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Jamaica Business Resource Center, 90-33 160th Street, Jamaica, Queens, New York City, New York, United States
La Casina is a rare surviving example of Streamlined Moderne design in New York City. The metal and stucco facade of this former nightclub and restaurant structure was constructed c. 1933, during the period of greatest popularity for the streamlined style. The building, erected in the heart of Jamaica’s commercial center, is representative of the many entertainment facilities built in Jamaica during the first decades of the twentieth century as this area developed into the commercial and entertainment hub for Queens County and nearby sections of Long Island. Although altered over the years, the La Casina Building has been beautifully restored and is again one of the most distinctive structures in Jamaica’s business district.
Development of Jamaica
Jamaica, one of the oldest settlements within the boundaries of New York City, developed into the leading commercial and entertainment center of Queens County. The Dutch purchased land in Jamaica from the Jameco (also spelled Jemeco) Indians in 1655. The following year, Governor Peter Stuyvesant granted a charter to the town, originally known as Rusdorp.
Following the transfer of power from the Dutch to the English in 1664, Rusdorp was renamed Jamaica, after the original Indian inhabitants of the region. Queens County (incorporating present-day Queens and Nassau Counties) was chartered in 1683. The English established Jamaica as the governmental center of Queens County, with a court, county clerk’s office, and parish church (Grace Church; the present structure, dating from 1861-62, is a designated New York Landmark). Outside the town center, Jamaica was largely an area of farm fields and grazing land for cattle. The rural village was officially incorporated by New York State in 1814.
Jamaica’s central location in Queens County and the extensive transportation network that developed in the town during the nineteenth century, resulted in the transformation of the community into the major commercial center for Queens County and much of eastern Long Island. It was the arrival of the railroads that began this transformation. The roads and rail lines connecting Jamaica with other sections of Queens County, with Brooklyn to the west, eastern Long Island, and ferries to New York City had a tremendous impact. Jamaica’s farmland was soon being subdivided into streets and building lots, and new homes were erected.
By the turn of the century, Jamaica’s importance as a commercial area became evident in the impressive buildings beginning to appear on Jamaica Avenue, most notably the Beaux-Arts Jamaica Savings Bank Building (Hough & Deuell, 1897-98), 161-02 Jamaica Avenue. After Jamaica was incorporated into the borough of Queens and became a part of New York City on January 1, 1898, additional transportation improvements brought increasing numbers of people. As a result, the population of Jamaica quadrupled between 1900 and 1920.
It was during the 1920s, when the major mass transit links were in place, and during a period when private automobile ownership was growing at an extraordinary rate, that Jamaica experienced its major expansion as a commercial and entertainment center. By 1925, Jamaica Avenue between 160th Street and 168th Street had the highest assessed valuation in Queens County.
During the 1920s and early 1930s, many small- scale commercial buildings were erected in Jamaica, as well as several major office and commercial structures, including the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce Building (George W. Conable, 1928-29) on 161st Street; the Title Guarantee Company Building (Dennison & Hirons, 1929), 90-04 161st Street; and the J. Kurtz & Sons Store (Allmendinger & Schlendorf, 1931; a designated New York City Landmark) on Jamaica Avenue. In addition, Jamaica developed into a significant entertainment center. By the mid-1930s, there were at least eight movie theaters on or just off of Jamaica Avenue, and there were over sixty restaurants, bars, and clubs, ranging from small ethnic taverns to elegant restaurants. It was within this bustling commercial and entertainment setting that La Casina opened.
The Nightclub:
A Brief Examination of Its History and Design
During the late 1920s and 1930s, the nightclub became a prominent and romantic symbol of New York’s nightlife. While partially based on the reality of the city’s exclusive clubs and restaurants, the nightclub image was largely a fantasy based on Hollywood’s interpretation of these elegant establishments. Nightclubs and restaurants with live shows began to appear in New York City in the late 1920s as the enforcement of Prohibition ebbed. With the end of Prohibition in 1933, nightclubs proliferated." As nightclubs and restaurants with live shows grew in popularity, their designs became increasingly elegant. Clubs and related restaurants such as the Central Park Casino, the Persian Room, the Rainbow Room, El Morocco, the 21 Club, and the Stork, catered to an exclusive clientele. While most New Yorkers could not afford to patronize these establishments, they were well known through newspaper gossip columns, magazines, and other popular media outlets.
