A rare photographic negative was donated to the archive of the Queens Historical Society. Taken in the winter of 1946 by Astoria resident Joseph Sandor, the negative is for a panoramic (or landscape) print. It measures 5 ½ x 12 inches and shows Astoria Boulevard from 4th Street looking West towards Manhattan.

In the background one can see the East River and the newly built FDR drive taking shape along the Manhattan coastline. In the foreground is Astoria showing a mixture of desolate open dirt lots, small shanty homes and late 19th century apartment houses. In the middle background is the Astoria/Steinway ferry station providing service to 92nd Street in Manhattan. On the right we can see a row of apartment buildings and a popular Astoria supermarket named Krasdale which is today one of the largest supermarket supplies in the nation. This entire area including the ferry port would be leveled within a few months after this photograph was taken in order to build the Astoria Houses and the Hallets Point park and playground.

Not much is known about Joseph Sandor except that he was an immigrant from Hungary and that he also showed great proficiency in landscape photography. This photo was taken using an Al-Vista panoramic camera which had a special lens that moved or “swept” from left to right capturing an entire vista in under five seconds. The Al-Vista camera first came on the market in the 1920s and used regular 35mm film stock.