Flushing Meadow Park Rises from the Ashes

Flushing Meadow Park, Flushing, Queens, arose from ashes to become the site of two World's Fairs. In the dark days of World War II's approach, this unassuming park would mark America's first strikes against Fascism, Racism and Hitler's rising war machine.

In the 1920's the forlorn ground that would later be the site of one of New York City's largest and most beautiful parks was an ash dump run by Queens Politician "Fishhooks" Murphy, famed as part of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Valley of Ashes from The Great Gatsby: "a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat ridges and hills and grotesque gardens, where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through powdery air."

Out of this dubious ground would arise the proving grounds for America's great men of sport. And it would be there during the 1938 Olympics that African American greats Jesse Owens and and Joe Louis would take the Master Race down a peg.

In 1939, the last Olympics before the onset of war would be held there. In a massive building effort, the city of New York extended special train lines to the park just for that event. But in a criminal waste, every one of those lines would dismantled at its conclusion. Queens was still very much part of the boonies.

1964 marked the Fair's repeat performance, with the still-impressive Unisphere replacing the vanished Perisphere and Trylon of its predecessor. While the Unisphere still stands sentinel over the Grand Central Parkway, the Trylon is only remembered in the name of a Forest Hills movie theater.

I still remember the fabulous monorail whizzing above my head while I attended the 1964 Fair. Snappy World's Fair trains with their special colors briskly completed their rounds each day each time we drove by. These bluebirds would eventually grow old in the service of their city and after many decades be retired and sunk for artificial reefs.

Today's park encompasses 1255 acres and contains two museums, two lakes, and a theater. It is the new site of tennis's world-famous US Open, having replaced the old digs in Forest Hills. This massive park dwarfs Central Park's 800 acres. Its manicured grounds include beautiful botanical specimens such as Blue Atlas Cedar, Cedrus Atlantica Glauca.

The Queens Museum of Art www.queensmuseum.org/ famously holds a scaled down map of the City which is updated to reflect the evolution of the Big Apple. Its other museum, The New York Hall of Science, www.nyscience.org/ is a top notch way to introduce the entire family to the exciting world of nature, science and technology.

Queens Theatre in the park www.queenstheatre.org/web/ has just finished a massive refurbishment and is now completely handicapped accessible. A new cabaret joins the venerable 1964 theater and the joint is always jumping. Subscriptions are available at moderate prices to bring theater, dance and song to the masses, and the diverse ethnic and cultural enclaves of Queens are served through annual Asian, and Latin festivals among others.

Today's Flushing Meadow park bears witness to the greatness of vision that raised natural beauty, art, history, and science out of ashes.