Movies such as Broadway (1929), Puttin’ on the Ritz (1930), Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935), Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935), and Swing Time (1936) created a romantic image of nightclubs with Modeme and Art Deco decor incorporating streamlined walls and ceilings, glistening mirrored floors, and elegantly appointed revelers. Perhaps in homage to popular Latin dances, many of these clubs, both real and cinematic, were given Spanish- sounding names.
Although modest in scale, La Casina was designed to fit the image of the up-to-date night spot. The club and restaurant was provided with a Latin name and its streamlined design echoes, in miniature, the elegant clubs enjoyed vicariously by patrons as they viewed movies at their local movie palaces.
La Casina: The Site and the Design of the Building
La Casina is located on 160th Street between Jamaica Avenue and 90th Avenue. Located only a few blocks from the center of Jamaica, 160th Street was initially developed with modest frame buildings, most erected as residences but later converted for commercial use. In 1907, the Queens Borough Real Estate Exchange erected a neo-Classical style brick and limestone office building designed by Tuthill & Higgins at 90-33 160th Street.
The building was purchased in 1918 by Arnold Behrer, Jr., and Clarence Behrer. On November 1, 1932, the Behrers leased the site to Bernard Levy and La Casino, Inc., for a period of four years (until 1936). According to the lease agreement, the building was "to be used and occupied only as a restaurant, cabaret, beer garden, casino and dance hall." The rent rose from $1,800 a year the first year to $3,000 during the fourth year. All alterations made to the building by the lessee had to be approved by the owner.
The La Casino Supper Club opened in 1933. It first appeared in the Queens telephone directory for winter 1933-34. Apparently, the club was only open for a short time since it did not appear in the telephone directory for winter 1934-35. The club reopened by May 1936. Telephone directory listings continued to call the establishment the La Casino Restaurant. However, the weekly La Casina Journal, published by the establishment, spelled the name with an "a" and also referred to the La Casina Restaurant and Supper Club in its text. The work undertaken to create the present streamlined design was an alteration of the original building, but no surviving alteration application has been located that specifically notes the construction of a new front. Several permits for small alterations were issued in 1933, and one of these may have included the new facade.
La Casina was designed in the Streamlined Modeme style which became popular in America in the 1930s.' Although it initially appeared on residential buildings, the Streamlined Moderne style was soon adapted for commercial buildings since the dramatic massing and dynamic stripped forms drew attention and, therefore, brought people to the buildings. The style was popular for relatively small-scale public buildings, especially those that were erected for businesses that relied on a large paying clientele.
These businesses included hotels, such as those in Miami Beach; theaters, such as the Pan Pacific Auditorium in Hollywood; movie theaters, notably those designed by S. Charles Lee; bus depots, such as the Greyhound Bus Terminal in Washington, D.C.; and roadside structures such as auto showrooms, motels, and diners. Historian Martin Greif characterized the Streamlined Moderne (also sometimes referred to as Depression Modem) as "an art stripped bare of all ornamentation. . . . Ideally, the Depression Modern style was spare . .
. without a single detail that could be called extraneous, without any embellishment, without a line that did not seem inevitable."
With its smooth planes of stucco, dynamic ziggurat massing, sweeping bands of metal, and its lack of applied ornamentation, the La Casina building fits Greifs description of the ideal streamlined structure. The streamlined mode was an appropriate choice for La Casina, not only providing an up-to-date image for the establishment, but also creating a noticeable form for the small midblock structure, one that would attract attention from busy Jamaica Avenue. This was heightened by the use of a bright projecting vertical neon sign announcing the nightclub’s presence.
