Recent Changes

The small inlet of stores between the Kips Bay Plaza Towers (seen here in an old photograph) that housed a Chinese restaurant, Rocky's Pizza, a card shop, a small movie theatre, a pharmacy and supermarket, is gone.

These stores provided many of us with a place to go after school. Rocky's Pizza was large and bright. No matter how rowdy we got we were never kicked out. The movie theater was a very short off campus trip. I remember the double features that played like . . .

Today Rocky's Pizza (now Rocky's Number II) is located between 33rd and 34th on Second Avenue. It shares the block with the Clover Deli. The Clover Deli is still operated by the same family that has owned it when we all attended IHS.

Construction began in Spring 1998 and by Fall of 2000 everything was replaced by a strip of mega chain stuff . . a bookstore , a large Cineplex, a pet supplies store, a fitness club, drugstore and an empty store. In the distance to the upper left of the photo the Chrysler Building pierces the New York Sky.

The movie houses on 34th Street have shut down or been torn down. The row of buildings along 34th Street between Second and Third Avenues were demolished in the late 1980s. As a result the lots that sat behind Clover Deli and and next to the liquor store remained vacant for over nearly two decades.

In October 2001, a sign on that vacant lot announced the construction of a super structure 500-apartment complex. The building will sit at the exit ramp of the Queens Midtown Tunnel. Yes, folks there is still a tiny Liquior Store on 34th Street. So many IHS alumni recall stories of sports and playoffs games and pre-championship celebrations that mention this store that we needed to update you on its existence. If you look closely it is behind the deli. If you recall drinking was legal for 18 years olds until the 1990s.

In the Fall of 2003 the finishing touches were adding Kips Bay's newest apartment complex, The Anthem to Manhattan. As you see the building towers over the tiny Clover Deli on First Avenue. The view from the upper floors of the Anthem is spectacular not only of Midtown but of its Kips Bay neighbor now dotted with the fading three and four story buildings.

Along the Kips Bay inlet, where soldiers of the American Revolution landed,in the late 1700s, is runs the FDR Drive and there is a magnificent view of the East River. The Macy*s Fourth of July Fireworks are presented annually from this location.

Viewed from this distance are the Williamsburg Bridge on Delancey Street, the Con Ed power plant on 14th Street, the Waterside Residential Buildings and Marina, with Bellevue Hospital to the right, plus The Water Club Restaurant and 34th Street Heliport. We are standing at the Waterside Ferry Landing. More riverside views in the future.

Here is an oasis. On this bright sunny day, local workers absorb the sunlight and the serenity of these surroundings. During the morning and evening rush hours, this haven is known by commuters as the Waterside Ferry Landing. Across the river viewing the Queens landscape, we see the beginning expansion of the skyscrapers spreading to outer boroughs of New York City.