COLUMN
Look back at what Queens was like back in 1958
In conjunction with the
Greater Astoria Historical
Society, the TimesLedger
newspaper presents noteworthy
events in the borough’s
history.
Welcome to September
1958!
The Golden Age of Television!
At 6:30 p.m. on channel
4, you had the news with
Gabe Pressman. At 7 p.m.,
one could either watch the
Evening News with Robert
Trout or Sports with
Howard Cosell. At 7:15, ran
World News with Douglas
Edwards.
Prime time viewing
heavily featured westerns.
At 7:30 p.m. rolled on Wagon
Train followed by Tombstone
Territory. In one evening,
between 7:30 and 9:00
p.m., you could watch four
classic shows that defined
the 1950s: Lawrence Welk,
Leave It To Beaver, Father
Knows Best and Ozzie and
Harriet.
Mom and dad may have
been watching Lawrence
Welk, but reckless youth
adored James Dean and
Marlin Brando. Police
swooped down on an 85-mph
drag-race in Howard Beach
and arrested 18 hot rodders
and their girlfriends.
The cars ranged from beat
up jalopies with souped-up
motors to the latest models
from Detroit.
Next day they were
brought before Judge LoPiccolo
of the Ridgewood Adolescent
Court. They wore
tight dungarees, bushy haircuts,
and leather jackets.
One youth was smirking.
“ W h a t ’ s
so funny?”
asked the
o u t r a g e d
j u d g e ,
who lived
in Howard
Beach
and was
one of the
r e sident s
frightened
by the drag
r a c i n g
mob. He
gave the
s o b e r e d
youths a
l e c t u r e ,
then disqua
l i f ied
James Dean was one of the matinee
idols who thrilled Queens residents
during the 1950s.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
h i m s e l f .
“I’m too burned up,” he
said.
The post-war boom continued.
Thousands of shoppers
descended on 100 merchants
for Flushing Sale
Days. Some stores opened at
6 AM and people waited all
night to take advantage of
early-bird
specials. In
Gertz, one
could by a
Wes t i n g -
house 21
inch console
TV for
$189, a deluxe
range
$99, and a
H o t p oi nt
R e f r i g -
erator for
$159. Hart
Schaf fner
& Marx
suits were
going for
$59.75 and
sport coat
for only
/Public domain
$9.99. A six piece walnut
bedroom was yours for only
$299. Karl Ehmer offered
one pound bologna free with
a $2.50 purchase.
They’re back! Drag racing
again attracted a cheering
crowd of 300, this time
in Astoria. Two police officers
from the Youth Squad
on routine patrol at 9 p.m.
near the Astoria Connecting
Highway saw the
group and ordered them
to disperse.
But at 10:30 p.m., when
police made another routine
check, the race was
going full blast and the
crowd was even larger.
This time when threatened
with arrest there was a
mad scramble with people
running through fields and
side streets. Thirteen were
grabbed in the melee. There
was more to the fifties than
Ozzie and Harriet!
That’s the way it was in
September, 1958!
For further information,
contact the Greater Astoria
Historical Society at 718-278-
0700.
ON THE WEB
LAST WEEK’S TOP STORY:
Man booked for trying to snatch a young girl from her mom’s hands
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SUMMARY: A 32-year-old man was cuffed last week
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street out of her mother’s hands, police reported.
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