Staten Island Memories
Grab a pot of coffee
there are 1200 memories from our visitors
See how many you remember
1 EJ Korvettes
2 Santa Claus at Lobel's in Port Richmond
3 Food Farm on Hylan Blvd
4 Garber's (New Dorp) (cutting through the store to Mill Road)
5 Going to South Beach to watch the fireworks display
6 W.T. Grants Department Store in New Dorp
7 "In Jeans" the five dollar jeans store on Forest Avenue
8 Going to Port Richmond for school uniforms
9 Drag racing on the soon-to-be Richmond Parkway
10 The Dump – (was it really seen from outerspace)
11 The Paramount Theater on Bay St., Stapleton - later became a disco club
12 The Old Sears on Forest Ave.
13 Pergaments (New Dorp and at the Mall)
14 The Choir Loft (Bay Street)
15 Cashing in Green Stamps on Forest Ave.
16 Louie's Superette in South Beach
17 Summer "Camp" at PS 39
18 The Rustic Inn - Hylan Blvd - Dongan Hills
19 Going to the rides at South Beach for a nickel and a bottle cap
20 Wiegands Bowling Alley. It was said that it was the first bowling alley on Staten Island. It was located on Clove Road in Concord
21 Feasts at St. Michael's on Harbor Road, Mariners Harbor
22 Minstrel Shows at P.S. 44
23 Yellow La Rue dry cleaning home delivery trucks
24 The crash site at Miller Field of the TWA Constellation. (1960s)
25 Shore Acres Pond
26 The grotto at Mt. Manresa
27 Sleigh riding at the McGiness Mansion on Belair Rd
28 Holtermann's Bakery Home Delivery
29 Sterner and LeBlanc appliance store near Jewett. If you needed a TV, that's where you went.
30 Parades. We used to have them Memorial Day and the Fourth of July right down Castleton Avenue
31 Zinicola's pepperoni Italian bread - only on Sunday.
32 The Ferry in Port Richmond square to Bayonne
33 Proctor & Gamble as well as US Gypsum
34 Whitehouse Tavern and Coopers Bar on Rossville Avenue
35 Bakers Pharmacy in Prince's Bay
36 Richmond Memorial Hospital
37 Picking lead to sell to the junk man. picking it from the hind side of the shooting range on Claypit Rd while people were firing ( I love this one )
38 Ghost Town (St. George)
39 C & B on Castleton Ave
40 Snoopy's on Castleton Ave
41 Inn By The Wayside on Hylan Blvd
42 Vincent's Bakery (Ferry Terminal)
43 Wilfred Beauty Academy
44 Shuba's in South Beach
45 Parking in Great Kills Park
46 Piccadilly Circus on Richmond Terrace.
47 Master's Dept. Store on Hylan Blvd
48 Willowbrook (Home for Mentally Challenged) (Made Geraldo Rivera Famous)
49 The Rainbow Roller Skating Rink" on Quintard Rd. in South Beach. It was then "Skate Odyssey" and then "Motions Disco".
50 Westerleigh Park Concerts
51 Scarlet's - South Beach - (Strip Joint)
52 3-Jays bar in New Dorp which later became Toto's.
