WELCOME TO THE FOREST PARK DOME………..AKA “THE DOME”
Alright, this is a local thing. For those of you that have lived or hung out in Woodhaven, Queens, N.Y. in the 60’s?, 70’s, 80’s, you all know what I’m talking about 🙂 I Googled ” The Dome” awhile ago with no luck. I was speaking to a buddy of mine, and The Dome came up in conversation. I said I would post about it, so that when others searched for it, they will find some info on it.
The Dome is a Large Structure where Bands sometimes play, and there are other functions held there.People gather there to watch the Festivities. It is known as The Band Shell, as you can see why in the picture. We called it The Dome for obvious reasons. Just to clarify, people hung out around The Dome and The Parking Lot and all around that area. We referred to this place as The Dome, to include all these areas. The Dome” is” located on the Perimeter of the Forest Park Parking Lot, which” is” located in Woodhaven, Queens, N.Y. off of Woodhaven Blvd. I said “is” located, because Forest Park is still there, as well as the Parking Lot, and The Dome. It’s just that the Parking Lot has other uses now, like for parking cars.
The Dome was the Drug Supermarket of the 60’s?, 70’s & 80’s. Anything you wanted, you could get here.Ludes (aka 714’s, Rorers, Quaaludes), Black Beauties, Tuis, Yellow Jackets, Methadone, Acid, Dust, Pot, Blow, Shrooms, etc., etc. !!
At times, there would be 100’s of people there buying any Drug they wanted. And the price was good also. The quality was hit and miss. But the ones selling the Crap didn’t last long, as there would not be repeat business.W hen you went there, you knew who to look for regarding getting the Best Shit!! The Amazing Thing was that there was not a COP to be found. It was like it was almost legal to Buy & Sell Drugs. What a Time Everyone had!!!! Some would hang out there all night, while others made their purchases and went out to their favorite Clubs for the Night, like Lamours East, Beggars Opera, The Lemon Tree, Speaks, etc. or just went back home to get high, or went to their favorite hangouts, like 99th street in Rego Park! One of the most common phrases heard at the time was, “Com’on, let’s go ti da Dome.”
I made a few “Runs” in the late 70’s, and can only speak from that era. Imagine something like this being around now? Yeah, Right…………Not Now and Not Later.
Towards the end of “The Dome Era,” Law Enforcement started to pile up mounds of snow in the Winter. These Mountains of Snow would be like 20 feet high or so. I think The Dome lasted into the early 80’s before it was “Closed For Business.” But others that are more of an Authority on The Dome than I am, can offer some more History.
The purpose of this Post was to start a discussion about The Dome and to offer a place for people to Hang Out and offer their insights about a True Era In the History of New York, or I should say, Woodhaven, N.Y. 🙂
I am sure many have searched The Dome and found nothing. But now, The Dome will have a Home on the Web, Rightfully Deserved.
I know there are thousands of stories too be told about The Dome, and it will be great to hear them!
Explore posts in the same categories: UncategorizedTags: Beggars Opera, Dome, Drug Supermarket, drugs, Forest Park, New York, Parking Lot, Speaks, The Dome, Woodhaven, Woodhaven Blvd.
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Transparnc's Blog 
October 26, 2009 at 7:11 am
A buddy and I were short on funds and desperate..Circa 1977….His sister had recently returned from a trip to Turkey and brought back with her a very exotic tea that had the look of pine needles and the smell of mint…Place just a small pinch in a copile of aluminum foil packets and, “viola:, instant (beat) angel dust…We sold a very quick few bags, copped some (legit) wed and mescaline and hightailed out of there (on foot) via the golf course on Myrtle Avenue so as to avoid the massive beating we would have suffered at the hands of an unsatisfied clientele…Ah, how I long for those carefree days and nights at the Dome.
October 26, 2009 at 6:56 pm
So that was you who sold me that shit lol!
Those guys were probably so high, that they probably thought that the stuff they bought was the best shit they ever had 🙂
For a period of 3 months, I partook in smoking the Big D a few times. The funny thing was that I would never do Acid because I had a fear of the Acid fuck’n up my mind for the rest of my life. But Dust was ok. Go Figure!
May 19, 2010 at 3:10 pm
I was a regular at the Dome from begining to close to the end. I remember a number of times coming up after work and coping a number of tuies especially when there was a concert and spend the night when it got light out we’d check under the benches and find money and drugs then i’d go off to work. God it was good to be young. My memory is shot now I’ll be 60 next week. When I remember other events I’ll post them. theunbelievable surviving Beege r y
May 19, 2010 at 5:54 pm
I lost $20 bucks under a bench back then….can I have it Back lol!!!
