Queens Historical Society Set to Unveil New Exhibit on Being Raised in Borough by Nicholas Hirshon - NY Daily News

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Marisa L. Berman (l.), Executive Director of the Queens Historical Society, and Danielle L. Hilkin, the museum's Outreach Coordinator, pose with some artifacts that they plan to use in an exhibit.

Stern faces outnumber smiles in the black-and-white photo of first-graders from a Queens public school in 1893 - when Grover Cleveland was President and financial fears rattled the United States.

Surely, the formative years of those children were shaped by the teachers and classmates they first met in Queens.

But did their home borough serve as merely the background of their upbringing or did it truly influence their lives?

The image raises many questions that will be explored in May when the Queens Historical Society in Flushing unveils a new exhibit on being raised in the borough.

"We want to show how growing up in Queens is unique from any other borough," said Marisa Berman, the society's executive director.

When asked how a Queens childhood is unique, though, she paused. Finally, she answered with a laugh, "We're going to find out."

Her hesitation stems in part from the society's ongoing efforts to obtain artifacts from residents who grew up in the borough.

The exhibit will carry items from the museum collection, but also depend on loaned and donated objects.

Defining a Queens childhood also is tricky because opinions vary about what - if anything - distinguishes being reared in Queens from elsewhere in the city.

Of course, the fondest memories of many Queens residents - like a favorite cartoon or playing with a Barbie or GI Joe - mirror those of Americans across the nation.

Within New York City, children of all boroughs experience the same rites of passage - that first field trip to the Bronx Zoo, or the first time their parents let them ride the subway alone.

But Berman identified memories that define a Queens youth more distinctly, such as roaming the World's Fair in 1939 or 1964, or rooting for the Mets.

Queens College graduate student Natalie Milbrodt, who has interviewed many longtime residents for a project to record their memories of Queens, said she was startled at the rate at which neighborhoods change.

That means the hangouts of one's youth - like bowling alleys, movie theaters, pizzerias and ice cream parlors - may not be around a generation later.

Indeed, residents often say they associate more with their neighborhood than their borough. In the Rockaways, for example, youngsters spend countless days on the beach.

"Every kid learned how to swim," said Catherine Gifford, 81, who grew up in Belle Harbor. "It was just a given."

Gifford, who now lives in Jamaica, has agreed to loan the society the white veil she wore for her First Communion at St. Francis de Sales Church in the mid-1930s. She also has pledged a century-old christening dress.

Gifford's treasures will join the mementos of others who grew up in Queens. Potential donors and lenders can call the society at (718) 939-0647, ext. 17.

The mix will also include society gems, such as a certificate awarded in 1874 to a student at Flushing Public School for "regular and punctual attendance and deportment and faithful study." Good deportment means good manners.

The artifacts combine to document the borough through the eyes of many boys and girls.

"I loved growing up in Queens," said Nilda Tirado, 67, who was raised in Woodside, Astoria and Flushing.

"Even though we didn't have very much, we were able to have a safe place to live. That was most important."

Historians Lobby for State Signage to Recognize Revolutionary War General Nathaniel Woodhull by Nicholas Hirshon - NY Daily News

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The cannon at Nathaniel Woodhull School (PS 35) in Hollis is the only marker of death of the Revolutionary War general Nathaniel Woodhull. Historians are lobbying for official state signage.

Exactly 234 years ago this month, a Revolutionary War general died from wounds incurred during a defiant showdown with the British - a gripping tale of patriotism that began in Queens.

But the spot where Nathaniel Woodhull was mortally wounded in 1776 does not bear tribute to the first high-ranking colonial officer to become a prisoner of war and die in enemy captivity.

"It needs to be preserved as a reminder of his sacrifice," said John Mauk Hilliard, president of the city chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. "We need these things to draw us together."

A few weeks ago, Daily News reader Lavington Charles suggested the spot where Woodhull was fatally injured - at 196th St. and Jamaica Ave. in Hollis - as part of the Queens Heritage Quest series.

Now in its fourth installment, the series profiles places that preservationists feel deserve recognition from Borough Hall - such as signage or historic trails linked by brochures or podcasts.

