My father grew up in Blissville. He attended P.S. 80 ( now a hotel) from 1935 to 1942. He lived across the street from what is now the Jackie Wallace VFwW Jackie was a Blissville boy who died in World War 11.
My great aunt Louise Vogelsang was a major player in Blissville politics. She and her brother ( my grandfather) owned a few of the buildings that still exist in Blissvilel. There was a rather large scandal involving Louise Vogelsand and her abuse of a foster child she had taken in in the early 1930’s
My great Aunt Jessie Labanowski was raised in Blissville, attended P.S. 80 and went on to become a doctor. She was an ob/gyn who delivered many of the children born in Blissville in the 1930s. Priscilla Labanowski, Jessie’s sister went on to Fordham Law School and then became the general counsel to Corning Glass My father’s uncle owned a deli located on the corner of Starr and 35th Street . That building is now a check cashing place.
My father told me Blissville had a poultry market where his mother would buy fresh chickens whiich she would butcher in the backyard of their home.
The neighborhood once had a pharmacy, a bakery, shoemaker and other small businesses. It was a fairly rural town.
My grandfather, Leo Labanowski was a police officer in Blissville.
I lived in Sunnyside for many years before moving to NJ. During my time in Sunnyside I met a lot of people who grew up in Blissville who have passed on.Blissville has a unique story to tell. St. Raphael’s church was where troops were stationed during WW2. They stayed in the basement of the church. They were placed there to protect the local oil tanks.
– Ellen L.
larry labanowski
December 9, 2017 at 12:02 pm - Reply
Jesse labanowski was my grandfather’s sister. I am surprised I dont know you. my Uncle Leo (Oswiecimski) and I once went to her house when I was little and he worked to fix a clock she had. I know this is the same Jesse because she was an OB and delivered my dad.
ellen labanowski
December 24, 2017 at 3:40 pm - Reply
Who was your grandfather? My grandfather was Leo Labanowski. He was the brother of Louise Labanowski VOgelsang and Jessie Labanowski. You must be my cousin?? Where did you grow up? Ellen Labanowski
hi Ellen
I live in Houston now. but we grew up on engert ave in greenpoint. my grandfather was John Joseph Labanowski and he owned the brownstone and also a little restaurant called the “Two Way Coffee Pot”. his brother in law was Leo Oswiecimski. Aunt Jessie was my grandfather’s sister. I remember going to her house once with my uncle leo to fix her cuckoo clock. I don’t recall a leo labanowski, but my brother might. I know the name vogelsang because my dad mentioned it once. but I don’t know how it plays in. I knew that my grandfather had a brother who was a police officer in nyc and another brother who was a navy frogman (now called Navy Seals) and he was one of the divers who brought up bodies after Pearl Harbor. My brother has an autographed picture of him with his scuba gear on circa WWII. his daughter (also one of our cousins) was living in Hawaii and I know that my parents met up with her about 20 years ago. I grew up in Garden City and am now a lawyer in Houston. my email address is larry@labanowski.com. I never went back to this website after I read your post. I agree, that we must be cousins. feel free to write my email if you like. I will tell my brother and sisters that I made your acquaintance. its nice to meet you .
Hi…my grandmother was Louise Vogelsang. My mother was Patricia , born in 1929. My aunt was Priscilla. If you have any history from the early 1900’s , I would be interested.
I grew up in Woodside, on 48 St bordered by the new Calvary and the LIE. I grew up in the same 2 family house my mother(youngest of 10) had moved to in 1928. As a little girl my mom and her friend brought food to the “hobos” that had a camp by the freight trains near the Newtown Creek. One of the men gave her a “gift” of a knife. When my grandpa found out, she got into big trouble.
The Newtown Creek was a feature of my childhood(50’s&60’s) as well. Very often, depending on wind direction, we could smell the creek at low tide. Also, there was a glue factory near the creek and on hot, humid days the smell was awful. It always made me feel bad for the horses that were the source for the glue. Christine B
I am a lifelong friend of previous commenter, Christine B. My grandfather John Crimmins (1897-1983) was a Blissville boy and we have a picture of him as a cadet at St. Raphael’s. He courted and married my grandmother, who was from Williamsburg/Greenpoint, and eventually they bought a new house on 48 Street across from Christine B. My mother and her uncles were friends as kids.
