Greater Astoria Historical Society

A VIRTUAL TOUR OF ASTORIA! with Kevin Walsh of Forgotten NY
2021-01-28 19:00 UTC
Take a Virtual Astoria Walk with Kevin Walsh
The Webmaster of the Legendary Website ‘Forgotten New York’
(With Assistance from Bob Singleton, Astoria Historical Society)
JANUARY 28 at 7:00 pm
A virtual tour on Zoom.
Please RSVP by 5:30 pm, Monday, 01/28/2021, subject-line “ASTORIAPARK” to info@astorialic.org .
PHOTO:WIKI COMMONS

THE TURNPIKES OF LONG ISLAND CITY!
2021-02-08 19:00 UTC
THE TURNPIKES OF LONG ISLAND CITY!

“Hunter’s Point, Newtown & Flushing Turnpike Road Company” aka Northern Blvd. (1858)
There was a time when it was the whims of nature that dictate our course over terrain – a bubbly brook, the slope of a hill, a thicket of thorns made us pawns of topography. So we invented the turnpike, straight lines across a landscape that saves us time and effort.
February 8 at 7:00 pm
RSVP by 5:30 pm by Monday, 02/08/2021 with the subject-line “TURNPIKE” to info@astorialic.org .

Photo: MITCH WAXMAN

Growing Up Bank Street
2021-03-01 19:00 - 20:00 UTC
‘Growing Up Bank Street’ is an evocative, tender account of life in Greenwich Village, on a unique street that offered warmth, support, and inspiration to an adventurous and openhearted young girl. Bank Street, in the middle of the last century, became home to a cast of extraordinary characters whose stories intertwine in this spirited narrative.
Meet the author and the story behind the book
Details to follow
July, 2021 (Tentative)

12 OF THE MOST INFAMOUS NYC CRIME SCENES!
2021-03-25 19:00 (America/New_York)

Take a Virtual Walk in Bay Ridge with Kevin Walsh
2021-04-01 08:00 - 17:00 UTC
Kevin is Webmaster of the Legendary Website FORGOTTEN NY
A Native-Son Returns Home for a Visit
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn was Forgotten New York’s Kevin Walsh’s home for 35 years, and he still returns now and then because his dentist’s office is there, but also because it’s a beautiful neighborhood home to the Brooklyn end of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, NYC’s only active military fort, historic sites associated with the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and beautiful mansions and panoramic views from its miles of shoreline.
Let Kevin Walsh take you on a 90-minute tour, complete with anecdotes of his years in western Brooklyn.
April 1, 2021
Please RSVP by 5:30 PM on the day of the event (Thursday 04/01/21) with the
“BAYRIDGE’ to info@astorialic.org

Poetry Evening for Seniors with the Queens Poet Laureate!
2021-04-19 18:00 UTC
Each April, National Poetry Month, sponsored by The Academy of American Poets is an opportunity to increase awareness & appreciation of poetry.
Join Greater Astoria Historical Society for its annual “April is National Poetry Month” reading, featuring Queens Poet Laureate Maria Lisella, (Poets of Queens), + poetry open mic.

Join in to listen &/or read your work, or that of a favorite poet! G.A.H.S. Board Member & poet, DeeAnne Gorman, will lead the evening.

RSVP/How to Participate:
1) Program is open to all Seniors over the age of 55.
1) Send an email to dgorman@astorialic.org with “POETRY” in the subject line by 5 pm the day of the event (Monday, April 19).
2) If you wish to read a poem in the open, please indicate that in your response. Length/time allotted/# of poems will depend upon the # of attendees – to be determined that evening.
3) An email with the link to the Zoom event will be sent out in the hour prior to the start time.

FREE but $3 (or MORE!) donation to the Historical Society much appreciated!
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=DNMAJVTLTKFTS

Hope to see/hear you there!

Queens as a crucible of creativity: the World's Boro and Show Biz!
2021-04-26 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
Queens is seldom the first NYC borough most people think of when it comes to show biz glamor, but its sprawling identity is somewhat deceptive.
Queens has been the site of numerous movie studios, dazzling amusement parks, cathedral-like theatres, and two international Worlds Fairs, as well as the home of such giants of 20th-century entertainment as Tony Bennett, Louis Armstrong, the Marx Brothers, Ginger Rogers, WC Fields, Ethel Merman, Don Rickles, and many others.
Join writer and performer Trav S.D. for this fun, free illustrated talk on Queens as a crucible of creativity.

