childs-restaurant-queens-boulevard-0613
When we drove past this distinctive one-story building at 60th Street and Queens Boulevard last weekend, we remarked to Mrs. B that the place looked like it belonged in Coney Island. Turns out there’s a darn good reason it looks like that: Before the one-story structure was sub-divided into a grocery, sports bar and pizzeria, it was a Childs Restaurant, one of the early restaurant chains in the city. The most famous of the distinctive terra cotta structures is in Coney Island, where it is slated to be refurbished as part of a plan to put it at the center of a new cultural complex. Meanwhile, let’s just take a moment and appreciate how surprising it is that this one’s still standing, given the high-density development that popped up around it in later decades. For more photos of the Queens Boulvard location, check out this Flickr page. GMAP


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. Someone already mentioned this, but here’s a photo of the one in Sunnyside. (45-02 43rd Ave) Dave Cook also wrote about this spot over at Eating in Translation. And the other one in Woodside, on Roosevelt Ave near the LIRR, is mentioned and photographed in this Forgotten NY essay.

    I think this calls for a post that rounds up all the old Childs in Queens… They are such cool structures, and people who don’t know always wonder what is up with the awesome and out-of-place facade.

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