What's Wrong With This Picture?
Funding Tie Up Paints St. Albans
Mural Restoration Into A Corner

By MARCIA MOXAM COMRIE

Things aren’t picture perfect for an intricate outdoor mural in St. Albans.

In June, the PRESS reported that the mural at the Long Island Railroad’s St. Albans station was to get a total face lift, and although the restoration of the “village scene” on the south side of the trestle  has been completed another section of the work of art remains in a state of deterioration as “red tape” delays its restoration.

A depiction of Brooklyn Dodgers catcher and St. Albans resident Roy Campanella appears scaly and stripped.

The depictions of St. Albans greats, including Lena Horne, Billie Holiday and Roy Campanella, await restoration in a state of disrepair at the LIRR Station on Linden Blvd. PRESS Photo by Marcie Moxam Comrie Local activists and leaders saw to it that the “village scene” section of the mural was restored to its former glory. PRESS Photo by Marcie Moxam Comrie

The lovely Lena Horne fares no better.

What was once a celebration of celebrities from the area has become a neighborhood eyesore and currently remains untouched pending further funding.

According to Winnie Morgan, chairperson of the St. Albans Civic Association, Councilman Archie Spigner has secured close to $10,000 from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, but those funds have not yet been made available due to “red tape.”

Spigner said he is working with the Borough President’s Office to obtain a $7,000 grant to restore the once beautiful work of art to its former glory.

 “We are doing all we can to make sure this work of art gets fully restored,” said Spigner. “It’s important that we restore it to perpetuate the memory of those great people.”

Tsipi Ben-Haim, director of Manhattan-based City Arts, which commissioned the original work back in 1983, told the PRESS that contrary to rumors that her organization was holding up the project, City Arts is in full support of the restoration.

According to Ben-Haim, once it was determined that the community wanted the same mural, attempts were made to obtain funding.

The contract was also contingent upon the commissioning of the original artist to ensure the integrity of the original.

Ben-Haim said the community raised the funds to produce the original work and Morgan is determined to see it done and continues to lobby for funds.

According to Ben-Haim, City Arts, whose mission statement is to produce “permanent art works that address social issues and beautify the environment,” is happy to work with Morgan and the St. Albans Civic to have the mural restored to its once life-like perfection.

City Arts owns the copyright not only to the St. Albans mural but to various other murals throughout the city.

Ben-Haim told the PRESS that City Arts originally suggested to Morgan that the community could opt for a brand new mural to reflect the time.

“The mural is almost 20 years old,” said Ben-Haim. “City Arts usually focuses on social issues, so we wanted to give them [the St. Albans community] a step forward. We work with the times. But they said ‘we’re happy with what we have, we just want to restore it.’ If more communities could come through the way St. Albans came through — with people like Winnie Morgan — just think of how beautiful our city would be.”

The scenes of “old St. Albans” and the legends depicted in the mural are not the only historical factors of the St. Albans LIRR station.

According to Queens historian Jeff Gottlieb, the station opened 103 years ago (July 1,1898), the same date as the Battle of San Juan Hill (in Cuba) where, according to Gottlieb, Colonel Teddy Roosevelt distinguished himself as a force with whom to reckon. Roosevelt, of course, later became president of the United States.

However, at the time the station was built, Linden Boulevard was known as Central Avenue.

At the time, there were only 200 residents living in the beautiful suburban enclave.

Demands for the station were made by the residents and at one point there were up to 66 trains stopping there daily, according to an article in The Long Island Press from 1935.

Among the features of the “Old St. Albans” side of the mural is the First Presbyterian Church (190 Street), dedicated in 1908 and said to be the “oldest religious edifice” of St. Albans.

Funds for the church’s corner stone were raised by the “Ladies Social Society” of the St. Albans Civic Improvement Society – the same St. Albans Civic Association now leading the restoration effort.

And “The Mothers Club” of P.S. 36 (another feature on the mural) was the “guardian” of the St. Albans Library, which was then housed in a local real estate office partly responsible for the restoration.

In another historical twist, Ben-Haim said that when the proposed “African American Museum” slated for construction in Roy Wilkins Park comes to fruition, patrons will be disembarking at the St. Albans LIRR station and will be “greeted” by the lovely works of art under the trestle.

 Both are determined to pay homage to the past and both will give the community an even greater beauty and pride, she said.

Ben-Haim is also impressed with the fact that children from PS 36 were involved in the first phase of the restoration project and notes the need to keep children involved in the development of community.

“We have to bring in the new generation into the restoration of the community, “ said Ben-Haim. “When they help, they don’t destroy. It is a common goal. Those children can [now] say, ‘Wow, we’ve brought it back!’ I always say take the time to savor, to treasure. You’re only on this globe for a short time, don’t waste it,” she advised.

For her part, Morgan is “confident that the other side of the mural will soon be restored.”