Gerard and Von Murray
If you were anywhere near Queens in the 1990s you saw them nearly everywhere —. School of Hard Knocks and Queens 7 t-shirts, one of the first I remember to explicitly show off the best borough in the city.
Although they reached a global audience — thanks in part to the rise of hip-hop culture and celebrities like Jay Z and Martin Lawrence wearing them — the brand got its start at Von’s, a sneaker shop in Corona.
Tomorrow, the corner of 106th and Northern Boulevard in Corona will be renamed for Ortner “Von” Murray, the Trinidadian immigrant who started the storefront as a shoe repair shop in 1970 before moving into sneakers and later an iconic streetwear brand to show Queens pride. Von died on April 6, 2020, of COVID-19, at 81. I wrote about it yesterday for THE CITY.
His son Gerard Murray launched the SOHK and Queens 7 brands from that street, encouraged by his dad who told him to start his own thing. He wanted to boost Queens — “I’d go out to the clubs and I’d never hear, ‘is Queens in the house?’”
He first envisioned his audience as 16-25 Black men from his neighborhood, but his store soon became inundated with people of every race and ethnicity popping into the store for their Queens shirts. And then he shipped t-shirts all over the world, to California and Germany and Japan, all from his Corona storefront. When he started shouting out people and places on the back of his shirts, people would call him up: “What do I have to do to get on your shirt?”
While the store, which closed in 2012, became known in its later years as the SOHK store, it all started with his dad.
“His dream started here in the early 70s,” Gerard Murray said. “I don’t believe he ever thought he’d see his name hanging up there.”
Read more in THE CITY.
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And let me take this opportunity to opine about street renamings, which are one of my favorite things to write about. They’re about regular people who shaped their community, their world — LGBTQ activists, ‘tough but kind’ city marshals, musicians who ended up as “The Wrong Man,” and surfers who became heroes when a hurricane gave them no other choice.
Sometimes there’s drama over who gets a street named for them (spoiler: it happened.) In a city of more than 8 million people there are plenty of deserving people and not enough streets to go around, and I think about that sometimes, usually as I’m trying to fall asleep. Who isn’t being honored, and who is, and why?
But there really aren’t many emotional highs like the one you get when that paper is pulled off the DOT street sign to loud cheers and tears. Here was a person who lived her, worked here, made a difference here, and here are some of the people who loved them. It’s not a funeral but a celebration — of everything good about New York City, its people.
Other interesting stories from this week:
The city’s public housing authority is considering banning e-bikes at its buildings, due to fire concerns. (THE CITY)
“The schools know who is hungry.” (CHALKBEAT)
Some members of the Anabas Yacht Club in Broad Channel are trying save its Jamaica Bay headquarters after the group’s commodore allegedly listed it for sale without notifying the other members. You can join for $500 annually — and it comes with free sailing lessons! (ROCKAWAY TIMES)
LISTEN
N.O.R.E, “Bloody Money”
A Tribe Called Quest, “Award Tour”
The Lost Boyz, “Jeeps, Lex Coups, Bimas & Benz”
Craig Mack, “Flava In Your Ear”
I know we are supposed to love the new LaGuardia Airport. But I had such a horrible experience there last month just trying to leave it and go home — and not shop or eat overpriced tapas at all of the (closed because it was 10:30 p.m.) retail I was forced to walk by before reaching the exit — that I now get angry whenever I drive by it!
So seeing this tweet from college basketball coach Rick Pitino, which both praises the airport and insults New York City, really put me over the edge. Imagine working in New Rochelle and having something rude to say about New York City?
For that, Mr. Pitino is our third Herb of the Week.
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Thanks for reading!