A state historical marker citing Woodhull's capture once stood at the corner. But the sign broke about a decade ago and has since been stored at the Queens Historical Society in Flushing.

Queens' new borough historian, Jack Eichenbaum, did not rule out his support for historical signage. But he also suggested an iPhone application to link notable Hollis sites or Queens places relating to the American Revolution.

Locals agreed on paying tribute to Woodhull.

"What happened to him is a lesson for every one of us," said Bob Singleton, president of the Greater Astoria Historical Society. "That dream that Woodhull stood for is alive and well whenever I walk around Queens."

Woodhull, president of the Provincial Congress of New York, was assigned to steer cattle east to Long Island - and away from the British - when he stopped at a tavern in Queens on Aug. 28, 1776.

From there, the narrative gets sketchy.

Tradition describes a dramatic scene during which Woodhull encountered British forces and soon surrendered his sword. An officer then ordered Woodhull to proclaim, "God save the king."

"God save us all!" Woodhull responded. The officer, sometimes identified as Capt. James Baird, slashed Woodhull with a saber - delivering multiple blows that led to his death in captivity about a month later on Sept. 20.

But a different story emerged in 1951 when The New York Times ran a front-page article in which researcher W.H.W. Sabine doubted the compelling exchange.

Sabine cited a dusty scrapbook with Woodhull's own account of the capture - apparently given to a lieutenant who was with him in a prison camp when he died.

Woodhull supposedly said that he surrendered his sword to - and was then struck by - an American Tory, loyal to the British, named Capt. Oliver DeLancey.

Whether Woodhull was fatally struck while defending himself or after surrendering also became a point of contention. Experts even question his memorable quote.

Regardless of the circumstances, historians insist that Woodhull's death helped define a crucial period around the time of the famous Battle of Long Island.

His agonizing demise - and the apparent refusal by the British to allow medical care - reminded colonists of the brutality of their rivals.

"The fact that he died as a British prisoner, no matter how that happened, was an important one," said Brooklyn College Prof. Edwin Burrows, the author of the 2008 book "Forgotten Patriots," about early American POWs.

An Interview with Queens Borough Historian Jack Eichbaum - A Passion For All Things Queens - WNYC

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They give lectures and tours and help New Yorkers learn about their neighborhoods. Their positions are mandated by state law...but they don't make a penny for the job. They're the five city historians, one for each borough. This summer, we'll be meeting them and finding out some of the secret knowledge about their respective 'hoods.

Queens Borough Historian Jack Eichenbaum is the new kid on the block. He got his job in June, promising not to hide behind books.

In the Flushing apartment he's lived in for decades, Eichenbaum looks tan and fit in a t-shirt, royal blue track shorts and running shoes. He's lived nearly all of his 67 years in Queens -- a place he believes is still undervalued by the rest of the city.

The people who act like Manhattan is the center of the known universe? Don't even get him started.

"I found too many people who were interesting people who would never come here," he says "'Why would I ever want to go there? To their crowded apartments, and their overpriced restaurants and their dirty air.'"

He isn't always this feisty, but he's a man on a mission.

That's why Queens Borough President Helen Marshall selected Eichembaum, a retired city assessor with a Ph.D. in geography, over six other candidates.

She says his passion for all things Queens is one of the qualities that make him the right man for the job. His predecessor, Stanley  Cogan, held the position for 11 years before stepping down earlier this year because of health problems.

Eichenbaum says the thing that most easily dazzles people about his borough is the rich diversity layered throughout the different neighborhoods.

"I mean people still wearing some version of clothing that looks different, smells that are different, music is blaring out of the shops -- and, you know, it’s all right out there."

He notes that Queens hasn't always been this diverse. One of the defining moments for the borough was the changing of the immigration laws beginning in the late '60s. The other was when the Queensborough Bridge and the No. 7 and N trains opened, transforming the mostly rural area into an urban spot in the early part of the 20th century. Although for some, the neighborhoods are still more relevant than the borough.
 

