Fairyland Park, Elmhurst (original) (raw)

World War II had just ended and people just wanted to have fun. Fairyland Park was opened in 1949 at 96 10 Horace Harding Blvd. (on land that is now Lefrak City). The park was an instant success.

In 1951, the operation moved to 90 05 Queens Blvd., Elmhurst. It featured an indoor amusement spa that was open year round. Outdoors the season started early—April 15—with free admission. The park boasted 14 grand rides and free parking for 500 cars and you could buy five rides of your choice for 49 cents, at the bright yellow booth.

If you were a coupon clipper and watched the papers, you could get five rides for only 25 cents.

This large 706 foot by 104 foot irregular parcel of land was owned by the Benach Queens Corp. The property was separated by 58th Avenue across and housed Billy Blake, later called Shoppers Field and eventually a big supermarket called Food Parade.

By 1970, with the decline of the downtown Jamaica shopping area and huge multicultural influx of foreigners coming into this area, Fairyland and Food Parade both were closed and sold off and 58th Avenue was de mapped and this large mass of land became one.

The area later was called the Queens Fashion Mall and now, over 30 years later, is called Queens Center Mall—and the rest is history. Attention building porters and garage sale lovers: Got old photos that you don't want? Queens Chronicle Historian Ron Marzlock will pay generous prices for snapshot photos, albums, slides and transparencies before 1970, for possible inclusion in "I Have Often Walked." To learn more, leave a message at (516) 599-4761, or e-mail bklynpix@aol.com.