Laurel Hill

By 1930, virtually everyone significant in my childhood had migrated to Laurel Hill, a little-known and largely forgotten neighborhood in Southwestern Queens.  According to Forgotten NY, a blog at http://forgotten-ny.com, :

"Laurel Hill today is known as West Maspeth, and, like Blissville, it is a small, isolated little village, with heavy industry dotted with ancient one-family houses. It’s hemmed in by Calvary Cemetery/Brooklyn Queens Expressway in the west, the Long Island Rail Road to the south, the Long Island Expressway to the north, and pedal-to-the metal 58th Street, a main truck route, to its east. Its original name is remembered by Laurel Hill Boulevard, which buddies up with the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway for most of its route from the old Penny Bridge Long Island Rail Road stop northeast to Queens Boulevard."

Brooklyn Eagle, 1898

Although Laurel Hill was named because of an abundance of Laurel trees, it was and continues to be a heavily commercial area dotted with ancient houses.  Laurel Hill has, however, majestic views of the Manhattan Skyline and the Kos





My father was living with Vito and Columbia Longobardo and their children at 46th Street and 54th Avenue.  The story of how my father came to live with the Longobardos as their "stepgrandchild", as noted in the 1930 Census, as I was told, was that sometime in the mid-1920's, my Resti grandparents, separated and/or divorced and that my grandmother, Mary Resti nee Palermo, subsequently became engaged to one of the Longobardo sons and moved in with the family.  She died in about 1929 and my father continued to live with and be cared for by the Longobardos, particularly Columbia, who he called his grandmother.  My grandfather, Andrea Resta (as he was called in the 1930 Census, was living at 53 Orchard Street ion the Lower East Side with his other sons, Frank, who was 15 and Joe, who was 14.  His occupation was listed as a Pushcart Peddler.

53 Orchard Street Today


Pushcart Peddler, circa 1900

My mother, now Constance Kessler, age 8, was living with at 52-13 43rd Street with Edward Kessler, my grandmother (Munsey Kessler in the 1930 Census), her siblings, Cappy 6, Larry, 4 1/2, Edward, 1 1/2, and John, who was 5 months old.  Thomas Munsey, my grandmother's brother, who was 19, also lived with them.

The Colemans lived at 54-20 44th Street at the time.  James Coleman subsequently married my Aunt Cappy, and had three children: Todd, Lee Michael and Karen  John Coleman, his older brother, married Agnes Gonnoud, whose family lived at 44-40 54th Road.  They had four children: Jack, Maryellen, Denise and Eileen, who we always considered our cousins.  Agnes sister, Mary, married Joe Pahl, whose family also lived in Laurel Hill on 47th Street.  My Uncle Edward married Dolores Anello, who lived at 45-13 Laurel Hill Blvd, and had five children:  my cousins Barbara, Diane, Linda, Edward and Charles. My Uncle Larry also married Monia, who lived near the Gonnouds.  They had four children: Frances, John, Joseph and Joan-Marie.

Not only did this neighborhood yield most of the marriages in my family, but created lasting family relationships that survive to this day.  We spent all of our holidays with our cousins and frequently vacationed with them in Equinunk.   As the oldest grandson, I often stayed with my Aunts and Uncles as well as with the Colemans and the Pahls after they moved to Suffolk County.  My friendship with the Colemans and the Pahls continued into my adult life.

This industrial neighborhood in Southwestern Queens was the catalyst for many happy marriages and families.  Incredibly, all of the marriages that I noted above were intact until the death of one or the other partner.  And my grandmother, Kate Munsey, was the center of all of this.