MASPETH QUEENS - Walking Around New York City
We take a Walk around New York City today in my neighborhood of Maspeth in Queens. I show you some of the old signs in the area, local stores and we finish with a great conversation with two auto repair shop owners/workers. The business has been around since the 1950's and the guys were really gracious in talking to me about their cars.
The name Maspeth is derived from the name of Mespeatches Indians, one of the 13 main Indian tribes that inhabited Long Island. It is translated to mean at the bad waterplace relating to the many stagnant swamps that existed in the area.
The area known today as Maspeth was chartered by New Netherlanders and British settlers in the early 17th century. The Dutch had purchased land in the area known today as Queens in 1635, and within a few years began chartering towns. In 1642, they settled Maspat, under a charter granted to Rev. Francis Doughty, making Maspeth the first English settlement in Queens; the deed that was signed between the Native Americans and the settlers was the first one signed on Long Island. As part of the deed's signature, the Newtown Patent granted 13,000 acres (5,300 ha) to settlers. Conflicts with the Maspat tribe forced many settlers to move to what is now Elmhurst in 1643. The settlement was leveled the following year in an attack by Native Indians, and the surviving settlers returned to Manhattan.
In 1652, settlers ventured back to the area, settling an area slightly inland from the previous Maspat location. This new area was called Middleburg, and eventually developed into what is now Elmhurst, bordering Maspeth. Originally, 28 English Quakers had founded the village of Maspeth, which had sizable water and milling industries along Newtown Creek and Maspeth Creek. Two storekeepers, Nathanial Hazard and Francis T. White, sold food and clothes at the Maspeth Town Docks, at what is now 56th Terrace and Rust Street, by the late 18th century. After the American Revolutionary War, villagers repaved roads with crushed oyster shells or wooden planks.
Columbusville was the name formerly applied to a section of Maspeth. It was a development of Edward Dunn that took place on 69th Place (originally known as Firth Avenue) between Grand Avenue and Caldwell Avenue during 1854–55, and was subsequently absorbed into Maspeth. The name fell into disuse in the 1890s.
Following waves of immigration during the 19th century, Maspeth was home to a shanty town of Boyash (Ludar) Gypsies between 1925 and 1939, though this was eventually bulldozed. By the 1970s, the neighborhood had become home primarily to German, Irish, Lithuanian, and Polish residents. Maspeth was considered relatively safe compared to other New York City neighborhoods experiencing crime increases, and multiple generations of the same family often lived in Maspeth.
Life in Maspeth, Queen. New York City Walking Tour
00:00:13 - Fresh Pond Rd & Flushing Ave
00:10:27 - 69th St. & Grand Ave
00:32:05 - 57th Ave
Let walk through Maspeth, Queens! A charming neighborhood nestled in the western part of Queens, New York City. Maspeth is known for its residential character. Grand Avenue, one of Maspeth's main thoroughfares, is dotted with local shops, restaurants, and services. It's a hub of activity where residents can find everything from family-owned eateries to convenient stores serving the community.
Buy me a coffee:
What I use:
Dji Osmo Pocket 2:
Wide Angle Lens:
Windproof umbrella:
Water Proofing:
Wool Socks:
Micro SD card:
The links above contain Amazon affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I'll receive a small commission from your purchases. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
MASPETH QUEENS - GRAND AVE - JUDY GARLAND - NYC HISTORY
Grand Ave in Maspeth, Queens is our NYC History tour for today. Along the way we find locations for Judy Garland and Goodfellas, plus we visit Garlinge Triangle and the World War I memorial.
We start at the site of the old Maspeth theater where Judy Garland used to perform. From there I give you the location on Grand Ave of the famous Billy Batts bar scene in the movie Goodfellas, which was filmed just one block from where I was standing, though the bar no longer exists.
After that it is a visit to the Walter A. Garlinge war memorial and finally a walk down Grand Avenue in Maspeth towards the point where the video starts.
My apologies for the humming on my microphone, it took me a while to work out that the noise was coming from the power on my fridge of all things. It shouldn't happen any further moving forward.
*The name Maspeth is derived from the name of Mespeatches Indians, one of the 13 main Indian tribes that inhabited Long Island. It is translated to mean at the bad waterplace relating to the many stagnant swamps that existed in the area.
The area known today as Maspeth was chartered by New Netherlanders and British settlers in the early 17th century. The Dutch had purchased land in the area known today as Queens in 1635, and within a few years began chartering towns. In 1642, they settled Maspat, under a charter granted to Rev. Francis Doughty, making Maspeth the first English settlement in Queens; the deed that was signed between the Native Americans and the settlers was the first one signed on Long Island. As part of the deed's signature, the Newtown Patent granted 13,000 acres (5,300 ha) to settlers. Conflicts with the Maspat tribe forced many settlers to move to what is now Elmhurst in 1643. The settlement was leveled the following year in an attack by Native Indians, and the surviving settlers returned to Manhattan.
