnegie Hill Neighbors
Julia Schoeck, Douglaston/Little Neck Historical Society
Tom van den Bout, Brooklyn Heights Association
Sean Sweeney, SoHo Alliance
Moderated by Sherida Paulsen, FAIA, 2009 President, AIA New York

Members: Free
Non-members: $10

CES: 1.5 LU, 1.5 HSW

Exhibition and related programs are organized by the AIA New York Chapter, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, and the Center for Architecture Foundation in partnership with the New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation.

Underwritten by: NY Landmarks Preservation Foundation

The programs related to this exhibition were made possible by the generosity of the following 2009 Inaugural Fund donors:

Underwriter
PKSB Architects

Sponsors
Benjamin Moore & Co.
Buro Happold Consulting Engineers
Studio Daniel Libeskind
Syska Hennessy Group
Trespa

Supporter
Mancini Duffy

Friends
Anonymous
FXFOWLE Architects
Helpern Architects
James McCullar & Associates Architects
Levien & Company
New York Building Congress
Stephan Jaklitsch Architects
Theo. David, Architects