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Rosie, Queen of Corona
Memories of my childhood in Queens, New York
I was listening to the song Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard today. It’s a quintessentially Queens song. Which is no surprise since Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle grew up there.
Like me, they went to a public school for elementary school, though they went to PS 164 in Kew Garden, which was a predominantly Jewish neighborhood whereas I went to PS 152 in Jackson Heights, which is considered the most diverse neighborhood in New York City (and therefore probably the world).
Corona was not far from either of these neighborhoods.
So hearing about Rosie, the queen of Corona, in the song made me feel nostalgic.
As does a lot of their music, whether they’re talking about the subway walls in the Sound of Silence or the New York City winters in The Boxer.
Of course, the neighborhood I grew up in has changed.
I lived off of Northern Boulevard, one of the major thoroughfares in the city. We weren’t far from Flushing Meadows Park, which is featured in the Men in Black films, Astoria (the site of the rows of houses in All in the Family), or LaGuardia airport.
