MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2020 – THE BOROUGH OF COMING AND GOING
FIVE BOROUGHS IN FIVE DAYS
QUEENS
Monday, June 15, 2020
Our 79th Issue
ARRIVING AT JFK IN THE YEARS GONE BY IT WAS AND ADVENTURE
TO GO THE THE AIRPORT.
WHEN YOU MET AN INTERNATIONAL VISITOR AT THE ARRIVALS HALL, YOU COULD WATCH THEM GO THRU CUSTOMS INSPECTION IN THE HALL BELOW. LIFE WAS DIFFERENT IN THE 1970’S AND 1980’S. EVENTUALLY THE WINDOWS WERE BLOCKED OFF AND SECURITY TIGHTENED,
AFTER BEING RE-NAMED JFK, THE AIRPORT WAS MODERNIZED INCLUDING VAST NEW TERMINALS AND EVEN THREE CHAPELS AS A CENTERPIECE. ALL OF THESE AMENITIES VANISHED TO PARKING LOTS, AIRTRAIN LINES, LARGER LOADING AREAS AND MORE UTILITARIAN ARCHITECTURE. THE AMERICAN AND PAN AM TERMINALS VANISHED. LUCKILY ONE SURVIVED.
THE SAARINAN DESIGNED TERMINAL WAS A STANDOUT FROM THE BEGINNING. IT MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN THE MOST EFFICIENT FOR PEOPLE MOVING BUT THE EXPERIENCE WAS GREAT.
ONE FUN THING TO DO WHEN THE WORLD RE-OPENS IS TO TAKE THE AIR-TRAIN FROM JAMAICA TO THE TWA HOTEL. IT IS A GREAT RESTORATION. THERE IS A CONSTELLATION OUTSIDE WITH A LOUNGE. YOU CAN WATCH THE PLANES ON THE RUNWAY FROM THE ROOFTOP POOL.
MONDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
Identify and locate this.
Send your answer to jbird134@aol.com
Win a trinket from the RIHS kiosk.
WEEKEND MYSTERY PHOTO OF THE DAY
The Willis Avenue Bridge passing under the Queensboro Bridge to its new home on the Harlem River.
EDITORIAL
I am working on East 75th Street at Early Voting this week*. Walking in Manhattan is an odd feeling. Big name stores, Bloomingdale’s is still closed and the windows are boarded up. Most restaurants are closed though some have take-out.
We are being kept safe. We want normal.
We want our throbbing, noisy , tumultuous city back…soon
Judith Berdy
* For some reason they moved Roosevelt Island early voting to Brookdale Center on East 26th Street. We will be at PS 217 on the 23rd for the Democratic Primary.
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky
for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All materials in this publication are copyrighted (c)
IMAGES FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK (C)
FUNDING BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDING
Copyright © 2020 Roosevelt Island Historical Society, All rights reserved.Our mailing address is:
rooseveltislandhistory@gmail.com
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