April 26, 2020
PLEASE RSVP WITH THIS LINK!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/queens-as-a-crucible-of-creativity-the-worlds-boro-and-show-biz-tickets-151676168503

Local-Express

Janes Walk - LIC Cradle of Creativity
2021-05-03 08:00 - 2021-05-09 17:00 UTC
The Time Traveler’s Trip: Postcards from Old Astoria!
Ava Vitelli, Jade Oliver, Board Members, GAHS
Wednesday, May 6, 2021 @ 6:00 PM
https://www.mas.org/events/the-time-travelers-trip-postcards-from-old-astoria/
* * *
Long Island City: Cradle of Creativity!
Bob Singleton, Executive Director, GAHS
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 @ 6:00 PM
https://www.mas.org/events/long-island-city-cradle-of-creativity

Long Island Migrant Labor
2021-05-03 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
Long Island Migrant Labor Camps

The fascinating story of the migrant labor camps in Suffolk County from their inception during World War II, through their heyday in 1960, and culminating with their steady decline towards the end of the 20th century. Mark A. Torres, the author of this book, is a labor and employment attorney who tirelessly represents thousands of unionized workers and their families throughout the greater New York area.
To register for this virtual event:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/long-island-migrant-labor-camps-dust-for-blood-tickets-152583379997

MAKING MOVIE MAGIC – GREAT GATSBY!
2021-05-12 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
“The Great Gatsby” BazMark Productions (2015)
1920 Virtual Walking Tour of New York City
Director Baz Lurhman faced a daunting task in 2013 when he decided to do a remake of F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. This was made possible from research compiled by the Greater Astoria Historical Society that Baz and his crew dubbed ‘The Bible.’ It enabled Baz to create a vision of 1920s New York earning him several Academy Awards.
Meet Jay Gatsby and the gang. Bob Singleton invites you to step into their world for a virtual walking tour.
May 12 at 7:00 pm
Make your reservation here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/myevent?eid=151731361587

Forgotten Queens Part 1
2021-06-07 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
FORGOTTEN QUEENS – PART 1!

115th Avenue and 148th Street, Jamaica, NY (c. 1930)

Take a virtual walk back in time through the borough of Queens and explore the streets of long ago.
Part 1: Long Island City and Town of Jamaica
June 7 at 7:00 pm

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forgotten-queens-tickets-155728990603

Sunnyside Gardens - by Dr. Jeffrey Kroessler
2021-06-09 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
Sunnyside Gardens by Jeff Kroessler!

The first book devoted to this landmark
of architecture, urban planning, and social engineering.
Situated in the borough of Queens, New York, Sunnyside Gardens has been an icon of urbanism and planning since its inception in the 1920s. Sunnyside Gardens nevertheless endures as significant both in terms of the planning principles that inspired its creators and in its subsequent history.
Why this garden suburb was built and how it has fared over its first century is at the heart of Sunnyside Gardens.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sunnyside-gardens-planning-and-preservation-in-a-historic-garden-suburb-tickets-156597646777
Jeffrey Kroessler is a Professor at the Lloyd Sealy Library, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, and author of The Greater New York Sports Chronology; New York, Year by Year: A Chronology of the Great Metropolis; Historic Preservation in Queens; and other works.
Signed copies available at the Astoria Bookshop!

LIC ART HUNT!
2021-06-14 08:00 - 2021-06-21 17:00 UTC
DISCOVER THE PUBLIC ARTWORK OF LIC!
A Self-Guided Scavenger Hunt! Win Prizes! Have Fun! Discover LIC!
Here is a link to the Scavenger Hunt

June 14 to June 27, 2021
LIC Partnership’s “LIC Springs to Summer!”

More info here:

Inside the Steinway Mansion a Virtual Tour
2021-07-27 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
Inside the Steinway Mansion a Virtual Tour

Walk through the rooms and halls of the famed Steinway Mansion.
Experience the interior of this landmarked home and see what it looked like for many years.
To get a ticket for the event click here

Growing Up Bank Street a Book Discussion
2021-08-04 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
Growing Up Bank Street a Book Discussion

Donna Florio’s fierce love letter to a quintessential city street and the characters who lived, laughed, cried, and sometimes died there.