QUEENS BY THE NUMBERS

Population: 2,306,712

Area: 109.24 square miles (largest of any borough)

Number of languages spoken: About 170

Median household income: $55,599

Percent of population below poverty level: 12.3%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

"When I was growing up, we lived in Bayside," Eichenbaum says. "We never said we live in Queens. The fact that people live in Queens is a relatively late 20th century idea.
 Most people lived and grew up, from my era, in neighborhoods of Queens -- and you still write, neighborhood addresses say Bayside, NY; Jamaica, NY; Ozone Park, NY."

Guiding people through those neighborhoods is something he's been doing since the '80s -- and he'll continue to push an educational agenda via walking tours. One thing that often surprises visitors about Flushing is how green it is. Eichenbaum is even on a first name basis with one of the epic trees that line Bowne Street, calling it “Big Mama.”

Further along, there are more landmarks with roots.

"This is Weeping Beech Park," he says. "It’s named for a weeping beech tree planted by of one of the most famous nurserymen, Samuel Bowne Parsons."

His tour is peppered with offbeat facts and trivia.

Scrabble, for example, was invented in Jackson Heights by a man named Alfred Butts. "He invented the game and his wife tested it and they refined it I think in the '30s and '40s," Eichenbaum says.

Eichenbaum happens to a champion Scrabble player himself and has trophies from tournaments he's competed in from Boston to the Dead Sea.

He fondly reminisces about one of his of his most memorable moves, when he spelled out the word "syzygy," which employs 3 Y's and a Z.

What does the word mean? “It has something to do with eclipses or some kind of astronomical movements between bodies when certain alignments," he says, before admitting, "I don’t know exactly.”

What he does know is that he's the guy to school New Yorkers about a borough they still know too little about. That means you, Manhattan.

This week, the borough historian will be answering the burning questions you have about Queens. Follow the link below to post yours.

Ask the Queens historian your Queens questions...

Author Jeffrey Kroessler Rips Into Ex-rival, Borough Historian Jack Eichenbaum for Being Passive by Nicholas Hirshon - NY Daily News

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This grudge isn't history.

A runner-up for Queens borough historian has ripped into the eventual pick, Jack Eichenbaum, as "sadly misinformed" with a "profound ignorance" of efforts to save significant sites.

Author Jeffrey Kroessler posted the critical comments online in response to a recent Daily News article in which Eichenbaum said he'd rather be an educator than fight to landmark buildings.

"Sadly, Mr. Eichenbaum is poised to continue the ineffective pattern set by his predecessors," Kroessler wrote on the blog of the Historic Districts Council.

Eichenbaum responded in a statement that he has a "more inclusive" approach to the job than Kroessler, adding that he wants to emphasize Queens' ethnic diversity and environmental issues.

Some chalked up Kroessler's harsh words to sour grapes over losing out on the post.

But the Internet ire highlights a debate on what role the unpaid borough historian should play in protecting structures in danger of renovations or destruction.

Some preservationists, including Simeon Bankoff of the Historic Districts Council, said Eichenbaum's words do not mesh with the attitude they hoped for from Borough Hall.

On the other hand, Manhattan Borough Historian Michael Miscione noted that Eichenbaum is wise not to be entangled in time-consuming landmarking efforts.

Kroessler's post, titled "No, I am NOT the Borough Historian," notes that despite his multiple books and research, he was not selected for the gig.

Kroessler writes that he's "disturbed" that Eichenbaum, a Flushing tour guide and board member of the Queens Historical Society, "wants to take the history out of historic preservation."

Queens Borough President Helen Marshall announced at a June 8 news conference that Eichenbaum, 67, had been picked as the next borough historian. Eichenbaum had been selected after he, Kroessler and several others were interviewed by a four-member ad hoc committee of archivists and historians.

After Eichenbaum won the position, he invited Kroessler to an October conference he is organizing to foster interaction between the borough's historical groups. Kroessler says he isn't sure he'll attend.

"It's not even July yet," he said. "October is a long time away."

