Bruce Slutsky was born in New York City in 1949. I retired 8 years ago after working as a Science/Engineering Librarian at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark for 25 years. I was married to Karen until she passed away in February 2021. I have a son Lee who is now 38 years old. I am very much interested in the popular music of the 1960s, especially Bob Dylan and the Beatles. I am interested in rock and roll radio. I am an enthusiastic fan of the New York Mets.
Over the years I have written numerous journal entries about Rego Park. In many of the entries I described many of my experiences growing up in the 1950s and 60s. In other I described my walking tours of the community in later years. As soon as I found about Ronald Marzlock's new book I ordered it. When the Amazon delivery came, I immediately opened the book. I took a cursory look at it, but i must read in more detail. It contains mostly photographs, but there is a fair amount of text.
There are photographs of:
Alexanders
Howard Johnson's
Boulevard Night Club
Ben's Best Deli
Fairyland
Lefrak City
Parsont's
Movie Theaters
Trylon
Drake
Elmwood
Many others too numerous to mention
I was especially pleased to see:
Bob Mendel's Candy Store of Eliot Avenue - Leon, his competitor on Queens Blvd was not mentioned.
Remo Hall at 61-40 Saunders Street. I grew up in this building from 1951-72
He couldn't include everything, but I would have liked to see a photo of Mr. Simmon's toy store on 63rd Drive.
I remember buying Rubber Soul at Alexanders record department in Rego Park in December 1965. I guess the record company wants to make more money from the Beatles, so they have produced this boxed set. It includes alternative takes of the songs and also distinguishes between the American and British versions of the original release. I bought it from Amazon.com and am awaiting its delivery.
In January 1980, I moved out of my parents' apartment on Saunders Street and moved to a small one-bedroom apartment a few blocks away at 64-12 Wetherole Street, across the street from P.S. 139. It was a small building with just 12 apartments. I lived there until Fall 1983 when I married Karen and moved to 62-60 99th Street. I remember the landlady was a cheap bitch and gave very little heat. On a few occasions, it was so cold in the apartment that I could see my breath.
64-12 Wetherole Street in 2009
Today, as I perused Facebook, I found a post in the Rego-Forest Preservation Council Folder by Jim Orens and learned that 64-12 Wetherole Street is being demolished and will be replaced by a much larger building. I haven't visited Rego Park in a while. I am aware that many small buildings were demolished and replaced by high rises. For example, the Shalimar on 63rd Drive and the Trylon on Queens Blvd. are gone, replaced by high-rises. Everyone is out for the almighty buck.
2026 64-12 is on the right side and is being deconstructed
Today, there was some controversy over whether the NYC school buildings should be closed and whether online learning should be done. The mayor decided to open the schools, but there was opposition from many parents and politicians. On January 20, 1961, I was in the 6th grade at PS 139 Queens in Rego Park. The day before, a classmate offered to bring a TV to school so everyone could watch the JFK inauguration. There was a heavy snowstorm that day, and the schools were closed so we could watch the event from home.
Over the 20 years of Bruce's Journal, there have been several entries about growing up in Rego Park. I just remembered that in February 1972, there was a big fire on 63rd Drive that wiped out the local branch of the Queens Library and other stores on that block. Back in the day, when I was a student at nearby P.S. 139, I was a regular patron of that library.
A few years later, a new library was constructed across the street, as seen below.
Back in 1972, there was a Shell station at that site where I first put gasoline into my new Chevy Nova that my parents purchased for me.
I just found out that this library, constructed in the 1970s, will soon close and be demolished. A new state-of-the-art Rego Park branch will be constructed on that site, double the size of the current branch. It will look like the photo below.
I survived another Yom Kippur. Lee and I went to services at the Free Synagogue of Flushing. It was a shame that people had to register in advance and be screened by security guards. It sad that there is so much anti-semitism today. Attendance was very low, as a result of the declining Jewish population. Years ago, the Rego Park Jewish Center had to rent the Lost Battalion Hall to handle the overflow.