My mother always told us about the presence of gypsies; however the ones she knew lived at the end of 48 Street when it was a dead end. The gypsy family name was Stanley. She would have loved to see those pictures in the trailer.
For some reason, my grandfather lived near Queens Boulevard and they called it Blissville. Don’t get that completely.
Mom loved the whole Blissville/Laurel Hill neighborhood and was not happy when it got torn apart by highways. When we were young we used to have a nice ball field in Laurel Hill (Sandy Field) and two little parks around 47th and 46th Street. Now the kids have virtually nowhere to go. Only one park in the neighborhood really: 43 Street and Greenpoint Avenue. I went to kindergarten in Laurel Hill. Now Laurel Hill is pretty industrial. It could always change once a real estate developer sees how close it and Blissville are to Manhattan!
I hope I can see the whole movie some day. I live out of state but visit often.
I forgot to say that my grandfather also went to the public school that is now a hotel, which previous commenters refer to as PS 80. Didn’t know that! The school I went to for kindergarten was called PS 76.
(big bobby) Czartoryski
November 13, 2017 at 11:58 am - Reply
Raised in Blissville
My sisters and I were raised in Blissville at 31-26 Greenpoint Avenue. I have aFacebook Page entitled, Blissville, Long Island City, Queens NY.
In 2006 we held a reunion with the people from the 1930’s to present It was held at the former Bradley Inn on the corner of Bradley and Greenpoint Avenue.
There are a number of photos of Blissville on the site.
Thank you for bringing Blissville memories back to life.
has anyone ever heard of a place called the two way coffee pot. it was a diner owned by my grandfather. does anyone know where it was located.
also, I did some research on my grandfather’s machine gun company during WWI and found a lot of information about the men who served from Greenpoint. I am not certain if Greenpoint is part of Blissville, but if it is you may find it interesting to know that there is a memorial in a glade by the bandshell and promenade in Central Park (enter from fifth ave around 69th street and head west) with brass markers in honor of the 77th Division, known as the New York Boys. and specifically the members of the 77th. there were quite a few men from Greenpoint, and I bet Blissville who served. Also, there is a nice monument in McGolrick park in Greenpoint honoring the men and women who served.
Just saw a clip of your “Blissville” documentary. I was blown away. I really want to see it but live in LA, how do i get to a screening? I grew up in Woodside and moved to Blissville in 79 untill i moved to LA in 83. All the faces in your docu. were familar. the blonde lady talking about zoning was my landlady and second mother. connie lawrence. I have such great stories about her and those times. Blissville made me a poet, and artist & had a deep effect on my life. It was such a strange time warp, even more than Woodside..and five minutes from another world. “the City” I was pregnant and 18 when i moved there. I was a deep feel person and images provoked thoughts but i had no way to express them (or even know what i was thinking) at that point in my life. they were hard years, but years i’d never give back…so much good. So I started writing. Here is one of my 1st BlissVille poems… Trip Back Home 1984 ’round here/people talk/with glazed eyes/drink lots a coffee/glazed donuts/sit on stoops gossip/”guess who just dropped dead”/narrow minds/”in the A&P”/predjudice/down the block the puerto ricans fix cars/”Keep his stinkin no good son away from my daughter/”she should marry a man like mine”/have a huge color TV/maybe a cop/have plenty/stoops, coffee, glazed donuts, glazed eyes/a coupla kids/wait to die. poetry from 2017 Saint Theresa’s Somewhere in time I have that “PARTY” tattoo on my left hip a champagne glass and bubbles foxy hunks at St. Theresa’s let me dance alone with no lipstick and wild hair not knowing how stunningly fucked up I am my heart breaks the top of every hour I freely give the finger to men in business suits as they gawk from slow cars driving past the Calvary wall I have no politics no world opinions only whispers toothpick thin streaming another time before I was born to orphans and Queens my only hope a heart where the next song on the radio keeps it safe. anyway….just wanted to share. Queens plays big in my poems. You touched a deep part of my life with your documentary and i only saw the trailer! thank you. claire acerno
Anton Stankialis also known as Anthony was born on 16 Jun 1871 in Gulbinai, Pasusvio Lithuania. He arrived at New York harbor in 1888 (Age: 17). He was naturalized on 09 May 1907 in Brooklyn, New York. He lived at 44 Bradley Ave. Blissville in 1903. In 1907 I can find him living at 116 Pearsall Street, Blissville, NY. Between 1910 and 1920 he goes from renting 116 Pearsall Street to owning it. He had a candy store at that address in 1920 then changed it to a hardware store. The building was worth $7,000, according to the 1930 census. The building had three floors, he lived in the building and nine of his thirteen children were born there. He rented out some of the building and in 1925 there were seven boarders and eight from his family living in the house. They changed the address to 52-11 35 the Street around 1935. Between 1935 and 1940 he moved to 216 Beach 96th Street in Rockaway. He died January 14, 1940. Two of his children Amelia and Adele and their families moved into the house at 116 Pearsall Street. Amelia was my grandmother, my mother talked about how she loved living in Blissville and was sad when they had to move out when they lost the house to the bank.
