Hi, and thank you for sharing this film and thanks to all the people who shared their stories and info! I was a baby (toddler) around this time and am thinking my mom brought me to the parade because it all seems so familiar! We lived in Woodside until the early 70's and then on Bowne St., near Cherry St till around '77.
We moved to Flushing in 1961, when there was only red and green light traffic signal. The 7 train had blue light gloves saying IRT Subway lines. It was par of the company that ran subway trains and El trains in the Bronx and Manhattan. The line also had a branch of the 2nd. Ave. El that went over the Queensboro Bridge.
I was born and raised in Flushing, and wish I could do it all over again - but without the horrific changes. This was Flushing when it was still America. What I wouldn't give to go back....
@@papasmurf555 Well of course it's typical as the sentiment is nearly universal amongst those of us who were born and raised in Flushing and remember the way it used to be prior to the late 80s. There's nothing wrong with that unless it is up to you to decide how we should feel.
@@papasmurf555 You needn't get nasty, but that's typical of your type. There's that word again, typical. I don't agree, P. Smurf. I don't feel it's still America, not when compared to what it used to be (when business signs were in English and English was the spoken language), and that was and continues to be my point. It's the way scores of us feel, those of us who speak English. This last point used to be a prerequisite for American society (societies). I continue to keep in contact with those of us who have left, and those who, in the neighborhood, have remained behind. I know dozens of people in Flushing, perhaps well over 100. We all feel the same, and we are still, in this free country (for the time being), entitled to our feelings, genius!
So sad to see what has happened to an all-American town...no more English signs and marching bands...I am old enough to remember the way it was. It was lovely then. Thanks for the memories from Canada.
In the late 1980’s I use to explore the ruins of the 64, 65 Worlds fair. I figured out at age 18 that the best days of America were gone. The 1965 Immigration act was the cancer cell that was unleashed upon an unsuspecting American population. That Cancer is now metastasized to an aggressive, inoperable, fatal form. We are close to taking our last gasps of air, as this country becomes an unrecognizable third world shithole. Post Constitutional America is now a stone throw away. What happened to Flushing is not Immigration. This was an Invasion! Many good people were “Blockbusted”. Intimidated ,extorted or even burned out of their homes or business establishments. Liberals always claim to be all for the environment. These occupiers of the former “Flushing”. Create mountains of trash, dump restaurant grease into the storm drains. Blow out their nostrils on the street. I’ve witnessed children told to defecate in the street. An environmental disaster with all the additional fossil fuels consumed by these masses. Thanks Ted Kennedy you treasonous piece of shit. Hope you are burning in hell.
@@MilkPlus But they DID do something about it! They voted trump in thinking it would bring the good ol' homogeneous all white America back...look how that pipe dream failed miserably! 😂😂😂
I'm from Shaghai, China. I have lived in Flushing for almost 20 years. In China, only people from Tier one cities like Shanghai or Hong Kong are considered westernized Chinese, they speak English and live a very westernized lifestyle while the rest are just farmers and peasants came from rural or country regions of China, they are even looked down by Chinese from Shanghai and Hong Kong. A great deal of them were also from Fujian, a state in China where all of them smuggled here illegally with no education at all. It is sad white residents started to move out of flushing in the early 2000s. But now real estate developers built massive luxury condos like Skyview condominium and Flushing Common are amongst the most expensive condos in New York just to rob money from people because they knew Chinese got money and willing to pay big bucks for that. Flushing really has changed a lot. Unfortunately, it will probably never go back to the way it was. We can only hope the second and third generation Chinese who grew up here and educated here can make some significant changes to improve Chinese immigrants' manner and well being.
An insightful and honest reaction to the video. It's painful to see the changes in Flushing where I was born and raised, and we, my family, "escaped" (in the 80s) as many people feel they had to as the neighborhood rapidly morphed into a culture that was no longer anything recognizable. I appreciate your share, it's taught me a lot.
No no, I didn't mean that there should be NO white people at all. Forgive me for my comment. I went through so many racist people on here I ended up thinking you were one because I didn't read it correctly or just misunderstood.