After Queens Historian Nancy Cataldi's Death, Her Classic Home Undergoes Makeover, Irking Residents by Nicholas Hirshon - NY Daily News

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This Richmond Hill house, which was home of late Queens historian Nancy Cataldi and carried unofficial 'Queensmark' (below) is being renovated because of damage, new owners say. Photos by: Theodorakis/News

Even a historic preservationist's home is not immune to the ravages of time and an impulse for the new.

Two years after Queens historian Nancy Cataldi died, the Victorian home that she lovingly restored has been drastically altered - its signature porch and stained glass windows removed.

The prominent Richmond Hill house was rotting so extensively due to an infestation by carpenter ants that the new owners said they had to replace key elements.

Locals sympathize with the incoming residents. But they also blame the city Landmarks Preservation Commission for not protecting Cataldi's home long ago as part of a historic district.

"We're losing too much," said Carl Ballenas, who co-authored a Richmond Hill history book with Cataldi in 2002. "We would have had this solved 10 years ago if we had a historic district."

A Landmarks Preservation Commission spokeswoman responded that even landmarked structures are routinely changed with the agency's approval.

The home was built on Washington Ave. in 1905 by noted architect Henry Haugaard for his brother John and sister-in-law Margaret, according to the book written by Ballenas and Cataldi.

Haugaard's design incorporated several columns, dormers with "temple-like" pediments and fluted corner pilasters, the book says.

The new homeowner, Donna Harricharan, defended her family's decision to renovate - citing an outdated kitchen and decaying walls that had to be fixed before they moved in.

Harricharan, 37, also said her clan couldn't afford to restore the facade in period style.

"If somebody wanted to just keep it as a museum, they should have done that," she said.

In 1996, the Queens Historical Society honored the stately home with a "Queensmark" plaque - short for Queens landmark - for historical and architectural merit.

But Queensmarks carry only honorific, not protective, status.

Cataldi, the longtime president of the Richmond Hill Historical Society, wanted her home also designated a city landmark - perhaps as part of a Richmond Hill historic district - to prevent major alterations or demolition.

But the Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected the district proposal in 2001 - declining to protect Cataldi's tree-lined block, now co-named 109th St. and Nancy Cataldi Way.

The commission's chairman, Robert Tierney, told the Richmond Hill Historical Society in 2008 that the commission was upholding its decision.

"They collectively saw fit to foot-drag and stonewall with this as the indirect result," said Ivan Mrakovcic, chairman of Community Board 9.

Cataldi lived in the house for 14 years, painting the exterior white with green trim and repairing the porch, Ballenas said.

"I'm very sad to see what's happening," he said. "It's just horrible."

Meet & Greet, Ferret Out Facts, Cheerlead for Love of It by Nicholas Hirshon - NY Daily News

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RESCUE HISTORIC buildings from demolition. Uncover long-lost facts. Captivate tourists through lectures and tours.

Just don't expect a paycheck.

The role of borough historian doesn't come with a salary - but it's a bully pulpit from which many have documented and saved underappreciated sites.

"Queens isn't going to slide into Long Island Sound if there's no borough historian, but it's a nice resource," said Michael Miscione, Manhattan's official historian.

Miscione, who serves on the committee to pick Queens' new representative, defined the job as a mix of booster and activist.

"It's a labor of love," added Brooklyn borough historian Ron Schweiger, who often fields media queries concerning the Brooklyn Bridge and the Dodgers.

Queens' last historian, Stanley Cogan, recently stepped down due to health reasons after a decade-long run in which he often criticized over-development and testified at landmarking hearings.

He also entertained reporters with his memorable refrain that "Queens is Landmarks' stepchild and a developer's paradise."

But members of the selection committee for the next borough historian stressed the ability not only to accommodate the press, but also stick with the gig.

"We want someone who's going to be there for the long haul," said committee member Marisa Berman, executive director of the Queens Historical Society.

Also on the committee is Judith Todman of the Queens Library, who said she hoped the new borough historian would produce pamphlets about neighborhoods' legacies.

"We have so much history in this borough - and a lot of people don't know the fine points of it," Todman said.

