Ashford Street
North of Atlantic

Originally part of the Schenck Farm. Formerly known as Adams Street, after our 2nd President. The consensus is that Warwick and Ashford were both named after English towns to add some prestige to the area. Ashford south of Atlantic is in Zone 5.

Click on thumbnails to enlarge

Having grown up on Ashford Street, there is no shortage of pictures from the 1960s. The first shot is from 1964, looking up the block between Fulton and Arlington. The second is from Halloween 1963 looking right out our front door- 120 Ashford.
Across the street- 117 Ashford- Tony Davenport comes up big with a 1960 photo of him and his dad, and a 1961 photo of him and his cousins and Regina Murphy, who lived 2 doors down. Trivia- can you identify the object on the right with the writing?
A huge thanks to Tim O'Reilly who supplied the 1941 tax photo of my childhood home, 120 Ashford St. (My microfilm copy was so poor I had never tried to order it.)The picture shows, left to right, 122, 120, 118 and 116 Ashford. That beautiful tree was there when we moved in 1961, but was taken down the same year to my mother's horror. The update shot on the right is from 2005 and the house has since changed colors again!
Lucy Patini was our neighbor at 122 Ashford (the house with the diagonal siding in the 2005 picture) up to 1968. On the left is a picture of Lucy with her mother in front of 122 Ashford in November 1965. On the right, a 1971 pic of my brother and I showing our house with the "fake grey stone" siding that had replaced the "fake red brick" siding of many years.
Starting down on the Northwest corner of Fulton Street, the first photograph is from the 1939 tax series, the second from 2005. This was our corner grocery store, as well as where we played "Kings" or "Chinese handball". Robbie Dupree recalls his uncles Al Perillo and John Leddy owned the store in the late 50's, when it was called "Al and John's".
Across the street, was the "Fish store". Jim Kopas recalls it was owned by the Pellegrini family. In the 1941 tax photo supplied by Tim O'Reilly the location appears to be some sort of fruit stand or grocery store.
My grandfather once owned the building on the southwest corner of Ashford and Fulton. It was a wire factory and lampshade company. It was "Matthew Lampshade Co." in the 1970s and my older brother even worked there a bit. That "curb" at the base of the building visible in the 2005 photo on the right was installed by my grandfather. Although my father recalls it as a great "point" for playing a version of stoop baseball, its real purpose can be seen below.
Ashford and Fulton Flooding, 1971
Ashford and Fulton represent a low elevation point in the area. It was the location of Sullivan's pond in the 1800s and it would become a pond after every fierce rainstorm. Everyone who lived close to that corner would have to deal with potential flooding. My father claims that when they put the LIRR underground in the 40s some storm sewers were cut off and that exacerbated the problem but even at the turn of the century it would flood. These pictures come from my brother Lou taken with his very first camera.
Ashford and Fulton Flooding, 1967
Now for some irony; Lucy (Patini) Ellis was my next door neighbor at 122 Ashford and was surprised to see flood photos that looked just like the ones in her old album. Her pictures from 1967 are sharper and show the adventurous folks wading around the flood down on Fulton Street. We recognize the Pastores on their porch in the picture on the right.
Ashford and Fulton Flooding, 1967
The third picture from the series is of her friend Fran Fiorino holding nephew Joey. It shows how far up the flooding would go; this was halfway up the block! More irony; when my mother heard the name, she recalled how she would help Fran's mother at 109 Ashford who was an invalid. This was actually years later and I never knew it until Lucy shared this photo. On the right, a flood picture from 1969.
The 1973 shot on the left has 2 stories; that's my brother Bruce heading off to his last day at Stuyvesant High; on his back he wore a shirt reading "Seniors take heart! Only xxx days left" and changed the numbers to provide a countdown. In the background is the "shoeshine parlor"; click on the stories button for that one. After Neil sent in a 2006 shot, I had to add a second story.
This is 126 and 130 Ashford, which had the best stoop on the block for, what else, stoop ball. Mike Pastore has corrected me on the address which was 126 Ashford, not 128 as I originally posted.
Ashford St. 8mm Film, 1963
A short clip of my younger brother with views south down Ashford towards Fulton circa 1963.
THE sport of Ashford Street was punchball.It spanned generations, as my father played punchball in the same neighborhood in the '40's. They were "The Captains". We called ourselves the "War Hawks". These shots are from 1973. That's your webmaster on the left, and old pal Tony Kachykalo on the right.
105 Ashford
Here was an oddity; the house behind those punchball players is 105 Ashford, and it appears to be brick. When I found the 1940 tax photo, it is clearly a wood frame house. When I took this 2006 photo, I also cleared up the puzzle, as the building was simply brickfaced.
In 1972 we were inspired by the Olympics and decided to hold our own "Ashford Olympics". There were such illustrious events like the garbage can hurdles, the bocci ball throw, the one sewer dash, etc. These photos from 1974 were our third "Olympics", and these tug-of-war shots give a good view of the houses on the east side of the street, 115-121 Ashford.
Yes, we had a high jump. That's yours truly sailing over the bar in 1973 with a shot looking north up Ashford. On the right, a touch football huddle in 1973 with friends Steve Pastore, Mike Pastore, Tony Kachykalo and Pete Colantuoni.
Some snowstorm shots from 1964.
> 114 Ashford, 1939 tax photo and today.
Street hockey didn't grab hold until the mid-70's, when shoe skates had improved significantly. These two shots show the upper end of the block. The one on the left is from 1974; the one on the right is from 1977 and shows the demise of the trees on that block.
Tim O'Reilly took this shot of Ashford looking north across Arlington in 1990, as well as the house on the southeast corner. You can see additional views of this intersection on the Arlington Avenue Page.
Now working north across Arlington Avenue heading towards the park, this is an early photo of 79 Ashford from the Brian Merlis archives. Neil sent in the 2006 shot.
The next house up is 75 Ashford, from 1939 and on the left in the 2005 photo.
48 Ashford, 1939 and 2005
43 Ashford, 1939 and 2005

In the 2005 shot, 43 Ashford is the house on the left, partially obscured by the trees. The house to the right appears to have been of the same design, with the original architectural elements of the upper porch still visible, though barely intact.