The FCVAC ambulance is briefly shown in this video. As for the cultural aspect, this is the circle of life in a neighborhood. Ethnic groups come and a few generations later, other groups want to share in the "better" neighborhood, so they move in and so it goes. Harlem use to be "uptown" in the 19th and early 20th centuries and slowly disintegrated as the wealthy fled Manhattan to go elsewhere.
I gotta say people by nature hate to see changes to their home towns, which I completely understand. If I were Italian or Irish born and raised in Flushing, I would feel uncomfortable surrounded by non-whites while visiting the area that I used to know very well. But then again, that's the same kind of immigrant experience that other ethnic groups also have. For example, not a lot people know that the US immigration was making Italian language tests mandatory to Italian immigrants at the turn of the last century as part of the permanent residence requirements, primarily targeting Italian immigrants who at the time were mostly illiterate. So what I am trying to say is, it's easy to point fingers and lay blames on others, but it's not easy for people to look back and realize that their ancestors had also experienced the same thing, the only difference now is, it used to be waspy whites blaming Catholic Irish and Italians for changing their neighborhood demographics, and now it's the Italians and Irish who blamed the Asians for the same thing, what an irony.
The difference, Arthur, is that Italian immigrants were encouraged - quite strongly - to speak English. They didn't have their own banks, their own real estate agencies, and unchecked illegal immigration. I don't think anyone is "blaming" others for the changes in Flushing as much as they are expressing nostalgia for the way it was. I don't see anything wrong with that. In the 50s Main Street Flushing was quite classy. Have you taken a look at Main Street lately? Many of us are simply nostalgic for the way it used to be, and I think that's quite warranted more than it is ironic. I don't mean to be argumentative, but I just miss the old days. I think a lot of us do but are afraid to say so.
Chinese people love the main street flushing . This is their " the 5th ave. Of the manhattan" . The rent of stores are even higher . A very small booth selling Chinese food in the basement of the corner of main street building rented $30,000 a month . Because all businesses are HOT over there .
This movie is mislabeled as Thanksgiving Day Parade. This parade was known as the Christmas Parade and was sponsored by the Flushing Chamber of Commerce. It was held on the first Saturday in December NEVER on Thanksgiving Day. Please notice that all the stores are open which they never were on Thanksgiving! The location was at Main St and 38th Ave. The photographer is standing on the West side of the street in front of Joyce Leslie. You can clearly see Grant's, Barnetts (ladies clothes), Bertrude's, Regal Shoes, Danbury Hat, Danbury Clothes (men's) Thom McCann, Ripley's, Queens County Savings Bank. The photographer then crossed Main St to take pictures that included the family in front of Joyce Leslie (you can't see the sign). Next to Joyce Leslie is a Snow White shop and the my father's jewelry store A.J. Gessner (you can only see the flashing Jeweler sign), Miles, Famous Fashion, John's Bargain Store, National Shoes and Masters. The band dressed in colonial costume were the 'Bethpage Colonials' a well known band from Long Island who performed in many parades and events. At the time there were approximately 15 shoe stores in the Main St shopping area. (Main St. from Northern Blvd to Kissena Blvd and on Roosevelt Ave.!
We built this country. Thank your liberal politicians for turning it into a world of shit. Diversity is ruining the world. They don't give back like our forefathers did. I'm a realist and speak the truth. Everybody deep down knows it.
maceonenyc ...Yes I hate it when minorities come to this country wit nothing and do better than me. All I do is complain now because I'm entitled to everything. That's why I voted Trump because he shares the same values even though he's gonna take away my retirement savings, social security, and healthcare and let more immigrants into this country to provide cheap labor for his corporate friends. But as long as he shares the same values and put them non-whites down we all good with that.
America is founded on God given Rights & Liberty. The lie of multiculturalism is from fake Jews (satanists, not Jews_Revelation 3: 9 KJV). People have to turn to Christ to HEAL the land.
Great home video. It made me look through my old albums until I found pics of a parade from 1970 or 71. Didn't even know my dad took pictures of me watching.