My wife, Maureen McPhillips Hoffman is grand-daughter of Adele (Elsie Mesk)- sister of Amelia. Adele / Elsie lived and died at 5211 35th Street. How do you leave photos or Deb- contact me at hoffmanwm9@yahoo.com. Bill Hoffman
One Correction. Adele / Elsie and her daughter Millie and husband moved to Maspeth on Grand Ave where she passed away.Bill
These are Adele (Elsie Mesk early Pics) from my wife’s side of family.
I live in that house! I have since 1990 after leaving an abusive relationship, and though it sounds like I’m church, Blissville saved me with it’s live-and-let-live attitude while at the same time, knowing your neighbors are looking out for you. It’s the place I call home, it’s where my soul lives. Pontiac Paper (aka Mr. Sy Kramer) was my landlord, and he’d advertised in The New York Times for a tenant for the second floor. One other guy and I were the only lookers that Saturday. The other guy offered him extra money to encourage him to rent it to him; I didn’t know better and offered nothing. He gave the apartment to me, partly on the advice of Bob Bravo who still lives on the 3rd floor and thought I’d be a better tenant. I signed a lease (probably illegal) that said I was responsible for everything, even the boiler if it broke down (it didn’t for 20 years, thankfully), and Mr. Kramer didn’t raise the rent for about six years, years when things were really hard for me financially, and I’ll always remember and thank him for that. In those days kids hopscotched in the street, grandmothers sat in the shade, el Apache opened the hydrant on steamy days, and life idled — it was a an eddy away from the rest of the world…that is, until I’d walk into the Blissville Deli for a toasted biali and Mohammad would ask me each day, “Have you read what John Burns wrote today?” He was asking about The New York Times’ writer who covered Afghanistan, “the best reporter there,” he told me often. (He knew I was freelancing for that paper.) I don’t know about the future. But Blissville has always evolved, so perhaps again, it will as its population doubles with homeless New Yorkers.
Robert Czartoryski
June 16, 2018 at 11:56 am - Reply
I grew up on 48th St near 50th Ave and Blissville was always one of my favorite neighborhoods to explore. Still is, on the rare occasions I still get back home. We loved riding bikes around there as kids and teenagers. And through Calvary Cemetery, every different section of it. It was the only “green space” we had as kids in that area. Newtown Creek was one of my favorite spots too. Very happy to see it finally getting some attention and getting cleaned up. It has a very long way to go but we have to start somewhere.
In one of the previous comments mention was made of a dr. Labanowski OBGYN. I was delivered by a doctor Josephine labanowski Boulevard Hospital in Astoria Queens New York. This was in September 1952. Her name is on my birth certificate. I believe that she had an office in Jackson Heights somewhere near Roosevelt Avenue. I now live in San Diego California. I would be curious whether this is the Doctor Who attended my mother and who delivered me long long ago. If anyone has info regarding my question I would appreciate it thank you
I want to make comment regarding the first name of dr. Labanowski in looking at the signature on my birth certificate it has always looked to me as if it were signed Josie labanowski. I assumed that to be short for Josephine. However in looking at it again it very well might be Jesse instead of Josie
Hello I found the hospital copy of my birth certificate. I looked at it with new eyes. And I see that the name is indeed Dr Jesse Labanowski. . I am blown away to think that her Legacy has lived on in so many different ways. She delivered me by cesarean section. She was recommended to my mother by the woman who would become my godmother from Elmhurst.. this lady my aunt Kitty died just a few weeks ago at age 101. My mother had an OB GYN doctor before dr. Labanowski. But he would not assist my mother unless she agreed to an abortion if the pregnancy became too dangerous to her own health. So my mother was accepted as a patient by dr. Labanowski without conditions regarding the agreement to have an abortion if dictated by a life-threatening prices for my mother my mother came through the 9 month pregnancy fairly well with just a few complications and I was born in really good conditions without any defects of note at the time of my birth. So I am indebted to dr. Labanowski for taking my mother on as a patient and for seeing her through 9 months of pregnancy and then delivering me in September 1952
I must add that I am of course grateful to my mother for being willing to risk serious complications or worse in order to get to see the pregnancy through nine months. In the end all came through in flying condition. But had she stayed with the other OBGYN the outcome would have been a terminated pregnancy. Since I am a living testimony, So I salute the memory of dr. Labanowski her skill and caring live on to this very day and the fact that I am alive and well 66 years later
Mr. Dutch,
Dr. Jessie Labanowski is my father’s aunt. She delivered my father in 1928 which was shortly after she graduated from medical school. You can read a few articles on line that were written a bout her. Glad you mother had the good fortune to have my aunt assist in your birth.