Shelly, a classmate of mine from Forest Hills High School, class of 1967, is organizing a 60th reunion for June 2027. I appreciate her efforts, but I think it is much too early to plan it. People from my class were enthusiastic about it, as noted in a Facebook discussion.
There is an article from SNY by John Harper grading managers and players on their 2025 performance.
The Mets have announced that several members of the 2025 coaching staff will not return next season, including:
🔸 Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner
🔸 Hitting coach Eric Chavez
🔸 Hitting coach Jeremy Barnes
🔸 Bench coach John Gibbons
🔸 Third base, infield coach Mike Sarbaugh
🔸 Catching instructor Glenn Sherlock
I know there will be many changes on the roster, but I will not speculate.
It is relatively easy to reconnect with an old friend through Facebook or another social networking site. There is another dimension when a phone conversation follows some online chats. In 2009, I wrote a journal entry describing my growing up in Rego Park, Queens. Phil was mentioned as a friend. He lived on Booth Street and 64th Road, across the street from P.S. 139.
I didn't remember seeing Phil after I was promoted from that school in 1961. He said that after one year at Russell Sage JHS 190, he enrolled in Kew Forest, a private school. He went to Wagner College for his B.S. degree and then earned an MBA from Baruch College. He had a few jobs in NYC and later relocated to Denver and then to Florida, where he now resides. I told him of my personal and job histories. I do not want to repeat that here.
We discussed:
His father passed away at age 44 from acute leukemia
His mother remarried twice and passed away at age 96
He married relatively late and has a son and a daughter.
How Rego Park has changed over the decades
A few other mutual friends from the old neighborhood
Our phone call lasted about 50 minutes. My experience is that reconnections are one-time events with no follow-up. He has not visited NYC in many years, while my last visit to Florida was in 2015.
Over the past few weeks, I saw numerous Facebook ads for this Fanfest, so I decided to attend. When I bought the tickets online, I was sent a QR code with instructions to look for the Will Call window at the Javits Center. When I arrived this morning, I had to wait 45 minutes in line to show my QR code and get a badge to attend the show.
Much of the show was devoted to vendors selling collectables, especially baseball cards. I haven't collected baseball cards since I was a kid growing up in Rego Park. There were many activities for kids, such as hitting a baseball, kicking a soccer ball, and throwing a football. Sports stars were available for autographs. We just bought two New York Mets t-shirts.
It was very crowded and noisy. I was likely the oldest person there. We stayed for about 3 1/2 hours, but there were few places to sit. I left the place very tired.
In 2009 I wrote a journal entry reminiscing about my days at Russell Sage JHS 190 in Forest Hills. I hadn't seen or heard about Josh S. for over 60 years. I remember he has a cousin named Elyse who at times posts to the Forest Hills HS 1960-75 alumni board on Facebook. I sent her a message questioning her about Josh. She gave me his email and phone number so we exchanged the information and then decided to talk over the phone. We had a nice conversation for about a half hour.
I told Josh about what I have done over the past 60 years. I think regular readers of my journal should know that so I will not repeat it here. Here are some of the things we discussed:
After we graduated from Russell Sage in 1964 Josh went to Brooklyn Technical High School while I went to Forest Hills High School. At that point our paths diverged.
Josh went to the University of Oklahoma while I went to City College of New York
He started his career as an engineer for radio stations
He married in 1972 and adopted two children.
He was subsequently divorced and remarried in 1999.
He is now a great-grandfather
We talked about some teachers in Russell sage and some of our mutual friends
We discussed Rego Park and Forest Hills and how it has changed over the decades,
People's paths cross for some years, but then they diverge. At that point they lose contact but very often in this era of social networking they reconnect. It has been my experience that reconnections are usually very brief. Likely, I will never hear from him again. Reconnections rarely result in a renewed friendship. As I have expressed in this journal several times "out of sight out of mind supersedes staying connected." I certainly enjoyed our conversation.
