By J. DAVIS

We bought our big house in Broadway Flushing, Queens for $25,000 on the GI Bill in 1955.

It had a center hall, fireplace, den, three floors and a basement, a two-car garage, a huge kitchen and pantry as well as landscaping with trees and a rose garden on the largest plot in the neighborhood-a radical change from our apartment in Manhattan. Flushing was the real "Burbs" to this Manhattanite whose only previous exposure to Queens was attending the first (1939) World’s Fair and use of Idlewild (now JFK) airport.

In 1955, Flushing homes like this one exemplified life in suburbia. Photo By KHO

It (1955) was still a time when women dressed complete with hat, white gloves and heels to go shopping downtown at Gertz. At that time, ladies would do lunch at the dining room in Gertz where I had my first potent "Long Island Tea" or meet for a snack or a soda at the lunch counter in Woolworths at the corner of Roosevelt and Main (now an unoccupied building). I really miss the attentive service and elegant products of the large department stores as well as the large variety of useful items available at the former "five and dime" stores.

Then (1955-1965) was also an era when you knew your mail man. (Remember twice-a-day delivery?). Ours, Bob, was a gem! The children growing up on our block loved to accompany him- the larger ones pushing his cart and the little ones trying on his cap. I even bought an expensive mailbox because "it went well with the house".

We shopped locally at Murray’s on Northern Blvd. (now a Korean restaurant) where we bought our girl/boy scout outfits and christening/confirmation/Bar-Bat Mitzvah outfits. Our children could safely walk to the local movie house on Northern Blvd. where the Saturday matinee was always suitable for them. (This movie house was converted later into The Quad which closed in 1999.) We also went to the Prospect on Main Street in Flushing; right next door to Jahn’s- an old fashioned ice cream parlor where the children always enjoyed free ice cream on their birthdays.

Yes, our neighborhood had a real drugstore complete with large red and blue apothecary glass bottles in the front window. The pharmacist knew everyone and in case of midnight emergencies, he could be reached at home and he would deliver the necessary medication himself. Health plan membership, credit cards and available cash were not an issue- we had a charge account with him.

Many of the neighborhood children attended a local Catholic school. One day a group of them approached my young daughter (having just learned that her father was a Jew) wanting to know why she didn’t wear a Yarmulkah. She asked me what to tell them so I suggested she point out 1) girls don’t wear Yarmulkah and 2) she was Episcopalian. She in return was to inquire why the Catholic Pope wore a Yarmulkah? That must have raised some interesting dinner discussion in the neighborhood.

When my two children attended the local public school (PS 32Q), it was a shock to find how many facilities it lacked. There was no auditorium, no gym and no lunch room. But the worst problem was books or the lack there of! There were not enough to go around at grade level. This prompted me to join the PTA where I fought a lot of battles including those about fluoridation of water, book banning, teacher strikes, etc. and worked with a number of parents dedicated to education and other community-minded people such as Donald Manes and Murray Bergtraum and Seymour Boyers as well as local educators.

In the late 50s, I joined the fight against overcrowding in schools and for the need of a new wing on PS 32Q and for a new Junior High School. This continued through the late 60s when, representing the PTA at a public meeting, I pointed out that my son was "not a potted petunia so should not have to perch on his math class’ window sill due to overcrowding". I carried on this fight as a member of the Board of the National Congress of PTAs. Unfortunately, nothing was done in time to benefit my children and we are still in an overcrowded situation.

Busing was introduced and our school became a host. The children who came from Jamaica varied in age and were dispersed into different grades. Remember, ours was a neighborhood school with no cafeteria so most students went home for lunch. The bused children ate their brown-bag lunch in the small Audio-Visual room which was actually too small for a grade level meeting. After classes, the bused children were taken back to their homes which, unfortunately, prevented them from participating in any after-school activities. Even when we had whole-class birthday parties, none of the bused children were able to attend. Sadly, interactive socialization was completely missing.

After serving on three PTAs and on the Board of the National Congress of PTAs, I went to work at the Long Island Press (established in 1821), one of the foremost daily newspapers (home subscription of 440,000) and among the top 10 leading papers in the United States. To this day, I still meet former delivery boys of "The Press". I ran the messenger desk, was publication coordinator and wrote travel, fashion and social items. But the most demanding job of all was making he daily layout when the Production Manager was ill or on vacation. Working for a daily is a real education. You learn to be time conscious, always meet deadlines and do whatever is necessary to get the job done. Although the Jamaica, Queens-based Newhouse paper shut down in 1977 after 157 years of publication, it is still remembered by we who served and by those we served.