In 1652, settlers ventured back to the area, settling an area slightly inland from the previous Maspat location. This new area was called Middleburg, and eventually developed into what is now Elmhurst, bordering Maspeth. Originally, 28 English Quakers had founded the village of Maspeth, which had sizable water and milling industries along Newtown Creek and Maspeth Creek. Two storekeepers, Nathanial Hazard and Francis T. White, sold food and clothes at the Maspeth Town Docks, at what is now 56th Terrace and Rust Street, by the late 18th century. After the American Revolutionary War, villagers repaved roads with crushed oyster shells or wooden planks.
Columbusville was the name formerly applied to a section of Maspeth. It was a development of Edward Dunn that took place on 69th Place (originally known as Firth Avenue) between Grand Avenue and Caldwell Avenue during 1854–55, and was subsequently absorbed into Maspeth. The name fell into disuse in the 1890s.
Following waves of immigration during the 19th century, Maspeth was home to a shanty town of Boyash (Ludar) Gypsies between 1925 and 1939, though this was eventually bulldozed. By the 1970s, the neighborhood had become home primarily to German, Irish, Lithuanian, and Polish residents. Maspeth was considered relatively safe compared to other New York City neighborhoods experiencing crime increases, and multiple generations of the same family often lived in Maspeth.
*
Top 10 Best Vacation Places To Visit During Christmas! - Christmas 2022 Travel Guide
???? Subscribe now with all notifications on to travel for free!
Top 10 Best Vacation Places To Visit During Christmas!
Welcome Back To Top 10 Places!
Christmas is not just a celebration but an experience that brings the world under a beautifully adorned tree. Some celebrates the festival at home while some loves to explore various destinations of the world. The celebration of the festival reaches beyond the boundary of the religion and location as the entire world celebrates it with complete enthusiasm. Christmas is almost upon us and you might have already made plans to celebrate this festival in your own special ways. in this video, we are looking into Top 10 Places To Visit During Christmas
Subscribe to our channel to see more of our content!
Subscribe to our channel to see more of our content!
???? Watch our other video's to be fully prepared for your next trip!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TAGS: #mustvisitplaces #Christmas #mustvisitplacesDuringChristmas
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
???? Business Inquiries and Contact
• For business inquiries, copyright matters or other inquiries please contact us at: thegoldentoons@gmail.com
❓ Copyright Questions
• If you have any copyright questions or issues you can contact us at thegoldentoons@gmail.com.
⚠️ Copyright Disclaimers
The Copyright Laws of the United States recognize a “fair use” of copyrighted content. Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act states: “Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.” This video and our YouTube channel, in general, may contain certain copyrighted works that were not specifically authorized to be used by the copyright holder(s), but which we believe in good faith are protected by federal law and the fair use doctrine for one or more of the reasons noted above.
Queens, New York: The Most Ethnically Diverse Place in the World
Overview of the New York City borough of Queens. I examine various neighborhoods and ethnic enclaves of the borough, which has more languages spoken than any other city on Earth.
If you would like to purchase a pin for the viewer wall map or just to support the channel, please visit patreon.com/geographyking
0:00 Intro
2:25 Astoria
2:46 Corona
2:57 Elmhurst
3:23 Flushing
4:00 Forest Hills
4:24 Jackson Heights
4:59 Jamaica
5:25 Laurelton
5:43 Maspeth
6:05 Rego Park
6:31 Richmond Hill/Little Guyana
7:21 Rockaway Beach
7:41 Woodside
Album displayed:
Heart - Little Queen (1977)
[4K] NYC HISTORY - MASPETH GRAND AVE - HAFLINGER HOUSE MOUNT OLIVET CEMETERY
Our NYC history tour today takes us down Grand Ave in Maspeth. We visit Haflinger house, Mount Olivet Cemetery and the Queens County Hotel. I relay to you some of the people buried in the cemetery, and next week I am going to give you a special video on famous graves in New York.
*The name Maspeth is derived from the name of Mespeatches Indians, one of the 13 main Indian tribes that inhabited Long Island. It is translated to mean at the bad waterplace relating to the many stagnant swamps that existed in the area.