If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time by Tyrone Davis hit #3 on the Billboard chart in 1970. It is popular today since we turned back the clock one hour as we returned to standard time. We can never return to the past. We heard this week that the Newark Star-Ledger, a major New Jersey newspaper is ending its print edition while some other newspapers are ceasing publication completely. I always enjoyed flipping through the Sunday New York Times, but now I have a subscription to the online version. Perhaps soon even the New York Times will end its print edition.
I always think back to people I haven't seen in decades, but I can't turn back the hands of time and restore an old friendship. I have reconnected with people through social media, but that encounter is always brief. I met SG who now lives in Toronto in 2000. He was an old friend from my Rego Park days. We walked around the old neighborhood, but since that meeting, I have had no contact with him. I have been to a few high school reunions, but there have been no follow-ups.
I Googled some old friends but didn't want to contact them. MH is a successful attorney, while AA is a CPA in private practice. I have discussed in this journal my failed attempts to reconnect with former colleagues.
We must look ahead to the future, not back upon the past.
It is hard to believe that I have reached 5000 journal
entries since I started writing on October 15, 2005. I made one entry and kept going. I guess I express myself better in writing
than I do verbally. Back then AOL
supported blogs, but later on I transitioned the journal to Blogger a service
of Google, and got the domain bruceslutsky.com .
The entries range from the ridiculous to the sublime. I don’t know the real number of how many
people have read an entry. The stats provided
by Blogger indicate there were about 1,700,000 hits, but most of those must
have come from robots. The statistics
also state that many hits are from China where I am a complete unknown.
I have written on topics including (in no particular order):
·New York Mets
·Baseball
·Bob Dylan
·Other Music – very often I post a song from YouTube. Many of those videos have been
deleted. I should try to replace them.
·Jeopardy
·Random Thoughts of the Day
According to Blogger, my most popular entries were
·TGIF
·The Tale of the Two-Dollar Bill
·Jeopardy and the Two-Dollar Bill
·Congratulations to the Beach Boys on their 50th
Anniversary
·Jason Keller – Jeopardy Superstar
·Mumbles was my Favorite Dick Tracy Villain
Those are certainly not my most distinguished posts.
My best posts IMHO were these two that were very personal
Many posts were autobiographical. The best way to find those is to go to the
search box in the upper left corner and search for:
·Rego Park
·Forest Hills
·City College
·Rhode Island
·New Brunswick
Readers can post comments on Blogger, but most of the
comments I receive are on Facebook.
I got into “trouble” once when a pompous professor objected
to something I wrote about. This
actually made it to the New York Times.
I challenge my readers to find the article. Since that time I have been more careful
about what I write. I often use initials
instead of a full name since people can Google themselves.
I wonder how much time I have spent over the years writing
journal entries. I don’t have to be
concerned with editors or fact-checkers.
So far nobody has told me they saw me on NY1 news when I was interviewed about the closure of Whitestone Lanes. I announced it on Facebook, Twitter, and in this journal, but I didn't want to "toot my horn" about it any further. When Pat Kiernan introduced the story he stated that in the last 12 years about 700 bowling alleys in the country closed. I scratched my head and thought of some in Queens that are gone:
Hollywood Lanes in Rego Park on Queens Blvd. I think this was where I bowled for the first time.
Woodhaven Lanes in Forest Hills on Woodhaven Blvd.
Tri-bowl on 63rd Drive in Rego Park across the street from P.S, 139. I think it had only 12 lanes
Sterling Lanes in New Hyde Park
Cross Bay Lanes in Howard Beach
Back in the early 1970s I dated some girls in Brooklyn. Bowling was an inexpensive date. Two bowling alleys that are still there:
Gil Hodges Lanes
Mill Basin Lanes - this is where Mike popped the question to Heidi
When I was growing up in Rego Park in the 1960s there were several movie theaters within walking distance or a short bus ride. Back in those days, there were no multiplexes. The following theaters have closed over the years:
Elmwood
Trylon
Drake
Forest Hills
Continental (changed its name to Brandon)
Only the Midway stands today. It now has 9 screens.
