WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MARCH 12, 2020 15
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
feet by 112 feet. The lots were located
on the south side of Railroad Avenue
mid-block between Madison Avenue
(now 71st Place) and Washington Avenue
(present-day 72nd Street). The
price for the two lots was $600.
On the lots, George Gundolff
erected a two-story house. Shortly
thereafter, he started to use part of
his original building on the southeast,
the corner of Railroad and
Wyckoff avenues, as a saloon and
hotel.
HARD TIMES
By 1900, Kirschmann found himself
in legal and financial trouble.
After losing a lawsuit in Brooklyn
Supreme Court, he reported that he
couldn’t pay the claim against him.
The judge in the case then ordered
that Kirschmann’s property in
Glendale be sold at public auction.
On July 11, 1900, Joseph Bermel, who
owned a monument yard on Metropolitan
Avenue near Dry Harbor
Road (present-day 80th Street) in
Middle Village, was the highest
bidder at $4,450.
George Gundolff lived above
the saloon with his wife, Karolina,
and their four children: Elizabeth,
George, Karolina and Bertha.
With Kirschmann having problems,
Gundolff moved the florist
shop to the rear of the building, and
expanded the saloon. His saloon
business prospered as the population
of Glendale increased from the
many new homes being built in the
Businesses and homes on the northern side of the Long Island Rail Road tracks in Glendale, near the entrance to
All Faiths Cemetery. Photo via Google Maps
area, and also from the commuters
who used the Long Island Rail Road
(the station in Glendale was located a
block away at 73rd Place, which was
then called Clinton Avenue).
In addition, some of the visitors
to Lutheran Cemetery were also
patrons at the saloon. By 1905, his
saloon’s volume was such that he
decided to discontinue his florist
shop, and used the area in the rear
for a wagon shed for his customers.
Another florist who catered to
the cemetery trade near the rear
entrance to Lutheran Cemetery
was F. Bosshart, who had a shop
and greenhouse on the east side
of Washington Avenue (72nd
Street), between Central and Edsall
avenues.
Gundolff’s saloon operated until
National Prohibition took effect on
Jan. 17, 1920. We believe that George
Gundolff passed away prior to the
repeal of prohibition in 1933.
Thereafter, Karolina Gundolff
saloon as a tavern. “Ma Gundolff,”
as she was known by her customers,
was 70 years old when Prohibition
ended, and she ran the tavern until
her death in the late 1940s.
Ma Gundolff was remembered as
being very strong and having a large
pair of hands. She could lift a halfbarrel
of beer — weighing about 135
pounds — and place it in the ice chest
back of the bar.
After her death, it became known
as Richards Tavern. We’re not sure
when the tavern closed.
Today, the former Gundolff and
Kirschmann Saloons serve as
homes and offices. The former florists
across the street and across
the tracks are now small offices as
well.
The Glendale railroad station has
been closed for more than 20 years
now. It went out of service in 1998
along with several other former
passenger stations on the Lower
Montauk Branch of the Long Island
Rail Road.
The rail line is presently used by
New York and Atlantic Railway for
freight operations emanating out of
the nearby Fresh Pond Railyard.
The little-used entrance to the Lutheran/
All Faiths Cemetery remains
in place across the tracks from the
corner of Edsall Avenue and 73rd
Street.
Reprinted and updated from the
Feb. 7, 1986, issue of the Ridgewood
Times.
* * *
If you have any remembrances or
old photographs of “Our Neighborhood:
The Way It Was” that you would
like to share with our readers, please
write to the Old Timer, c/o Ridgewood
Times, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY
11361, or send an email to editorial@
ridgewoodtimes.com. Any print photographs
mailed to us will be carefully
The former sites of Krischmann’s and Gundolff Saloons as they appear today. Photo via Google Maps returned to you upon request.
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