Historians to Discuss New Book, Forgotten Queens, in Astoria this Wednesday

Queens is hot and hip these days, but the world’s most diverse county also has a proud and interesting past. On February 12th at the Astoria Bookshop, author Kevin Walsh will discuss his recently released book, Forgotten Queens (Arcadia Publishing), with Rich Melnick from the Greater Astoria Historical Society. A regular contributor to this blog, Walsh partnered with GAHS on this publication, which uses black-and-white images and information-heavy captions to document the borough’s 1920-to-1950 transformation from a semi-rural grouping of towns into an urban center. Readers will learn about everything from Depression Era shanty towns to Rockaway Playland to the Queensboro Bridge before it was named after a Manhattanite.