Tag: Queens

The General Slocum Memorial

Located in Middle Village, Queens, the General Slocum Disaster happened in 1904 in one of the worst disasters in USA history. One thousand and twenty one people lost their lives that day, mostly all women and children.

The PS General Slocum was a sidewheel passenger steamboat built in Brooklyn, New York, in 1891. During her service history, she was involved in a number of mishaps, including multiple groundings and collisions.

On June 15, 1904, General Slocum caught fire and sank in the East River of New York City. At the time of the accident, she was on a chartered run carrying members of St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (German Americans from Little Germany, Manhattan) to a church picnic. An estimated 1,021 of the 1,342 people on board died. The General Slocum disaster was the New York area’s worst disaster in terms of loss of life until the September 11, 2001 attacks. It is the worst maritime disaster in the city’s history, and the second worst maritime disaster on United States waterways. The events surrounding the General Slocum fire have been explored in a number of books, plays, and movies.

Click the play button in the middle of the image below to watch the video.

The Anthony J. Venditti Memorial

My story today is about NYPD Detective Anthony J. Venditti and his encounter with the Genovese organized crime family.

On the fateful evening of January 21, 1986, Detective Venditti entered Castillo’s diner which was in Ridgewood, Queens, whilst on a mission to surveil members of the Genovese family.

Assigned to the case alongside his temporary partner, Detective Venditti, a seasoned 14-year veteran of the NYPD, trailed Federico “Fritzy” Giovanelli, a member of the Genovese crime family, as part of an ongoing illegal gambling investigation. The pursuit brought them to a location near Myrtle and St. Nicholas avenues in Ridgewood, Queens.

Upon entering the diner, Detective Venditti emerged moments later, only to be confronted by members of the Genovese organized crime family. The mobsters shoved him against a wall, prompting Detective Burke to intervene. Her warning, however, was met with gunfire as the suspects pulled out their weapons.

Detective Venditti, struck four times, twice in the head and twice in the back, succumbed to his injuries, while Burke, critically wounded, managed to recover. The tragedy marked the end of a remarkable career, earning Venditti posthumously the NYPD Medal of Honor, the highest tribute bestowed upon an officer.

The Ramones Ramp

Today I visit Forest Hills in Queens for a look at The Ramones Ramp. All four original members of the band would hang out here in the 1970s and they all went to school just up the road at Forest Hills High School. It might be a stretch to call the place the ‘Birthplace’ of punk, what with earlier pioneering bands such as Television, MC5 and The Stooges, but The Ramones certainly brought their own style to the punk scene and can definitely be considered pioneers as well.

Top 25 New York City #shorts Videos

Over on my Youtube channel I have created a playlist of my top 25 #shorts videos from NYC. Many of the top shorts feature either the NYPD or the FDNY. If you start the video the top 25 should start playing in their ranking order. The majority of my videos are filmed in Ridgewood, Maspeth and Bushwick.

In Flanders Fields Audio Recording

A while back I made my own recording of In Flanders Fields by John McCrae. Youtube #shorts videos run for a minute or less and I was just about able to squeeze the poem into 59 seconds. This is one of my better recordings.

The clip above was extracted from my narrated story on the Remsen Family cemetery in Rego Park, Queens.

Be sure to check out all of my New York stories on my YOUTUBE CHANNEL.

NYC Now and Then – Ridgewood Queens

Today I am sharing a video that I took along Metropolitan Ave in Ridgewood, Queens. The purpose of the video is to show you how Metropolitan Ave looks today, compared to what it looked like in 1940. Fortunately I was able to find images of every story along Metropolitan from 1940 in a two block radius.

Be sure to check out my YOUTUBE CHANNEL for all of my hundreds of uploads.

The Origins Of Scrabble

Back with a story today about the history of Scrabble in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York. Join me as I lead you through the origins of the board game Scrabble, how it was developed and where it was originally played. We are at the Community United Methodist Church which is where the inventor of the game, Alfred Mosher Butts, first tested out his invention and where through trial and error the game was developed. The church is located in the neighborhood of Jackson Heights, Queens, New York.

Little India in Jackson Heights

Today I am in Little India New York in Jackson Heights, Queens. This was an area that I used to visit weekly back in the 1990s but I haven’t been back there in over 20 years now. In little India you can get an array of beautiful foods, all cooked authentically which differs from Little India in Manhattan, where they cook the food for a Western audience.

ECW Elks Lodge – The Madhouse of Extreme

The NYC History video today is at the Elks Lodge in Queens where ECW held their wrestling shows at the Madhouse of Extreme. This is more of a personal story rather than an out and out NYC history video, when I used to come to the Elks Lodge in the 1990s to watch ECW Wrestling. There are a couple of other items in the video, the Boca Juniors football themed restaurant and the First Presbyterian Church.

The Betts Family Cemetery

The Betts Family cemetery located in Maspeth, Queens, dates all the way back to 1713, when the patriarch of the family, Capt. Richard Betts

The Betts Family cemetery located in Maspeth, Queens, dates all the way 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.