Historic Choice - 3 Vying for Job of Boro Expert by Nicholas Hirshon - NY Daily News

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THE SEARCH for Queens' next borough historian centers on three seasoned experts with markedly different backgrounds - and no clear front-runner as a June selection deadline approaches, sources said.

A college librarian, an "urban explorer," and a curiosity-hunting Webmaster occupy the short list to become the borough's next advocate for historic preservation and research, insiders said.

The sources asked to remain anonymous because the office of Borough President Helen Marshall, which formed a committee to review candidates, has refused to reveal the applicants' names.

Marshall is expected to announce her pick in June.

Perhaps the most intriguing option is author Kevin Walsh, who documents unusual New York curios - such as faded ads on buildings - at Forgotten-NY.com.

Walsh, 52, who also runs guided tours for the Newtown Historical Society, said he feels qualified because running the site has led him "down many roads of hitherto unremarked-on Queens locales."

If the committee seeks a more academic option, however, a pair of contenders with doctorates may rise above Walsh, who holds a bachelor's degree in sociology.

Jack Eichenbaum, a retired city assessor who grew up in Bayside and has lived in Flushing for decades, explained his unusual "urban explorer" tag.

"That's what geographers do," said Eichenbaum, 67, who has a doctorate in urban geography. "We explore, we try to find things that nobody has unearthed for a while."

A third top competitor, Jeffrey Kroessler, who has a doctorate in history, is an author and archivist at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He did not return messages seeking comment.

Three other applicants - described as younger and lesser-known in Queens history circles - submitted résumés but are not likely finalists, sources said.

Interestingly, several prominent experts did not apply.

Preservationists long predicted that Jim Driscoll, president of the Queens Historical Society, might assume the post - but he is recovering from an illness suffered last year.

Another veteran advocate, Jeff Gottlieb of the Central Queens Historical Association, said he did not apply due to a possible conflict of interest with his gig as a state senator's aide.

Members of the selection committee described the ideal candidate as a "people person" with experience, passion and time to devote to the unsalaried position.

"We're not going to get somebody who has everything," admitted committee member Richard Lieberman, the director of the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives.

Historic Sites to Get Setting They Deserve by John Lauinger - NY Daily News

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THE BOWNE House and the Kingsland House - two of the city's oldest homes - are crammed into opposite ends of a Flushing park as if they wouldn't fit anywhere else.

The historical importance of the Colonial-era relics is obscured by a hodgepodge of playgrounds and an asphalt walkway that serves as a shortcut from Parsons Blvd. west to the No. 7 train.

"People walk through here and don't recognize what they are seeing," Marisa Berman, executive director of the Queens Historical Society, said last week.

Parks Department planners have devised a new master plan to revitalize Weeping Beech Park, built by Robert Moses in the 1960s and later expanded.

"There is too much asphalt, not enough green and nothing respecting the history of the site," said Kevin Quinn, who heads Queens capital projects for the Parks Department.

The first phase of that plan is to start in January, Quinn told Community Board 7 late last month. Funded with $850,000 from Borough President Helen Marshall and Mayor Bloomberg, it will replace a now-defunct wading pool with playground equipment, a spray shower for kids and plantings.

The rest of the plan is far more ambitious, but it can't become reality unless it gets a $5 million cash infusion from elected officials in coming years.

Plans call for ways to remember the land's history as the birthplace of religious freedom in America and, later, as a prominent nursery owned by the Parsons family.

Landscaped areas will be expanded around the Bowne House, which is original to the site, and the Kingsland House, which was moved to the area in the 1960s and now houses the Queens Historical Society.

"That will give the houses more breathing space," Quinn said.

The centerpiece of the long-term plan is a design that would unearth the long lost Fox Lane, which once ran just north of the Bowne House, roughly where the concrete walkway is today. It was named after Quaker founder George Fox, who preached in the late 1600s under two large oak trees on the Bowne farm. The road was later used by the Parsons family to display plants grown in their nursery.

"This is where some of the first exotic trees were grown in the nation, so we want to respect that history," Quinn said, noting the area will be recreated as a leafy pathway.