Those days were Great!!! One might say that Drugs were and are not good for you, etc. and that it’s a good thing the Dome is closed for business. BUT, it is what The Dome represented………….care free times, do what you want to do, enjoy life, go to a Rehab now and then 🙂 and all that. Staying out all fucking night, waking up with someone you forgot you went home with 🙂
And one more thing about those days………..The Fucking Sex was great as all Hell, and there was loads of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 2, 2012 at 12:33 am
BG…I remember you and your brother well. You hung out with my sister Susan. Sorry to hear about JG. I got straight in 85 and havnt looked back since. But did have some good times back in the early 70’s. I am a little surprised you survived but I get that at times myself. Still dealing with health issues from the old life. Keep on keeping on. Guy N
May 23, 2010 at 2:54 pm
I just wrote about people who died. Weenie, Dippy Willie Lotz my brother JAGE, Hoppy.This is depressing. I’ll try and think of more lively memories. Like i’m asurvivor turning 60 tommorrow.God Speed, Beege
July 9, 2011 at 2:04 am
Beege,
Sorry to hear about Jage Beege. I know we had lots of fun times together hangin at Myers and on 88th, or the dome and circus later. All nighters were the best. Miss all those guys you mentioned. Mike K. in Fairfax Va.
November 30, 2011 at 5:14 pm
Holy shit; is dat the real deal B.G.? Dude who was moving shit in front of the Cactus? on Jerome & 109th street, down by 60 Pk? I didn’t even know that Weenie, Dippy and Hoppy were dead. Willie and Jage I remember. You know that Jimmy Bogart is also gone? Ain’t got much of a memory meself, but I remember the early Saturday or Sunday pilgrimages to check under the benches at the Dome. Remember when the NYPD TPF came in and cleaned our clocks?
Tom H
June 2, 2012 at 12:25 am
Tom Hammond….Many nights spent at the dome. You lived 2 houses over from us on 86th ave.. BG and JG both hung out with my sister Susan. A lot of my friends from that period are either dead or in jail now. So many died young. I was lucky to survive and ended up in the beautiful Catskill Mountains. Been clean since 85.
January 8, 2011 at 10:16 pm
Wow , Great idea I’ve searched in the past for the dome to no avail. I used to hang out up there from ’76 to ’81. I was a regular there. I remember one night the cops raided the tennis courts and we all ran down towards Jamaica av. I turned a corner onto 85th av and threw my stash onto a garage roof. I went back about 3 hrs later to get it and the cops were there waiting. One jumped out from behind a tree and grabbed me. He cuffed me behind my back to the door handle of their plymoth “boat” and beat the hell out of me with a nightstick to my gut. His partner searched for and found my bag of “green rps”. After swearing that they weren’t mine and promising not to report the beating I took ,they let me go. I was a dumb kid then and took a lot of chances. To me though the beating was just the price of doing business. I vaguely remember a willy lotz. I used to hang out all the bars on Jamaica av. From the Circus bar to the Little brown jug and everyone in between. Also the ones on Liberty av. Thanks for the walk down memory lane. John.
January 9, 2011 at 12:35 am
Thanks for sharing. The Cops beat the shit out of you??
Nah, that never happens lol!
February 20, 2011 at 10:39 am
Hey, you forgot to mention Glendale in your intro…I was hanging out at 80th street (Dry Harbor Playground) and Myrtle ave from like 1979-1983 and what a blast we had. Everybody’d be smokin and drinking either in the park and of course those famous Forest Park Golf Course Keg parties were famous for a good time. You would have to either walk through the tunnel in ankle deep mud, unless we took a huge tree branck and threw it in there to walk across, or you’d have to cross the interboro parkway and either way you had to get through a hole in the fence. Don’t know if anyone remebers that my friend Eric D’Amico got killed crossing the interboro the night before Mother’s Day like 1980 or 81. Hate to bring it up but he deserves to be remembered too.
Best memeory: almost every night the cops would drive into the playground from behind the parkhouse and whoever spotted them first would yell, “The Man!” and like 30-50 kids would be running in all different directions!! I still laugh when I think about that, it was hysterical!!
Finally, does anyone remember The Beach Boys playing at the Dome, I’m looking for the year of the summer they did that, and yes, I’m serious, I think that really did happen.
February 20, 2011 at 10:41 am
What does ‘your comment is awaiting moderation” mean?
February 20, 2011 at 12:26 pm
Hi.
Thanks for your memories.