53 Great Kills Point Beach Parties
54 Black Garter ( Strip Joint)
55 Mission Soda Plant - Richmond Road - Concord
56 The Organ at St. George Theater
57 The Drive-In Theater
58 The Caves (on Van Duzer)
59 Kingstons store at the foot of Fox Beach Ave.
60 Flagship Store on Hylan Blvd. Grant City.
61 Weissglass Saturday Night Stock Car Races
62 Buda Bakers on Richmond Road, Grant City
63 Reinhardt's Bar and Picnic Grounds
64 Rube's Tavern in Charleston
65 Green Lantern Bar and Grill - Stapleton
66 William Penn Bar - Rosebank
67 Marty's Candy Store in Pleasant Plains
68 Penny Beach
69 Vanderbilt's Tomb
70 Ralph's Ices
71 Egger's Ice Cream Shoppe
72 Bowling on the Green ( Just torn down August 13, 2004 )
73 Woolworths (Port Richmond Avenue and Stapleton)
74 Johns Bargain Store (Stapleton)
75 Tirellis Merry-Go-Round ( South Beach )
76 Row Boating at Willowbrook Park
77 The Ritz Theater
78 The Hylan Movie Theater
79 Bungalow Bar Ice Cream Truck
80 Bayonne Ferry
81 Riding down Hylan Blvd when there were only 2 lights on the whole Blvd.
82 Faber Pool
83 Sleigh Riding (Jack's Pond, Lockman Street, Todt Hill Golf Course)
84 Major's Dept. Store
85 Leaving Doors Unlocked ( Many Visitors said this )
86 Sky slide on Forest Ave
87 Tottenville Pool
88 Ice skating on Martlings Pond
89 Swimming at Lyons pool in Tompkinsville
90 Mount St. Carmel Feast on Castleton and Clove
91 Serious brush fires in the early 60's when more than 100 homes were destroyed (The fires of 1963. )
92 Sedutto's Ice Cream
93 Mom and Dad used to give me 10 cents to get into Tompkinsville Pool
94 Melody Ann's dress shop on Richmond Ave
95 The SI airport where the Mall is now
96 Pouch terminal and Pouch Boy Scout Camp
97 Musk rat trapping in Great Kills Park
98 Franzreb Stables in Clove Lakes
99 Linoleum factory in Travis
100 Mount Loretto church
101 Bayonne Ferry
102 Tottenville Ferry
103 The 69st Ferry to Brooklyn
104 The St George theater, the matron walked around with her flashlight looking for kids making out.
105 Rolladium at New Dorp
106 Graham Beach Bungalow Colony
107 Store of a Million Items in Stapleton
108 Von Briesens park
109 Godomski's Bakery
110 MacNamara's Picnics
111 Jerry Lewis Theater - Forest Avenue
112 Sites (Seitz’s) Candy Store on the corner of Craig Avenue & Main Street in Tottenville
113 Drag racing @ South Ave.
114 Roller Skating at the Ritz
115 Great Kills Point Friday Night Beach Parties
116 Pheasants were plentiful
117 Farmers Market in Mariners Harbor on Forest Avenue - Farmers market became Majors department store
118 Madalone's Coliseum ,a bowling alley on Richmond Ave & Richmond Terrace
119 Harmony Park (Schenkel's Harmony Park)
120 Bakers Pharmacy in Prince's Bay
121 Richmond Memorial Hospital
122 Vastola's Farm
123 Ekstrands florists
124 YMCA
125 Clove Lake Stables
126 Our Lady Queen Of Peace
127 Racing slot cars at the Family Hobby Center on New Dorp Lane.
128 The farmer's market on Richmond Avenue
129 Matinee at the Ritz theater
130 Faber Pool
131 Ice skating on Pots & Pans
132 In the 1940s, along Port Richmond Avenue, there were three five and ten cent stores; Woolworth’s, Kresge’s and Fisher-Beer.
133 The Draft Board office in St. George.
134 Eggers
135 Farms on Richmond Avenue
136 The airport.
137 The old pavilion at the Conference House
138 Lane Theater
139 Swiss Chalet
140 Goldens Deli Richmond Avenue
141 Penn fruit Supermarket
142 Joe's cab stand next to rail road tracks. ~ Eltingville~
143 The concerts at Silver Lake every Wednesday night
144 Old linoleum factory at the end of Victory Blvd in Travis
145 Sleigh riding down a steep hill someplace near Gordon St.
146 The "Honeycomb" in the lower part of the mall
147 Luke & John's Deli on Victory Blvd
148 Sand Pits in Great Kills
149 Franks Candy Store - Mariners Harbor
150 The Old New Dorp High School
151 Cows near Mt Loretto
152 Cle's Pharmacy ( Midland Beach )
153 Pete Devitos Dept. Store ( Midland Beach )
154 Millers Hardware Store ( Midland Beach )
155 Concerts at Cromwell Center
156 Wed. night dances at Westerleigh Park,
157 Friday night dances at Fox Hills
158 Sleigh riding and ice skating at Clove Lakes
159 Christmas locomotive ( I heard of one on New Dorp Lane and one on The Terrace)
160 Cusack's veggie truck
161 Robert Hall Clothes Store ( Hylan Blvd )
162 Deer running wild through the peach & apple orchids.
163 Old barracks in Fort Wadsworth
164 St.George Movie Theater
165 Ruby Lanes
166 LaRosa's pastry shop on Olympia Blvd in South Beach where Sadie would throw you out if you came too late on Sunday (they closed at 1 or 2 PM and reopened at 4).If you went past the showcases you were in their kitchen. They had the best pastry. I could smell it now.
167 Remember horseback riding at cloves lakes,
168 Skating at Brady's Pond
169 Burger Chief - Stapleton
170 "Schwartzies" store in Tompkinsville where Burger King is now
171 Roller Skating at the Ritz,
172 Jerry Lewis Theater,
173 Plaza Casino being knocked down,
174 Joe's Paramount Bar
175 Piel's Brewery
176 Dom's Barber Shop and Shoe Repair - Bement and Forest Avenues
177 DeJong's Bakery (later Myers Bakery)
178 Smiling Sunnys Toy Store ( Forest Avenue )
179 Sacred Heart's Summer Bazaar
180 Mucci's Sporting Good's Shop
181 Remember the fire dept big ladder truck driving down North Railroad Avenue every Christmas morning with one fireman dressed as Santa and giving away small boxes of candy to any kids that would run out of the house to get it. They would pass my block between 6 & 7 AM every Christmas morning for years
182 Oven Bake Shop
183 Rome's Flying A gas station in Dongan Hills around Cromwell Ave and Atlantic Ave.
184 Tassis's Tire Town corner of Midland and Hylan
185 The Dog House in Dongan Hills
186 Bohack in New Dorp
187 Safeway Supermarket Hylan and Old Town Road
188 There was a soda factory at the corner of Old Town Road and Hylan Blvd where the bank is now. I believe it was Squirts
189 Francis Ford, Hylan Blvd Dongan Hills
190 Marone's hardware, Norway Avenue
191 The Cafe Clarette
192 Horrman's ( 2 R's) Castle on Howard Avenue was the home of the one owner of the old Stapleton Brewery, Rubsam and Horrman. The site is now housing, it was at Osgood Avenue and Vanderbilt Avenue.
