A years-long legal saga between Forest Hills Stadium and the private New York City neighborhood the concert venue is located in came to an end this week, after the two groups struck a deal that allows concerts to continue and the neighborhood to profit from them.
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The Forest Hills street where Spider-Man grew up in the Marvel comics was co-named “Spider-Man Way” this week. Photo by Gerardo Romo / NYC Council Media Unit.
By Ryan Schwach
Queens now has a street dedicated to its very own friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
On Monday, the intersection of Ingram Street and Ascan Avenue in Forest Hills was co-named “Spider-Man Way” in honor of Queens’ local superhero.
The Marvel character, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, is a Queens local in the original comics and was raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben on Ingram Street.
Forest Hills’ councilmember, Lynn Schulman, pushed the legislation to get the street co-named, and said it helps make a permanent connection between the community and its hometown, web-slinging hero.
“Here in Queens, we see that every day in the people who show up for their neighbors and give back to their communities,” she said. “Spider-Man Way celebrates that spirit and recognizes the lasting connection between Forest Hills and one of New York’s most iconic characters. I’m proud to help make that connection a permanent part of our neighborhood.”
“Spider-Man reminds us that you don’t have to be superhuman to make a difference,” she added.
Schulman was joined at the street co-naming on Monday by Assemblymembers Sam Berger and Andrew Hevesi, Council Speaker Julie Menin, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz and state Sen. Leroy Comrie.
“For decades, Forest Hills has been home to Spider-Man, and we are thrilled to honor that legacy with a street renaming for our very own Webhead,” said Berger. "For millions, myself included, Spider-Man’s heroic exploits in comics, film, and video games were more than entertainment. They inspired us to dream big, stand up for others, and remember that anyone can be a hero. Even a kid from Queens."
In 2023, the Forest Hills home where Spider-Man “lived” with his aunt and uncle at 20 Ingram Street went up for sale for around $2 million. It is currently owned by a man named Jack Shi, who says he often receives fan mail meant for the home’s fictional resident.
The Lost Battalion Hall Recreation Center in Rego Park reopened last week after a four-year renovation. Photo via the New York City Parks Department
By Ryan Schwach
A Rego Park community facility built during the Great Depression for $100,000 reopened last week following a four-year, $26 million renovation.
The Lost Battalion Hall Recreation Center, once used as a firing range for Queens veterans, reopened its doors to local residents on Friday as an entirely renovated community and recreation center.
Parks Department Commissioner Tricia Shimamura and Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the reopening, which brings a more accessible and modern recreation center to the middle of Central Queens.
“Every New Yorker should feel proud of their public spaces,” the mayor said. “We’re reopening Lost Battalion Hall just in time for the weather to cool down and New Yorkers to head indoors to continue playing their favorite sports all winter long.
“With new equipment, accessibility improvements and safety upgrades, Lost Battalion Hall will be even more welcoming to New Yorkers. Whether you’re here to shoot hoops, work out or hang out, this is your recreation center,” the mayor added.
The four-year, top-to-bottom renovation included the redesign of the entrance and lobby, refurbished fitness spaces, updated restrooms, a newly painted basketball court, new equipment and upgraded safety and building systems.
The center’s weightlifting area, spin room and fitness room were also upgraded, as were locker areas, storage facilities and bathrooms.
Most of the work was dedicated to increasing the accessibility and sustainability of the center.
“Rego Park children and families have long deserved high-quality recreation space to call their own, especially in a community that glaringly lacks sizable parks or playgrounds,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said. “We are delivering exactly that this massive refurbishment of Lost Battalion Hall, which has been the anchor of this neighborhood for generations, ensuring our neighbors have safe spaces that support our physical and mental wellness is a top priority of my administration.”
Lost Battalion Hall has a long and fabled history in Central Queens.
It was completed in 1939 as a project for the Works Progress Administration, the New Deal program created by President Franklin Roosevelt to give jobs to Americans and improve public works and infrastructure.
Its $100,000 price tag is worth about $2.3 million in today’s buying power, less than the $26 million renovation cost.
The building was first used as a firing range and drill hall for the Queens Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, according to Forgotten New York.
It became Parks Department property in 1960.
“The Lost Battalion Hall has become a staple in Queens for 87 years,” Queens Councilmember Jim Gennaro said. “It is where neighbors come together, where kids can stay active, where seniors can socialize and where people of all ages and backgrounds can unwind. And now, with these renovations, we have a facility that's better equipped to serve the community here for generations to come.”
A new basketball court and a host of other improvements welcomed Queens locals back into the Lost Battalion Hall Recreation Center in Rego Park last week. Photo via City Hall
“I'm thrilled to see Lost Battalion Hall getting a new lease on life – especially after such a long wait,” the lawmaker said.
The facility was closed for over a year during the COVID pandemic. It reopened only to be quickly shuttered again to undergo the renovation.
“I am happy to see the return of Lost Battalion Hall, as this investment means so much to families,” Assemblymember Larinda Hooks said. “Access to and investment in youth recreation centers should be a prevalent concern. It is important that every community should have at least one recreation center for young people to enjoy as a safe space to congregate and have fun.”
The facility was named for the “Lost Battalion” of World War I, a unit of mainly New Yorkers that held its ground for five days while surrounded by German troops in the Argonne Forest in France.
Streets, sidewalks and subway stations across Southeast Queens were inundated with several inches of floodwater as a September nor’easter bore down on the East Coast over the weekend.
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Read MoreThe World’s Borough has had its blue and white, flower-adorned flag unofficially representing the county since 1913. It’s a beautiful but rogue banner with no legal legitimacy behind it. But that may soon change.
Read MoreQueens’ streets were deluged with flood water twice in the last week – an increasingly common problem for borough residents as severe rainstorms become more frequent.
Read MoreOfficials are sticking with their hopes that Queens drivers and passengers will finally traverse a construction-free Van Wyck Expressway this year – but exactly when that day will come remains unclear.
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Read MoreThe Ozone Park and Queens community laid to rest a fallen neighbor on Friday.
Read MoreOfficials in Queens said this week that they want to reverse decades of underfunding of the borough’s largest and most well-known green space, Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
Read MoreA Queens congressmember blasted the Trump administration for removing Staff Sergeant Angel Sarah Rampersad, who was from Queens, and three others from the Iran war’s official death toll.
Read MoreSergeant Angel Sarah Rampersad, the Queens soldier killed in the ongoing war with Iran, was remembered by her family and community as a local hero who always wanted to serve during a vigil outside her Ozone Park home on Thursday.
Read MoreResorts World broke ground on all of the non-casino aspects of their expansion plan on Wednesday.
Read MoreTorrential downpours and consistent rainfall bore down on Queens over the weekend, flooding streets and blocking major highways even after the city has spent over a billion dollars in recent years on flood-mitigation efforts.
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