In today’s world, the cops would call SWAT to handle the kids 😦
How things have changed……………..for the worse……
I think there have been over a Million arrests of kids with a couple of joints in their pockets since the Bloomberg Regime took over regarding.
‘Awaiting moderation’ is an automatic setting that lets me read the replies before they are approved.
Just to prevent undesirables from posting 😉
February 27, 2011 at 9:13 am
Thanks, and yeah things really have changed, I’m glad I hit the tail end of the “hippie” generation and got to experince all that experimenting with a big group of people who always “had your back”. Ended up hangin out in Middle Village with even more people. I married Davey Ron from Glendale, he played guitar and had a band called Midnite Friday”, He died on a motorcycle when our baby was 2 months old, and once again, the friends were really there for me, a guy named Moose nickname of course, from Middle Village was the drummer and he then took over that bar called the Harbor Inn on Dry Harbor Road. TTYS
February 28, 2011 at 4:23 pm
Sorry to hear about your husband.
Yes, back then, Friends were True Friends.
And of course, Enemies were true Enemies.
Hey, that’s how it is today lol!
I was too busy having fun, But there were a couple of girls I would have liked to settle down with.
But then is then, and now is now, as they say.
No regrets though……….
February 27, 2011 at 10:24 pm
Grew up in woodhaven. The dome was out of control – too easy to score pot or mescaline. And.. the cops would straighten you out (good ole days) , take your brews – but send you home after they gave you a straighten up talk and 20 minutes in the back seat with cuffs. I think the circus bar is still on jamaica ave… but i would find my way down to rockaways in rockaway beach or cbgb’s in the city
July 11, 2011 at 6:05 pm
wow can’t believe I was just talking to someone about the Dome today. Some dude wrote a book about his time hanging out at the dome back in the day. If I can get the name I will post it here. Lot of great times making our way to and from the dome from Cityline, Brooklyn. Seen a lot of friends end up in jail and some of them gone for good. Still have some great memories from those days.
November 30, 2011 at 5:58 pm
The Dome was a focal point for all of us; Woodhaven, OZ, Howard Beach, South OZ, Richmond Hill, Glendale, Forest Hills, Rego Park were represented. People from City Line, Cypress Hills, New Lots Highland Park, Bushwick and Ridgewood were there. Jackson Heights, LIC, Sunnyside, KG. Kids from all over: the Brooklyn/Queens border was one large neighborhood, and you always knew someone ’cause of da Dome.
December 26, 2011 at 12:15 am
i remember the first time I went up there…..had to be late ’79……. i couldn’t believe all the people and the amount of traffic in and out of the parking lot. it really was as if the local cops had no clue!
January 1, 2012 at 6:11 pm
The dome was no focal point it was a embarrasment and all the drugs and thieves frequented there i bet 20 precent of all of the regulars are dead,cmon would u let ur kids hang there,i think not fuckin waste ,dealin drugs u brag about and now complain probably about the kids in your neighborhood please
January 9, 2012 at 12:28 am
Thanks for your Feedback. The Dome was History in the Making, and was a Highlight in Queens History for Decades. At least everyone got together, copped, and for the most part, went on their Merry Way to Enjoy their Night, and also for the Most part, the Majority of People who went to The DOme, are living Fruitful Lives.
It was surely an Era. Looking back, I and most people have No Regrets.
The Keyword is Moderation. Of course, anyone who Abused any type of Drug and/or Alcohol most likely paid the Price, either Temporarily or Permantly. Such is Life.
I Don’t Remeber All the Killings and Murders that went on back then, like is going on Today, regarding the Purchase of Drugs, etc. Kids Killing Kids today. Stabbings, Shootings, Beatings, etc. Don’t remember much of that going on back then. Of course, there were some, But Not like today. It was a differnet period of time back then. The Dome could not exist Today as it did back then, that’s for sure. Times change, People change.
April 8, 2012 at 9:05 pm
yeah well some people survive, i sold many a bag of :”d” diesel at the dome made a fortune. now im legit. we had a good time and that was the 70s Chris Jill
April 8, 2012 at 9:07 pm
ps statute of limitations expired….bye
April 14, 2012 at 9:53 pm
omg the dust heads that used to float through our neighborhood were creepy…… ='(
August 5, 2012 at 6:59 am
Hey Caroline, I remember Davey playing guitar by the Parkhouse– He was a really nice guy–I just passed by McDonalds the other day and I swear, he popped into my head–I remember when that happened–I used to hang out with his cousin Terrence from 79 st.—–The place on dry harbour–Remember Mike Avai used to play some Jorma tunes there–Great Old Days–What was the name of that place? Anybody remember??