Thursday, July 29, 2010
1969 Parade Main Street Flushing NY
This shocking video, no, not video, this shocking film was shot three months after I got married, about four miles to the North.
The "Peace on Earth" float was a nice touch, the Vietnam War still had a lot of wind in its sails. It just all looks so forever ago. Well, not all of it, the go-go dancers are very Quentin Tarrentino.
I managed to live in nearby College Point for twenty-seven years and I never even knew there was such a thing as the Flushing Thanksgiving Day Parade.
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14 comments:
Really shocking. It looks so...dated. And that we lived near that shithole so long is even more shocking!
Same here Fred, I never knew there was a Flushing parade...it was overshadowed by the famous Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which you could watch live on TV...And who was gonna go to a town with the improbable name of "Flushing"??... what were the town's founder's thinking??
-E
Near as I can tell, Flushing is an English translation of Vliesingen (sic?), a mid-sized coastal city in Holland. Flushing started life as a Dutch "fishing village."
On the 'Tube, I enjoyed the transition of Flushing from virtually all White (in this film) to virtually all Asian (now). That's New York! Someday it'll be all Martian. Peoples come and they move on, but New York remains the greatest city in America.
You obviously haven't lived in New York city in a long time. It's disgusting, dystopian, and there is a look of permanent desperation in everyone's eyes. The good people moved out long ago, you and me included.
Like they say, a nice place to visit, but you REALLY wouldn't want to live there anymore.
My last visit was in 1997, and I didn't get around much. But as my sainted mother used to say: "where is it any better?" (My response at the time was, "lot's of places that I've been!")
Fred,
You are absolutely correct in where the name Flushing comes from. I was listening to WNYC last week and the Queens historian gave the exact origin as yours. White locals still in College Point now call it Floo-shing. Nice trip down memory lane though. From Roosevelt Ave to just about where Gertz was, was shoe story alley. Saw most of em' in the video. Nice post.
Wow, that was a blast. Where the heck did you get that one from? I, also, never knew Flushing had a parade. My Mom never mentioned that one in any of her childhood stories. Loved the stores - gone!
I just typed "Flushing" in the YouTube and scrolled in the results a little bit. I remember most of the stores, and a lot of the prices. It all seems amazing now.
I remember spending what seemed liked hours looking in the window of the Flagg Bros Shoe Store, trying to decide whether to buy the $8.88 pair or the $10.88 pair of black square-toed, Cuban-heel shoes.
-E
Flagg Bros got Cuban heeled shoes in '60 or '61. Before that you had to buy a pair of oxfords and have the shoe maker put on the Cuban heels. Bit spenders could go to Regal or Florsheim and get a pair of 'gators for $29.98. It all sounds like bargains, but the minimum wage only netted $40 a week or so. (Speaking of prices, remember the Rolex Oysters at Greenwald's for $200?)
I had my first pair of Cuban heeled shoes in 1964. Loved those shoes. It was right when we moved from the NYC area to central PA. You would've thought that I had just dropped out of a spaceship with the looks I got. Then the Beatles, Yardbirds, Stones, Who, etc. came over and the rest is history.
Harrisburg! I remember our first visit. We played miniature golf, and when the guy heard that we were from New York he asked me what I thought of Harrisburg. I told him it was a "nice little place." "Little!" he said, "there's 350,000 people in Harrisburg!" He swallowed his gum when I told him there were 8,000,000 people in New York.
That's too funny. I remember your visiting. I actually have some slides of 35 mm photos from one of your visits. That was a haul from College Point. One of my favorite memories/stories involves my Dad barbecuing in the dead of winter, standing outside with his trusty Manhattan and Pall Malls. The neighbors thought we were nuts.
They loved their barbecue. Remember my dad setting up under the open garage door in the rain? Wearing shorts and smoking a cigar?
Doesn't get any better than that. He loved to barbecue as well. I loved the smell of your Dad's cigars. Good memories.
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