Hello. Dr. Jessie Labanowski is my great-aunt. She was my grandmother’s sister. She delivered me and my two brothers. I just stumbled across this site and am amazed at the relations I never knew were out there. I do remember my grandmother and my mother and my aunts talking about Priscilla and Patricia.
Hi Francine..My mother is Patricia and my aunt was Priscilla. They were Louise Labanowskis daughters. Her sister was Jessie
Francine Koehler
September 2, 2024 at 7:45 pm - Reply
Hi Jim, I only now saw this response (2024). I remember family members talking about Patricia and “Pris.” I am trying to find out more information for genealogy purposes. My grandmother was Mary (May) Labanowski Nowicki. A sister of Jessie and Louise.
LEONARD PIETROWSKI
September 8, 2021 at 1:53 pm - Reply
GOD BLESS ALL THAT LIVE IN BLISSVILLE AND THOSE WHO HAVE PASSED MAY WE MEET AGAIN IN HEAVEN . PEACE BE WITH YOU ALL.
Patrick Callahan
November 21, 2022 at 1:13 am - Reply
Dr Jesse was our family doctor when I was about 9 years old (1943). My grandmother lived on 41st St near Greenpoint Ave. I live in California now, age 88.
My father grew up in Blissville. He attended P.S. 80 ( now a hotel) from 1935 to 1942. He lived across the street from what is now the Jackie Wallace VFwW Jackie was a Blissville boy who died in World War 11.
My great aunt Louise Vogelsang was a major player in Blissville politics. She and her brother ( my grandfather) owned a few of the buildings that still exist in Blissvilel. There was a rather large scandal involving Louise Vogelsand and her abuse of a foster child she had taken in in the early 1930’s
My great Aunt Jessie Labanowski was raised in Blissville, attended P.S. 80 and went on to become a doctor. She was an ob/gyn who delivered many of the children born in Blissville in the 1930s. Priscilla Labanowski, Jessie’s sister went on to Fordham Law School and then became the general counsel to Corning Glass My father’s uncle owned a deli located on the corner of Starr and 35th Street . That building is now a check cashing place.
My father told me Blissville had a poultry market where his mother would buy fresh chickens whiich she would butcher in the backyard of their home.
The neighborhood once had a pharmacy, a bakery, shoemaker and other small businesses. It was a fairly rural town.
My grandfather, Leo Labanowski was a police officer in Blissville.
I lived in Sunnyside for many years before moving to NJ. During my time in Sunnyside I met a lot of people who grew up in Blissville who have passed on.Blissville has a unique story to tell. St. Raphael’s church was where troops were stationed during WW2. They stayed in the basement of the church. They were placed there to protect the local oil tanks.
– Ellen L.
Jesse labanowski was my grandfather’s sister. I am surprised I dont know you. my Uncle Leo (Oswiecimski) and I once went to her house when I was little and he worked to fix a clock she had. I know this is the same Jesse because she was an OB and delivered my dad.
