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Queens Tribune.com

QUEENS FAME

Adrien Brody

Our Biggest Names

Queens has a lot of great aspects that can put other cities to shame, but one thing that may be quite overlooked is the quality of our celebrity icons. We’re not talking simply about the degree of fame of our superstar actors, musicians, and industry moguls – but we’re also talking about the personal quality of our stars.

 

You won’t find our homegrown superstars jumping around on couches, screaming ethnic slurs after driving around while intoxicated, or taking part in raunchy videos. Our stars are more focused on raking in the Oscars, propelling multi-million dollar businesses, and sucking up the attention of a celeb-hungry society. Above all else, however, they’re making Queens proud.

• Donald Trump
• Adrien Brody
• Madonna
• Christopher Walken
• LL Cool J

WITH MIGHTY PENS

We here at the Tribune know the importance of someone with a talent of the written word. We have had a vast number of reporters and editors come through this office with a great deal of skill, and many have gone on to do great things in the world of journalism and politics.

In fact, possibly the most famous author from the Queens area got his start right here with the Trib. Former editor Mitch Albom has evolved into one of today’s most popular and versatile authors with best selling books like “Tuesdays with Morrie” and “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” and other high-profile sports writing jobs.

LL Cool J

However, Mitch is not the only special author to come out of the borough and leave his literary mark on the world. Check out these accomplished authors:

Jimmy Breslin – Born and bred in Forest Hills, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Commentary in 1986, he has written columns for 40 years in various New York City newspapers and is the author of “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight,” “I Want to Thank My Brain for Remembering Me” and other works.

Art Buchwald –Author, columnist, dramatist, and journalist, his work includes books like, “The Establishment is Alive and Well in Washington,” and “While Reagan Slept.” He grew up in Hollis and attended Jamaica High School and Forest Hills High School.

Judith Caseley – The author of children’s books, including, “Bully,” and “Slumber Party,” lived in Forest Hills.

Jean Fiedler – author of a variety of fiction and non-fiction books for children and young people including, “The Year The World Was Out Of Step With Jancy Fried” and “Be Smart About Sex” once lived in Bayside.

Douglas Florian - Acclaimed author and illustrator of more than 30 children’s books, he won the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award and received an ALA Notable Children’ Book Award for his book, “Beast Feast.” He attended Queens College.

Jack Kerouac – The voice of the Beat Generation lived in a small Ozone Park apartment at 94-10 Cross Bay Blvd. It was while living with his mother at 94-21 134 th St. in Richmond Hill, that he wrote his most famous work, “On The Road.”

Joe Klein – The Queens-born senior writer for Time magazine gained national recognition as the anonymous author of “Primary Colors,” a thinly veiled novel based on Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign. Klein initially denied he was the author, even after a literary detective fingered him as the penman.

Walt Whitman - The “Good Gray Poet” taught school in Queens for many years. He is credited with introducing a less structured, more evocative style of poetry. His most famous work, “Blades of Grass,” is considered the starting point of modern poetry.

 

LAUGHING BEST

If laughter is truly the best medicine, then no one in Queens should ever get sick. Out of the high school hallways and busy streets of the most diverse borough have come some of the funniest men to ever walk onto a standup stage or star in films.

Jerry Seinfeld

Now, we’ve got lots of wisenheimers and jokesters all around the borough, but we think we’ve narrowed it down to a strong list of the most well-known funnymen. It all starts with arguably the founder of movie comedy, Charlie Chaplin, who lived a short time in Kew Gardens.

Following Chaplin, there have been a great number of standup gems, some of an older generation, and some who are still tickling bellies today. Here’s who we’ve got on our laugh list.

• John Leguizamo
• Ray Romano
• Rodney Dangerfield
• Don Rickles
• Charlie Chaplin
• Sid Caesar
• Jerry Seinfeld

 

WHAT A SIGHT (SITE)!

To reach Landmark status in this city, some say, is quite difficult if you come from the east side of the East River. Queens districts and structures are slighted, some say, while other borough seem to be replete with them.

Whatever the criteria, the New York City Landmarks Commission has, over the years, selected several area and structures in Queens to be deserving of Landmark status – making them just slightly more famous than their counterparts across town- or across the street.

Landmarks:

• 35-34 Bell Blvd – Cobblestone House
• Astoria Park & Pool
• Engine 258 – 10-40 47th Ave.
• Fitzgerald/Ginsberg Mansion – 145-15 Bayside Ave.
• Newtown High School 48-01 90th St.
• Ralph Bunche House – 115-24 Grosvenor Rd.
• Richmond Hill Republican Club – 86-15 Lefferts Blvd.
• The Unisphere

Historic Districts:

• Douglaston
• Douglaston Hill
• Fort Totten
• Hunters Point
• Jackson Heights
• Stockholm Street

ON THE SILVER SCREEN

Queens has been the location of a great deal of movie magnificence through the years. Al Pacino has raced down the streets with a gun chasing criminals. A giant ape touched down in Astoria in 1976. Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall worked at a fictitious restaurant on Queens Boulevard.

There have been a great number of excellent films to shoot memorable scenes here in the borough. With expansions to Silvercup Studios on the horizon and recent legislation by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to encourage filming in New York City, there is likely to be a whole lot more to be captured on the movie lens in Queens. Here are a slew of great films that have put Queens on the map.

The Godafther

• Goodfellas
• Serpico
• King Kong
• Spider-Man
• Coming to America
• Men In Black
• 25th Hour

Queens Logic

Denzel Washington portrayed Malcolm X in the bio pic filmed in Queens.

Though Queens has a rich history on the Silver Screen, some lesser known classics (and lesser movies, too) have made their way to the silver screen thanks to Queens backdrops.

• The Flamingo Kid (Adventurer’s Inn)
• Shaft (College Point)
• Analyze This (Elmhurst)
• Small Time Crooks (Flushing Meadows)
• The Royal Tenenbaums (Forest Hills)
• Romance & Cigarettes (Jackson Heights)
• Cadillac Man (Long Island City)
• Malcolm X (Ridgewood)
• Raising Helen (Sunnyside)
• Nighthawks (Woodside)

 

The sporting news

Athletes are not only defined by their talent and skills, but also by their personalities. Queens has harbored not only some of the greatest sports talents of all time, but also some of the most outspoken, vigilant, and pioneering figures that have ever made their mark in sports.

Each particular sport has a number of talents that we could have chosen from, but we decided to pick a few from each particular game who grew to be as big or even bigger than the sports in which they played. Some are outright loudmouths and some have gotten themselves into quite a bit of trouble during their day. No one, however, can deny their contributions.

Willie Mays is considered by many to be one of the best baseball players ever.

Of course, few have had the impact on their sport that Jackie Robinson had on baseball. The former St. Albans resident broke through color barriers and opened the door for African American players in Major League Baseball. In fact, Robinson’s baseball legacy was so profound that a horde of politicians, journalists, and baseball aficionados are pushing to have the New York Mets’ new stadium named after him.

• Tommy Agee
• Ron Artest
• Bob Beamon
• Gentleman Jim Corbett
• Bob Cousy
• Gertrude Ederle
• John Franco
• Joe Louis
• John McEnroe
• Willie Mays
• Omar Minaya
• Jackie Robinson
• Jayson Williams

Some Last Forever: Although the landing from Bob Beamon’s record-breaking jump at the 1968 Olympics looks, when frozen for a split second in time, kinda ridiculous, it is an Olympic record never broken. The Queens native leapt and absurd 29 feet, 2-1/2 inches – a full 17-3/4-inch longer than the previous record holder. Though his world record was broken 23 years later, the Olympic record remains untouched.