High Hat
Northeast corner of 108th and merrick in the 1940s Courtesy of NYC Municipal archives, accessed via 1940s.nyc
Southeast corner of 108th and merrick in the 1940s Courtesy of NYC Municipal archives, accessed via 1940s.nyc
Known Name(s)
High Hat
Address
108th St. & Merrick Rd. Jamaica L. I., NY
Physical Status
Unknown
Description
Without a definite address, no images of the building have been found.
Detailed History
Before white flight and the demolition of a train line in 1972, Jamaica was a busy shopping area and government center for Queens. High Hat, listed as a night club in the 1938 Green Book, would have been a part of that bustling area. Unfortunately, due to the vague nature of the address, the establishment’s exact location is unknown. It was on the corner of 108th Ave. and Merrick Blvd., or there abouts. Newspaper articles tell a bit about this neighborhood. At the southwest corner of the crossroads, in 1933, Wittner Motor Co. was selling used cars. In 1940, two lots just up the street from the intersection, a homeowner offered 107-66 Merrick, assessed at $25,5000, as a site for a proposed trade school. A little up the road from that, at 107-62, Joseph E. Cheesman became a real estate broker in 1939. Three years later, he was helping African Americans find homes in Jamaica. Most of the buildings around the intersection of 108th and Merrick were houses. High Hat would have been somewhere in this community.