193 Memoly Motors, a Dodge dealership on Richmond Terrace at Jewett Avenue.
194 Stuckey's Auto Salvage, Amboy Road
195 Wagner's, used to be a Chrysler dealer on Richmond Road close to the Expressway.
196 Dinger's farm, now Macy's and Circuit City area.
197 Dave's Soda Shop on Bay St. in Rosebank
198 Dot and Vic's Candy Store on Hylan Blvd. & Tompkins in Rosebank
199 Joann's Candy Store on the corner of Evelyn Place and Bay St.
200 Sliding down a dirt hill behind Labetti Post on a cardboard box
201 Playing football behind Labetti Post
202 Swinging on a tree rope behind Labetti Post
203 Smoky's Candy Shop on Fingerboard
204 Running under all the clothes racks at Robert Halls Clothes Store
205 Auer's Bakery on Targee Street (Richmond Road?) Concord
206 Sleigh riding on cardboard boxes behind Labetti Post from Maryland Ave.
207 Visiting the museum at Fort Wadsworth
208 Summer camp at Damatti''s playground Rosebank. Roller-skating, tennis and art and crafts trucks would come.
209 The "Pelican Club" on Fingerboard Rd.
210 Smokey's donut shop on Fingerboard Rd. The donuts used to taste like cigarettes
211 St. Mary's School on Bay Street, when there were nuns for teachers and hot lunch. Sister Basil
212 Putting baseball cards on our bike spokes to make clicking noises.
213 Hanging out at Mount Manresa, and getting chased out by the nuns
214 Playing softball at East Shore Little league.
215 The old P.S.13 on Anderson and Hylan
216 Richies Ice Cream Parlor - Dongan Hills
217 The Honeycomb at the SI Mall
218 The Factory
219 Rocky Horror Midnight Show
220 Sid's Candy Store on Forest Ave
221 Joe's Question Mark Richmond Avenue & Victory Blvd. - Italian American Restaurant
222 Johnny Maestro singing in the stair well on the 8:10 ferry to NY
223 Drag Racing on Arden Ave.
224 New Dorp- Curtis Thanksgiving Football games
225 Semlars Park ( now Grant City Apartments)
226 Professional Wrestling ( Wiessglass Stadium)
227 Bayonne- Staten Island Ferry
228 The Pavilion ,Tottenville
229 Fitzgerald's Nite Club
230 The Italian Kitchen Hylan Blvd
231 The East Shore Community Center Fox Hills
232 Lucci's Bowling Alley,Grasmere
233 Eibs Pond Mosel Ave.
234 Edna's Sweet Shop, at the top of Hyatt Street, on St. Mark's Place. After a movie at the St. George, that was the place to go.
235 The Victory Theater was up the street and you got to see 2 movies for 10 cents on Saturday and sometimes they gave dishes and glasses away as gifts.
236 The two way toll at the Verrazano Bridge sometimes missed exact change hopper had to open car door
237 The Cobblestone roads on Snake Hill and Todt Hill Road
238 As kids we swam in the old saw mill creek and off the old Manhattan barge down from Travis Ave.
239 My father's best friend, Bill LaTourrette, lived in Mariner's Harbor with his wife. At the back of his backyard was a tiny house, rather run down even to my young eyes (maybe I was 8 or 9) belonging to a Miss Butts who lived alone. She was very old and frail, and I was afraid of her. One day Uncle Bill and I paid her a visit and she fascinated me. She had a deep voice and gnarled hands from arthritis. Fear was replaced by an eagerness to get to know her. We talked many times. I loved her stories of Buffalo Bill coming to SI and setting up on the property in back of her. This little house had been her home and she never left it. Stories of cowboys and Indians, Annie Oakley, buffalo and trick riders were music to my ears. It must have been wonderful then.
240 The fluoroscope machine at Lobel's children's dept. where you could x-ray your feet in sickly green and watch the bones move!
241 I think the matron at the Capitol in the '40s was Mrs. Snow. Starched white clothing and white hair.
242 Wednesday was plate night at the Ritz Theater on Richmond Ave. In the late '50s, three of us - my mother, aunt and I, and sometimes my cousin, would see the evening movie and get a plate or whatever, for my cousin's upcoming wedding. It was only 35 cents on plate night.
243 An ice cream place that looked like an ice cave with penguins and polar bears (looked like an iceberg). Near South Beach. What was the name...the Polar Cave? (New Dorp? Maybe)
244 Sleigh riding on the hill in front of the Latourette Country Club right outside of historic Richmondtown.
245 Cutting class and exploring the TB wards at Seaview
246 When Great Kills "village" actually was a real village with a Chinese Laundry, fish market, Farrell's Hardware Store, Harry's Dept. Store, Trunz's Meat and last but not least Benedicts Grocery Store where the butcher would slice you a piece of cold cut while your mother shopped!
247 When the Express Bus to Manhattan was a dollar
248 The original SIRT with wicker type seats instead of plastic
249 Rickels Home Improvement store
250 Farrell’s ice cream parlor at the Mall – remember “the zoo”??
251 Clarence the milkman (Tottenville)
252 Living below the blvd. in Tottenville
253 Driving all the way down to the waterfront at the Conference House, before the barricade was put up
254 Frank’s Bakery at the corner of Amboy Road & Sleight Ave.
255 Shopping in Port Richmond Center before the Mall was built
256 The Century Inn (now Killmeyer’s)
257 Rinky Dink Roller Rink on Main St. in Tottenville
258 Santa Claus handing out toys on Innis Street by the Cichon Post in Elm Park.
259 George's candy store - Guyon Avenue near Oakwood Train Station
260 Pinky and Jacks luncheonette on New Dorp Lane corner of Clawson Street
261 The Pizza at 3 Jays
262 Drag racing in EJ Korvettes parking lot
263 I remember walks in Clove Park on Easter Sunday afternoons, after church.
264 New Dorp Lane Paul's Sweet Shoppe for the black & white egg creams.
265 The Red Barrel Tavern, South Beach on the corner of Sand Lane and Seaside Blvd.
266 Johns Bargain Store was not only in Stapleton, there was 1 on Richmond Avenue near the railroad tracks.
267 Nathans on Hylan Blvd near Tysen's and the Grant's shopping center.
268 Next to Sears was Neisners a five and ten
269 Cromwell Center in Tompkinsville
270 St. George Diner on Bay Street
271 There were 3 locations for Pal Joey's Pizza, Oakland and Forest, Forest and Davis & Bement at Forest.
272 I remember going blackberry picking with my brother and all the honeysuckles that grew behind our house. my sister worked at the candy counter in the palace theater, we always did our Christmas shopping on Richmond Avenue where the lights were strung across the street.
273 Lets not forget "Schaeffer's Tavern" located at Victory Blvd. & Bradley Ave. Schaeffer's Tavern has been around since the 1930's and is still an excellent eating & drinking establishment.
274 James Thompson and sons Lumber Co. and Thompson Stadium, where they had football games and midget auto races. A public school on Tompkins Ave in Stapleton now stands there.
