nearby tavern to accommodate the gamblers and lay-abouts who frequented his track. it was called the blue pump room. in later iterations it became the old abbey the union course tavern and finally neirs tavern. the neirs family, german immigrants added a bowling alley a ballroom and a hotel after the racetrack closed in 1898 and renamed the place neirs social hall. today it s owned by this man lt. loy gordon of the fdny. anthony: you were born in jamaica? loy: it s a funny thing. i m from the island of jamaica and i moved to jamaica, queens. anthony: why jamaica, queens? loy: well, my mom was here. anthony: what did your mom do for a living? what kind of work did she doing? loy: you know she didn t have all the education in the world. so you had to do all the odds and ends she had to clean floors and just do whatever she had to do just to get things going. i think it s pretty much the
loy: some people say it s the most famous place you ve never heard of. that s where we are. well, when you start getting down to the detail of it this is historic neirs tavern. anthony: back in the 1820 s when queens was still mostly farmland and live stock rather than the seven train was what rumbled down what became jamaica avenue. the manager of a racetrack called the union course opened a nearby tavern to accommodate the gamblers and lay-abouts who frequented his track. it was called the blue pump room. in later iterations it became the old abbey, the union course tavern and finally neirs tavern. the neirs family, german immigrants added a bowling alley, a ballroom and a hotel after the racetrack closed in 1898 and renamed the place neirs social hall.