Bank Street is at once ordinary and an extraordinary panorama of America.
As the only child of a family that worked in the opera, Bank Street in the 1960s was Florio’s playground, its residents her extended family. Neighbors ran the gamut from painters, social activists, writers, longshoremen, actors, postmen, musicians, trust-fund bohemians, and office workers.
Bank Street had a charm and diversity that attracted people like the urbanist Jane Jacobs (who lived around the corner from Bank Street on Hudson Street) and famous residents like John Lennon, Yoko Ono, John Cage, and Merce Cunningham.
It was home to famous eccentrics like Marion Tanner – the model for Auntie Mame – activists like Bella Abzug and society figures like Jack Heineman Jr.
This is a rare opportunity to hear and ask questions of someone who had a stoop side seat to one of the most fascinating blocks in the most extraordinary city in the world.
Click here to get a ticket for the event

South Street Seaport
2021-08-12 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
South Street Seaport
A virtual walking tour of the South St. Seaport with Forgotten NY’s Kevin Walsh

Stroll the streets of the South St Seaport where the Fulton Fish Market once stood. Pass by the sites of the olds restaurants such as Sweet’s and Sloppy Louie’s Restaurants (the old Paris Bar and Grill at South Street and Peck Slip which lasted until 2020,and the grande dame of NYC restaurants, the Bridge Café at Water and Dover Streets, dating back to 1794, until 2012). You won’t experience the neighborhood’s former signature fishy aroma but you will learn a bit of history.
Click here to get a ticket for the event

LIC Gantry Lecture
2021-08-18 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
LIC Gantry Lecture
The Backstory of the Long Island City Gantries with Bob Singleton, Exec Dir Greater Astoria Historical Society

Before the Hell Gate Bridge opened in 1917, New York’s topography, which gave it extraordinary water access, also made Long Island (including Queens and Brooklyn) inaccessible to the national rail grid.
Join Bob Singleton for the story of Long Island City’s gantries with lift bridges, which accepted cargo-laden rail cars that were shuttled around New York’s harbor and waterways on car floats, and knit the harbor’s rail network together.
Click here to get a ticket for the event

City Island
2021-09-09 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
City Island
City Island is chock full of antique shops, art galleries, and seafood restaurants, most of them arrayed along City Island Avenue.

Located on a spit of an island in Eastchester Bay in the extreme northeast Bronx, City Island is a transplanted New England fishing village seemingly beamed into the New York Metropolitan area. City Island was privately owned, first by the Pell family and then by the Palmer family, from 1654 until it became a part of the town of Pelham, in Westchester County, in 1819. The island became a part of New York City in 1895. City Island Avenue is a street grid is arranged much like a fish skeleton, with City Island Avenue the spine and the 24 streets intersecting it as the bones, making exploration on foot easy.

Click here to get a ticket for the event

Historic Houses of Queens
2021-09-13 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
Historic Houses of Queens
Queens, New York, boasts a rich history that includes dozens of poorly publicized but historically impressive houses.

A mix of farmsteads, mansions, seaside escapes, and architecturally significant community dwellings, these homes were owned by America’s forefathers, nouveau riche industrialists, Wall Street tycoons, and prominent African American entertainers from the Jazz Age. Rufus King, a senator and the youngest signer of the US Constitution, operated a large family farm in Jamaica, while piano manufacturer extraordinaire William Steinway lived in a 27-room, granite and bluestone Italianate villa in Astoria. Local musicians include Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald, and Lena Horne. Through more than 200 photographs, Historic Houses of Queens explores the borough’s most notable residences—their architecture, owners, surrounding neighborhoods, peculiarities, and even their fates as some vanished due to financial problems or fires.
Click here to get a ticket for the event

Open House NY - A Virtural Tour of the Steinway Mansion
2021-10-17 11:00 - 12:00 UTC
Open House NY – A Virtural Tour of the Steinway Mansion
Home to renowned piano manufacturer William Steinway and his family, this grand Italianate villa overlooking Bowery Bay was the center of a thriving model community and commercial district and the birthplace of urban development ideas that influence the city today.

Home to renowned piano manufacturer William Steinway and his family, this grand Italianate villa overlooking Bowery Bay was the center of a thriving model community and commercial district and the birthplace of urban development ideas that influence the city today.
Steinway moved his piano factory to Queens from Manhattan in 1870 and built a town for local workers, including an amusement park, a library (which became the Queens Public Library), and electrified trolley lines (which formed the basis for the MTA’s bus lines). Steinway headed the commission that planned the NYC subway in the 1890s, and through his Steinway Hall, a premier concert venue helped establish musical education standards for conservatories around the world. The mansion was one of the first buildings designated as a landmark following the passage of NYC’s landmarks law in 1966.
On this virtual tour, see the mansion’s interior rooms and dramatic halls, and learn about its past and future.
The tour will be led by Bob Singleton, Executive Director of the Greater Astoria Historial Society, see bio below.
BIO
Bob Singleton is the Executive Director of the Greater Astoria Historical Society which covers Long Island City, New York’s third city.
For more information go to Open House New York’s

Click here to join the event

Civil Rights on Long Island
2021-10-18 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
Civil Rights on Long Island
Long Island has been in the corridors of almost all major turning points of American history, but Long Island has been overlooked as a battleground of the civil rights movement.