The area known today as Maspeth was chartered by New Netherlanders and British settlers in the early 17th century. The Dutch had purchased land in the area known today as Queens in 1635, and within a few years began chartering towns. In 1642, they settled Maspat, under a charter granted to Rev. Francis Doughty, making Maspeth the first English settlement in Queens; the deed that was signed between the Native Americans and the settlers was the first one signed on Long Island. As part of the deed's signature, the Newtown Patent granted 13,000 acres (5,300 ha) to settlers. Conflicts with the Maspat tribe forced many settlers to move to what is now Elmhurst in 1643. The settlement was leveled the following year in an attack by Native Indians, and the surviving settlers returned to Manhattan.
In 1652, settlers ventured back to the area, settling an area slightly inland from the previous Maspat location. This new area was called Middleburg, and eventually developed into what is now Elmhurst, bordering Maspeth. Originally, 28 English Quakers had founded the village of Maspeth, which had sizable water and milling industries along Newtown Creek and Maspeth Creek. Two storekeepers, Nathanial Hazard and Francis T. White, sold food and clothes at the Maspeth Town Docks, at what is now 56th Terrace and Rust Street, by the late 18th century. After the American Revolutionary War, villagers repaved roads with crushed oyster shells or wooden planks.
Columbusville was the name formerly applied to a section of Maspeth. It was a development of Edward Dunn that took place on 69th Place (originally known as Firth Avenue) between Grand Avenue and Caldwell Avenue during 1854–55, and was subsequently absorbed into Maspeth. The name fell into disuse in the 1890s.
Following waves of immigration during the 19th century, Maspeth was home to a shanty town of Boyash (Ludar) Gypsies between 1925 and 1939, though this was eventually bulldozed. By the 1970s, the neighborhood had become home primarily to German, Irish, Lithuanian, and Polish residents. Maspeth was considered relatively safe compared to other New York City neighborhoods experiencing crime increases, and multiple generations of the same family often lived in Maspeth.
*
Driving from Maspeth to Ridgewood in Queens,New York
Thanks for watching!...please Subscribe to my page :)
Cycling in NYC from Long Island City to Maspeth, Queens and back via Brooklyn (Industrial Area)
Google Maps Route:
I ride my bicycle in NYC from Long Island City to Maspeth, Queens, and back via East Williamsburg, and Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Filmed September 21, 2018
Timestamps
0:15 - 47th Avenue & Van Dam Street
3:37 - 47th Avenue & 39th Street (Entering Sunnyside, Queens)
4:25 - 47th Avenue & 40th Street
7:50 - 48th Street & 47th Avenue
10:15 - 48th Street & Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (Entering Maspeth, Queens)
13:05 - 56th Road & 48th Street
14:14 - Maspeth Avenue & 48th Street
16:55 - Grand Street Bridge (Entering East Williamsburg, Brooklyn)
19:45 - Vandervoort Avenue & Metropolitan Avenue
23:05 - Brooklyn-Queens Expressway & Vandervoot Avenue (Entering Greenpoint, Brooklyn)
26:26 - Driggs Avenue & McGuinness Boulevard
29:30 - Manhattan Avenue & Norman Avenue
33:43 - Manhattan Avenue & Green Street
35:20 - Pulaski Bridge Entrance (Moving an obstruction away from the bike lane)
39:01 - Jackson Avenue & Pulaski Bridge (Long Island City, Queens)
41:00 - Vernon Boulevard & 48th Avenue
43:17 - Vernon Boulevard & 46th Avenue
45:40 - Vernon Boulevard & 43rd Road
The links below may contain affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I'll receive a small commission from your purchases.
