Greater Astoria Historical Society

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

South Street Seaport
2021-08-12 19:00 - 20:30
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

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

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

LIC ART HUNT!
2021-06-14 08:00 - 2021-06-21 17:00
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:

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

Forgotten Queens Part 1
2021-06-07 19:00 - 20:30
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

MAKING MOVIE MAGIC – GREAT GATSBY!
2021-05-12 19:00 - 20:30
“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

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