Who was your grandfather? My grandfather was Leo Labanowski. He was the brother of Louise Labanowski VOgelsang and Jessie Labanowski. You must be my cousin?? Where did you grow up? Ellen Labanowski
hi Ellen
I live in Houston now. but we grew up on engert ave in greenpoint. my grandfather was John Joseph Labanowski and he owned the brownstone and also a little restaurant called the “Two Way Coffee Pot”. his brother in law was Leo Oswiecimski. Aunt Jessie was my grandfather’s sister. I remember going to her house once with my uncle leo to fix her cuckoo clock. I don’t recall a leo labanowski, but my brother might. I know the name vogelsang because my dad mentioned it once. but I don’t know how it plays in. I knew that my grandfather had a brother who was a police officer in nyc and another brother who was a navy frogman (now called Navy Seals) and he was one of the divers who brought up bodies after Pearl Harbor. My brother has an autographed picture of him with his scuba gear on circa WWII. his daughter (also one of our cousins) was living in Hawaii and I know that my parents met up with her about 20 years ago. I grew up in Garden City and am now a lawyer in Houston. my email address is larry@labanowski.com. I never went back to this website after I read your post. I agree, that we must be cousins. feel free to write my email if you like. I will tell my brother and sisters that I made your acquaintance. its nice to meet you .
Hi…my grandmother was Louise Vogelsang. My mother was Patricia , born in 1929. My aunt was Priscilla. If you have any history from the early 1900’s , I would be interested.
Laurel Hill
I grew up in Woodside, on 48 St bordered by the new Calvary and the LIE. I grew up in the same 2 family house my mother(youngest of 10) had moved to in 1928. As a little girl my mom and her friend brought food to the “hobos” that had a camp by the freight trains near the Newtown Creek. One of the men gave her a “gift” of a knife. When my grandpa found out, she got into big trouble.
The Newtown Creek was a feature of my childhood(50’s&60’s) as well. Very often, depending on wind direction, we could smell the creek at low tide. Also, there was a glue factory near the creek and on hot, humid days the smell was awful. It always made me feel bad for the horses that were the source for the glue. Christine B
I am a lifelong friend of previous commenter, Christine B. My grandfather John Crimmins (1897-1983) was a Blissville boy and we have a picture of him as a cadet at St. Raphael’s. He courted and married my grandmother, who was from Williamsburg/Greenpoint, and eventually they bought a new house on 48 Street across from Christine B. My mother and her uncles were friends as kids.
My mother always told us about the presence of gypsies; however the ones she knew lived at the end of 48 Street when it was a dead end. The gypsy family name was Stanley. She would have loved to see those pictures in the trailer.
For some reason, my grandfather lived near Queens Boulevard and they called it Blissville. Don’t get that completely.
Mom loved the whole Blissville/Laurel Hill neighborhood and was not happy when it got torn apart by highways. When we were young we used to have a nice ball field in Laurel Hill (Sandy Field) and two little parks around 47th and 46th Street. Now the kids have virtually nowhere to go. Only one park in the neighborhood really: 43 Street and Greenpoint Avenue. I went to kindergarten in Laurel Hill. Now Laurel Hill is pretty industrial. It could always change once a real estate developer sees how close it and Blissville are to Manhattan!
I hope I can see the whole movie some day. I live out of state but visit often.
I forgot to say that my grandfather also went to the public school that is now a hotel, which previous commenters refer to as PS 80. Didn’t know that! The school I went to for kindergarten was called PS 76.
Raised in Blissville
My sisters and I were raised in Blissville at 31-26 Greenpoint Avenue. I have aFacebook Page entitled, Blissville, Long Island City, Queens NY.
In 2006 we held a reunion with the people from the 1930’s to present It was held at the former Bradley Inn on the corner of Bradley and Greenpoint Avenue.
There are a number of photos of Blissville on the site.
Thank you for bringing Blissville memories back to life.
Ob (big bobby) Czartoryski
has anyone ever heard of a place called the two way coffee pot. it was a diner owned by my grandfather. does anyone know where it was located.
also, I did some research on my grandfather’s machine gun company during WWI and found a lot of information about the men who served from Greenpoint. I am not certain if Greenpoint is part of Blissville, but if it is you may find it interesting to know that there is a memorial in a glade by the bandshell and promenade in Central Park (enter from fifth ave around 69th street and head west) with brass markers in honor of the 77th Division, known as the New York Boys. and specifically the members of the 77th. there were quite a few men from Greenpoint, and I bet Blissville who served. Also, there is a nice monument in McGolrick park in Greenpoint honoring the men and women who served.
