Sunday, June 5, 2016

Flushing, Bayside and Little Neck in 1984


"I took it in September 1984 when I lived in Little Neck and went on a visit to my parents house in Flushing.

The video starts on Northern Blvd. and Marathon Parkway in Little Neck, and goes through Bayside and into Flushing. We turned left on Murray Street, then left on 41st Avenue where my folks lived.

The video isn't high-definition, because it was recorded on VHS tape and then it took about 20 years before it got transferred to digital. But you'll see lots of stores and buildings that don't exist anymore - a lot of things change over 30 years! I hope it brings back some good memories for you. Enjoy!"


"I took this video in September 1984 when I lived in Little Neck and went on a visit to my parents house in Flushing. Afterwards, we turned left from 41st Avenue onto 154th Street, then right onto Northern Blvd. The video ends at Springfield Blvd. and Northern Blvd." - Robert Ristelhueber

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yea I remember that northern blvd use to be all car dealerships. The pc Richard and sons on northern and francis lewis, I believe, use to a dress barn. There was consumers on northern blvd in the little shopping center where the library on northern blvd use to be. There was Murray's on northern blvd too. There was a husky kids store on northern blvd. There was an army and navy store on bell blvd. Yep, the neighborhood has changed to china and korea within the last 15 years and it's only getting worst.

Anonymous said...

I remember the Roy Rogers that was across the street from the wendys on northern blvd going toward the cross island parkway. I remember the blockbuster when it first opened up on northern blvd and 193 street. The first time they opened, they gave out free key chains and had a blockbuster video character to greet people. Those were the good days.

Anonymous said...

This made me happy!

Anonymous said...

So the area looks like shit now! Who needs a morbid reminder of a Halcyon past?

Anonymous said...

The Asian invasion has claimed the area. Learn to love kimchi.

JQ LLC said...

I'm not from there, but I can empathize. Especially the site of the Te-Amo signs and the Ravioli store, even the merit gas stations.

These days there are chains everywhere, it's like they brought the tacky shopping mall food courts to the streets

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU FR THIS VIDEO !!!

Casey Jones Tavern at Broadway Flushing !!!
:)))))))

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the videos.
Back then I can see the many more trees/green spaces and plenty of parking spots compared to today.
Queens is over populated now do to poor Urban planning. Greed pure and simple encouraged by our crooked politicians voted into office over and over again year after year screwing the middle class !

PJ said...

Great video! I lived in Little Neck from birth (1969) until 1994.

The Bell Blvd White Castle appears to be the same as its current iteration. Which I didn't think happened until a few years after this video was shot. I was thinking circa 1986. So I stand corrected.

I remember when it was much smaller and set back farther from the curb for car-hop service. Had seating indoors for about 10 people at most.

Anyone remember when the current structure was built?

Ms. Tsouris said...

I think this must end at Sanford and Northern, not Springfield and Northern, which is my neighborhood now. This was exceptionally nostalgic for me, I was living on Kissena & Beech at the time, and would be for another 8 years. I loved Flushing, and I would go to the Dress Barn that's now PC Richards at the corner of Northern and Francis Lewis, and I'd go to the Consumers or Service Merchandise in that shopping center on Northern near 168th St. I saw "Purple Rain" at the RKO Keith's. I hung out up Main St. in the boutique/head shop and a psychic store (maybe they were one and the same, don't remember). One of them had a Ticketron, so I was able to get tickets so easily. I shopped at Parker Stationery and ate great inexpensive dinners at Old Roma's on the street by the Bland Houses, visible from the LIRR Flushing station. When we wanted to eat out in style, we went to Bacagalup's on Main St., where Stretch the maitre d was ready with his lighter when you held your cigarette. The good old days!!

Anonymous said...

EGAD!!!!
The Gable Inn.
They used to serve me beer when I was in my teens.

Abraham Zapruder said...

I think I spotted a man in the grassy knoll around 1:36 in the Little Neck to Flushing video.

Anonymous said...

The lumber store! Spent many Saturday with my father there. Happy Fathers Day.

Joe said...

