Over the last few months, we've wandered all over Woodhaven with our cameras, usually with specific shots in mind. For example, over the course of a couple of cold Saturday mornings, we walked from one end of Jamaica Avenue to the other, taking pictures of each store and peeking under the signs, looking for signs of previous occupants. But every once in a while, we come across something we didn't expect -- and we put those pictures aside for later. Other times, we grab a neat picture, but it doesn't seem worth creating a new page for the sake of one picture.
And so, we end up with this page -- a hodge-podge of misfit pictures. We're amateur photographers, and these photographs lack a straight narrative -- but we still hope you'll find these interesting, or amusing.
First up is something we saw on the corner of 86th Street this weekend while we were taking pictures of the trees of Jamaica Avenue. We saw some folks standing at that corner, waiting to cross the street, unaware that an elephant was hanging just over their heads. Is it a runaway doll? Or a warning to other elephants?
Next up is a random shot showing how Le Cordon Bleu is coming along. We took you inside Le Cordon Bleu in a previous project, but the other half is slated to be turned into retail. We'd heard strong indications that a Dollar Tree was moving in there -- but the sign outside indicates that a "Deals 5$ Or Less" is headed our way.
We'll take an interesting little detour here; a few weeks back we received an e-mail from a reader looking for old photos of this location, back when it was The Willard Theater. It turns out that between 1932 and 1935, there were three small shops in the same building as The Willard Theater building, and his grandfather owned one of them (Lewbel Jewelers). Now, there is a photo of The Willard in the Woodhaven History Book (which I do not have permission to use) - but that photo was taken in 1927, before his grandfather's store opened. This reader is trying very hard to locate a picture of his grandfather's store. He also notes that the jewelry store moved in 1937 -- it was still on Jamaica Avenue, but between 95th and 96th Street. Shortly after 1941, the store moved to Jamaica. He sent along this advertisement for his grandfather's store, from a playbill of a charity show of the old P.S. 66. Here's the ad -- and if anyone out there has any information to share, please pass it along!
Well, this one's a bit of a cheat -- it was just over the border in Richmond Hill. There was a wedding party inside a house and this guy was part of a band, and he was outside warming up. I hopped out of the car and watched him play for a few minutes, and he graciously allowed me to take his picture.
Here's an unused photo from the day we went out in the middle of a nasty storm. It came down hard and fast that day -- the puddles were overtaking the sidewalk!
Here's an interesting picture -- maybe someone out there has some more information on it. We were alerted to this sign by a friend who works as an auxiliary cop in the 102nd. This is located just off the corner of 94th and Jamaica (a few doors down from Manor Deli -- there's been a hardware store there for the past 20+ years). If you stand on the curb, face the building and look straight up -- you'll see a large sign for Alexandria's. I'm willing to bet that people have been passing this location for decades without noticing it. It's an odd place for a sign -- it's not exactly the kind of sign you put up high so as to attract the attention of passengers on the passing trains. Is it possible that this sign pre-dates the elevated train?
Sometimes you'll find green in the most unusual places! Here's a wee tree growing on the bridge that crosses Atlantic Avenue at Woodhaven Boulevard. It'll probably be there all summer -- we'll keep an eye on it and see how much it grows. Maybe it can become the unofficial mascot of Project Woodhaven :-)
And this was spotted as we were driving through Woodhaven -- an old Buick Eight. We circled the block and came back for a better look. Now that's a car! Why can't they make cars that look like this anymore? 
As always, if you have any comments, or would like to suggest other projects, drop us a line at info@projectwoodhaven.com or projectwoodhaven@aol.com.
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