Gear I Use or Have Used
Camera Equipment
Filmed with GoPro HERO6 Black:
Samsung 128GB microSD Card:
GoPro HERO5/HERO6 Battery with Dual Battery Charger:
GoPro Vented Helmet Strap:
Transcend USB 3.0 Card Reader:
Anker PowerCore 10000 Power Bank:
Bicycles
Single Speed Bike: Mercier Kilo WT
Belt Drive Bike: Priority Continuum Onyx
Gravel Bike: Marin Gestalt 1
Safety Accessories
Giro Savant Helmet:
Giro Revel Helmet:
Reflective Vest:
Take A Look Cycling Eyeglass Mirror:
Crane Suzu Brass Bell:
Crane Riten Brass Bell:
Spurcycle Bell:
Orp Smart Horn:
Cygolite Dash 460:
Cygolite Dash Pro 600:
Cygolite Hotshot 100:
Cygolite Hotrod 50:
Planet Bike Superflash:
Planet Bike Grateful Red:
Loud Bicycle Mini:
Apparel
Gore Bike Wear Power GT AS (I use a discontinued model):
Gore Bike Wear Rain Paints (I use a discontinued model):
Early Fall/Late Spring Gloves:
Late Fall/Early Winter Gloves:
L.L. Bean Ski Gloves:
Dakine Men's Scout Gloves:
Rockport Men's Trailbreaker Waterproof Duck Boot:
Standard Bar Mitts (For cold weather):
Drop Bars Bar Mitts (For cold weather):
Balaclava:
Pant Leg Cuff Clips:
Bicycle Accessories
Continental GatorSkin DuraSkin Tires 700 x 32c:
Vibrelli Universal Bike Phone Mount:
Topeak Explorer Bike Rack with Spring:
Topeak Explorer Bike Rack without Spring:
Topeak Explorer Bike Rack with Disc Brake Mounts:
Topeak MTX Trunk Bag EX:
Topeak Trolley Tote Folding Basket:
Topeak Cargo Net for Tote and Basket:
Planet Bike Full Bike Fenders - Hybrid/Touring:
Planet Bike Cascadia ATB Fenders :
Pedro's Tire Levers:
Polar Bottle Insulated Water Bottle:
Planet Bike Water Bottle Cage:
Finish Line DRY Teflon Bicycle Chain Lube:
Finish Line WET Bicycle Chain Lube:
Bicycle Security
Kryptonite New York Fahgettaboudit Mini U-Lock:
Kryptonite New-U New York Standard U-Lock:
Kryptonite New York Chain 1210 (For hard to lock up spaces):
Kryptonite Evolution Series 4 Standard U-Lock:
Kryptonite KryptoLock Series 2 U-Lock with 4ft Flex Cable (not used as a primary lock):
Kryptonite KryptoFlex Double Loop Security Cable:
GRAND ST BRIDGE AND THE NEWTOWN CREEK - NYC STORIES MASPETH QUEENS
A narrated NYC stories video today on the Grand St. Bridge and the Newtown Creek located in Maspeth, Queens. As you can imagine, this video took me hours to produce, and I forgot to add the channel intro at the start of the video :) Because I had worked for so long I couldn't undo what I had already done, so I ended up only adding the channel intro at the end of the video. I'm really happy with the end result though, with the only issue being that I couldn't decide which thumbnail to use.
Because of the effort that I put into this video, I am going to need to meditate this time when it comes to those robotic comments that we all get from users who never watch any of your video, and who end up destroying your retention rate.
Grand Street and Grand Avenue are connected via a swing bridge over Newtown Creek, known as the Grand Street Bridge. Construction began in August 1900 and was planned to be completed in October 1901, but the bridge did not open until December 1902. A later report found the delay was caused by the contractor hired to build the bridge being incompetent, forcing the City to finish the project. The current bridge is the third on the site. The first two, both made of wood, were built in 1875 and 1890.
Newtown Creek, a 3.5-mile (6-kilometer) long tributary of the East River, is an estuary that forms part of the border between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, in New York City. Channelization made it one of the most heavily used bodies of water in the Port of New York and New Jersey and thus one of the most polluted industrial sites in the US, containing years of discarded toxins, an estimated 30,000,000 US gallons of spilled oil, including the Greenpoint oil spill, raw sewage from New York City’s sewer system, and other accumulation from a total of 1,491 sites.
The creek begins near the intersection of 47th Street and Grand Avenue on the Brooklyn-Queens border at the intersection of the East Branch and English Kills. It empties into the East River at 2nd Street and 54th Avenue in Long Island City, opposite Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan at 26th Street. Its waterfront, and that of its tributaries Dutch Kills, Whale Creek, Maspeth Creek, and English Kills are heavily industrialized. Combined sewer overflow (CSO) pipes drain into all four major tributaries, as well as the East Branch of the creek; during rainstorms, these handle raw sewage.
Because the surrounding neighborhoods are completely sewerized, the creek has little natural inflow of natural freshwater, and is largely stagnant except as a result of tides. Its outgoing flow of 14 billion US gallons per year consists of CSO, urban runoff, raw domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater. There is a 15-foot-thick (4.6 m) layer (in some places 25 feet (7.6 m)[3]) of polluted sludge that has congealed on the creek bed.
The Lower Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), used only for freight, runs along the north bank.
Dutch Kills starts at 47th Avenue and 29th Street in Long Island City, and empties into Newtown Creek on the right bank. The course of Dutch Kills is lined mainly with warehouses. Formerly, its headwaters were at Northern Boulevard and 33rd Street. It formed a navigable stream along with Sunswick Creek to the north, making it easy for merchants to transport produce and goods along the creek.