275 Dorhety's Bar on New Dorp Lane
276 The Stumble Inn on Post Ave.
277 Coral Lanes Bowling Alley on Richmond Ave now the Coral Shopping Plaza
278 Victory Lanes Bowling Alley
279 Sunset Lanes on Richmond Ave. now the 122 pct sub station
280 Piazza's Bakery
281 Tucky's
282 Miniature golf Arthur Kill and Richmond
283 Blue Willow Inn
284 Al's Pizza
285 "Old Dutchman's" bar and grill at the top of Clarke Ave
286 Sarcone's Pony Rides
287 Palermos
288 The Towne House
289 Aliseo's Market
290 Sam's Taxi
291 Silvestri's Gas Station
292 Zilly's Pontiac
293 Central Lanes
294 Rendezvous Club
295 Log Cabin Inn
296 Ann's Sweet Shop across from Central Lanes
297 Pops candy store.
298 Vigliottis Bakery
299 Beddia Bros Bakery
300 Ice skating on the site that is now Waldbaums on Richmond Ave.
301 Grasso's Pizza
302 Fanelli's Farm
303 Lady of Pity Bazaar Lamberts Lane and Richmond Avenue
304 Beauty Pond
305 Orchard Inn
306 Mardi Gras Club Great Kills
307 Meurot Club
308 Casa Barone in St. George
309 Oak Room
310 Boulder Stadium off Arlene
311 Sleigh riding down Lamberts Lane toward South Ave.
312 Swimming in the creeks below South Ave.
313 Plaza Casino
314 Knotty Pine Lanes
315 Sunnyside Club
316 Finest Supermarket
317 Sally's Ice Cream truck
318 Red & Tan and Blue and Grey bus to the city
319 Dew Dale record shop at Castleton Ave. and Richmond Avenue
320 PRHS graduation walking from the CYO to the Ritz
321 Decker Ave Christmas tree
322 Riding in the September Horse Shows at Clove Lake Stables.
323 Forest Dance Studio
324 Lady of Good Counsel Dances
325 Palms Pizza on Castleton
326 Brighton Lounge on Brighton Avenue, near Goodhue Park
327 Crocitto's
328 Columbian Lanes Bowling Alley
329 Bohack’s Supermarket on Forest Ave
330 Splash parties at Goodhue Pool, New Brighton and everyone trying to get the greased watermelon out of the pool
331 Marty's candy store on New Dorp Lane
332 Avino's pizza at New Dorp Beach
333 The original Jolly Trolley was located on Clove Road just before Victory Blvd.
334 The Miami Club in South Beach
335 Charlie Chips delivery truck bringing potato chips to your door
336 The Sugar Bowl on Victory near Grand Ave was called “Ann’s Sugar Bowl”
337 Weissglass stadium stock cars. I went round an round, some times upside down. Charles Edkins #43x
338 Tumble Town (an outdoor trampoline center on Post Ave near Clove Road)
339 The Miami Club (a night club on Jersey St and Brighton Ave that attracted many celebrities).
340 The Good Humor Man (In his white suit)
341 Dugans Bakery Trucks
342 The Knights of Columbus on Clove Road (with the bowling alley in the basement).
343 Cricket games at Walker park
344 Little Joe's Pony Track and Animal Farm on Richmond Ave in Graniteville
345 Tucky's Pizzeria on Arthur Kill Road in Greenridge
346 Jean's Beans in Forest Ave Plaza selling cooked foods for take-out
347 Rendevous Club on Richmond Ave opp. Our Lady of Pity R.C. Church Bulls Head
348 US Army camp on Richmond Ave in Bulls Head
349 Zinicola's Bakery on Hooker Place opposite Denino's
350 Casa Nova Restaurant on Richmond Ave in Port Richmond
351 Teams of guys climbing the grease poles to get the prizes at the top at summertime feasts at Our Lady of Pity, St. Michael's (Mariner's Harbor) and other local Churches
352 Lemon creek and Richmond Ave. drawbridges
353 Millways bar on Hylan and Adams Street
354 The Alps restaurant on Richmond Road in New Dorp
355 Charlie Stringer's team of Belgian horses stabled at Franzreb's. He was a powerful, small black man who loved those horses and he'd hitch them up for hayrides and parades. I believe he was also a farrier
356 The zoo after Church on Sunday. One birthday morning my father asked the primate keeper if I could go behind the rail and touch a spider monkey. I did! It was magical for a young animal lover.
357 Surf Club, Ocean Avenue & Seaside Blvd, South Beach
358 Jakes Ice Cream Trucks on the South Shore
359 Shoals Dock and Marina
360 Jumping off the sand dunes when they were building Crookes Point
361 Flash Gordon serials on Saturday morning at the Ritz Theater
362 Parks Dept. dances on Wednesday nights alternating between Westerleigh Park, McDonalds Playground, and Cromwell Center
