This issue’s “before” photo depicts 69th Street and Grand Avenue in 1944. We see the familiar streetscape of Grand Ave on the left and the Maspeth Movie Theater top center. But scan over to the right and there is a row of homes that no longer exists today. This photo was likely taken from atop the Trolley Barn and can no longer be replicated. The Juniper Diner is gone as is the lovely town square that served as a memorial park during WWII. The crisscrossing trolley wires and bishop’s crook lampposts are also no longer present. What is present now is the Long Island Expressway, which cut a chasm through Maspeth. There is now a proposal to reunite the north half of Maspeth with the south half via a deck over the expressway.