A tai chi space will also be added that will double as an outdoor classroom - a feature that embraces the Quaker tradition of outdoor meetings.

Berman and Community Board 7 District Manager Marilyn Bitterman said the plans will give the two homes their due.

"They should have an appropriate surrounding to depict the history of the area," Bitterman said.

jlauinger@nydailynews.com

Preservationists Push for Ozone Park Site Where Jack Kerouac Planned 'On the Road' to Be Landmark by Nicholas Hirshon - NY Daily News

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The Queens Historical Society will run a guided trolley trek past seven sites, including Kerouac's Cross Bay Blvd. apartment, on Sunday. Above, the apartment where Kerouac lived for 6 years. Ward for News

Preservationists are capitalizing on a tour of endangered Queens historic sites - inspired by a Daily News series - to push for landmarking of the Ozone Park walkup where Jack Kerouac planned his iconic 1957 novel "On the Road."

The Queens Historical Society will run a guided trolley trek past seven sites, including Kerouac's Cross Bay Blvd. apartment, on Sunday. The tour will be followed by an hour-long talk about the voice of the Beat Generation.

On display at the society's Flushing base at 143-35 37th Ave. - where the tour will depart at 1 p.m. - are rare artifacts and photos relating to Kerouac, alongside parts of The News' "History in Peril" series, which ran last year.

Kerouac scholar Patrick Fenton, who will lecture Sunday about how the author's work was shaped by living in Ozone Park during the 1940s, slammed the city for not landmarking the site.

"They don't really know the history of Jack Kerouac in Queens," said Fenton, 68. "If they knew it, I think they'd run to his house to put a plaque up."

Fenton accused the city of anti-Queens bias by recently landmarking the childhood home of novelist Henry Miller as part of a historic district in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, before designating Kerouac's apartment.

Miller lived in the three-story brick building for less than a decade in the 1890s, leaving years before penning his signature works, "The Tropic of Cancer" and "The Tropic of Capricorn."

Kerouac, meanwhile, planned one of the most famous road trips in literary history at his mom's walkup in Ozone Park - and embarked on it from there in 1947.

Marisa Berman, the historical society's executive director, said the full slate of "History in Peril" tour stops merit landmarking "if a site with such a small connection to [Miller] is eligible."

A spokeswoman for the city Landmarks Preservation Commission - which is reviewing the Kerouac walkup - insisted the 29 rowhouses that compose the Williamsburg district were designated for architectural reasons.

"It most likely would have been included even if Henry Miller hadn't lived there," said spokeswoman Lisi de Bourbon.

Only five city landmarks were recognized solely for cultural significance - the designation that seems most fitting for the Kerouac home.

To get tickets for the tour, call the Queens Historical Society at (718) 939-0647.

nhirshon@nydailynews.com

Saving Boro's 7 Wonders: Landmark Effort to Preserve News' 'History in Peril' Sites by Nicholas Hirshon - NY Daily News

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A Flushing museum is unveiling an exhibit and launching a series of tours and lectures on Sunday to push the city to landmark significant Queens sites profiled last year in the Daily News' History in Peril series.

The display at the Queens Historical Society at 143-35 37th Ave. will serve as the starting point for a 1 p.m. bus ride past seven structures from the series, followed by a cautionary tale about two lost icons from the 1939 World's Fair.

None of the seven structures - such as the former homes of writer Jack Kerouac, baseball icon Jackie Robinson and Malcolm X - have been designated landmarks, leaving them at risk of major alterations or even demolition.

"It's bringing to light a lot of places that have either been forgotten or people didn't know existed," said Danielle Hilkin, the society's outreach coordinator.

Lisi de Bourbon, a spokeswoman for the city Landmarks Preservation Commission, promised to alert the panel's 11 members about the exhibit, tours and lectures.

The exhibit, which will run through September. will be accompanied by three tours, held the last Sundays of April, May and June.

The post-tour talk on May 31 will focus on Kerouac, who lived in Ozone Park in the 1940s, while the June 28 edition will highlight Woodhaven Lanes, a shuttered bowling alley in Glendale.