Whale Creek starts at what is now the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and empties into the creek on the left bank opposite Dutch Kills. It originally extended further south to Greenpoint Avenue, but was straightened and turned into a canal in the 20th century. Much of the creek was infilled to make way for the treatment plant. Today, the Newtown Creek Nature Walk runs along the remaining spur of the creek.
Maspeth Creek starts on the right bank, within Maspeth, Queens, and runs about 1,000 feet (300 m) before emptying into Newtown Creek. Prior to the industrial development of Queens, Maspeth Creek originated on the Ridgewood Plateau, a plateau that separated the watersheds of Newtown Creek to the south and Flushing River to the east.
English Kills originates from a CSO pipe at 465 Johnson Avenue in East Williamsburg. It drains 344,400,000 US gallons (1.304×109 L) of sewage annually. The present path of English Kills was straightened in the late 19th century. The Kills is crossed by the LIRR Bushwick Branch and the Metropolitan Avenue Bridge.
The East Branch originates at Metropolitan and Onkerdonk Avenues, at a CSO pipe that drains 586,000,000 US gallons (2.22×109 L) annually. It is crossed only by the Grand Street Bridge.
New York City walking 8 PM curfew on Grand Avenue, Maspeth ( QUEENS )
#NewYork #Manhattan #Walkingtour
Citywide curfew in effect for NYC : 8PM - 5AM nightly June 2-7 ( to 5AM June 8 )
I walked on the third day of 8PM curfew in NYC.
Google maps route :
Filmed at 8.10 pm on June 4th 2020.
Streets were quiet empty, normally, lot of cars, buses, and delivery trucks on this route.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equipment :
- Samsung S9
- DJI Osmo Mobile 3
- Rode VideoMicro Compact On-Camera Microphone
- WS9 Deluxe Furry Windshield
- microSD sandisk 128 gb extreme plus
- Ulanzi PT-3 Triple Cold Shoe Extension Bracket
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maspeth is a residential and commercial community in the borough of Queens in New York City. It was founded in the early 17th century by Dutch and English settlers.
RIDGEWOOD QUEENS - Grover Cleveland HS to Onderdonk House - NYC History Narrated
Today our narrated NYC history video takes us to Ridgewood, Queens. We travel from Grover Cleveland high school to the Vander Ende - Onderdonk house. I narrate our journey giving you the history of the places we see along the way, including a list of the famous people who were once students at Grover Cleveland High School. [ENG SUB]
0:05 Maspeth Firehouse
1:52 Grover Cleveland High School
5:30 St. Aloysius Church
11:45 Onderdonk House
Driving Through Rockaway Beach in Queens New York 2021
Talk a virtual driving tour through Rockaway Beach in Queens New York. The Rockaway Beaches are very popular with New York City residents who don’t have cars. Although some of the areas around Rockaway Beach can be dangerous especially at night, the are has been gentrifying. If you are thinking of visiting Rockaway Beach to swim or even to move out here, have a look for yourself if it is an area you might want to visit. The beaches in New York City like Rockaway Beach, Brighton Beach, and Coney Island are good beach options if you do not have a car in NYC. Because of this, typically Rockaway Beach at 116th Street was known as a party beach for NYC teens.
To see other NYC videos, check out my playlist @to go is to know
Holiday Inn Express Maspeth, an IHG Hotel Review - Queens , United States of America
Holiday Inn Express Maspeth, an IHG Hotel
Book Now:
Location:
In Queens, New York, this Holiday Inn is 10.5 miles from John F Kennedy International Airport and 6.7 miles from LaGuardia Airport. It features a fitness center, a business center and free Wi-Fi.
All guest rooms at Holiday Inn Express Maspeth have large flat-screen TVs with cable and satellite channels. Every room also features hot drink facilities, a private bathroom and a well-lit work desk.
A daily complimentary breakfast buffet is available in the dining area. There are plenty of restaurants within a short walk of the property, and a McDonald’s right next door.
Holiday Inn Express Maspeth is just 5 miles from the heart of Manhattan. The nearest Metro stop is 2 miles away and it is 3 miles from Forest Park Golf Course.