Just saw a clip of your “Blissville” documentary. I was blown away. I really want to see it but live in LA, how do i get to a screening? I grew up in Woodside and moved to Blissville in 79 untill i moved to LA in 83. All the faces in your docu. were familar. the blonde lady talking about zoning was my landlady and second mother. connie lawrence. I have such great stories about her and those times. Blissville made me a poet, and artist & had a deep effect on my life. It was such a strange time warp, even more than Woodside..and five minutes from another world. “the City” I was pregnant and 18 when i moved there. I was a deep feel person and images provoked thoughts but i had no way to express them (or even know what i was thinking) at that point in my life. they were hard years, but years i’d never give back…so much good. So I started writing. Here is one of my 1st BlissVille poems… Trip Back Home 1984 ’round here/people talk/with glazed eyes/drink lots a coffee/glazed donuts/sit on stoops gossip/”guess who just dropped dead”/narrow minds/”in the A&P”/predjudice/down the block the puerto ricans fix cars/”Keep his stinkin no good son away from my daughter/”she should marry a man like mine”/have a huge color TV/maybe a cop/have plenty/stoops, coffee, glazed donuts, glazed eyes/a coupla kids/wait to die. poetry from 2017 Saint Theresa’s Somewhere in time I have that “PARTY” tattoo on my left hip a champagne glass and bubbles foxy hunks at St. Theresa’s let me dance alone with no lipstick and wild hair not knowing how stunningly fucked up I am my heart breaks the top of every hour I freely give the finger to men in business suits as they gawk from slow cars driving past the Calvary wall I have no politics no world opinions only whispers toothpick thin streaming another time before I was born to orphans and Queens my only hope a heart where the next song on the radio keeps it safe. anyway….just wanted to share. Queens plays big in my poems. You touched a deep part of my life with your documentary and i only saw the trailer! thank you. claire acerno
Anton Stankialis also known as Anthony was born on 16 Jun 1871 in Gulbinai, Pasusvio Lithuania. He arrived at New York harbor in 1888 (Age: 17). He was naturalized on 09 May 1907 in Brooklyn, New York. He lived at 44 Bradley Ave. Blissville in 1903. In 1907 I can find him living at 116 Pearsall Street, Blissville, NY. Between 1910 and 1920 he goes from renting 116 Pearsall Street to owning it. He had a candy store at that address in 1920 then changed it to a hardware store. The building was worth $7,000, according to the 1930 census. The building had three floors, he lived in the building and nine of his thirteen children were born there. He rented out some of the building and in 1925 there were seven boarders and eight from his family living in the house. They changed the address to 52-11 35 the Street around 1935. Between 1935 and 1940 he moved to 216 Beach 96th Street in Rockaway. He died January 14, 1940. Two of his children Amelia and Adele and their families moved into the house at 116 Pearsall Street. Amelia was my grandmother, my mother talked about how she loved living in Blissville and was sad when they had to move out when they lost the house to the bank.
My wife, Maureen McPhillips Hoffman is grand-daughter of Adele (Elsie Mesk)- sister of Amelia. Adele / Elsie lived and died at 5211 35th Street. How do you leave photos or Deb- contact me at hoffmanwm9@yahoo.com. Bill Hoffman
One Correction. Adele / Elsie and her daughter Millie and husband moved to Maspeth on Grand Ave where she passed away.Bill
These are Adele (Elsie Mesk early Pics) from my wife’s side of family.
Elsie Mesk 1
Elsie Mesk 2
Elsie Mesk 3
Elsie Mesk 4
Adele (Elsie) Mesk in 1972 1st pic and then pics around 1979-80. Thanks. Bill
1972
With her daughter Emily (Millie) and a friend
a few great grand children
2 Sisters
I live in that house! I have since 1990 after leaving an abusive relationship, and though it sounds like I’m church, Blissville saved me with it’s live-and-let-live attitude while at the same time, knowing your neighbors are looking out for you. It’s the place I call home, it’s where my soul lives. Pontiac Paper (aka Mr. Sy Kramer) was my landlord, and he’d advertised in The New York Times for a tenant for the second floor. One other guy and I were the only lookers that Saturday. The other guy offered him extra money to encourage him to rent it to him; I didn’t know better and offered nothing. He gave the apartment to me, partly on the advice of Bob Bravo who still lives on the 3rd floor and thought I’d be a better tenant. I signed a lease (probably illegal) that said I was responsible for everything, even the boiler if it broke down (it didn’t for 20 years, thankfully), and Mr. Kramer didn’t raise the rent for about six years, years when things were really hard for me financially, and I’ll always remember and thank him for that. In those days kids hopscotched in the street, grandmothers sat in the shade, el Apache opened the hydrant on steamy days, and life idled — it was a an eddy away from the rest of the world…that is, until I’d walk into the Blissville Deli for a toasted biali and Mohammad would ask me each day, “Have you read what John Burns wrote today?” He was asking about The New York Times’ writer who covered Afghanistan, “the best reporter there,” he told me often. (He knew I was freelancing for that paper.) I don’t know about the future. But Blissville has always evolved, so perhaps again, it will as its population doubles with homeless New Yorkers.
