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Zone 4 |
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Weismantel's Showboat On the far right of the 1941 tax photo sent in by Tim O'Reilly is Weismantel's Showboat, a catering hall. . In 1872 George Distler's Hotel and Brewery sat in this location, followed by Harmon's Casino Grove. By 1948 it was known as Weismantel's Hotel. Tony Davenport first reminded me it was called Mickey Alan's by the 1970s, and Rod Maggio sent in a menu from 1982. Rod notes that Mickey was close friends with Floyd Patterson, the heavyweight boxing champion. |
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Weismantel's Showboat We're still trying to piece together the history of the showboat, but one great legend is that when they knocked it down in the late 1990s they discovered that where they were expecting solid ground there were in fact underground chambers. The chambers consisted of extensive brickwork and the the only apparent entrance was a 'secret' entrance from the kitchen. That raises a lot of interesting theories including a bootleg bar during prohibition, secret storage, or maybe not so secret storage. Neil Sullivan supplied the 2005 update photo of the grocery which took its place in 1999. |
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| Jamaica Avenue Entrance to Cypress Hills Cemetery Maker: Wm Fick Dated: unknown Status: need Great shot from early 1900s with a running trolley and the Cypress Hills station in the background.Take a close look at that station. It was the last stop of the BMT line at the time. Go to the Crescent Ave. page for more details. Entrance to Cypress Hills Cemetery Maker: Wm. Fick Dated: Unknown Status:Own(RG) Another great similar shot, with a horse drawn carraige. The arch dates from 1893. We now have a page devoted to the Cypress Hills Cemetery located here. |
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Cemeteries Moving east along Jamaica, there are 2 smaller cemeteries east of Cypress Hills; the first is Mt. Hope and the second is Maimonides. This is the rear entrance for Maimonides (the main entrance is in Elmont, Queens) and is no longer used. Maimonides was a 12th century Rabbi and is credited with writing out the first systematic code of jewish law. 
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Cypress Pool, 1961-2 A huge gold star to Cynthia Rongione for digging up not only a photo of the Cypress pool, but a gem as well, showing a smooth(?) high dive in action and the Cypress Hills Station in the background.The Cypress Pool now has its own page with a lot more pictures and history which can be found here. |
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| 3296 Fulton Street, 1925 Another of my favorite shots, contributed by Peter Stango. It is his grandfather's grocery, located on the south side of Fulton between Euclid and Pine St. It was DeStefano's, and the picture on the right is his mother in the backyard of that store in 1926. |
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Therese Panariello sends over a shot of her parent's wedding reception at Club 880 in 1952. Located on Jamaica Ave. between Hemlock and Autumn, the building was replaced in 1996. | |
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Mt. Zion, Autumn and Ridgewood Ave. Neil Sullivan sent over this 2006 photo of the church on the southeast corner of Ridgewood and Autumn. It looked familiar and I found a historic photo of the church from 1909 when it was known as the Church of the Transfiguration. The Episcopalean congregation starts out in the late 1890s in a building on Fulton Street near Autumn Ave. In 1901 plans to build a new church on Euclid and Ridgewood are opposed by Trinity Episcopal over on Schenck and Arlington, for fear of splitting the parishioners. The Diocese decides not to issue a permit and this church is built instead sometime between 1905 and 1909. |
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German Evang Trinity Church and PS 171 Ridgewood and Nichols Avenues Maker: P. Miller Dated: Circa 1910 Status: Need We now have a page devoted to 171 which can be found here. The view here is west down Ridgewood. The church in the 2006 photo is the East New York Baptist Church. A Christian Meyer contacted me and informed me it is not the same structure. He had a friend who attended the original church which was a wood structure. The CO for the current structure is dated 1952. |
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Across from 171 Tim O'Reilly recalls sat the Cedar Lane Farms Dairy. "They used to have wire milk bottle case-holders stacked neatly along the brick wall on the sidewalk along O'Brien Place, you'd empty your old milk bottles into one of them when you'd return them". When Tim dug up the 1941 tax photo, the building at that time was American Glass Blowers. On the right , a view in 2008. |
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Some local photos of streets not on our site. Tim O'Reilly sent over this 1990 shot on the left looking for confirmation of the location. I have verified it is a view north up Nichols across O'Brien Place. On the right, Tom DeVoy sent in a shot of the building on the small triangular lot created by where O'Brien, Nichols and Ridgewood Avenue come together. |
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Block parties were a big part of the neighborhood. Glen Gochal sent in these shots of a Lincoln Avenue block party in 1971, between Ridgewood and Fulton. |
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The second set from Glen includes a nice wide shot on the left, lots of little kids in the picture. Anyone recognize themselves?. |
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Vinnie Sanzillo sent in these shots taken around 1972. The first is in the I.S. 171 schoolyard facing Lincoln Avenue, and the second is of Max's Furniture store on Fulton Street between Nichols and Elderts Lane. |
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Atlantic and Autumn, 1913 A reminder that we feature Atlantic Avenue on their own pages in Zone 5 and Zone 6. Two more from the Brian Merlis Collection, you will notice Autumn Ave. was known as Railroad Avenue at the time. Note the pedestrian crossing was underground. On the view north, you can see a sign advertising "5 1/2 Miles to Abraham and Strauss". I also believe that is 171 in the distance on the right. |
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One more contribution from Glen. The "Spartans" played their games up in Highland Park. Glen points out most of the team came from the area around
Nichols and Etna. Robbie Dupree (yes, the artist with the hit "Steal Away" in the '80's)
dropped me a note to add a little more background to the picture. 
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