In the 1980s after I was married I moved to northern Queens where the following movie theaters eventually closed:
RKO Keiths
Prospect
Quartet
Bayside (at Bell Blvd. and 39th Avenue)
Whitestone
The AMC Bay Terrace with six screens still stands
In 1999 the College Point Multiplex with 12 screens was built at the intersections of the Whitestone Expressway and Linden Place. It was nice to have a movie theater within walking distance for all these years.
The Bayside Times reports today that the College Point Multiplex will likely close since the Jamaica Multiplex Cinemas will shut down in June. The parent company closed several theaters in the past year. I must have seen hundreds of movies in that multiplex since it opened in 1999. It was always nice to have a movie theater in the neighborhood. Sadly, movie theaters have become dinosaurs as people would prefer to stay home and watch movies on streaming services such as Netflix.
Nothing in this world stays the same. I guess movie theaters are going the way of the landline telephone.
I certainly have written about delis many times in this journal. This new exhibit prompted me to make a return visit. The society's website states, "Our special exhibition examines how Jewish immigrants, mostly from Central and Eastern Europe, imported and adapted traditions to create a uniquely American restaurant and reveals how Jewish delicatessens became a cornerstone of American food culture."
I was especially amused by a video that shows how delis were portrayed in TV shows and movies including the famous scene in "When Harry Met Sally."
Delis portrayed in the exhibit include:
Second Avenue Deli
Katz's Deli
Stage Deli
Ben's Deli at 7th Avenue and 38th Street - site of the famous Oldies Meet and Greets
Ben's Best Deli in Rego Park
Do you remember this advertisement scene decades ago in the NYC subway?
It is sad that so many kosher delis have closed over the years. Likely, changing demographics is the primary reason for their demise. Restauranteurs should try to apple to all ethnicities.
I have certainly written a lot about Rego Park in this Journal. After my dentist appointment today, I decided to take another walking tour as I have done several times in the past. Obviously, nothing in this world stays the same. Many retail establishments have come and gone over the decades. Some observations:
The site of the Tower Diner on Queens Blvd. was demolished. The site of the Trylon Theater next to it which is now a synagogue is also slated to be demolished.
Parkside Chapels at 66th Road and Queens Blvd. was also demolished.
The Shalimar Diner on 63rd Drive was also demolished.
I believe in all three cases there will be high-rise apartment buildings constructed.
In any event, everyone I knew in Rego Park has either moved away or passed on.
I grew up in Rego Park and have written about it extensively in Bruce's Journal. Today as I was perusing through Facebook I found this 3-part video lasting about 30 minutes outlining the history of Rego Park. It obviously could not be exhaustive in such a short time. It did not include Remo Hall (61-40 Saunders Street) where I lived during my formative years. This was the first apartment building in Rego Park. I don't know when these videos were produced, but I am guessing it was before 1990 since only postal addresses were given to ask for further information.
In August 1980, Arlene, a colleague of mine at a
pharmaceutical company, asked if I’d like to meet her sister-in-law who lived
nearby me in Queens.I felt I had
nothing to lose and phoned Karen and made a date.We went to an ice dancing show at the Nassau
Coliseum.After the date, we went back to
her apartment and talked.I noted a
knick-knack with the zodiac sign of Taurus.She said her birthday was April 22 while mine was April 21, but six
years apart.I never heard the end of
that in all the years that I knew her.I
phoned her for a second date which I think was a movie.We found out that we liked oldies music,
especially the Beatles.I didn’t bring
up Bob Dylan at that time.After that, she
invited me to her house to listen to her Beatles records.We were also into oldies radio and listened
to WYNY and WCBS-FM.She was also a big
fan of the Mets.
The relationship grew, but I was always afraid that marriage
will kill all the fun.In October 1982
we became engaged.It must have been the
worst proposal as I told her a few days before that I got the ring and that I
will propose on Saturday night.
We were married on October 16, 1983, at the Old Westbury
Hebrew Congregation.For our first year
we lived on 99th Street in Rego Park.A year later her father remarried and moved
to the Bronx and later to Florida.We
then moved into the co-op she co-owned with her father in the Mitchell_Linden
section of Flushing.We have lived there
ever since.