Please contact me, bobby c
I grew up on 48th St near 50th Ave and Blissville was always one of my favorite neighborhoods to explore. Still is, on the rare occasions I still get back home. We loved riding bikes around there as kids and teenagers. And through Calvary Cemetery, every different section of it. It was the only “green space” we had as kids in that area. Newtown Creek was one of my favorite spots too. Very happy to see it finally getting some attention and getting cleaned up. It has a very long way to go but we have to start somewhere.
In one of the previous comments mention was made of a dr. Labanowski OBGYN. I was delivered by a doctor Josephine labanowski Boulevard Hospital in Astoria Queens New York. This was in September 1952. Her name is on my birth certificate. I believe that she had an office in Jackson Heights somewhere near Roosevelt Avenue. I now live in San Diego California. I would be curious whether this is the Doctor Who attended my mother and who delivered me long long ago. If anyone has info regarding my question I would appreciate it thank you
I want to make comment regarding the first name of dr. Labanowski in looking at the signature on my birth certificate it has always looked to me as if it were signed Josie labanowski. I assumed that to be short for Josephine. However in looking at it again it very well might be Jesse instead of Josie
Hello I found the hospital copy of my birth certificate. I looked at it with new eyes. And I see that the name is indeed Dr Jesse Labanowski. . I am blown away to think that her Legacy has lived on in so many different ways. She delivered me by cesarean section. She was recommended to my mother by the woman who would become my godmother from Elmhurst.. this lady my aunt Kitty died just a few weeks ago at age 101. My mother had an OB GYN doctor before dr. Labanowski. But he would not assist my mother unless she agreed to an abortion if the pregnancy became too dangerous to her own health. So my mother was accepted as a patient by dr. Labanowski without conditions regarding the agreement to have an abortion if dictated by a life-threatening prices for my mother my mother came through the 9 month pregnancy fairly well with just a few complications and I was born in really good conditions without any defects of note at the time of my birth. So I am indebted to dr. Labanowski for taking my mother on as a patient and for seeing her through 9 months of pregnancy and then delivering me in September 1952
I must add that I am of course grateful to my mother for being willing to risk serious complications or worse in order to get to see the pregnancy through nine months. In the end all came through in flying condition. But had she stayed with the other OBGYN the outcome would have been a terminated pregnancy. Since I am a living testimony, So I salute the memory of dr. Labanowski her skill and caring live on to this very day and the fact that I am alive and well 66 years later
Mr. Dutch,
Dr. Jessie Labanowski is my father’s aunt. She delivered my father in 1928 which was shortly after she graduated from medical school. You can read a few articles on line that were written a bout her. Glad you mother had the good fortune to have my aunt assist in your birth.
did anyone know Edward Pietrowski
Hello. Dr. Jessie Labanowski is my great-aunt. She was my grandmother’s sister. She delivered me and my two brothers. I just stumbled across this site and am amazed at the relations I never knew were out there. I do remember my grandmother and my mother and my aunts talking about Priscilla and Patricia.
Hi Francine..My mother is Patricia and my aunt was Priscilla. They were Louise Labanowskis daughters. Her sister was Jessie
Hi Jim, I only now saw this response (2024). I remember family members talking about Patricia and “Pris.” I am trying to find out more information for genealogy purposes. My grandmother was Mary (May) Labanowski Nowicki. A sister of Jessie and Louise.
did anyone know dolores dockwizs
GOD BLESS ALL THAT LIVE IN BLISSVILLE AND THOSE WHO HAVE PASSED MAY WE MEET AGAIN IN HEAVEN . PEACE BE WITH YOU ALL.
Dr Jesse was our family doctor when I was about 9 years old (1943). My grandmother lived on 41st St near Greenpoint Ave. I live in California now, age 88.
Patrick Callahan
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