La Casina: The Restaurant and Nightclub
La Casina offered dining, dancing, and entertainment. According to the La Casina Journal, La Casina offered three shows a night performed by the La Casina Adorables and the La Casina Swing Melo-Dears. The club also featured special guests such as Maureen Rio, the Broadway star of Earl Carroll’s Sketch Book? There was no cover charge and the club offered free parking.
The Journal noted such special events as "Celebrity Night"; "Democratic Night" and "Republican Night" (at the latter two evenings guests were to meet primary candidates); and "Bowery Night," where guests were to dress in old clothes, men were to arrive unshaven, and all were to be entertained by Diamond L’il, Cuspidor Carrie, Fishface Fanny, Gashouse Gertie, Willie the Gonof, Little Annie Rooney, Champagne Lil, and Limehouse Lou.
Later History
La Casina (or a facility with a similar name) occupied the building until about 1938; the last entry in the telephone directory is for winter 1937-38. In 1940, Arnold Behrer, Jr., lost the property in a legal proceeding to the mortgagor, the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. A tax photograph taken by New York City in 1940 shows "For Rent" signs in the picture windows of the club.
In 1942, the building was sold to the Church of God of Greater New York, Inc., although it does not appear to have ever been used as a church (the Church of God was headquartered on 224th Street). The use, if any, of the building in the early 1940s is not known.
In 1946, the former nightclub was sold to Polly Foundations, Inc., which converted the building into a factory that manufactured Ladyform bras. In 1952, the building was purchased by the Ellen Howard Corporation which manufactured Roxanne swim suits in the building until c.1987.
At some point, probably in the 1960s or 1970s, the galvanized-iron cladding of the ziggurat was covered in aluminum siding. The building was vacated in the late 1980s and deteriorated. In 1989, the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation acquired the former home of La Casina. A restoration was undertaken in 1994-95 under the guidance of the architectural firm of Li-Saltzman.
The restoration entailed the removal of the aluminum siding, the replacement of the deteriorated galvanized iron with aluminum that matched the form of the original, the restoration of the stucco at the lower level to its original colors, the removal of historically and stylistically inappropriate glass block windows and their replacement with historically accurate plate-glass windows, and the restoration of the tile flanking the entrance and of the original doors and glass entrance surround. The original vertical sign was conserved and encased within a new sign. The building now houses the Jamaica Business Resource Center.
Description
La Casina is a one-story symmetrical structure with a two-tiered streamlined facade in the form of a stepped pyramid or ziggurat. The base of the pyramid is set parallel to the sidewalk. This section of the building is faced with stucco.
The stuccoed portion of the facade is divided into a lower section that is painted gray and an upper section painted coral (paint studies determined the historical accuracy of these colors). The base is punctuated by a central entrance that is set back from the sidewalk within a five-stepped enframement clad in glazed black tiles at the lower section; the upper section is coral-colored stucco.
The entrance contains its original wood and glass double doors with very large vertically-placed bronze handles supported by silver-metal upper and lower stepped brackets. The doors are set within a frame of opaque black glass. The entrance bay is flanked by rectangular windows.
During the restoration, glass blocks that were crudely installed, probably when the building became a factory in the 1940s, were removed and replaced with historically accurate undivided plate glass. In addition, a shallow ramp for handicapped access has been added in front of the building.
Directly above the entrance is a curving streamlined frontispiece. It is divided into six wide horizontal bands with seven raised narrower bands covering the joints. To either side of this frontispiece is a six-layer stepped ziggurat. The frontispiece and flanking ziggurats were originally clad in smooth galvanized sheet metal attached to a wooden frame. The metal may originally have been painted gray. During the restoration, the deteriorated galvanized metal was replaced with shiny bands of aluminum.
Attached to the Building is the original vertical neon sign. This sign, which retains the words "La Casina" (an "o" for "casino" overlaps the "a"), "Ladyform Bras," "Swim Suits," and "Roxanne Swim Suits,” has been encased in a new aluminum sleeve with the "JBRC" initials of the Jamaica Business Resource Center in neon.