keywords: Queens, Hotels In Queens, Holiday Inn Express Maspeth, an IHG Hotel, Queens Hotels, Cheap Hotels In Queens, Best Hotels In Queens, United States of America, Holiday Inn Express Maspeth, an IHG Hotel, Queens, USA, R:New York State, Hotel, Hotels
Forgotten New York - Greenpoint & Maspeth Industrial Areas - Newtown Creek - Calvary Cemetary
A drive around Greenpoint Brooklyn & Maspeth Queens Industrial Areas - Newtown Creek - Calvary Cemetary
These are some of the landmarks in this video:
- John Jay Byrne Bridge (crossing Newtown Creek)
- Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant
- National Grid liquified natural gas tanks
- Kosciuszko Bridge
- Review Ave / Rust St / Maspeth Ave / Laurel Hill Blvd
- Goodfellas Diner
- First Calvary Cemetary
The music in this video was downloaded from the Youtube Audio Library:
Track 1. (0:00-3:28)
Artist: Topher Mohr and Alex Elena
Song: A Walk Into Space
Track 2. (3:28-6:44)
Artist: Silent Partner
Song: Court and Page
Track 3. (6:44-8:29)
Artist: Puddle of Infinity
Song: Doll Dancing
Forgotten Baseball Ground in Maspeth Queens NYC
Today I pay a visit to the forgotten site of the old Long Island Baseball Grounds in Maspeth, Queens. Back in the 1800s, up until 1893, the baseball grounds here were home for several years to the New York Cuban Giants. Aside from the Giants a whole host of future hall of famers also played at this ballpark.
Old Brooklyn Dodgers Ballparks:
Feldman's Park:
Baseball stopped being played here in 1893, but that doesn't mean that the area doesn't have a story to tell, and I am here to tell you that story.
The Cuban Giants were the first fully salaried African-American professional baseball club. The team was originally formed in 1885 at the Argyle Hotel, a summer resort in Babylon, New York. Initially an independent barnstorming team, they played games against opponents of all types: major and minor league clubs, semiprofessional teams, even college and amateur squads. They would go on to join various short-lived East Coast leagues, and in 1888 became the World Colored Champions. Despite their name, no Cubans played on the team. The Cubes remained one of the premier Negro league teams for nearly twenty years, and served as a model that future black teams would emulate.
In the summer of 1885, around the same time the Cuban Giants were being formed, Henry Flagler made the decision to build the Ponce de Leon Hotel in St. Augustine. Flagler, a founder of Standard Oil, envisioned the hotel as a place where he and his wealthy friends could find princely shelter from the harsh winters of the North. The hotel opened three years later on January 10, 1888. Osborn D. Seavey was the manager of the hotel, and had previously been the manager of the San Marco where he likely crossed paths with Frank Thompson. Through this connection with Seavey, Thompson was able to incorporate the Cuban Giants and black baseball into the integrated network of leisure activities offered by the hotel. The players were hired as waiters (just as the Athletics had been at the San Marco), but their primary responsibility was to entertain the guests with their skills on the diamond. An 1889 article from the St. Augustine Weekly News puts it this way:
The colored employees of the Hotel Ponce de Leon will play a game today at the fort grounds with a picked nine from the Alcazar. As both teams possess some of the best colored baseball talent in the United States being largely composed of the famous Cuban Giants, the game is likely to be an interesting one.
On one occasion, unable to schedule a game with a local club, the team played a squad made up of tennis players staying at the hotel. On another occasion, a game played against some of the hotel's guests was attended by ex-President Grover Cleveland at the invitation of Govern. If they could not find a worthy opponent the Giants would play intra-squad games amongst themselves.
In 1889 while at the Ponce de Leon, Thompson put together an organization called the Progressive Association of the United States of America (PAUSA). Thompson was elected president of the organization, and Govern was elected secretary. Ben Holmes, the team's third baseman, was also an active member of the group. Thompson used his position to preach against the unpardonable sin of racial prejudice practiced in the dining room of the Ponce de Leon and the Cuban Giants served as an example of the doctrine of racial solidarity and self-help that the group espoused. The racially integrated PAUSA also promoted the idea of black-white cooperation for practical, as well as ideological, reasons: Thompson and Govern's efforts to eliminate racial barriers simultaneously created jobs for their players during the winter, while also promoting the black game to the white spectator.
The Giants … played a number of winters in Havana, Cuba. The Giants had discovered that the key to being financially stable was to play baseball all year round. Cuba was a perfect place for them to play their winter seasons, because they could avoid the cold temperatures that were common in New Jersey in the winter, and they drew huge crowds when they played in Havana. They were so popular in fact that they played in front of as many as 15,000 fans. By comparison, the average attendance per game for the Philadelphia Baseball Grounds, a popular baseball venue at the time, in 1890 was 2,231 per game.