363 Ski jump on Little Clove Road
364 Sleigh Riding all the way down Waters Avenue
365 Veterans gazebo at Jewett Ave. and Boulevard
366 After school swimming at the old JCC
367 "Dressing" the May Pole in Clove Lakes Park
368 Barranco's Diner on Forest Ave.
369 Taking what seemed like the longest ride in the world by car-Drumgoole Blvd.
370 Every storefront on Richmond Ave. occupied by would be doo wop groups
371 The miniature golf course at New Dorp Lane and Hylan Blvd.
372 The Polar Cave across New Dorp Lane from The miniature golf.
373 Fitzgerald's Hotel and ball field at the foot of Nelson Ave. in Great Kills.
374 WWII Honor Roll - top of Nelson Ave and Amboy Road in Great Kills
375 Tiger Market - Great Kills Village.
376 Browers Hardware - Great Kills Village.
377 Katzmans Dept. Store - Great Kills Village.
378 Jim & Charlies Barber Shop - Great Kills Village.
379 Talk of The Town Tavern - Great Kills Village.
380 Fiorelli's Shoe Store - Great Kills Village.
381 Fiorelli's Drug Store - Great Kills Village.
382 Staten Island Edison Company - Great Kills Village.
383 Bub Cohn's Fish Market - Great Kills Village.
384 The Great Kills Bank - Great Kills Village.
385 Whitmans Candy Store - Great Kills Village.
386 The Bock Agency - Great Kills Village.
387 Sherman Williams Paint Store - Great Kills Village.
388 Nicotinie's Taylor Shop - Great Kills Village.
389 Springstead Lumber Co. - Great Kills Village.
390 Ralston's Grocery Store - Great Kills Village.
391 I used to get ready for school by the clock on the old R&H Brewery
392 Sleigh riding in Silver Lake Golf Course on the "big" hill
393 Beefsteak Charlie's (by the Mall)
394 Lucci's TV
395 Friday Night dances at St.Peters H.S.
396 Forest Avenue Farmers exchange, now Pastosa's, especially at Christmas with the tree's for sale.
397 Staten Island Pickle Works on Targee St.
398 Picking blackberries next to Anne's Sugar bowl at Victory Blvd and Melrose Ave.
399 Moore's Stable on Victory Blvd, where the mounted police kept their horses.
400 Playing "pickup" ball at Clove Lake park, basketball, football, baseball, whatever!
401 Shoe Barn in Port Richmond, where you went for school uniform shoes.
402 Piels Brewery, originally Rubsam and Horrman.
403 Hormann Castle when the Presentation Nuns lived there.
404 Augustinian Academy on Grymes Hill.
405 Amboy Twin Cinema's - Amboy Road in Great Kills
406 SIRT with the wicker-covered seats that would flip back & forth
407 Public schools were open during the summer for sports, crafts, food, and trips.
408 Tavern on the Green restaurant Hylan Blvd., New Dorp
409 Temptee Freeze ice cream shop corner of Greeley Ave and Hylan Blvd.
410 Goodies Hamburgers opposite Temptee Freeze corner of Greeley Ave and Hylan Blvd.
411 Weissglass Milk, delivered to your house in glass bottles
412 I remember sleigh riding down Targee Street from Van Duzer
413 In Stapleton, there were dances at Immaculate Conception Church, then we went to dances at Tappen Post, and at the Armory
414 Porters Frozen Custard Stand it was across Arthur Kill Road from Al Deppes
415 Fair Way Club (Dining and Dancing) it was across Richmond Avenue from Al Deppes.
416 Gretta Nissen Florist I used to work there for 25 cents an hour. Milton, Gretta, and Lillian Nissen were very friendly people
417 I had a gas station and garage at 4585 Amboy road Eltingville the name was Clint's Auto Service I wonder if any body remembers my Gas Station.
418 Miltons Beacon (great fast food) a restaurant that was built just like a Light House. It was on the corner of Richmond Hill Road and Richmond Avenue.
419 Arthur Kill Incinerator where they burnt all the garbage that was picked up on Staten Island.
420 (Gus and Frank Dinger) Dingers farm
421 A trolley called The Red Mike along Richmond Avenue
422 Sarlos Soda and Ice cream on Broad Street and Targee Street. (The music was playing on the Wurlitzer and best ice cream sodas on earth)
423 My mother swam from South Beach to Hoffman Island and back
424 My Dad owned the College Pharmacy Van Duzer St.
425 I delivered prescriptions by bike to the soldiers families living in Fox Hills.
426 I took lessons at Franzrebs Stables in Clove Lake.
427 We often took blankets to Silver Lake Park, and slept there on a hot night.
428 Dad owned Katz Drugs and Surgicals on Bay and Water St. in Stapleton.
429 St. Louis Academy on Drumgoole Blvd.
430 Barranco's Diner (Vic Barranco owned it) in West Brighton was called the Midway Diner
431 Marconi's Restaurant, New Dorp Beach behind the bowling alley.
432 Dongan Hills train station, a stationery store that all the kids called "Carls" which also had a soda fountain .
433 Nanette's in Tompkinsville
434 Empire Theater with a dollar in the 50’s $.25 for the double feature with cartoons etc from 10am- to 4 pm .You could win prizes , see a live stage show etc You could have candy for .05 and soda or popcorn for a dime….I remember hiding behind the half wall when they played Dracula with Bela Lugosis
435 Ice skating at Jack's Pond
436 Fairyland and the Sandpit behind Great Kills swim club
437 Joey's Showboat and Sonny's Lounge
438 I lived in Bulls Head and I remember the rodeo down the street – I would wait on the curb for one of the cowboys to come down the street walking out the horse and ask for a ride – they always gave me one…..– but it is so cool to tell people that I grew up down the street from a rodeo!!!
439 I also remember all the farms down Richmond Ave. – from Victory Blvd. to past where the mall is now
440 All those concerts were at the Ritz Theater
441 Henny’s Steak House
442 LaRosa's Bakery , South Beach (they had the best lemon ice)
443 May's and Fay's Hotels, South Beach
444 The train with wicker seats that you could move backwards and forwards.
445 One of My dad first jobs was delivering coal to homes on S.I. and dropping some coal from the truck along the way in poor neighborhoods.
446 Aida's Bakery on New Dorp Lane, across from The Lane Theater
447 The Sail Inn Bar on Hylan Blvd & Nelson Ave, Great Kills
448 Gulf Station at Post and Richmond Avenue
449 Habilds Camera and Art Store on Winham Avenue - New Dorp.
450 Ciro's Italian restaurant on Reid Avenue and Hylan Blvd
451 The Island Movie Theater on Richmond Ave.
452 I remember the rodeo that used to be on the corner where Richmond Terrace met Richmond Avenue right across the street from Seduttos
453 Record Baron on forest where everyone bought their 45's
454 Master pizza, When Eggers was across the street from Sears
455 Berts Gift Shop in Port Richmond
456 Life Savers' Beach in Tottenville
457 A popular place in Tottenville in the fifties was The Hut, a hamburger place on Amboy Road, where we could go for a burger or just hang out.
458 Fox Hills Army Post, Concord, where Italian POWs were kept
459 The Keyboard Lounge in Grant City and Emily singing “Crazy”
460 The Lion’s Den on Midland Avenue
461 Otto’s Sweet Shop on Victory Blvd, people running to catch the bus to ferry. picking up the paper and leaving a nickel