I used to play in one of the regular house bands at POETS bar around 147th & Northern We would pack it so good Tim the owner would keep handing us cash envelopes of "extra" cash bonuses from the bar registers. People came out to dance, network and socialize including the Archie Bunkers at the end of the bar.
Never a fight or bad behavior, sex in cars was about it.
--We would come home with something like $450 1981 dollars each a night and were driving Cutlass Salons, Corvette's, 240Z's, 260Z's.

Today I cant recognize one dam thing on that street and a real live band literally has to PAY to play. (usually 50% of the purse)

-Joe

Anonymous said...

Back when America was strong, and Queens was a part of it.

Anonymous said...

The people that owned these properties saw a lucrative opportunity and took it. Those that sat on their butt doing nothing all these decades can rot. The only places in the world nothing changes stagnate and turn into a desolate miserable place with no growth.

georgetheatheist said...

Ronald Reagan America and Ed Koch New York.

3:32: Two-toned police vehicles. Money saved in painting the cars now white.

2:12: Prince on the Northern Boulevard?!

Queens Crapper said...

"The only places in the world nothing changes stagnate and turn into a desolate miserable place with no growth."

Ask the people living in landmarked districts if their neighborhoods have stagnated and turned into desperate miserable places with no growth. Stand back as they laugh you out of the room.

georgetheatheist said...

2nd video

3:29: guy stealing a car?
3:32: no bike lanes needed. no bike helmets either. riding against traffic ok.
7:11: cheap gas - $1.24.

georgetheatheist said...

Couldn't find any store with Chinese or Korean signage.

Anonymous said...

PJ said...

Great video! I lived in Little Neck from birth (1969) until 1994.

The Bell Blvd White Castle appears to be the same as its current iteration. Which I didn't think happened until a few years after this video was shot. I was thinking circa 1986. So I stand corrected.

I remember when it was much smaller and set back farther from the curb for car-hop service. Had seating indoors for about 10 people at most.

Anyone remember when the current structure was built?

--------------------------------------------

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/16/business/real-estate-a-new-look-for-the-old-white-castle.html

Anonymous said...

*The only places in the world nothing changes stagnate and turn into a desolate miserable place with no growth*

We can all agree the Falasheng experienced the growth and turned into a miserable, dirty, filthy hellhole.

Anonymous said...

"The only places in the world nothing changes stagnate and turn into a desolate miserable place with no growth"

Tell that to the people who live in central Paris, the white part of Paris, the rich Paris that millions people visit every year, filled with fancy restaurants, shops, hotels. That has not changed for years, more like the better part of a century. The part of Paris that has changed is its outer suburbs which has been filled with immigrants from mostly Muslim nations who do nothing but leech the country's generous social welfare system. The suburbs surrounding Paris are bleak and crime ridden, with immigrants that have a culture alien to France.

The part of Paris is the center city has remained the same is still beautiful although over the past year has suffered several terrorist attacks on the account of Muslim immigrants. Several of the November 13th terrorists were found living in the surrounding suburbs.

You can see the same high quality of life in other European cities, its no surprise their cities always rank high in all quality of life indexes and surveys while American cities never get listed at all. American cities have "changed" now they are decrepit semi-third world shitholes, and middle class whites have fled to suburbs because they want a decent life. Cannot blame them for wanting better. Even middle class minorities want to avoid other minorities as well. Of course left wing whites want you to avoid this inconvenient truth because it contradicts their fantasy idea that all people get along in their fantasy utopia.

Anonymous said...

It sure will be interesting to see how this plays out. We have a country full of SJW infants who throw constant tantrums over the most trivial shit, and a government that insists on importing increasingly violent third world animals who will NEVER become productive citizens, and likely won’t even attempt to. Those two categories alone will cause a lot of problems once this starts to unravel. And they will. Leaving Flooshing makes more sense every day.

Anonymous said...

The seeds of Flushing's destruction had been well sewn by 1984.

Frank said...

Agreed.

1913 Federal Reserve Act and 1971 abandonment of gold sealed the deal.

Fact is, unlimited paper money ALWAYS corrupts the civic, spiritual, and economic life of a People.

------------------

Anonymous Anonymous said...
The seeds of Flushing's destruction had been well sewn by 1984.

Monday, June 06, 2016

Anonymous said...

thankyou Sen. Teddy Kennedy <who puhsed thru the 1965 Immigration /naturalization act that kept the Europeans (5%) to( 95% incoming third world /S.american.S.E.Asian
immigrants ,including the illegals (Visa waiver overstays and s.border crossers)

Anonymous said...

