Ephemeral Big Bow Wow

 

 

Queens Chronicle

 Several generations of Howard Beach got a heavy dose of nostalgia and reconnection last week after two neighbors wrangled their old aquaintances to celebrate a renowned hangout from their youth: The Big Bow Wow.

“If you grew up in the ’70s – you would know that Howard Beach was known for having ‘The Big Bow Wow,’” Lynn Stancati, the reunion organizer, wrote to the Chronicle.

The burger, roast beef and seafood restaurant, which spread over a block of Cross Bay Boulevard contained a game room replete with pinball machines, seated racing cars, Pac-Man and Super Mario Bros. It had charcoal burgers, hot dogs, pizza and french fries for the kids and hot roast beef and gravy sandwiches, chili, soups and a clam bar for the adults.

It also had another neighborhood fixture, Charlie Coleman, known as “Charlie the Cop,” a security guard who would dispense coins to kids for the games.

Both a stern authority figure and a sympathetic ear for the kids who were gossiping about teen drama, Coleman, now 80, played an important role in the lives of the teens who would spend as much of their waking hours as they could in the arcade, starting around the age of 12.

“Whenever our parents would come looking for us, they would ask Charlie. And he would know but he would never rat us out,” said Stancati.

Stancati partnered with her childhood friend Toriann Maiorino to put together the reunion, which was held at the rooftop bar of Vetro on Crossbay Boulevard, in part as a way to show their appreciation for the role “Charlie the Cop” played in their lives.

Coleman, who lives in Jamaica, came to the reunion with several family members. There have been several Bow Wow reunions over the past several decades, and Coleman said that he’s stayed in regular contact with a lot of the neighborhood kids after it closed down.

“A lot of them call me and I call them,” he told the Chronicle at the reunion.

In order to show her appreciation, Stancati organized a cash raffle and sold commemorative T-shirts to benefit Coleman, raising $800 that she said would go toward funding a trip for him to visit his family in Alabama.