- From the 1996 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
NORTHRIDGE - 40 firefighters found the garage (attached) of a single-family home fully involved and extinguished the fire in 13 minutes. Initial reports of a person trapped in the fire room proved to be false after a thorough search. The fire was stopped quickly before extending into the home. No reported injuries.
© Photo by Jacob Salzman
LAFD Incident: 060419-1230
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A view of the Union Switch & Signal Model S-8 electro-mechanical interlocking machine, showing both the mechanical levers (large levers extending to the floor) and electrical levers mounted above the frame.
Nothing says 'Merry Christmas' like a spot of tresspassing
I hope you had a nice day and are suitably stuffed with food & drink
At 6:12PM on September 19, 2019 the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire in the 3900 block of W 1st St in Koreatown. Firefighters arrived to find a detached garage fully engulfed in flames. 40 firefighters took 23 minutes to fully extinguish the fire. A nearby utility pole was exposed to flames, but all adjacent properties were protected from the blaze. There were no reported injuries.
Photo Use Permitted via Creative Commons - Credit: LAFD Photo | Chris Conkle
LAFD Incident: 091919-1301
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Modeled in Structure Synth, Rendered in Sunflow.
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A small metal shed built near the primitive campsite on the edge of Death Valley National Park.
Portfolio - andrewcrane1.500px.com/
Blog- andrewjcrane.wordpress.com/
Beware! You might feel dizziness and stiffness on your neck while looking at this picture because the sun and the flare is just ridiculously bright
Here is my virtual tour through the city - portfotolio.net/jup3nep/album/72157631887823501
The Hippodrome of Constantinople (Turkish: Sultanahmet Meydanı, At Meydanı, Turkish pronunciation: [sulˌtanahˈmet]) was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square named Sultanahmet Meydanı (Sultan Ahmet Square) in the Turkish city of Istanbul, with a few fragments of the original structure surviving. It is sometimes also called Atmeydanı (Horse Square) in Turkish.
The word hippodrome comes from the Greek hippos ('ιππος), horse, and dromos (δρομος), path or way. Horse racing and chariot racing were popular pastimes in the ancient world and hippodromes were common features of Greek cities in the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine eras.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippodrome_of_Constantinople
Istanbul (Turkish: İstanbul) is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population of 13.5 million, the city forms one of the largest urban agglomerations in Europe[d] and is among the largest cities in the world by population within city limits. Istanbul's vast area of 5,343 square kilometers (2,063 sq mi) is coterminous with Istanbul Province, of which the city is the administrative capital. Istanbul is a transcontinental city, straddling the Bosphorus—one of the world's busiest waterways—in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its commercial and historical center lies in Europe, while a third of its population lives in Asia.
Founded on the Sarayburnu promontory around 660 BC as Byzantium, the city now known as Istanbul developed to become one of the most significant cities in history. For nearly sixteen centuries following its reestablishment as Constantinople in 330 AD, it served as the capital of four empires: the Roman Empire (330–395), the Byzantine Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). It was instrumental in the advancement of Christianity during Roman and Byzantine times, before the Ottomans conquered the city in 1453 and transformed it into an Islamic stronghold and the seat of the last caliphate. Although the Republic of Turkey established its capital in Ankara, palaces and imperial mosques still line Istanbul's hills as visible reminders of the city's previous central role.
Istanbul's strategic position along the historic Silk Road, rail networks to Europe and the Middle East, and the only sea route between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean have helped foster an eclectic populace, although less so since the establishment of the Republic in 1923. Overlooked for the new capital during the interwar period, the city has since regained much of its prominence. The population of the city has increased tenfold since the 1950s, as migrants from across Anatolia have flocked to the metropolis and city limits have expanded to accommodate them. Arts festivals were established at the end of the 20th century, while infrastructure improvements have produced a complex transportation network.
