Every neighborhood has one, and even many blocks. Some call them
the real mayors of New York. All this week Borough Reporter Ruschell
Boone is introducing us to the unique characters who seem to know
everyone and everything going on in their sections of Queens. She
kicks off our Queens Week coverage with the mayor of Long Island City.
Everyone seems to know Frank Carrado, who at 86 is arguably the most
popular resident in Long Island City.
“I got to know all of the politicians,” says Frank
Carrado. “I got to know all of the police department. The whole
police department knows me.”
Denizens of the neighborhood call him the ‘Mayor’. It’s a title he
says not even Mayor Bill de Blasio can challenge.
“Down at the waterfront we were cutting ground and I was joking
with him and I said to him you know you’re the mayor of New York City.
I said ‘But I’m the mayor here.'”
Carrado is a Long Island City institution.
The mayoral title came late in life. It started in 2005 when he
began taking pictures with this digital camera. He paired the photos
with old ones of the same areas. It created a buzz and soon many
people were taking pictures with him.
“Actually, I did all of this in five years and I don’t know how
the hell it happened,” Carrado said.
Carrado’s stories of growing up in Long Island City have made him
even more popular.
“They would break into the railroad cars — all the kids in the
neighborhood,” he said. “They would get cases of chewing
gum, cases of cigarettes, cases of women’s brand new shoes.”
He unpacks these old tales in his favorite daily hangout, the Paris
Health New Direction smoothie shop on Vernon Boulevard.
“The railroad got smart and you know what they did? They
stopped us from getting the shoes. You know what they did? They sent
only one at a time,” he said.
Carrado was born and raised in Long Island City when it was more
industrial and mostly Irish and Italian. His family lost their first
apartment in the Midtown Tunnel construction because it was above the
entrance. The tales are endless.
“I’m just scratching the surface with you now,” Carrado
said. “I mean I ain’t got the time. I could be here for weeks. “
The neighborhood has changed a lot, but there’s only one thing that
bothers him about the new residents — they’re not so interested in
becoming familiar with the past.
Boone: Do you feel like Long Island City is missing that
community feel?
“Oh Yeah,” Carrado said. “Definitely, but you see,
what you don’t know you don’t miss.