People hate change because most changes are for the worse.
The "powers to be" destroyed countries, cities and nabes like Flushing under the disguise of change.
The rest of the clueless Kool Aid drinkers that talk about the need for growth, the only thing growing is the big dildo that you get you know where.
I walk around Flushing and I see nothing, but mockery made out of this great country by some third world lowlifes and thugs.

Anonymous said...

To all the white people complaining about the lack of whiteness, your fellow white people sold you out!!!! Asians didn't force anyone to move out of their neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

It's not about families selling out, its about the politicians that allow single family homes to be converted into apartment buildings.

Typical scenario in Flushing, a single family home that is owned by the same family for 50 years is sold. The first thing that happens is the back of house is extended 20 feet, the first floor is converted to three apartments the second floor becomes three more apartments, the attic becomes two apartments, the basement is dug out and becomes two more apartments. If there's any money left the house is bricked up. And somehow it's allowed to happen without any politician (except for one) saying anything.

I don't fault families for selling their parents house, I fault the lack of laws that protect the neighbors.

Anonymous said...

Eastern Queens neighborhoods of Bayside, Little Neck, Douglaston, and Fresh Meadows, used to be a nice little suburban enclave in the rough urban jungle of New York City. It used to be predominantly white middle class, now it has some of the most overpriced housing in the United States, last time I checked on the major real estate websites, houses go for as much as $900 to $1000 a square foot making it more expensive than the most expensive parts of San Francisco and San Diego.
That being said for all that money, the quality of life in this part of the city has dropped like a stone, the demographic here has become predominantly Asian, many are non English speaking people with no interest or ability with regards to integrating to American life.
Compared to other parts of Queens these neighborhoods are still relatively safe and a good place to live but considering the cost of living, just not worth it. You will find better value elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

When the Italians moved in in the 1970s, they were blowing up each other's cars

Anonymous said...

What I'd do for this area to go back to old school Italians compared to the 3rd world roaches that have infested the area the last 20 years.

Anonymous said...

Old school Italians would never live here, also Jews and Greeks in the area have left long ago. Also nearby areas in Nassau county have changed over the years as well. There has been an exodus of whites over the past 25 years from this area of New York and its never going to be reversed because many have moved to other regions of the country. Only people you see these days are third world types, worst thing about this is that despite the fact that whites are disappearing, the real estate prices keep going up and up, this used to be an area for middle class people, not for people earning in the top 5 percent of income earners. The kind of people who can afford this area now could have probably afford a home in one of the better towns in the North Shore of Long Island 20 years ago, and if you really look at the cost per square foot, this area is actually more expensive, reason being is that its a lot easier to get to Manhattan from here than from any town in Nassau County.
For the amount of money you spend you still have to deal with the riff raff of NYC, people blaring rap music from cars, robbery and petty crimes, horrible and overcrowded public schools, pothole covered roads. Anyone who would buy a house here who is not Asian should see a Psychiatrist, because there are much better places in Nassau County and New Jersey with better schools, roads, and neighbors that actually speak English. Alas if you want "cultural enrichment" this is the place for you.

Anonymous said...

Anyone who has watched the rape of Flushing over the past 20 years that home values are artificially inflated.

Here are the steps:

1. An inhumane flight route or a rat infestation or a prostitution massage palace or a 24 hour nail salon forces a generational family to place their beloved home up for sale.

2. Asian prospector offers insane amount money for the former home, then immediately tears it down.

3. Asian prospector builds a 20 family human pez box.

5. Having replaced 1 unit housing with 20 unit housing, the Asian prospector sells his "new home" at a great profit, moves to Great Neck, then runs for City Council.

6. Asian prospector/City Councilman calls anyone who disagrees with him a racist.



Anonymous said...

Little Neck and Douglaston are upper middle class neighborhoods.
So is much of Bayside.
Thanks.

Anonymous said...

So many memories of growing up! I still cant believe just how far I roamed! Bayside to Flushing and Manhattan, Bayside to Great Neck. Many points in between. Lived A LOT of life but wouldnt change a thing. It was an age of freedom I dont think today’s world understands although it sorely needs too 💔