Louis Armstrong returns home and drama
surrounds the Clearview Expressway
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TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | JULY 24-JULY 30, 2020 13
In conjunction with the
Greater Astoria Historical
Society, TimesLedger Newspapers
presents noteworthy
events in the borough’s
history.
Welcome to July 1958!
Satchmo’s back home! The
Star Journal was happy to
report that legendary trumpeter
Louis Armstrong was
in town to quietly celebrate
his 58th birthday.
He is scheduled to perform
in a much-anticipated
appearance in West Hempstead
on Long Island. To be
accompanied with his fiveman
team and singer, Armstrong
was looking forward
to the event where he wanted
to remind everyone in attendance
that, “of all the places
I’ve been — and, man, I’ve
been everywhere — my home
is right here.”
“Right here” was Corona,
where Satchmo dwelled during
the last 30 years of his
wonderful life, “the nicest
place in the world.”
At the same time during
the interview, Armstrong
was quick to comment on
the current state of music.
Though he did not have an
opinion on “progressive”
music, Satchmo thought rock
and roll was just a “passing
fancy.”
Yet he was not the only
one whose forecasts were off
the mark. A Star Journal
editorial the same day hailed
Alaska’s admission into the
Union, but asserted that it
“can expect to see a rush of
new settlers and capital to develop
its rich natural resources,
including uranium…”
It also revealed that local
Congressman James J.
Delaney voted against admission,
but it inspired him
to propose Long Island as the
nation’s 50th state given its
10 million people and “astronomical
resources.” In light
of what Alaska brought to the
table, the congressman felt
statehood for his own district
was more a priority. The new
“state” would be comprised
of Suffolk, Nassau, and New
York City.
Famed jockey Eddie Arcaro
made sports news as he
continued his winning ways
at the racetrack in Jamaica,
much as he did at the Suburban
Handicap at Belmont
where he piloted Bold Ruler
to notable victory a week earlier.
At the onset of Jamaica’s
20-day season, Arcaro successfully
jockeyed Outer
Space in the $22,200 Liberty
Belle handicap, winding up,
according to the Star Journal,
“with four winners for
the day.” After the Suburban
race, Arcaro commented that
as he turned Bold Ruler’s head
a little to see his rival horse,
Bold Ruler pulled away. This
prompted the horse’s trainer,
Jim Fitzgerald, to innovate
a set of blinkers to give his
horse better visibility. Such
an innovation would give
the animal a better idea of
any surrounding threat and
provoke it to run faster away
from it.
From the luxury of horseracing
to the fight for quality
of life, we have this from the
Star Journal: Civic workers
in east Queens, led by Queens
Village resident Peter Bach,
reported that they gathered
1,500 signatures on petitions
urging President Eisenhower
to issue an executive order to
cease work on the projected
Clearview Expressway at
Bayside immediately.
Their aim was to have
10,000 signatures before submitting
them to the White
House for consideration. The
hope was to get an “unbiased
individual or body” to
investigate the selection of
the 207th Street expressway
route and consider the alternatives
by those living in the
affected area.
That’s the way it was in
July, 1958.
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