VIEW OF KOSCUIUSZKO BRIDGE CONNECTING GREENPOINT IN BROOKLYN MASPETH IN QUEENS || EXPLORING NEW YORK
The Kosciuszko Bridge /ˌkɒziˈʊskoʊ, ˌkɒʒiˈʊʃkoʊ/[1] is a cable-stayed bridge over Newtown Creek in New York City, connecting Greenpoint in Brooklyn to Maspeth in Queens. The first bridge on the site was built in 1803. The bridge consists of a pair of cable-stayed bridge spans: the eastbound span opened in April 2017, while the westbound span opened in August 2019. An older bridge, a truss bridge of the same name that was located on the site of the westbound cable-stayed span, was originally opened in 1939 and was closed and demolished in 2017. The crossing is part of the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway (BQE), which carries Interstate 278.
The older truss bridge replaced a swing bridge called the Meeker Avenue Bridge, which connected Meeker Avenue in Brooklyn to Laurel Hill Boulevard in Queens. The old Kosciuszko Bridge, originally also called the Meeker Avenue Bridge, carried six lanes of traffic, three in each direction. In 1940, a year after opening, the bridge was renamed after Polish military leader Tadeusz Kościuszko, who fought alongside the Americans in the American Revolutionary War.
In 2014, a contract was awarded and work begun to build one of two replacement bridges with more capacity, with the first bridge initially carrying bidirectional traffic. The replacement bridges have the same name as the original bridge and are both cable-stayed bridges that will each carry one direction of traffic. The first bridge, located south of the old truss bridge, opened on April 27, 2017, with three lanes in each direction. Once the old bridge was demolished via controlled explosion in October 2017, a new westbound cable-stayed bridge with four lanes and a bike/pedestrian path started construction on the site of the old bridge. The first cable-stayed bridge became eastbound-only with five lanes when the westbound bridge opened on August 29, 2019.
PORTRAITS AND CRAFT IN THE FORGOTTEN BOROUGH
Staten Island is known as the “Forgotten Borough”. It is somewhat far-removed from New York City’s other four boroughs. But it has a fascinating history, parks and a beautiful, long shoreline. For our first Staten Island WALKS NY we took in some art and crafts; at the Alice Austen House and the Makerspace non-profit community workshop.
MAPS AND MORE INFORMATION:
Important Locations/Highlights:
From St. George Ferry to Alice Austen House:
From Alice Austen to Flagship, via Makerspace:
Flagship to St. George Ferry Terminal:
Note: We walked to St. George Ferry Terminal via the main Street, Bay St., but it seems there is a nice coastal path, which is what this map shows.
Ferry Location, Manhattan:
The RED, 1 train Downtown to SOUTH FERRY station – MUST be in the front 4 cars
The YELLOW, R train:
• From Brooklyn, take it towards Manhattan and Queens to Whitehall Street
• From Manhattan, take the Downtown R to Whitehall Street
The GREEN 4 or 5 trains. The Ferry Terminal is a few blocks walk south of the station:
• From Manhattan take it Downtown to Bowling Green
• From Brooklyn take the Manhattan/Queens direction to Bowling Green
• From Queens, take the Manhattan Downtown direction to Bowling Green
*The ferry is free and usually leaves every half hour, at the top of the hour and on the half hour. It will be clear from the crowds of people gathered where the next ferry will board – just follow the crowd!
Betts Family Cemetery in Maspeth Queens NYC
The Betts Family cemetery located in Maspeth, Queens, dates back to 1713, when the patriarch of the family, Capt. Richard Betts dug his own grave just a few days before he died at the age of 100. Yes, he dug his own grave when he was 100 years old :)
The Betts homestead occupied this part of Long Island starting in 1656, originated by Capt. Richard Betts and his family. The last burial to take place at the Betts family cemetery was 1877.
The Betts cemetery now lies within the confines of Mt. Zion Jewish cemetery, and Mt. Zion maintains the upkeep of the old Quaker cemetery on its grounds.
Mount Zion Cemetery is a large Jewish cemetery located in Maspeth, Queens, New York City. The first burial was in 1893, and as of 2015, more than 210,000 individuals had been buried there. It is noted for its memorial to those who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.
Its grounds cover approximately 78 acres, and are divided into hundreds of plots, or gates, by landsmanshaften, synagogues, or families.
Notable burials
Herman M. Albert (1901–1947), lawyer, New York State Assemblyman
Birdie Amsterdam (1901–1996), lawyer, judge, and New York State Supreme Court] justice
William Cohen (? –1922), U.S. Army sergeant killed by troops of Pancho Villa on U.S. soil in the Glenn Springs raid
Bernard Drachman (1861–1945), rabbi
Morris Michael Edelstein (1888–1941), US Congressman
Isidore Einstein (1880–1938), federal agent in the Bureau of Prohibition
Berta Gersten (1894–1972), actress in Yiddish theater
Abraham Harawitz (1879–1935), lawyer, New York State Assemblyman, Municipal Court Justice
Marvin Hamlisch (1944–2012), composer and conductor
Lorenz Hart (1895–1943), lyricist
Naftali Herz Imber (1856–1909), poet, lyricist, and composer of Hatikva, the Israeli national anthem. Disinterred and reburied in Israel in 1953.
