Photos found in Valley Stream chronicle life, adventure

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Niko Moshopoulos was cleaning out the abandoned offices above Brancard’s Delicatessen on the corner of Rockaway Avenue and East Fairview Avenue several weeks ago, when he found more than 50 old photos. He did not know whose they were or where they came from.

“I actually kept some of the photo albums so I could find whose it is,” Moshopoulos said.

Many of the photos feature two young boys growing up. The albums also include photos from cruises around Manhattan, a trip in the mountains and a Yankees game against the Toronto Blue Jays. One of the photos appears to be a Christmas card signed from “Maria, Dom and Mario Oliviero.”

Another photograph featuring a woman in her wedding dress next to a man in a tuxedo has been hanging up on the side of a refrigerator at the deli for about three weeks. Attached to the photo is a note that reads: “If you know these [people please] return to them.”

“It’s been hanging up for a while,” said Cindy Kozlick, the manager of the deli. “Nobody’s even said a word about it.”

She said she found it on the sidewalk outside of the deli and decided she would hang it up in the deli because “that’s somebody’s wedding photo.”

Kozlick suggested that the photo might have also come from the office space upstairs. She said that when Moshopoulos was cleaning out the offices, he found a “big roll-off dumpster in the driveway,” and implied that the photo may have fallen off of the truck. But Kozlick said, she would have thought somebody would have heard the photo fall in its plastic case.

She also thought that it may have come from Janine Leigh Photography further down the road on Rockaway Avenue, but Leigh denied that she took the photo in an interview with the Herald.

“We are at a loss for information,” Kozlick said.

The lot was previously owned by Albanese & Associates, until Moshopolous purchased the building about a year and a half ago to convert the office space into apartments. He said that when he bought the building, the office space was already vacant. Phone numbers for Albanese & Associates have since been de-activated.

Anyone with information about the people in the photo is encouraged to reach out to the Herald at (516) 569-4000, ext. 202, or email “mailto:mkoenig@liherald.com” mkoenig@liherald.com. Tips can also be sent to our reporter, Melissa Koenig, via social media at the Valley Stream Herald Facebook page or @MelissaGKoenig on Twitter using the hashtag #FindthePhotosOwnersVS.