Christopher Verga is a local historian and American history lecturer at Suffolk County Community College. Christopher utilized images from local historical societies, private collections, and the African American Museum of Nassau County to create a narrative of civil rights challenges and triumphs. These photographed defining moments have become a testament to the future of an increasingly diverse suburb.
Since early colonization by the English settlers in the 17th century, the shadow of slavery has bequeathed a racial caste system that has directly or indirectly been enforced. During World War II, every member of society was asked to participate in ending tyranny within European and Asian borders. Homeward-bound black soldiers expected a societal change in race relations; instead, they found the same racial barriers they experienced prior to the war. They were refused homes in developments such as Levittown, denied mortgages, and had their children face limited educational opportunities. Collective efforts from organizations such as Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) employed civil disobedience as a tactic to fracture racial barriers.
Click here to get a ticket for the event

A Halloween Tour of the Cemetary Belt
2021-10-25 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
A Halloween Tour of the Cemetary Belt

Only the brave should join us on a virtual tour of the Queens Cemetery Belt.

Thomas Wolfe wrote, “Only the Dead Know Brooklyn,” but he must not have spent much time in Queens. This tour will take you to the Cemetery Belt – the great burial grounds of more than five million people, including everyone from Mae West to confederate soldiers.

We’ll also visit Machpelah Cemetery, the final resting place (or is it?) of Harry Houdini, do some spelunking to get into Bayside’s old Lawrence Cemetery, see the acid-washed faces of the angels of Calvary Cemetery, and visit Louis Armstrong at Flushing Cemetery.

The tour will be led by Heather Quinlan, board member of the Greater Astoria Historical Society, who is currently directing the documentary “This Is a Cemetery,” about a paved-over cemetery in Staten Island.

Click here to attend the event

Prospect Park with Forgotten NY
2021-11-11 18:30 - 21:00 UTC
Prospect Park with Forgotten NY
Prospect Park is hardly Forgotten:
millions use it to relax, play ball, stroll, take in the sun.
But there are plenty of nooks and crannies in the park that is unknown to all but the connoisseurs.

Come with Kevin Walsh and Forgotten NY in association with the Greater Astoria Historical Society which answers questions few have raised such as:
What does the Maryland Monument commemorate?
Where is New York City’s only public compost toilet?
What is a camera obscura and what building in the park has a direct connection to the Gowanus Canal?
Find out these and other fun park facts on Thursday, November 11 at 7 PM!
Click here to get a ticket for the Event!

All the Queens Houses: the highly idiosyncratic housing styles of Queens
2021-11-17 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
The highly idiosyncratic housing styles of Queens!
The borough of Queens has long been celebrated as the melting pot of America. Over a million foreign-born residents call it home, yet its houses are relatively unknown. This first comprehensive publication features over two-hundred images of highly idiosyncratic residential structures that characterize the global building aesthetic of Queens.
Between 2013 and 2020, Spanish-born architect and artist Rafael Herrin-Ferri made these buildings the subject of a seven-year block-by-block photo survey project.
Frontal, New Objective-style house portraits are accompanied by interpretive texts revealing a colorful history of alterations and architectural references, while full-page detail shots and street perspectives reflect the “World’s Borough” from a personal and pedestrian point of view.
Hosted by: Steve Vazquez, founder of Queenscapes – Trustee Astoria Historical Society
Click Here to get a ticket for the event!

An Evening with Tom Wilk - Master Beekeeper
2021-12-13 19:00 - 20:30 (Asia/Kolkata)
Greater Astoria Historical Society Holiday Party
Please join us for our annual
‘Tis the Season’
Virtual Holiday Party
for fun and good conversation
Special Guest: Tom Wilk Founder of Wilk Apiaries
Founder of the Queens Beekeepers Guild to help beekeepers in Queens
Certified Master Beekeeper: Cornell University’s Dyce Labs for Honey Bee Studies.
Long Island/New York City region director for the Empire State Honey Producers Association
Manager of 9 Apiaries – 49 Hives – in Queens, Nassau, Ulster, and Orange Counties.

