In
the series
... "I REMEMBER
THE ROCKAWAYS"...
Stevie S. Stevens writes
about
"Some Historical Buildings
on Mott Avenue"
I took a walk around the village of Far Rockaway - I try to do that at least once a year. I was not born in the area, but I lived down near Seagirt Boulevard for most of the formative years of my life and as a child I enjoyed shopping in the stores of "downtown" Central Avenue. It was a lovely day the latter part of September (2008) and I had trouble finding a parking space for my RV in the main shopping center, located on Mott Avenue - a shopping center which in my day had commonly been known as the "Waldbaum's Shopping Plaza." It isn't "Waldbaums" anymore, but the "magnet" food shop is now called "Associated." Like I said, I had trouble finding an available space and when I finally did locate a place, I wondered if the owners of all the parked vehicles were shopping in the food emporium so I went into the place to have a look around. It certainly was busy at 10:30 am on a Monday morning but not enough people were milling about to justify the large number of cars parked in the lot - and after all, most of the other stores in the center are boarded up. So, I kinda figured a lot of people must park their cars there for the day while they take the train into the city; the train station is directly across the street.
There are two banks, or I should say two bank buildings at the northwest corner of Central and Mott Avenues - although the main bank building is no longer used for that purpose, it is now a medical center. The bank that is operating is in one of the "newer" storefronts and it seems to be a rather recent addition to the shopping center. The former bank building is probably the only bonafide landmark building left in the small commercial area of Far Rock. Constructed almost entirely of granite it was opened in 1912 as the "National Bank of Far Rockaway" but today it is called the "Tate Medical Center." The impressive extra-large two-story building appears to be in excellent shape (at least from the outside) and I often wonder if anyone has ever considered entering this structure for "protection" under the "National Registry of Historic Places." Even today, this building is truly a work of art!
My journey took me east on Mott Avenue -- at least as far as Cornaga, and then I circled around and walked back west on Cornaga towards Central Avenue, passing on the way the massive structure built to house a "Knights Of Columbus" local order — the place is now being used as a health club. I took a right turn onto Central and walked north towards Mott. The three buildings on the northeast corner of Central still stand — the corner building (built by Druggist David H. Jennings in 1888) displays a "building for sale" shingle. At the southwest corner, the old Leek Building still stands - it was formerly recognized as the home of Morton's Army & Navy Store, but now you can buy fried chicken at that location. The Columbia Theater Building (which was originally built as a B. F. Keith Vaudeville House) is long gone — the location now just an chained-in empty lot — but across the street, the Healy Building erected in 1889 is still standing - it looks to be in need of serious repair.
Back on Mott Avenue, I still had some ambition so I continued to walk west towards Beach Channel Drive. During my youth, I seem to remember Central Avenue being the busiest of the local commercial streets; but on this visit, I found Central to be all but deserted. Mott Avenue actually had most of the pedestrian traffic — especially around the southwest corner where Whelan's Drugs had been located in MY day; now the store is a 99-Cent Thrift Shop. For most of my visit, the locals seemed to ignore me but at this spot, I had to "work my way" around the people. Another area of congestion was in front of the subway station. This station was built in 1958 after the Long Island Rail Road sold off its property and moved its base of operations to Nameoke Avenue. Most of the tracks in the center of the town were torn up and an overpass train trestle was demolished and then this nondescript station was thrown up in a matter of a few months - not establishing a new standard for architectural innovation or excellence.
I never got down as far as Beach Channel Drive. My trip for that day ended with my "discovery" of what had once been a private home - with a connecting store front probably dating from the late 1870s. This old relic is hidden directly west of a large five-story office building and behind a store front advertising itself as a driving school. Of course I had seen the large office building before but somehow I must have "missed" the old private residence. I must have passed right by these two structures over a hundred times in my youth but this was the very first time I stopped to take a really good look! Now, I don't pretend to be the local historian for the Far Rockaway areas - not that anyone is going to fight me for that honor these days! But I know enough about history to recognize that these two old buildings are unique, and certainly do deserve some sort of recognition when it comes right down to demanding landmark status in the small village we all know and revere.
Unfortunately, both of these structures have "seen better days" and I really do feel that as unfortunate as it may seem, they are on borrowed time — and when I say "borrowed time" I mean they probably will not be with us too much longer. This is so unfortunate. There are so few memories left of what Far Rockaway village was, a thriving business community comprised primarily of "mom & pop" stores. I really do hate to lose even more of these old buildings — because each time one of these old relics disappears, I feel another small part of my own youth has slipped away.
I have done a bit of research and I have "come up with" a series of photographs. For this essay, I will concentrate primarily on these two Mott Avenue structures: the five-story office building (inscribed "Tne O'Kane Building"} and the old now-boarded-up house behind an auto driving school. Of course I will show most of the area and other places of interest will naturally be included. This history belongs to all of us, folks! So lets enjoy it while we still can!!