462 The Village Inn on Richmond Road
463 Trimsrche's Restaurant Hylan Blvd & Alter Avenue, Dongan Hills
464 Sandy's Rowboats in Lemon Creek
465 Flo's Bar and the Castaways Bar on Sequine Ave.
466 S.S. White Dental Works
467 Thomas's Rent a Boat They were all painted orange and kept on moorings at the mouth of Lemon Creek.
468 The C.Y.O camp on Johnson Terr. And Sequine Ave.
469 The bridge over Lemon creek (it opened by moving on tracks)
470 Anne's Candy Shop at the corner of Castleton Ave/Brighton Ave.
471 Crupi's Cozy Corner - corner of Bay Street and Maryland Avenue in Rosebank.
472 Perosi's Ceramic Studio In Elm Park.....forty years of fun
473 New Dorp - Curtis annual Thanksgiving Football game at Weissglass Stadium.
474 The old blue and white laundry on Post Ave. and Clove Road
475 Plaza Casino Bowling Alley
476 The Wright Toy Store on Van Duzer
477 Eibs home delivery milk service to your front door
478 The changing of the name of Seaside blvd. to Father Cappidano Blvd
479 Paul's Sweet Shop in New Dorp. Aside from selling the best darn Egg Cream you ever had, Paul used to sell pea shooters with extra bags of ammo that we would by and bring them into the Lane Theater, sneak up into the balcony and start shooting people during the movie. Paul himself was not a bad guy but he had no patience for kids. Especially juveniles. If you were a kid and in the scope of 2 minutes after entering the store without spending money, Paul would chase you out and you wouldn't even think about reading any comics or magazines without first paying for them.
480 Going for shoes at Buster. Browns on Forest Ave. They had penny machine in the store, you could watch a Charlie Chaplin short.
481 I remember in the early 50s there were two neighboring eating places in
482 the same location as Al Deppe's -- one was called the Jolly Trolley and the other, The Loose Caboose -- more hot dogs and ice cream. Collectively, they were all "Al Deppe's" in our minds.
483 I could remember when R&H was right up the street from where I lived (Wright St) My friends and would go to the back of the brewery and climb up the latter to the tower where we would catch a few pigeons and sell them for a dime each to Rubin's egg and chicken market located on water street right under the train tracks.
484 Steckman's Sporting Goods on Bay Street next to the Paramount Theater. Supplier of Spalding Hi- Bounce" pinkies and sneakers and ice skates to "The Island" for over 50 years.
485 Marine Motor Sales (MG-Triumph-Saab-Jaguar) 419 Castleton Ave. last British new car franchise on Staten Island
486 The Factory Rock Club
487 My mother and father Charles and Caroline Gerhard were caretakers for the Old Actors Home (torn down 1934) which was across from the S.I. Zoo
488 The Tompkinsville Blue Jays Basketball Team
489 Bobby Darren used to spend his summers with his family in a bungalow at the beach
490 Nanette's Ice Cream Parlor in Tompkinsville
491 Hillside Swim Club on Signs Road
492 Casa Nova Restaurant in Port Richmond
493 Double D Deli which became Double S next to the Dakota Diner on Richmond Ave
494 Arnold Palmer Batting Cage and Miniature Golf on Forest Ave & South Avenue just a little past Majors across the street from Knotty Pines Lanes
495 Batting cage and Driving Range on Goethals Rd which is now a trailer park
496 "Big Moe's" hot dog truck that was parked on South Avenue near the SI Expwy for over 30 years
497 Domenico bus to the city
498 Alessio’s on Richmond and West Caswell
499 Clove Lake Ice Skating – Before the bubble!
500 Santos Sporting Goods on Hylan Blvd
501 Bills World of Sports on Victory Blvd
502 Bennett’s Bicycles was always needed at least once every summer to fix a flat or a bent rim - on Jewett Avenue
503 Kobren’s Pharmacy on Forest Ave
504 MacDonalds Inn (tavern/eatery) at 238 Morningstar Road owned by my dad (Phil Perosi's)
505 Hadaar Disco located on Clove Road
506 Shoshoni Disco located on Manor Road
507 I remember seeing vaudeville shows in the Ritz Theater on Saturdays
508 There were rowboats in Clove Lake.
509 We hitch-hiked to the beaches
510 Victory Blvd had trolley cars
511 Moe's candy store in Sunnyside
512 The first A & P, air-conditioned, in Stapleton
513 The 1938 hurricane
514 The Country Squire Press on 48-50 Jefferson Blvd. in Annadale (Owned by Bernard Zipprich)
515 Angelo's Hair Stylist 505 Forest Avenue (Owned by Angelo Call from 1947 to the late 1960’s)
516 Railroad tracks were ground level ,with R.R crossing gates at some street crossings
517 St Christopher’s Church , that was bought from Sear & Roebucks ,shipped to the location in boxes
518 Playing football for the Staten Island Tigers, home base was Grant City
519 I remember seeing soldiers parachuting into Miller Field
520 I remember the Old Army hospital in New Dorp Beach being knocked down with a wrecking ball
521 The Carousel Diner ( Tottenville )
522 Main Bar and Grill on Main St. ( Tottenville )
523 Club 93 was on Main St. and Arthur Kill Rd ( Tottenville )
524 Ammy's Men's Shop on Main St ( Tottenville )
525 Mary's Five and Ten on Amboy Rd and Main St ( Tottenville )
526 Antonio's Pizza on Amboy Rd. near Main St ( Tottenville )
527 Playing tennis at the Tottenville Racquet Club
528 The Factory Rock Club
529 Terramarine Hotel Staten Island Huguenot Avenue
530 Piels Brewery
531 The Park Villa
532 Jack in the Box on Victory Blvd near Jewett Ave
533 Angelina's Pizzeria, Todt Hill
534 The Blackout of 1977
535 Johnny the ice cream truck man he would throw bubble gum up in the air with one marked for a free ice cream
536 1961. Quart bottles of milk from Weissglass dairy had U.S. presidents pictures and info on the bottle caps. First the company gave you a sheet with the pictures of the Presidents , and a place to tape the bottle cap to
537 The Swamp. Colon Ave & Katan Ave. We would ice skate there in the winter. In the summer tell stories of people drowning while walking their dogs there
538 The 6's on Forest Ave
539 Two early Boy Scout Camps. One in Annadale in 1915 off Arden Avenue called Camp Wilson and another on Clove Lakes called Camp DuBois in 1917