Mathilde Krim (1926–2018), medical researcher
Irving L. Levey (1898–1970), New York State Supreme Court justice
Edna Luby (1884–1928), actress and comedian
Theresa Moers (1893–1924), killed by the boxer Kid McCoy
Herman Weiss (about 1869–1934), New York assemblyman
Nathanael West (1903–1940), author and screenwriter
Eva Zeisel (1906–2011), industrial designer
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Memorial in Maspeth Queens NYC
Today I am in Maspeth, Queens, at the sight of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Memorial in NYC. The memorial is located in Mt. Zion cemetery.
Some of the victims of the fire are buried in Mt. Zion as well as fifteen other cemeteries around New York City.
For this video the Wikipedia page for the disaster served as the main source for the story. I normally write my own scripts for my stories but I needed help this week due to a lack of time.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers – 123 women and girls and 23 men – who died from the fire, smoke inhalation, or falling or jumping to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent Italian or Jewish immigrant women and girls aged 14 to 23, of the victims whose ages are known, the oldest victim was 43-year-old Providenza Panno, and the youngest were 14-year-olds Kate Leone and Rosaria Sara Maltese.
The factory was located on the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of the Asch Building, at 23–29 Washington Place, near Washington Square Park. The 1901 building still stands and is now known as the Brown Building, which is part of and owned by New York University (NYU). The building has been designated a National Historic Landmark and a New York City landmark.
Because the doors to the stairwells and exits were locked – a common practice at the time to prevent workers from taking unauthorized breaks and to reduce theft – many of the workers could not escape from the burning building and jumped from the high windows. The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers.
Under the ownership of Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, the factory produced women's blouses, known as shirtwaists. The factory normally employed about 500 workers, mostly young Italian and Jewish immigrant women and girls, who worked nine hours a day on weekdays plus seven hours on Saturdays, earning for their 52 hours of work between $7 and $12 a week, the equivalent of $191 to $327 a week in 2018 currency, or $3.67 to $6.29 per hour.
At approximately 4:40 pm on Saturday, March 25, 1911, as the workday was ending, a fire flared up in a scrap bin under one of the cutter's tables at the northeast corner of the 8th floor. The first fire alarm was sent at 4:45 pm by a passerby on Washington Place who saw smoke coming from the 8th floor. Both owners of the factory were in attendance and had invited their children to the factory on that afternoon.
The Fire Marshal concluded that the likely cause of the fire was the disposal of an unextinguished match or cigarette butt in the scrap bin, which held two months' worth of accumulated cuttings by the time of the fire. Beneath the table in the wooden bin were hundreds of pounds of scraps left over from the several thousand shirtwaists that had been cut at that table. The scraps piled up from the last time the bin was emptied, coupled with the hanging fabrics that surrounded it.
Although smoking was banned in the factory, cutters were known to sneak cigarettes, exhaling the smoke through their lapels to avoid detection. A New York Times article suggested that the fire may have been started by the engines running the sewing machines.
A bookkeeper on the 8th floor was able to warn employees on the 10th floor via telephone, but there was no audible alarm and no way to contact staff on the 9th floor.
Although the floor had a number of exits, including two freight elevators, a fire escape, and stairways down to Greene Street and Washington Place, flames prevented workers from descending the Greene Street stairway, and the door to the Washington Place stairway was locked to prevent theft by the workers; the locked doors allowed managers to check the women's purses. The foreman who held the stairway door key had already escaped by another route. Dozens of employees escaped the fire by going up the Greene Street stairway to the roof. Other survivors were able to jam themselves into the elevators while they continued to operate.
Within three minutes, the Greene Street stairway became unusable in both directions. Terrified employees crowded onto the single exterior fire escape – which city officials had allowed Asch to erect instead of the required third staircase – a flimsy and poorly anchored iron structure that may have been broken before the fire. It soon twisted and collapsed from the heat and overload, spilling about 20 victims nearly 100 feet (30 m) to their deaths on the concrete pavement below. The remainder waited until smoke and fire overcame them.
LIVE @ The Maspeth Pizza House
The Maspeth Pizza House is a top bar and grill in Maspeth, Queens with the best comfort food, brick oven pizza, wings, Italian specialties, huge bar, and more!
The Maspeth Pizza House is located at 59-60 55th Road in Maspeth, Queens. Go and check out their 144 sqft. TV!