In the series ... "I REMEMBER THE ROCKAWAYS"... Stevie S. Stevens writes about
"The Arcade Building"

Central Avenue in the winter of 1959 - the building shown on the west side (left side) is the way I remember the Arcade Building from the time I first saw it back in year 1950. Photo credit: Far Rockaway High School Alumni Association website

By the year 1975, W. T. Grant and Company was in financial ruin -- "run into the ground" by well-meaning but foolish top-brass executives who considered their small company to be in competition with the mammoth "Sear's" chain. They added their own line of large appliances (Bradford) and set up a service division . They established an in-house credit card company (unsecured -- bad debts bankrupted the company) and yet when all else failed, instead of "pulling back and regrouping" the company expanded ever outward with the ridiculous concept of the enormous Grant City stores which sold everything from paper clips to car tires. By 1978 the company was out of business.

About that same year (1978) Manhattan (Asian) interests began purchasing real estate in Far Rockaway. The owners of the Arcade Building had placed it (along with several other properties) into receivership (back taxes?) and the property was finally sold off. With the loss of its largest fixed rental income (Grants) and the demise of the quality main street commercial vendors -- like many of the other buildings on Central Avenue, the Arcade Building became a financial albatross. Shortly into ttie mid 1970s, the proprietors of the comer drugstore (Lowe's) decided to "call it quits" and close up shop. By that time, most of the other tenants in the Arcade Building had also vacated. The rental agents for the property leased out the desirable corner store (once a drugstore) as a restaurant. New operators called the eatery the "PinkPoodle" Within six months, the City Health Department closed the place down due to excessive violations. Shortly thereafter, the place reopened under the name "Le Nook" -- why waste good letters? Just take down the old sign and rearrange a few of the original letters! Obviously, the same operators, obviously the same results. It took the city only four months to close down the second operation. The store would never be rented again!

The bowling alley was the last to go! -- perhaps rightfully so, for it had been the largest and the first tenant some fifty years prior. By 1979, all of the second floor offices were un-rented (or leased out on a month-to-month basis). Some storekeepers (such as Colony Card Shop} were given "their marching orders." By that time, most of the other storefronts were vacant and not rentable. Stores along the Central Avenue strip were closing down on a regular basis. Even the construction of a large shopping center where formerly the Long Island Railroad train station had been located failed to revitalize what was left of the once-thriving shopping district. The Arcade Building was torn down prior to 1980. The large parcel of land it had once occupied would remain vacant for almost a complete decade. Truly the end of an era!!

Central Avenue Today — a non-descript single-story commercial building replaced the Arcade Building about ten years after that building was demolished in the late 1970s. Structures in that location today seem to be extremely "simple" affairs. No originality, no personality, and certainly nothing special to look at. Photo Credit: Stevie S. Stevens

email: steviesstevens@cs.com