LIC ROOTS COMMUNITY GARDEN
Also Special Guests:
Musical Holiday Performance by
Natalia “Saw Lady” Paruz
A reading about a man with a beard…..
who could that be???????
Anyone who donates at least $25 during the program will be entered into a raffle for a jar of
‘Astoria Honey’ or ‘Long Island City Honey’ from Wilk Apiaries and
a Musical CD from ‘The Saw Lady.
Register here

Walk Through Ravenswood (Astoria, Qns.)
2022-01-24 19:00 - 21:00 UTC
Walk Through Ravenswood w/ FNY & GAHS

12th Street looking north between 37th and 36th Avenues (c. 1910)
There are many layers of Ravenswood …
… a past community of mansions, industry, and waterfront parks.
Join Kevin Walsh of Forgotten NY as he peels back the layers
of this old village in Long Island City.
Bob Singleton of the Greater Astoria Historical Society
joins him to discuss historical elements of the area.
Monday, Jan. 24, Start time: 7 PM !
Fee: only $5.00 !
(Free for GAHS members, using promo code emailed to you)
To register for the event (via Eventbrite) Tap on this link to open registration form !
Ravenswood Tour with F NY & GAHS!

Forgotten NY - Black History Month with Sergey Kadinsky
2022-02-23 19:00 - 20:30 UTC | Greater Astoria Historical Society
Black History Month with Forgotten NY

Weeksville Brooklyn
There is much to see of Black History …
. . .
… but streets, parks, and buildings that are renamed for deserving individuals they often lack signage –
and their stories remain all but unknown.
This lecture embraces a Forgotten-NY goal:
Bring Gotham’s hidden Black History back into the public’s eye!
. . .
Join Historian Sergey Kadinsky as he shares his work and research.
(Sergey is adjunct history professor at Touro College,
and a contributing writer at Forgotten-NY for more than a decade.)
. . .
Wednesday, Feb. 23, Start time: 7 PM !
Fee: $10.00
(Free for GAHS members, using promo code emailed to you)
To register for the event (via Eventbrite) Tap on this link to open registration form !
Black History Month with Forgotten NY!

The 113th Anniversary of the Opening of the Queensboro Bridge
2022-03-30 19:00 - 20:00 UTC
Virtual Lecture – Wednesday, March 30th at 7 PM

View of Bridge Construction from Blackwells (Roosevelt) Island
Opened in 1909, the Queensboro Bridge is the longest bridge spanning the East River.
The Queensboro Bridge documents the creation of this cultural icon and its contributions to the history of New York.
With Bob Singleton, Executive Director of GAHS
Wednesday, March 30, Start time: 7 PM !
Fee: $5.00
(Free for GAHS members, using promo code emailed to you)
To register for the event (via Eventbrite) Tap on this link to open registration form !
The 113th Anniversay of the Queensboro Bridge!

GREATER ASTORIA HISTORICAL 6TH ANNUAL POETRY READING!
2022-04-25 16:30 - 19:00 UTC
“April is National Poerty Month”
MONDAY APRIL 25 @ 6:30 PM!

Join us for our virtual reading, featuring
Maria Lisella, Olena Jennings & Ama Birch!
+ a poetry open mic!!
To Register to Attend: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/314975228387
If you wish to read in the open mic portion Please register for the event using the link above AND …
Send a separate email to dgorman@astorialic.org with “POETRY” in the subject line
by 4:30pm the day of the event (Monday, April 25).
* * *
How many attend/sign up will determine how long each open mic reader gets,
but plan on at least one poem of reasonable length!
The event is FREE …
… but a $4 donation is suggested – or whatever you might be able to give – to the Society’s continued programming …
… would be much appreciated! 😊
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=DNMAJVTLTKFTS

PLEASE JOIN US TO HELP THE PEOPLE OF WAR TORN UKRAINE!
2022-05-03 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
“Little Ukraine” Virtual Tour + UKRAINE fundraiser

We are partnering with the New York City Tour Guide Slava Shpigel for a virtual tour of the Ukrainian Village in Lower Manhattan
PLEASE NOTE:
All donations (what you wish) from this event will go to Razom for Ukraine (https://razomforukraine.org/ ),
an organization delivering tactical medical items and hospital supplies to Ukraine during this devastating war.

TUESDAY MAY 3, 2022
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
TO REGISTER FOR THE EVENT:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-fund-raiser-for-ukraine-tickets-328392489777?fbclid=IwAR0eEA1C-b170eq8KI7ySXz7BcOonteliJxQ1xfK7Zlk_-IbGtwU_OmS8zg
