German-American Day, according to wikipedia, commemorates the date in 1683 when 13 German families from Krefeld near the Rhine landed in Philadelphia. These families subsequently founded Germantown, Pennsylvania, the first German settlement in the original thirteen American colonies.
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Long Island City, Queens might now be home to two recent german biergartens, but it has a classic bierhall history as well. I came across this postcard of the German house band at George and Hans Gastl’s Original Müncher Platzl that was located in Long Island City near the Queens Boro Bridge Plaza.
I’ve found a few copies of this postcard on ebay in the past couple months. I’ve even seen a few matchbooks for sale from the place as well. According to a 1972 issue of the New Yorker, Yorkville’s long gone Hofbrau was “a big brassy beergarden establishment featuring yodeling, singing, swinging, dancing and bands”.
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