Excerpt from [in memory of mary sendek] by Matthew Kremer:
waiting for the light
to cross queens boulevard
holding my onions
i remembered i was standing
near the site of the old
mary sendek house.
as the story goes
it was a modest parcel
owned by a hungarian lady
who refused to sell to macy's
back when the mall site
was first being planned.
from what i've read
she became rather infamous
in her prolonged refusal
to meet their demands.
her house transitioned
into a landmark of sorts
for the locals--one you'd
gawk at each time you passed
on foot or in the family car.
even as the boulevard
hardened into ten lanes
mrs. sendek stuck to her guns.
she was offered what seems
a decent relocation sum
but to no avail.
this lasted for decades.
you can see pictures of her
in Life magazine hanging
her laundry as the strange
UFO-like structure of the mall
looms ominously in the background.
what's best of all
is that she never really
gave a rationale for the act--
no agenda, no grandstanding,
just a person who didn't
feel like leaving.
a modern day bartleby.
17 comments:
I love reading about the history of Queens.
Is that someone between the two men in the photo?
Looks like they are carrying or dragging her? Hard to make out.
Commentor 2, I don't know what that is either....I assume a person, not sure what's going on there though.
I too, love the history of Queens. My great grandparents lived in Jamaica in the early 1900s and raised my grandmother there. I also had a grandfather who was born in Queens in 1906 then moved to the bx in the 20s-30s, but his sister remained in the house where they were raised until her death in 1989. I wish my grandparents were around so I can ask them questions. They could probably tell me a lot of their memories of nyc . I learned that part of my family goes back in NYC from before 1850.
Could the photo be a spoof of when they had to drag Mary out of the house so that Macy's could proceed with construction? Photoshopped??
Also ,looks like someone is standing in the backyard. Weird.
Going up right next to the house the sign reads First National City Bank, now Citibank
They cut a road through to service the mall. It's under construction in this photo. There had been a house there.
Where did this photo come from?
Looks like thees a woman being dragged by two men in the front and a woman standing behind the house in the backyard.
What are you people talking about? There are no women in the photo. There is a construction crew, the man in the front is holding a hardhat, and the one behind him is kneeling, probably to work on concrete.
Imaginations running wild again!
There is an inset that can be seen at the far left of the Macy*s structure.
Her eastern and southern property lines intersected at a right angle forcing them to have to cut into the new building.
It does look like the workman on the left is holding someone's arm.
Just noticed that it appears someone is looking out of the window by the door. Could it be the owner?
These days Macy's would payoff the politicians to use eminent domain to confiscate the property.
"There are no women in the photo."
Hey QC, I think you need to burnish your sense of humor. The poster is goofing around.
Often wondered what ever happened to the house. Did not iknow the womans name, now know after she died in 1980 it was sold and went commercial. Silly question, but is Macys still there?
A third world version of Macys remains.
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