Queens Memory

This May 1966 issue of Queensborough Magazine featured the Annual Building Awards sponsored by the Queens Chamber of Commerce🏆 One of the winners was the iconic "Macy's in the Round," building designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill - now the Queens Place Mall. #QPLArchives #ElmhurstQueens #LefrakCenter

Join us for a community listening party, celebrating the premiere of a new podcast episode - "Rockaway Memories." Through stories from Rockaway residents, the episode explores how water has shaped everyday life, neighborhood history, and community memory across the peninsula. 🌊 The evening will include a behind-the-scenes conversation with podcast producers and participants, a group listening session, and a moderated discussion facilitated with our partner @newyorkseagrant 💫 Light bites + beverages will be provided! We also invite you to bring photographs, documents, or other items connected to life in the Rockaways for a community scanning activity to help preserve local history. Attendees are welcome to digitize personal materials for their own records as well. 📍 Far Rockaway Library @qplnyc 📅 Thursday, May 28 🕠 5:30pm 🎟 Link in bio to register

A preview of, and some history behind @nakazawastudio AR monument and sculpture “Dome Cartographies” This monument extends on Nakazawa’s sculpture of the same name, from her recent installation at Socrates Sculpture Park. This monument is a dome that functions as a space for storytelling, gathering, and diasporic connection in the World’s Borough of Queens. The sculptural dome takes its inspiration from the work of CHARAS, an education-focused group of former Puerto Rican gang members-turned-activists who challenged notions of who New York City was built for. In the 70s, they collaborated with architect Buckminster Fuller to create Geodesic domes as gathering spaces in the abandoned areas of the Lower East Side. Nakazawa’s reinterpretation of the domes are now transported to Jackson Heights, a neighborhood where many of New York’s Latinx populations (Ecuadorian, Colombian, and more!) have made their homes. But this neighborhood is not just a core Latinx neighborhood, but is also a place where different diasporas meet and fuse. Thus, the dome serves as a counter-map to how we see the city. Instead of street names and numbers, we see stories and perseverance. Join us at The World’s Borough Bookshop in Queens to celebrate the monument launch with music, artist conversations, walking tours, ‘zines, and more! 🎉 Dome Cartographies Monument Launch Event 📅 5–7 PM 📍The World’s Borough Bookshop 🔗 Link in bio to RSVP

In honor of our hometown Corona Mets playing the Yanks at Citifield tonight for the subway series, we want to flash back to the last time, our squad played a big game in Queens: Friday, October 18th 2024, NLCs Game 5. The Temptations opened the game by singing the national anthem as well as Francisco Lindor’s walk up song, “My Girl.” Pete Alonso’s also hits his final last playoff home run as a Met at Citifield and the Mets win 12-6. #FlashbackFriday (📸: @stevevazquez.qns )

On June 1, 2019, the Woodhaven Business Improvement District (BID) hosted its first-ever “Weekend Walk” on Jamaica Avenue, in Woodhaven, Queens. It took place that Saturday from 12:00noon until 6:00pm on Jamaica Ave, spanning 85th Street to 89th Street. The event featured music, dancing, and community activities, aiming to encourage walking and local business patronage. #ThrowbackThursday (📸: @stevevazquez.qns ) for the @TimesLedgerNews Saturday June 1st 2019 12:35pm

Folks, there are 40 days left in Spring 2026. Summer is right around the corner. 🙏🏽🙌🏽 #TransformationTuesday ( 📸: @stevevazquez.qns ) for the old @timesledgernews circa 2015

Happy #MothersDay to all #moms, #mother figures, and #caregivers, in #Queens and everywhere! (Black-and-white photos of a mother and son at The Floating Hospital [1937] and the Chan family in #ForestHills [1954] courtesy of the #QPLArchives.) And don't forget — our free #QPLBaby programs are designed to help expecting parents and new families care for their little ones! Use the Linktree in our bio to Learn More.

“The work of a mother is hard, too often unheralded work. Please know that it is worth it then, now, and forever.” Happy Mother’s Day Ladies! We appreciate you 🌹 (📸: @stevevazquez.qns )

Join fellow oral historians, archivists, librarians, and community storytellers for the NYC Neighborhood History Projects Summer Social! This time we’re gathering at Everything Goes Book Cafe on Staten Island for an evening of conversation, connection, and community. Drinks and snacks will be provided. And yes — we’re finally completing our five borough tour with Staten Island! The cafe is walkable from the Staten Island Ferry. Whether you’re organizing oral history projects, preserving community archives, documenting local culture, or simply passionate about place-based storytelling, this is a chance to meet others doing similar work across the five boroughs. 📆 Saturday, May 30 ⏰️ 6 to 8pm ET 📍 Everything Goes Book Cafe 🔗 in bio to RSVP Co-hosted by: @ohassociation @ohma_columbia @city_lore @ohmidatlantic @queensmemory

💫 Featured Oral History of the Month: Ralph McDaniels 🎶 Ralph McDaniels is a DJ and co-creator and host of @videomusicbox - the longest-running music video show in the world. McDaniels was born in Brooklyn and moved to Queens when he was eleven. He attended LaGuardia Community College (@laguardiacc ), simultaneously working as a DJ for the club Encore in Jamaica. After leaving Encore in 1983, he began working in radio and created Studio 31 Dance Party, a television show that would eventually become Video Music Box. Through his work with Video Music Box, McDaniels has directed over four hundred music videos, co-produced feature films and documentaries, and documented and preserved the history and evolution of hip hop. He now works in outreach at @qplnyc as the Hip Hop Coordinator. In this interview with Natalie Milbrodt, McDaniels reflects on the founding and evolution of the Encore club, which opened in 1979 on 89th Avenue and Merrick Boulevard. McDaniels was a DJ at the club and was heavily involved in its operations from its inception, watching it grow from an abandoned building to one of the largest clubs in Queens catering primarily to Black visitors. He describes the inspiration the club took from clubs in Manhattan, the experience of seeing a club built from the ground up, and his observations of the surrounding area, including the Central Library. He explains how as the club became increasingly famous and lucrative, it began to move away from the original vision and the quality of the artists began to decline, leading to McDaniels quitting in 1983 and pursuing a career in radio and television. He shares his impressions of how the club changed after he left: it changed names several times, the clientele and management became increasingly driven by greed, and the surrounding area became increasingly violent. Link in bio to listen to the full interview!

A Queens landmark since 1959, Dani’s House Of Pizza, (named after its founder and original owner Ramzi Dani, an Albanian immigrant) is local pizzeria famous for its signature sweet sauce and pesto slices. Reportedly is was the THIRD Pizzeria to ever open in Queens. #WaybackWednesday #ThrowbackThursday (📸: @stevevazquez.qns ) August 18th 2018.

Preserving Your New York Story: Recording Family Histories With Care Join the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society (@nyfamilyhistory ) and community partner Queens Memory Project @qplnyc for this free in-person event to preserve your own family story. 🗓 Thursday, May 7 | 6 to 7:15pm 📍 Ravenswood Community Learning Center, Long Island City 🎟 Link in bio to register The program will feature two parts: 1. Oral historian, Ambar Wortham (@ithinkthereforeiambar ), will guide participants through the thoughtful and tender process of recording family histories - sharing tips on how to interview loved ones, ask meaningful questions, and build a living archive that honors your family’s story. 2. Take part in a 30-minute digitization session! Bring a folder of family history documents (e.g., birth certificates, family religious records, or photographs), and NYG&B staff will digitally scan these on site. Participants will then receive Dropbox access to their stored digitized records. Questions about digitization? Email [email protected].