The exhibit features rare memorabilia like a bookshelf from a library where Kerouac planned his "On the Road" trip.

Also on display will be mementos from the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs, both held in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

The 1939 collection includes pins depicting the iconic 610-foot-tall Trylon and 180-foot-wide Perisphere - which were demolished after the fair closed and will be the focus of Sunday's lecture by historian Pierre Montiel.

"People should realize Queens has a history," Montiel said. "If you keep tearing it all down, you won't really have a history."

The most prominent remaining structure from the 1939 fair is the New York City Building - also not landmarked - an early headquarters for the United Nations.

Other tour sites include the Ridgewood Theatre, which opened in 1916 and was the nation's longest continuously operating movie house until it closed in March 2008.

To RSVP for the tours, call the Queens Historical Society at (718) 939-0647, extension 17.

Following Kerouac's Road in Queens by Dennis Hamill - NY Daily News

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For decades, Pat Fenton has tried to put Jack Kerouac back on the road.

And now with an assist from the Queens Historical Society there will be a stop at Kerouac's former Ozone Park home as part of a historic spring trolley tour through Queens with other stops at the wedding site of W.E.B. DuBois in Addisleigh Park, Jackie Robinson's home also in Addisleigh Park, Malcolm X's home in East Elmhurst, the Woodhaven bowling lanes and more. Those tours will roll once a month beginning in March, running through May.

The stop at the former home of Kerouac, arguably the most celebrated writer to ever live and work in Queens, is due in large part to the tenacity of Kerouac aficionado Fenton, a retired Queens court officer, freelance journalist and playwright who meets me on the corner of 133rd St. and Cross Bay Blvd. in front of Glen Patrick's Pub and points to The Little House of Flowers across eight lanes of traffic.

"Kerouac was a soda jerk in that store in the '40s when it was a pharmacy," says Fenton. "His parents moved down from Lowell, Mass., looking for factory work, when he was 21 and just out of the Navy. He moved into their apartment upstairs. Jack used to drink in this bar, when it was called McNulty's, with Neal Cassady, novelist William Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg, the beat poet who called Kerouac 'The Wizard of Ozone Park.'"

Fenton leads the way across Cross Bay Blvd. to the entrance to Kerouac's first New York home at 94-10 133rd Ave., on the first leg of a personal tour of not just this historic site but Jack Kerouac's Queens.

"Kerouac lived here from 1943 to 1949, and wrote his first book, 'The Town and the City,' here," says Fenton, who penned "Jack's Last Call: Say Goodbye to Kerouac," a terrific play that's been staged in Lowell and Boston, and on Long Island. It has been broadcast as a radio play on more than 50 public radio stations across America.

It begs for an Off-Broadway production.

Fenton points to the ghostly outline of a missing plaque on the wall.

"In 1996 I finally convinced the Historical Landmark Preservation Center to put a plaque on the wall of this building where Kerouac began writing 'On the Road,' the seminal novel of the Beat Generation," says Fenton.

The plaque was stolen last year.

"We're discussing replacing the missing plaque at Kerouac's Ozone Park residence with one of our historical Queensmarks," says Marisa Berman of the Queens Historical Society.

"For years I urged the previous Queens borough president's people to set plaques into the sidewalks outside Kerouac's two Queens homes, the basketball court where he often played, and the library where he researched 'On the Road,'" says Fenton. "Their response was that they didn't want to memorialize a drunk."

Fenton guides me down Cross Bay Blvd., pointing to the A train rumbling out of the Rockaway Blvd. stop. "Kerouac started his journey for 'On the Road' from this subway station," says Fenton. "He took the train toward Manhattan, somehow wound up in Bear Mountain, before returning to Port Authority and catching a bus to Chicago [on his way to Denver] to meet Neal Cassady."

We proceed to 95-16 101st Ave., once a library where "old silver-rimmed" librarians helped Kerouac map out his famous cross-country trek. Today, a Hispanic woman answers the door of Grace Evangelical Ministries. Asked if she knew that Jack Kerouac mined for literary gold inside, she said she never heard of him.

