Thursday, May 25, 2006

My yearly visit to Rego Park

Thank goodness I was on vacation today.  There was a very serious power failure along the Northeast Rail Corridor between NYC and Washington.  New Jersey Transit trains were out.  the power failure occurred at 8 AM when I would have been on the train.

Once a year a take a walk around my old neighborhood in Rego Park Queens.

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/NEIGHBORHOODS/regopark/regopark.html

When I was two years old (1951) my family moved there from Brooklyn.  I stayed there with my parents on Saunders Street until 1972 when I went off to school at the University of Rhode Island.  I returned in 1974 when I didn't get a job immediately after graduation.  In May 1974 when I got my first job I moved to New Brunswick, NJ and from there to New London, CT.  Circumstances forced me to move back with my parents in late 1978.  In 1980, I got my own apartment on Wetherole St. a few blocks away from my parents.  Later in 1980 they moved about a mile away to Forest Hills.  IN 1983 when I was first married, Karen and I moved to an apartment on 99th Street in Rego Park.  In 1984 when my father-in-law moved to Florida we took over his co-op in Flushing which is only 4 miles away.  We have lived there ever since.

When I make my yearly trip to Rego Park (usually in May) I observe the retail establishments.  Only a few have remained since the 1960s.  The demographics of the neighborhood have changed.  It is not as Jewish as it once was.  Today, I observed several stores with signs in Greek.  I made it my business to pass by the three apartments where I lived over the years.

The biggest retail establishment was Alexanders Department Store which closed about 15-20 years ago.  That site is now occupied by 5 smaller stores.  I stopped by Circuit City where I resisted the temptation to buy an XM radio.  I can get the XM radio stations on AOL anyway.

Until next year.

 

 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like it when you post biographical sketches in this blog; I see parts of you I never knew existed.

Anonymous said...

When I visit the old neighborhood, I kind of get depressed that the life we remember as kids has sort of ceased to exist. Maybe it's because of all the demographic changes that have occurred or maybe it's just aging. I haven't lived in the neighborhood since 1977 but do go back to visit friends from time to time. Some of my memories have been erased, but I'll always remember the good times at Fairyland, dining at Mario's, the big chandelier at the Forest Hills Movie Theater and the ice cream at Howard Johnsons.

 
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