35 times • MARCH 17, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com An Easter-time look at the Times from 21 years ago OLD TIMER If you have any memories and photos that you’d like to share about “Our Neighborhood: The Way it Was,” write to The Old Timer, This weekend, Christians across Queens will celebrate Palm Sunday. It is the start of Holy Week, which is the most solemn week in the Christian calendar, as it marks the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ on Good Friday. Easter Sunday, of course, celebrates Jesus’ resurrection from the dead three days later. Many communities in our area will commemorate Good Friday with processions through the streets. Ridgewood has perhaps the largest such procession in the borough, with a host parishes coming together on Good Friday evening to walk the way of the cross on local streets. Looking back at the April 20, 1995 issue of the Ridgewood Times, we see on the front page photos of two such Good Friday processions. The top photo on the front Page shows the faithful walking a cross through Maspeth, while the bottom picture shows a likeness of Jesus in a glass sarcophagus being walked through Ridgewood streets. There was, of course, other news in that week’s issue, so let’s take a closer look inside that issue from 21 years ago. • Page 2 features a story about the April 12 meeting of Community Board 5 in which members focused on improving the appearance of Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth and Middle Village. District Manager Gary Giordano said the Sanitation Department would look to change its schedule of pickups, especially at area schools. He also mentioned that a shack at the corner of 69th Street and Metropolitan Avenue in Middle Village would soon be razed; an apartment house would be erected in its place several years later. “We lucked out on that,” Giordano said, noting that the shack had been “one of the biggest eyesores in the neighborhood.” • It seemed at that time that community cleanups were fresh on the minds of everyone in our coverage area. Take, for instance the Page 7 report from the Middle Village Property Owners/Residents Association meeting in which attendees talked about a graffiti cleanup program. John Schell encouraged everyone, including local business owners, to participate, noting that the cleanup the previous year was a huge success. • There’s a rather famliar face pictured on Page 4. Police Commissioner Bill Bratton was front and center along with then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Queens Borough President Claire Shulman and Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, at the opening of the new Patrol Borough Queens North headquarters in Astoria’s 114th Precinct. The change occurred during Bratton’s first stint as leader of the NYPD; he would later move on to the Los Angeles Police Department and private practice before being reappointed as NYPD commissioner by Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2013. • Page 10 had a story about a Ridgewood resident pleading guilty to having two luxury cars that were reported stolen in New Jersey. The suspect, Daniel Boderas, 24, of Myrtle Avenue, kept the pair of $100,000 Porsches in a garage he rented in Glendale. In searching the garage, police also recovered an automobile engine, various car parts and license plates, leading police to believe a chop shop operation was being conducted out of the location. District Attorney Brown indicated that Boderas would serve six months in jail and five years’ probation and provide 200 hours of community service. • Let’s see what our advertisers offered our readers back in 1995. P & A Paging offered Motorola Bravo Beepers at $19.99 with coupon and a car alarm system with two remotes, a shock sensor and cut-off for $149.99. Chicken Galore at 71-02 Fresh Pond Road advertised family dinner packages, including one offering 12 pieces of chicken, three orders of French fries, one pound of cole slaw, rolls and cranberries for $14.99 plus tax. Homeowners could get a bargain loan from Ridgewood Savings Bank, whose Page 10 advertisement offered a Home Resource Loan of up to $50,000 for 8.75 percent interest. • Want to buy a home? Macaluso Realty offered a 3-bedroom, 1-family brick home in Middle Village for $189,000; a 2-family detached home with garage and private driveway in Ridgewood for $169,000; and a 2-family home in Glendale with a detached two-car garage in Glendale for $175,000. Renters could get from Crifasi Real Estate a two-room walk-in apartment in Ridgewood for $425 a month; a three-room Glendale apartment for $600; and a five-room Elmhurst apartment for $850. c/o Ridgewood Times, 62-70 Fresh Pond Rd., Ridgewood, NY 11385, or send an email to editorial@ridgewoodtimes.com. All mailed pictures will be carefully returned upon request.
RT03172016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above