Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Blast from the past in Astoria

From Urbanite:

A name from America's retail past was uncovered at a recently closed Rite Aid store in Astoria.

25 comments:

Gary the Agnostic said...

Is that the store that was at Steinway Street and 31st Avenue?

Anonymous said...

What's old is new again

georgetheatheist said...

Actually there was another "5&10" cent store directly across from Woolworth's - Kresge's.

Anonymous said...

I remember it well.

Anonymous said...

I believe it is Ditmars and 31 Street.

Anonymous said...

Gary--yes. It had become a Genovese/Eckerd/Rite Aid but that store closed at least a year ago. I don't remember it ever being a Woolworth - the Woolworth I remember was on the opposite corner where Express is now (I think...unless Express also closed down).

Gary the Agnostic said...

I do remember the Woolworth at Steinway and 31st from many years ago. That was on the southeast corner. The Genovese, which became something else was on the northeast corner. The funniest thing was seeing what was a bank on the southwest corner becoming a Gap Kids.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Woolworth was on the opposite corner. So sad to see how desolate Steinway Street has become. Lots of stores have closed because of high rent. No more furniture stores there like there was in the past. The other end of Steinway consist of mosques and middle eastern restaurants. What was once a bustling shopping center is no more. So sad.

Harris said...

Alternatively, Steinway is better than before. Stores full of 99 cent junk and lousy furniture have been replaced with places you can get decent food.

Gary the Agnostic said...

The difference is that there is a more corporate presence there now. The stores that had second or third generation ownership are mostly gone now.

Anonymous said...

Steinway Street?

Sure El Mundo Deescount replaced by a Holloween Store.

Fine restaurants?

Grim men smoking hookah pipes is not the idea for most people of a dining experience.

But then again, Queens does run in its own orbit with its own set of 'rules' now, doesn't it?

Lieutenantdan said...

Born and raised in Astoria. I remember the store very well. My friends Mom worked at this store. On the corner of 31st and Ditmars.
They had balloons that hung on a wire over a long counter so that one could sit down at and eat. If you bought a banana split you got a balloon which you popped and a piece of paper would fall out with a number on it. The number was a reference to a prize. You would hand the number over and they would hand you the prize. I remember the parakeet area and the penny candy.

Anonymous said...

The good old days were truly good. Now they are only a memory.

Anonymous said...

The good old days were truly good. Now they are only a memory.

TELL THAT TO PEOPLE FROM WELL JUST ABOUT EVERY OTHER BORO EXCEPT QUEENS.

Anonymous said...

The Queens Machine is doing good.

They are having the time of their life.

Anonymous said...

As an Astoria native, I remeber that Woolworth's. Ditmar's and 31'st. Susan Terry's was a women's store across the street where that big TD bank is now. Woolworth's counter was the place to have a grilled cheese and a chocholate malt. How sweet it was.

Anonymous said...

does anyone remember what the clothing store across the street was called at the time?

Anonymous said...

Read all about it here

Anonymous said...

..."Woolworth's counter was the place to have a grilled cheese and a chocholate malt. How sweet it was." Tell me about it. I used to go to the one in Jackson Heights as a kid with my mom...Fond memories of cheeseburgers and shakes...

Anonymous said...

So what. If you born and raised here you would have known a million places like this. Sad that all this history has been destroyed by our fucking politicians that get rich from overdevelopment and the idiots that vote them in time and time again and now we're supposed to feel melancholy about this?

New York is downward spiral that will get worse and worse. We will NEVER learn from our mistakes.

Anonymous said...

So what. If you born and raised here you would have known a million places like this. Sad that all this history has been destroyed by our fucking politicians that get rich from overdevelopment...

Yes, what rich history a 5-and-dime is! We should salvage all our five-and-dimes before they become 99cent stores.
So a Woolworth's becomes a (?) which becomes a Rite Aid which will become a CVS. It's the same building, nothing torn down, nothing overbuilt. And you still want to turn this into an Overdevelopment Rant????
You are diseased.

And yes, this is 31st and Ditmars, not Steinway and 31 Ave.

Queens Crapper said...

"A million places like this" does not mean a five and dime. Overdevelopment does not only apply to things torn down, but also to those things that become collateral damage.

panzer65 said...

Ahhh Woolworth's..the original variety store from simpler times.

Anonymous said...

"Yes, what rich history a 5-and-dime is! We should salvage all our five-and-dimes before they become 99cent stores.
So a Woolworth's becomes a (?) which becomes a Rite Aid which will become a CVS. It's the same building, nothing torn down, nothing overbuilt. And you still want to turn this into an Overdevelopment Rant????
You are diseased."

You totally missed my point, asshole. I said goodbye to Woolworths A LONG TIME AGO, way before you moved here. You will never realize how much that store meant to the neighborhood because you are too pig-headed to realize and too self-serving to know about how Astoria has been destroyed.

The point EXACTLY is that people are tired of this overdevelopment AND THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR HISTORY because it falls on deaf ears, like yours. No one cares anymore about New York and people like you move here and kiss the ass of Bloomberg in order to step on the people that WANT TO DO SOMETHING USEFUL and protect our history.

You have won. You have destroyed our city. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?

Anonymous said...

The clothing store across the street was called Famous Fashion...Does anyone remember a small hamburger place (like White Castle) which was a few doors down from where Pizza Palace stands today??