Seven million foreign visitors arrived in Istanbul in 2010, when it was named a European Capital of Culture, making the city the world's tenth-most-popular tourist destination. The city's biggest draw remains its historic center, partially listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but its cultural and entertainment hub can be found across the city's natural harbor, the Golden Horn, in the Beyoğlu district. Considered a global city, Istanbul hosts the headquarters of many Turkish companies and media outlets and accounts for more than a quarter of the country's gross domestic product. Hoping to capitalize on its revitalization and rapid expansion, Istanbul is currently bidding for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Erected in 1905-06, this Renaissance Revival structure was designed by celebrated architect Frank P. Milburn. It was expanded on its south elevation in 1983, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Grundy, Virginia is a small town located in the southwest of the state. It serves as the seat of Buchanan County, which borders Kentucky and West Virginia.
This Structure chair's organic shape shell is made in a low-density integral polyurethane solid-colored foam material. The smooth surface of the chair's inner shell conforms to the body to allow seating comfort.
The Structure chair was part of the "Polish Red Dots" exhibition, which showcased award-winning Polish Red Dot designs. The exhibition, at WIPO's Geneva headquarters from May 27 to 31, 2013 was organized jointly by WIPO and the Government of Poland.
Design: Przemyslaw "Mac" Stopa.
Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License..
At 4:03PM on December 31, 2019 the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire in the 9400 block of N Sepulveda in North Hills. 38 firefighters extinguished the non-injury fire in 18 minutes.
© Photo by Greg Doyle
LAFD Incident: 123119-1059
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Irrigation diversion structure circa 1906. Southeast of Mountain City, Nevada, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. Forest Service photo by Randy Miller.
CANOGA PARK- The Los Angeles Fire Department battled a Major Emergency Structure Fire in the west San Fernando Valley on Monday, October 18, 2021.
The fire at 8423 Canoga Avenue in Canoga Park, was first noted at 12:18 PM by an LAFD Paramedic Ambulance crew returning from a nearby emergency. Within moments of their reporting the fire, flames were through the roof of the 125' x 125' one-story industrial building that also housed an adjoining but unrelated business at 8425 Canoga Avenue.
As that first-arriving LAFD Paramedic crew circled the structure to gain situational awareness and guide fellow responders, they encountered the first of three adult male civilians with severe burn injuries outside the burning building. Two proved to be in critical condition and the other in serious condition. All three were taken to area hospitals. Sadly, one of the critically injured men died later while undergoing hospital care.
The rapid spread of intense flames and multiple explosions heard within the building guided first-arriving firefighters to quickly commence defensive operations, applying multiple large diameter hose streams from the exterior, including two from atop extended aerial ladders, to prevent flames from extending beyond the well involved structure.
With the exception of a forty square-foot section of the roof at 8427 Canoga Avenue destroyed by surface fire, the tactics proved successful in holding the blaze to the pair of unrelated businesses under one roof at 8423 and 8425 Canoga Avenue.
It took 150 Los Angeles Firefighter just 75 minutes to extinguish the flames.
Firefighters remained active through the night extinguishing hotspots and minimizing hazards at the structurally compromised building with the help of LAFD's robotic firefighting vehicle and heavy equipment.
At daylight Tuesday, LAFD crews resumed a systematic search within the largely destroyed premises. During their methodical search among tons of burnt debris inside the structure, firefighters discovered the remains of an adult male, bringing the overall patient count to four, with a total of two deceased and two remaining hospitalized.
No other injuries were reported.
Scientific testing of materials inside the building of fire origin yielded positive results for hemp, and it appears that the operation inside involved the extraction from hemp, not dissimilar to that used in the Butane Honey Oil extraction process.
Though the business was a legal enterprise, the operation inside appeared to be illegal, as it did not adhere to established permitting processes and safety requirements.
Pursuant to protocol, the fire's cause remains the focus of a joint active investigation by the Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force (L.A. Impact).
A positive identification of the dead men, as well as the cause, time and manner of their death will be determined by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.
© Photo by Brandon Taylor
LAFD Incident 101821-0791
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Exterior of structure shows minimal signs of damage. Inside of building there is signs of h20 damaged. Perimeter fence needs repair, front portion of fence is down and gate is broken due luting. All signage will need to be repaired or replaced. Down gate was pushed back up to prevent further loss of property.
Photo by USFWS.