Once again, we go back to 1941 and take a walk down Jamaica Avenue -- this time between 88th and 89th Streets. The attack on Pearl Harbor is just months away, and soon the world would be at war. Let's start out on the corner of 88th Street, on the North side of Jamaica Avenue, and see what we can find.
In recent years, this corner has been the home to a grocery store. For a long time it was called Superior Markets. But recently, they underwent some renovations and took on the name Jamaica Express Deli. Back in 1941 it looks like this was a ladies' clothing store. These pictures are from nearly the same angle -- so it makes it fun to take a look at the markings on the building in 1941 and compare it to 2009.
That location above, for as long as we could remember, was the home for Frederick's Studio -- here is the "logo" for Frederick's, taken from one of their business envelopes: Moving down the street a bit, we see a Drug Store (now New York City Nails), a Grocery (now Guang Yuan, a 99 cent store), and a Dress Shop (empty in the bottom picture, but currently occupied by Exit Realty). What is the name of that Dress Shop? It almost looks like "Sotheby's," doesn't it? The next picture reveals the name of the grocery -- Otto's Grocery. When we say these pictures are a "tour" -- it's a good description. As you go from picture to picture, you uncover a little bit more about the avenue. And in this picture below, we become acquainted with a Bar & Grill. Unfortunately, we can't see a name -- but perhaps one of our readers out there will enlighten us. This one above is one of my favorite 1941 tax photos because of the two people in the bottom right-hand corner. Looks like they looked up just in time to see the photographer snap their picture. Maybe they were just passing by -- maybe they were meeting there for lunch -- who knows? But little could they imagine they would be on the Internet nearly 70 years later. Here's another shot of that bar, and the location as it appears today. It's always interesting to look at the old and new pictures, and try and establish consistent markings. In the picture below, 3 such markings are pointed out. Nothing Earth-shattering, mind you -- just simple markings on a building. But they are markings that have survived unnoticed for nearly 100 years, and if you're lucky enough to walk down Jamaica Avenue in 2075, they'll probably still be there. Here's another nice picture. When I saw this picture in the office, I recall seeing this baker's face in pleasant detail. But the picture below doesn't show that. I wish we had better quality pictures, but the real tax photos cost 35 dollars each -- and these crappy reproductions cost 50 cents. Sometimes, if you squint, they look better. For example -- look at the photo below -- and then squint and see if you can see the guy arranging the fruit in the fruit stand next to the baker. Today, the fruit stand is a laundromat -- but when I was growing up, I believe this was Vinny's Fruit Stand. Beyond that, in the picture above, you can see a pork store. For many years that was part of a supermarket (it operated under various names). Recently, it was Interboro Medical Care. The 1941 bakery is currently a Chinese Restaurant. And not just any Chinese Restaurant -- it's NO-1! To be candid, we've never gotten our dinner from there, but with an attitude like that, we will definitely give it a chance and report back. And now, almost as soon as we started -- we're at the end of our tour, the corner of 89th Street and Jamaica Avenue. Currently, this is the home of The Tropical Restaurant. Back in 1941, it looks like this was the office of an elected official, Joseph P. Teagle. Here's the scant information we were able to dig up on Mr. Teagle --
We were also able to find out that he passed the bar in 1931 and lived at 84-55 85th St. Anyone else got information on Joe Teagle? This corner location became a famous spot in Woodhaven as it was the long time home of The Circus Bar. Maybe that's what became of Joe Teagle :-)
Jamaica Avenue South - 87th to 88th Streets
Jamaica Avenue North - 90th to 91st Streets
Jamaica Avenue South - 80th to 85th Streets
Jamaica Avenue North - Woodhaven Boulevard to 91st Street / 85th and 86th Streets
If you have any comments, or would like to suggest other projects, drop us a line at info@projectwoodhaven.com or projectwoodhaven@aol.com.
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