Exuberant commercial development in the 1960s left behind adventurous, if odd, architectural specimens. On Queens Boulevard and 56th Avenue, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill desinged a circular Macy's that looks a little like an enormous salad spinner, or possibly a spaceship. Though from most angles the building appears perfectly round, it has an odd, humanizing gap in its circumference where Mary Sondek's small brown house once stood. She refused to sell, saying, 'I've got a dog and he has to have a place to run.' --- from today's New York Times, at Metro 2, Gauchos, Kung Fu and a Paraboloid, by Sarah Harrison Smith. (The paraboloid is a different building, a bank.) Added 1/20/20- According to the Wikipedia entry for Rego Center, the property was originally the Alexander's Department Store. The legendary punk rock band the Ramones used to hang out in Alexander's, http://www.richardhell.com/Ramones.html. Their self-titled first album cost $6,400 to make, and the first time Johnny Ramone ever saw it was on 4/23/70 in Alexander's record department, http://www.richardhell.com/Ramones.html.
Publication date | Jun 24, 2018 |
Neighborhood | Queens |
Exuberant commercial development in the 1960s left behind adventurous, if odd, architectural specimens. On Queens Boulevard and 56th Avenue, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill desinged a circular Macy's that looks a little like an enormous salad spinner, or possibly a spaceship. Though from most angles the building appears perfectly round, it has an odd, humanizing gap in its circumference where Mary Sondek's small brown house once stood. She refused to sell, saying, 'I've got a dog and he has to have a place to run.' --- from today's New York Times, at Metro 2, Gauchos, Kung Fu and a Paraboloid, by Sarah Harrison Smith. (The paraboloid is a different building, a bank.) Added 1/20/20- According to the Wikipedia entry for Rego Center, the property was originally the Alexander's Department Store. The legendary punk rock band the Ramones used to hang out in Alexander's, http://www.richardhell.com/Ramones.html. Their self-titled first album cost $6,400 to make, and the first time Johnny Ramone ever saw it was on 4/23/70 in Alexander's record department, http://www.richardhell.com/Ramones.html.