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Found this 1996 news clip of 81-year-old Tony Avena’s family shoeshine stand under the Long Island Railroad trestle in Flushing, Queens, New York. His father started the stand in 1922.
The MTA tried evicting Tony to bring in a tenant that would pay more than eight times the rent. Ultimately, Tony prevailed but, sadly, passed away two years later.
I was one of his shoe shine boys back when I was 15.