540 Angelos Pizza on Canal Street.
541 Earls Sporting Goods and Record Shop, Canal Street
542 Colonial Lanes, Bay Street
543 Gigi's Tavern, Rosebank
544 Golden Cue Pool Parlor, Canal and Wright Streets
545 Stapleton AC Bowling, Baseball, Basketball
546 Shields Deli Broad Street before moving to Hylan Blvd in Great Kills
547 Millers Pharmacy Broad Street
548 Gelgiesers Hardware Broad Street
549 Stape Darts Football
550 Thompson’s Stadium now the Stapleton Houses
551 Mickey Jays Bar Broad Street
552 Sam' (Belotti) Service Station Tompkins Avenue
553 Charlie and El's Pine Room Fingerboard Road
554 Pier 6 Tompkinsville
555 Staten Island Hospital, Castleton Avenue
556 Goodhue Pool Lafayette Street
557 Fagos Barbershop Tompkins Avenue
558 The Corn Exchange Bank, became Chemical Corn Exchange then Chemical
559 Trunz Butcher & Market
560 St. Christophers yearly picnic at Semlars Park.
561 The Corner House Bar and Restaurant on Lincoln Ave and North RR Avenue.
562 The Rex Theater in Stapleton it had wooden bench for chairs 10 cents admission and the huge live big bands at the Tompkinsville piers on Saturday nights
563 There was also a roller skating rink down the street from the Paramount Theater
564 The Elegants, practicing in our school hall.
565 The roaring of engines from the stock car races at Weisglass stadium
566 New Dorp High School Bowling Team.
567 During WWII I lived at the top of Chestnut Ave. on the corner of White Plains Ave. There was an old wooden bridge over the railroad that went up to Fox Hills. From what I can remember, there were mostly black army troops that were stationed there And every morning they marched down Chestnut Ave. to the docks. Don’t know what they did down there.
568 Hedges (New Dorp)
569 Also at Fox Hills there were Italian POW’s. And they played soccer and as kids we would stand on the bridge and watch them.. After the war I do know that some of the prisoners stayed in Rosebank
570 There were Flower factories down on Tompkins Ave. and Chestnut.
571 Watching the “King and His Court” play softball at Weisglass Stadium
572 Skippy's Hot Dogs (Truck- since the 50's) parked on Hylan Blvd near Slater Blvd in Dongan Hills.
573 Three Hills (a/k/a Down Back) located off Holland Avenue and Richmond Terrace in Arlington/Port Ivory/ Mariners Harbor. There were three swamps there with three little hills (hence the name).
574 Neisner's Dept Store on Forest Avenue. There was a Diner in there and they would have you pop a balloon for a penny ice cream sundae.
575 Plaid Stamp Store on New Dorp Lane.
576 The Mini Lounge in Dongan Hills.
577 The Wonder Bar on Midland Ave
578 Cavanaugh Leagues, twilight and Sunday morning softball.
579 Watching from Dominic's pizzeria the making of the video poppa don't preach from Madonna
580 Dugan's delivering bread to the door
581 Safeway on Victory Blvd at Westcott
582 Robins Reef Buick on Van Duzer
583 Island Chevrolet on Castleton at Clove
584 Petrillo Oldsmobile on Castleton at Broadway.
585 Fairyland( the woods that ran from Giffords Lane to Richmond Ave near Arthur Kill Rd.
586 Watching Rodeos at Weisglass stadium. I remember there was some cowboy who had singing whips and he rode a black horse with white saddle and bridle named Rye Whiskey. He'd whip cigarettes right out of some woman's lips!
587 Finding salamanders in the Silver Lake Park creek
588 Major's Department store's food market's grocery conveyor belt. You would put your groceries in a wooden box with a number to remember, put it on a conveyor belt that took your groceries out while you went to get your car, and when you pulled up there were your groceries waiting for you. Sometimes there would be someone to help put them into your car!
589 The milk processing station (you could see the big tanks and tubes through the window) down in Mariner's Harbor on Forest Ave.
590 Montanti's a western wear/feed store on Richmond Terrace near Weisglass Stadium
591 Galloping on horseback past the Travis generating station smokestack on the soon to be West Shore Expressway before it was paved.
592 Piccadilly Liquor Store, Victory and Bay St., Tompkinsville (where the Burger King is now)
593 The Lido Restaurant, Victory Blvd, Tompkinsville
594 DeNora's Ice, Coal and Oil, New Brighton
595 Dancing to Cold North at the Hunt and/or Rigby's
596 Major's Department Store - Mariners Harbor
597 Jimmy Mack (you can still see him perform on the Island)
598 The Road House, Clove Road
599 Manor Sweet Shop, Manor Road
600 Concerts at Snug Harbor, Richmond Terrace
601 St. Rita's Church Bazaars, Bradley Avenue
602 Manor House, Manor and Tillman
603 Fazzino's Superette, Manor Road
604 New Dorp Lumber
605 Lerner's
606 Tyrone's Shoes
607 Oven Bake Bakery
608 John's Bargain Stores.
609 Just outside the Forest Avenue Shopping Center was a small dance studio that was always busy, and across the street was the Robert Hall clothing store
610 The old railroad that used to run through Mariners Harbor.
611 The Sanitation Depot which used to be on Alaska Street.
612 Plaza Casino, a banquet hall on Castleton Avenue which held many weddings, receptions and special events.
613 Nat’s Candy Store on the corner of Rose Avenue & South Railroad Avenue
614 Conte’s Grocery Store on North Railroad Avenue
615 Wetson's - I remember getting 2 hamburgers, french fries and a coke for 99 cents!
616 Staten Island Speed Shop
617 Richmond Auto Parts
618 Nedicks ...... tucked into that back corner of the Forest Avenue Shopping Center where the kitchen/grill was in the center of the restaurant and you could watch them cook your burgers ....... where the hamburgers smelled like heaven and tasted just as good, and where they had buckets of pickles on every table.
619 Majors had a supermarket section in the back, and after paying for the groceries you could have someone put your groceries into bins on a conveyor belt that brought it all to the back of the store where you could pull up and have them loaded into your car.