"There should be a plaque in the sidewalk outside," says Fenton. "It's amazing to me that a literary giant helped create a masterpiece here and that people walk by without ever knowing."

Soon, we are strolling across the deserted basketball courts of Phil Rizzuto Park in Richmond Hill. "Cassady and Kerouac used to play pick-up basketball games here all the time when it was still called Smokey Oval Park," says Fenton. "It's sad to me that we recognize a sports legend like Rizzuto but not a literary legend from the neighborhood."

After Kerouac's father died, he and his mother moved from Ozone Park to Richmond Hill. "Kerouac lived, wrote, played and drank in Richmond Hill for five years," says Fenton.

His address was 94-21 134th St., today a two-family house fortified with steel gates. "Kerouac rented this house from 1950 to 1955, and wrote 'Maggie Cassidy,' 'The Subterraneans' and 'Book of Dreams' here," says Fenton.

"Students come around asking about him," says the wary owner, after confronting strangers outside his house. "I guess he was famous but I never read him."

After "On the Road" was published in 1957, Kerouac moved to Northport, L.I., where he lived from 1958-64. "He hated the celebrity," Fenton says. "So he went out to live with the clam-diggers."

Kerouac died in St. Petersburg, Fla., in 1969.

"But his most prolific years as a writer were in Queens," says Fenton. "So I'm glad the Queens Historical Society plans to stop at Kerouac's Ozone Park home on their trolley tour. But I think the city should also embed plaques on a Jack Kerouac Literary Trail in the forgotten footsteps that this literary giant left in Queens."

Great idea.

dhamill@nydailynews.com

Fighting to Keep Builder Off Colonial Graves at Brinckerhoff Cemetery by Nicholas Hirshon - NY Daily News

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A Florida man who owns a weed-strewn Colonial-era cemetery in Queens wants a judge to declare the graveyard abandoned - and let a developer build houses where Dutch settlers buried their dead.

A lawyer for Ralph DeDomenico contended the bodies interred at Brinckerhoff Cemetery in Fresh Meadows disintegrated long ago - and dared the city to exhume them to prove him wrong.

DeDomenico, 59, wants to sell a developer the irregularly shaped 85-by-110-foot swath of land for the construction of two homes.

State law forbids building on a cemetery.

"Why can't you get it in your head? This ain't a cemetery anymore," argued Gerald Chiariello, DeDomenico's Forest Hills-based lawyer. "It's a dump."

Not everyone agrees.

Lawyer Paul Kerson, representing the Queens Historical Society and a local civic association, has written to Chiariello threatening "appropriate legal action" if anyone builds on the 182nd St. plots.

Kerson's letter also noted that the city put the cemetery under consideration as a potential landmark in 2000, outlawing construction through the designation process.

Lisi de Bourbon, a spokeswoman for the city Landmarks Preservation Commission, confirmed the graveyard is still on the commission's calendar, but legal issues have hampered action.

"This is our heritage. This is the history of New York, which is being ignored," Kerson said.

Jim Driscoll, the historical society's president, doubted Chiariello's claims that the remains were hopelessly decayed.

"That's what they always say, 'It's all dust by now.' I don't know if that's true," Driscoll said, arguing the property may still contain remains of 77 pioneers buried in the cemetery between 1736 and 1872.

Hank Gottlieb, 87, who has lived across the street from the graveyard for 42 years and acts as an unofficial caretaker, also wondered how anyone could "un-cemetery a cemetery."

DeDomenico's father, Joseph, bought the land at city auctions - one plot in 1957 and the adjoining one in 1960 - with the hope of selling to a developer, Chiariello said.

Only later did he discover it was a cemetery and construction wasn't allowed.

The Queens Historical Society sued Joseph DeDomenico and the city in 1999, arguing the land should never have been put up for auction.

A judge advised the sides to settle out of court. DeDomenico offered to sell to the historical society for $100,000, but society leaders couldn't raise the cash.

Photo above - Jim Driscoll (l.), Queens Historical Society president, and lawyer Paul Kerson, who represents the society, in front of Brinckerhoff Cemetery. Credit - Farriella for News