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When MAE WEST was on Broadway during the 1920s, her "shady lady" characters smoked onstage. Offstage, the Brooklyn blonde was seen lighting up in nightclubs and restaurants. 
• • At the time, a lot of actors and actresses who smoked were being tapped to appear in well-paid endorsements for tobacco products — — and Mae promoted the Old Gold brand. Years later, when she had contracted maturity onset diabetes and was being more careful about her health, she quit smoking. Thus began the tall tales about having had her stage cigarettes "de-nicotinized" — — as if this was [ahem!] a common request during the Prohibition Era.
• • As much as Mae enjoyed playing the bad girl on Broadway, in her private life she really delighted in something even more rebellious: going off her diet and high-diving into rich German food. Tillie was always reminding her five-foot-tall daughter to take smaller portions. She told an interviewer that one reason she never taught Mae to cook or bake is because she feared her darling would overdo it, stuffing herself on homemade Black Forest Cake, Apple Torte, Spritzkuchen [crullers], and other fatal forkfuls.
• • The Triangle Hofbrau, 1893 — 1999 • • 
• • Occasionally, Mae sneaked away for culinary thrills on Hillside Avenue at the Triangle Hofbrau, a comfortable place where she could smoke and eat far from her mother's scrutiny. One evening, as her cigarette burned in the ashtray, Mae was gorging on a Wiener Schnitzel and didn't notice the tablecloth caught on fire. A quick thinking waiter put out the flames.
• • Where Myrtle Meets Hillside Avenue • •
• • According to a local Queens County historian Carl Ballenas: "A part of Richmond Hill was unofficially known as 'Berlin' in the 1800s on account of its large German population."
• • According to The Wall Street Journal's real estate reporter Kavita Mokha: The intersection of Myrtle and Hillside Avenues is a historic landmark unto itself and illustrates the changing landscape. It was once home to three iconic businesses that have each closed their doors in recent years after nearly a century in existence: Jahn's, a German-owned ice-cream parlor; the Triangle Hofbrau, a German eatery; and Salerno's, a longstanding Italian restaurant. ... And a few steps from where Jahn's once stood is a medical office building that until the year 1999 housed the Triangle Hofbrau, once the oldest restaurant in Queens. The Hofbrau, opened in 1893, is said to have been a favorite haunt of Babe Ruth and Mae West. ...
— — Source: — —
• • Article: "New Immigrants Put Stamp on Richmond Hill"
• • By: Kavita Mokha
• • Published in: The Wall Street Journal
• • Published on: 20 August 2010• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1932 and 1934 • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYC
Mae West.
MAE WEST once lived in the area of Queens (then Long Island) known as Richmond Hill. The actress was an enthusiastic smoker in those days. Once she was banned from The Triangle Hoifbrau because she almost burnt down one section of the aged dining room.
• • The Queens Courier featured a gazetteer on this neighborhood. Here's what they wrote.
• • Richmond Hill — — Where
• • Richmond Hill is a neighborhood in central-southern Queens, New York City, USA. It is bordered by Kew Gardens to the north, Woodhaven and Ozone Park to the west, South Ozone Park to the South, and South Jamaica to the east. The neighborhood is split between Queens Community Board 9 and 10.
• • History
• • The hill referred to as Richmond Hill is a moraine created by debris and rocks collected while glaciers advanced down North America.
• • Richmond Hill is rich in history. The Battle of Long Island, one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War, was fought in 1776 along the ridge now in Forest Park, near what is now the golf course clubhouse. Protected by its thickly wooded area, American riflemen used guerrilla warfare tactics to attack and defeat the Hessians.
• • Richmond Hill's name was inspired either by a suburban town near London, England, or because of Edward Richmond, a landscape architect in the mid-1800s who designed much of the neighborhood. In 1868, a successful banker named Albon P. Man bought the Lefferts and Welling farms, and hired Richmond to lay out the community. Over the next decade streets, schools, a church, and a railroad were built, thus making the area one of the earliest residential communities on Long Island. The area is well known for its large-frame single family houses, many of which have been preserved since the turn of the twentieth century. Many of the Queen Anne Victorian homes of old Richmond Hill still stand in the area today. The area first became developed in 1918, when the BMT Jamaica Avenue elevated train line (today the J/Z lines of the New York City Subway) was extended in the neighborhood.
• • Landmarks
• • The Triangle Hofbrau was a restaurant which was frequented by such stars as Mae West in the 1920s and 1930's. It sat on the triangular piece of land bordered by Hillside Avenue, Jamaica Avenue, and Myrtle Avenue.
• • Near the northwest corner of Hillside Avenue and Myrtle Avenue sat an old time ice cream parlor, Jahn's. It closed in late 2007. Not far away is Lefferts Boulevard which, with Liberty Avenue, define the central core of Richmond Hill.
• • Diversity
• • Originally, many German, Italian and Irish families had lived in Richmond Hill. Now Richmond Hill has many Punjabis, Trinidadians, Surinamese, Hispanics, Guyanese, other West Indians, South Asians, Indian and some Europeans living in the community. Today a minor Jewish population live along a larger group of Sikhs, Christians, Hindus, Muslims. Richmond Hill has many Guyanese people and is often thought of as "Little Guyana."
• • Historical Places of Interest in Richmond Hill
• • 1864 The Triangle Hofbrau — — This restaurant was at one time the oldest running restaurant in Queens (1893-1999). The building originally housed the Post Office and was also a hotel named Doyle's Hotel.
• • The first eatery opened its doors in 1893 under the name Wheelman's Restaurant. It was later named The Triangle Hofbrau and was said to have been the favorite eating spot of such celebrities as Mae West, Babe Ruth, Lefty Gomez, Robert Wagner Sr., Earl Sande, and Ernest Ball. Recently the Hofbrau had changed owners and was called Little Europe Restaurant, reflecting the change to a recent Russian immigration influx to Richmond Hill. Unfortunately, the restaurant falling under hard times sold the property to a medical facility which promises not to alter the building structure.
• • 1867 The Steel House — — This mansion once owned by Daniel Eldridge of the notorious Tweed Ring, is still located at 87-61 111th St. ...
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: "Richmond Hill"
• • Written by: The Queens Courier staff
• • Published in: The Queens Courier — — www.queenscourier.com
• • Published on: Tuesday, 27 May 2008
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1923 • •
NYC
Mae West.
