{"id":250940,"date":"2026-06-01T15:45:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T15:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/250940\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T15:45:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T15:45:19","slug":"southeast-queens-center-for-history-culture-hosts-jazz-heritage-bike-tour-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/250940\/","title":{"rendered":"Southeast Queens Center for History & Culture hosts Jazz & Heritage Bike Tour \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

On May 23, the Southeast Queens Center for History & Culture<\/a> (SEQHC) hosted its second annual Jazz & Heritage Bike Tour<\/a>, where guests could pedal through the Addisleigh Park Historical District and its surrounding areas in St. Albans<\/a>, visiting recognizable places such as the homes of W.E.B. Du Bois, Count Basie, and Ella Fitzgerald, as well as the laundromat where the rap group A Tribe Called Quest filmed their music video for the song, \u201cCheck the Rhime.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to visit historical landmarks within and around St. Albans, specifically Addisleigh Park, going to see the homes of jazz legends like Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and Lena Horne,\u201d said Ayanna Telfort, president of SEQHC. \u201cBut then also seeing just the neighborhood and knowing that we had celebrities of all different levels, we had civic leaders [\u2026] seeing the murals that we took to dedicate to their memories and their legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Southeast Queens Center for History & Culture hosted its second annual Jazz & Heritage Bike Tour, where guests could pedal through the Addisleigh Park Historical District and its surrounding areas in St. Albans.Photo by Alice Moreno
\n\"TheThe Southeast Queens Center for History & Culture hosted its second annual Jazz & Heritage Bike Tour, where guests could pedal through the Addisleigh Park Historical District and its surrounding areas in St. Albans.Photo by Alice Moreno<\/p>\n

The purpose of the event is to bring forth attention to the historical and cultural richness in southeast Queens. Though only focusing on St. Albans, Telfort hopes to expand to other areas, including Cambria Heights<\/a>, Laurelton<\/a> and Springfield Gardens<\/a>, which she refers to as the \u201chistoric wonderland of Queens.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for us to not just talk about history for history\u2019s sake,\u201d said Telfort. \u201cWe want to inspire the next generation to take pride within their community. We are hoping that it helps them want to get educated and come back here, start businesses here, bring their families here, to help Southeast Queens continue to grow and flourish, to not only be a beacon of cultural richness, but also economic development.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Southeast Queens Center for History & Culture hosted its second annual Jazz & Heritage Bike Tour, where guests could pedal through the Addisleigh Park Historical District and its surrounding areas in St. Albans.Photo by Alice Moreno
\n\"TheThe Southeast Queens Center for History & Culture hosted its second annual Jazz & Heritage Bike Tour, where guests could pedal through the Addisleigh Park Historical District and its surrounding areas in St. Albans.Photo by Alice Moreno<\/p>\n

The bike tour had guests of all ages, interesting to learn more about the cultural history of St. Albans. The tour began in the Addisleigh Park Historical District. A suburban enclave, it went from being a segregated neighborhood to a predominately Black neighborhood by the 1950s. Filled to the brim with tudor-style houses, guests got to see a plethora of former homes of jazz and historical legends. It was once referred to as the \u201cBlack Hollywood,\u201d for its famous homeowners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the bikes toured the neighborhood, guests got to stop at a small parked coined \u201cThe Live End.\u201d A colorful, car-free space with basketball hoops and a Little Free Library, it was created by the Addisleigh Park Civic Association.<\/p>\n

Then, guests got to see the Nu-Clear Cleaners laundromat, famous for being the location of the music video of A Tribe Called Quest song \u201cCheck the Rhime.\u201d It was filmed on the rooftop in 1991, and to commemorate this, a mural was placed on the side of the laundromat. Built after the death of member Phife Dawg, the mural features the faces of the members, the album cover of \u201cThe Low End Theory,\u201d and the group\u2019s logo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Guests also got to see a variety of murals throughout St. Albans. One of the murals \u2013 which features all the Jazz legends who lived in the area \u2013 lies by the LIRR Station. Another mural was created by the St. Albans Civic Improvement Association. Painted with the colors of the Pan-African flag, it features renowned leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Percy Sutton, and Assata Shakur.<\/p>\n

To conclude, guests were invited to tour the legendary Black Spectrum Theatre. Since its opening in 1970, the Black Spectrum Theatre has hosted shows that focus and bring awareness to issues in the African-American community.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On May 23, the Southeast Queens Center for History & Culture (SEQHC) hosted its second annual Jazz &…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[97865,97866,9,24,63,122,124,123,97867],"class_list":["post-250940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-addisleigh-park-historical-district","tag-jazz-heritage-bike-tour","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-southeast-queens-center-for-history-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}