Submitted by Ben Hemric, Nov 15, 2007 21:42

I no longer find it surprising that the storefronts around the square aren't more successful -- although I once too probably engaged in similar wishful thinking. True, the square is really spectacular, but as already pointed out in the article, it is also essentially well off the beaten track (too far off the beaten track) and something of a "dead end" or cul de sac. (I realize it isn't really a dead end or cul de sac, but effectively speaking, in terms of foot traffic, that's the way it works out anyway.) I think it's helpful to compare Forest Hills Garden's Station Square with the very similar station square at the foot of Main St. in Disneyland (and various Disneyland clones). In the Disneyland, one enters the square via a tunnel beneath a railroad embankment, just as one does in Forest Hills Gardens. But in Disneyland the square is not an effective "dead end," but instead the forecourt to the entire amusement park -- so "everybody" passes through the square. In Forest Hills Gardens, though, only the (relatively) few residents of the Gardens really pass through the square -- while Continental Avenue, Austin Street, etc. on the other hand are far more "centrally" located. I'm most familiar with Station Square as it was in the early 1970s when I used to visit friends in the neighborhood. I believe that was the tail end of the era when the main building on the square was still a hotel (rather than a condo or co-op). And in those days during "Forest Hills" tennis tournament, a number of tennis celebrities supposedly still stayed at the hotel (or at least they supposedly did in what was then the relatively recent past). There was a restaurant on the ground floor, I believe, and it was about this time (in the early 1970s) that it was converted into a franchise in the "Brew Burger" chain. It seemed to me that somewhat hip, trendy and pricey restaurants -- 1970's "quiche" and "fern" restaurants -- were still to be found on Austin St., etc., however.

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