While leafing through the pages of older local papers you will be struck by the amount of religious and faith-based messages on display, something you see very little of today.  For example, here is a message from Reverend Chichester of St. Thomas the Apostle, from 1974.  Reverend (later Monsignor) Chichester was a very familiar face to those who went to St. Thomas.

 

This building, on 88th Avenue across from St. Thomas,is now known as the Msgr. Chichester Center.  Once a convent it is now home to the School Sisters of Notre Dame.

The Easter holiday was a big time for stores to advertise -- florists especially.  Karlson's Florists below was a very popular florist here in Woodhaven, near Forest Parkway on Jamaica Avenue.  And everyone who lived in Woodhaven remembers Lewis of Woodhaven fondly.  Love these old ads with no websites, no reference to Facebook or Twitter -- these ads don't even reference credit cards.  The VI in Lewis phone number stood for "Virginia" and that's how a lot of people said phone numbers in those days -- "Virginia 9" meant VI9 or 849.  Interested in more on this topic?  Click here for a great, comprehensive site on telephone exchanges.

 

Karlson's was located at a spot on Jamaica Avenue that is very dark and hard to take pictures -- here is one image from the Leader but it was so dark you could hardly see anything.  We tried to brighten it up a bit.

 

Finn's Florist was at the other end of the Avenue, on 95th Street.  I grew up directly across the street from Finn's -- their window displays were always beautiful.  This ad is interesting in that it spells out Virginia in the phone number.  This was from 1979.

 

The Funeral Homes and Cemeteries also added a little religious flair during the holidays.  Check out Walker's Ad -- they didn't even publish their phone number.  Walker Funeral Home is still in business (click here). 

 

Kaiser and Koos -- again, no phone number.  These places advertised every week and people knew where they were and how to get in touch with them when needed.

 

The trend continues with Walsh and LaBella.  Many of us said farewell to loved ones at Walker, Kaiser & Koos, or Walsh and LaBella (still in business).

 

The Leader always had a huge centerfold with small ads from businesses, residents, politicians, etc.

 

This is very nice -- a sunrise Easter service for a bunch of churches at the bandshell in Forest Park.  Looks like this was a regular thing -- I haven't heard of anything like it in recent years, but maybe I'm just not traveling in the right circles.  Anyone know if this is still ongoing?  The Woodhaven Residents' Block Association has formed a few new committees, including a Church and Faith committee -- if this service stopped some years ago, it would be nice to see it re-started. Doesn't have to be Easter Sunday.

 

What an awful thing to have happen in Woodhaven at Easter.  This story was recently in the news again this week -- a real shame that these people had to wait so long for some form of justice.

 

A full page Easter Greeting from Columbia Savings Bank.  They're still in business, but they changed their name a long time ago -- most people I know still call it Columbia.  Take note of the area codes in this ad -- Woodhaven was still area code 212.  But you only had to dial the area code if you were dialing a different area code.  So most times, you dialed 7 numbers, that was it.

 

These guys were still going strong a few years later.

This ad seems so... adult.  I like the little hand with the gift above the words "Open Fri. Evening" -- you know what that means *wink* *wink*

 

Actually, I'm not sure what it means.  It sounds like it could be suggestive -- especially when you see the lady dancing on the other side of the ad.  Okay, let's move on.

Here's a nice ad for a Spring promotion -- they still do something like this.  

 

One last ad for the road -- a full page ad from Park Place Greenery (still in business).

 

 

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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Photos by Joey Wendell