Astoria Street To Bear Name Of Philanthropist, Movie Theater Executive

ASTORIA, QUEENS — A movie theater executive and philanthropist who founded a beloved Astoria youth center will soon have a neighborhood street named in his honor.

Salah Hassanein will be the new namesake of the corner of 21st Street and 30th Road — home to the Variety Boys & Girls Club Of Queens, which he founded and helped lead as a board member for decades.

To be known as "Salah Hassanein Way," the street was one of more than 70 ceremonial "co-namings" across the five boroughs approved by the City Council on Thursday.

Hassanein, who died in 2019 at age 98, was born in Egypt before immigrating to the U.S. in 1945. After spending two years in the army, Hassanein got a job as an usher at a New York movie theater thanks to the support of George P. Skouras — a fellow immigrant who later became president of United Artists Theatres.

Rising through the corporate ranks, Hassanein later held the top job at United Artists Eastern Theaters before taking over as president of Warner Brothers International Theaters, where he helped expand Warner Brothers' network of cinemas into Europe, Japan and Australia.

Though described in the press as a "tough negotiator" and "tireless networker," Hassanein was sa "philanthropist at heart," according to a City Council memo in support of the street co-naming.

Besides helping establish the Astoria Boys & Girls Club, Hassanein held various roles in the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation, the Salvation Army, and Children's Lifeline International, among other organizations.

In one notable incident, Hassanein in 1983 responded to a call by First Lady Nancy Reagan to help bring two children from South Korea to the U.S. for open heart surgery — later helping to build Children's Lifeline into a force that sponsored medical missions to developing countries around the world.

Variety Boys & Girls Club, meanwhile, was renamed for Hassanein during his lifetime, and now provides afterschool programming like swim lessons and art classes to about 4,000 children in Western Queens.

The bill to co-name the corner of 21st Street was introduced by Astoria Councilmember Tiffany Cabán. A date for unveiling the block's new street sign has not yet been announced.