After 4 years of marriage, we thought it was time to start a
family.Lee was born in March 1988.Having a child is a wonderful thing, but also
creates stress.As Lee got older we
realized he was developmentally disabled and was in special education programs.We always did the best for him.He developed a taste for oldies music and Bob
Dylan.In April 1997 we took Lee to his
first Bob Dylan concert at William Patterson University in Wayne, NJ.He has gone to every Dylan concert since that
time.
The highlights of our marriage were our baseball/music
vacations.In 2006, 2007, and 2010 we
went on Jay Buckley baseball tours.We
flew to Chicago and took a bus to visit several ballparks in the Midwest.At a game in Milwaukee Karen got a foul ball
that landed in her seat.
Here are some of the vacations we took:
1998, 2008 – Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and Cleveland Indians
2003 – Memphis to visit Graceland.We also took in a Memphis Redbirds Game
2005 – San Francisco to see the Giants and Oakland A’s
2011 – Southern California to see L.A. Dodgers, Angels, and
several museums
2012 – Baltimore to see the Orioles at Camden Yards
2013 – Atlanta to see the Braves and several museums
2004, 2014 – Nashville to visit the Grand Ole Opry, Johnny
Cash Museum and a Nashville Sounds Game
2016 – Denver to see the Colorado Rockies
2017 – Houston to see the Astros at Minute Maid Park
2018 – Phoenix to see the Arizona Diamondbacks and several museums.
2019 – Seattle to see the Mariners, Space Needle and other
attraction
Our favorite activity at home which is watching Quiz Shows
on TV.Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune are
our favorites, but we also watch GSN and the Buzzer Network.
I’ll conclude be saying that the Beatles’ music was featured at
our wedding.Karen picked the wedding
song that was Endless Love by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie.
Starting today bowling alleys in NYC can reopen with some restrictions. When I passed by Whitestone Lanes this morning I saw a news van from WNBC-TV that was obviously there to report on the reopening. Whitestone Lanes has been at Linden Place in Flushing at least since the early 1960s since I remember my dad taking my sister and me there to bowl. Over the years many bowling alleys have closed since the sport has lost some popularity. Let me try to remember some bowling alleys of the past.
Queens
Tri-Bowl - this was on 63rd Drive in Rego Park across from P.S. 139. It only had 12 lanes
Hollywood Lanes - this was on 67th Avenue and Queens Blvd. Now Devry College occupies that site
Woodhaven Lanes - It was on Woodhaven Blvd in Forest Hills. I think it had 60 lanes.
Turnpike Lanes - on Union Turnpike near the Queens-Nassau border.
I am sure there are others that I have forgotten.
Brooklyn
Back in the early 1970s, I dated some girls in Brooklyn. Going bowling was an inexpensive date. There were:
Gil Hodges Lanes - I believe it is still there
Mill Basin Lanes - This may still be there under a different name.
There is a very funny story about Mill Basin lanes since my friend Mike from CCNY became engaged there to Heidi. A bowling alley is certainly a very unromantic place to pop the question. I had a joke back then about that incident. Mike popped the question at a spare moment to strike while Heidi was in the right frame of mind. He wanted to get a lot of pin action.
Today, I had a dentist's appointment in my old neighborhood of Rego Park. Since the parking situation is so bad, I take the subway there. The trains were much less crowded than usual. I was careful to keep my distance from people and not to touch any surfaces. The dentist instructed me to wash my hands as I came into her office. I did not observe a message board or an internet radio station on the premises. She had to replace an old filling.
After I arrived home, I decided to go to a fast-food restaurant for lunch. Starting tomorrow restaurants and bars across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut need to close to anything but take-out and delivery business. I could go to a fast-food place and bring the stuff home. The problem is that the fast-food places are about a 10-minute walk from home. In that time, the food would get cold.
So far:
No sporting events
No museums
No libraries
No movies
No restaurants
So What's Next?
I certainly hope the city's parks won't be closed.
