Storefronts on the new “Lily Gavin Way” between 39th Place and 40th Street on Queens Boulevard, which includes Dazies, Gavin’s restaurant.
Sept. 11, 2017 By Nathaly Pesantez
Lily Gavin, the longtime Sunnyside community figure who passed away last year, will have a block-long section of Queens Boulevard co-named in her honor in October .
A street sign bearing “Lily Gavin Way” will be unveiled in a ceremony on 40th Street and Queens Boulevard in October. Among the storefronts and businesses in the new Lily Gavin Way, designated between 39th Place and 40th Street on Queens Boulevard, is Dazies, the Italian restaurant at 39-41 Queens boulevard that Gavin opened in the 1970s. The opening of the restaurant for the Forest Hills native marked the beginning of her advocacy for Sunnyside.
Gavin, who passed away last July at the age of 85, served as president of the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce, where her accomplishments included helping to raise $450,000 for a much-needed revamp of the Sunnyside Arch. Gavin was also heavily involved in neighborhood organizations, including the YMCA, the Sunnyside Drum Corps, and the Sunnyside Senior Center, and frequently appeared as a central figure in Kiwanis Flag Day parades held in Sunnyside. Gavin also served as an honorary director of the LaGuardia Community College Foundation.
“Lily was a force in just about every commercial, civic and political event in Sunnyside for so long, that few can remember a time before Lily and Dazies,” Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer said after Gavin’s passing.
The street co-naming comes after a city council bill, introduced in February of this year and with Van Bramer as one of its sponsors, was enacted in March.
Lily Gavin with Councilman Van Bramer and Gary O’Neil
Update 09/13/2017: The date and time of the event have been changed from Sept. 30 at 1 pm to sometime in October. Details will be added as they are made available.