620 Majors also had Santa arrive every year in a helicopter
621 Bennet's Bicycles was always needed at least once every summer to fix a flat or a bent rim......and they're still there on Jewett Avenue today
622 Circle-S Milk Farm on Forest Avenue near Jewett Avenue
623 Tally Ho Field on Hylan Blvd, Great Kills
624 Milton's Beacon on Richmond Ave & Richmond Hill Road
625 Italian farmers delicatessen on New Dorp Lane
626 St Joseph's Bakery across the street from Italian farmers. They had the
627 best Baba Rhum in the world!
628 Fairyland, a wonderful pristine forest area in the Arthur Kill Road area that ran behind our house on Ridgewood Avenue known as Fairyland.
629 Hurricane of 1948
630 A bakery on Castleton Avenue called Shumans Bakery. They had the best jelly donuts, iced coconut and iced coffee cake were the best.
631 Grandpa's Comedy Club - New Dorp
632 Moe's candy store opposite the train station on Richmond Avenue, Eltingville, next door to Delco Drugs.
633 We all use to walk from the top of Ridgewood Avenue where we use to be able to sit and watch the screen at the drive in theater; of course we couldn't really make out what we were seeing, too far.
634 I am a native Staten Islander and lived on Ridgewood Avenue. My grandparents owned the original Val's Pizzeria, which was my first job at age 11. I sold Christmas trees on the corner in the winter, and worked the garden center in the summer. I also sold pumpkins and dressed up like a farmer girl with braids and a peasant blouse. I worked the deli that was next to the pizzeria for as long as it lasted. Oh yea, and I sold ice cream inside Val's for a very short time. Before Val's of course we all remember Al Deppe's. My father worked at Al Deppe's in the kitchen opening clams.
635 Club Brazil was located at 86 Mills Avenue in South Beach, and was actually the ground level of a large wooden frame house. The "bar" was located in the center of an entirely residential street (the lot is all attached townhouses now) It catered to a "special" crowd in the 70's and held great live shows back in the day. The clientele were great people and this was their "hide-away" back in a less tolerant time
636 Steve’s Orange House was located on the shoreline around the Prince’s Bay area.
637 Pizza Patio (In the Pleasant Plains town, near the train station and owned by the Buono Family from Nocera,Italy.)
638 Bagel Nosh (Restaurant, right on the corner of Victory and Richmond Avenues.)
639 Prince's Bay Trade Mart (In the old, former S.S.White factory on Hylan Blvd. down Seguine Ave. It was supposed to be the new :”Mall” of the South Shore, however, it never truly caught on.
640 Blossoms Disco a disco club on Midland Ave. in front of the hotel.
641 The Silver Fox (The local bar in Annadale town.)
642 The Blooma Barn (Located on the second level of the Prince’s Bay Trade Mart, they sold women’s underwear, gifts and intimate apparel.)
643 Playing in the abandoned South Field Coal Company
644 Mark's Chinese Restaurant in Dongan Hills during the mid to late
645 1960's.
646 Mary’s Variety Shop at 330 Clove Road
647 Eileen Peters clothing store on Richmond Ave near Forest. They had the cool car you could play in while your mom shopped for your clothes.
648 Rickles Hardware Stores.
649 Big Apple Bazaar that took over the Korvettes building
650 The Chopper fishing boat that used to dock off Bay street....Their motto was " I caught my whopper on the Chopper"
651 The rock quarry on Forest Ave.
652 Picadilly Circus on Richmond Terrace
653 Tony's Candy Store Forest and Bard
654 Racenstien's Drug Store Forest and Lawrence
655 Dongan Diner on Castleton Avenue and Dongan Street
656 Midway Diner Forest and Broadway
657 Donoghues Bar and Grill Forest Ave
658 The corner of Hylan Boulevard and Lamport Boulevard where the bank is now, used to be a Carvel Ice Cream store. There used to be carnivals in the parking lot once a year.
659 Raymond’s Bakery in Stapleton
660 Coopers Tavern (not Cooper’s Bar) Located on Rossville Avenue and was an old-time spot that had the nicest and kindest staff that would serve you. The staff and most of the patrons were old timers from the Sandy Ground area.
661 Gifts Galore - located on New Dorp Lane near the Blvd. They sold all sorts of gaudy and cheap gift items in the 70’s.
662 Mrc -The neighborhood local supermarket and general store on Huguenot Avenue. It was there throughout the 1960’s and assuredly before.
663 The Coffee Shack - located on Huguenot Avenue it was the local coffee and sandwich shop that catered to the Tottenville H.S. students.
664 Huguenot Library on Huguenot Avenue, the tiny white wooden building is still there today as a thrift shop and was said to be a post-office in the 1950’s.
665 Alfredo's Restaurant - Hylan Blvd. in Great Kills. They had the best pizza and fried calamari
666 Beach Haven - a small “women only” bar on Father Capodano Blvd. somewhere between Sand Lane and Midland Ave.
667 Chester Beach - located along the shoreline just east of Huguenot Avenue. I do remember a cluster of white-washed shacks that served beer and hot dogs around 1969-70.
668 Honey for the Bees-a disco in the late 70’s on Clove Road
669 The Sandcastle-a gay bar in the 80’s located in South Beach
670 Living on Vanderbilt Avenue watching the Verrazano Bridge being built from our second floor picture window
671 Seeing all the fires in 1963 from the hill behind our house,
672 The cobblestones on Van Duzer Street, and
673 Hamburgers and French Fries (with the skin partially on) at Wetson's.
674 The name of the carousel at South Beach was Terrellis (could've been spelled Tirellis) This was a "real merry go round" with the horses that went up and down and the arm sticking out where one could lean out and try to get the "brass ring" for a free ride. The rest of the rings were iron and the man came around with a wicker basket at the end of the ride and collected them. Whoever got a brass ring stayed on and gave it to the ticket taker at the beginning of the next round. I don't think there was a kid on Staten Island who rode on that ride who didn't sneak at least one iron ring home.
675 The fishing pier at South Beach: was at the Northernmost (the end closest to Manhattan) end of the boardwalk. In the 40's one could stroll down to the end of the pier and (as a little kid) see people pull in all kinds of fish and crabs: fluke, blue, porgies, stripers, blue crabs, skates, sea robins, sand sharks, eels, etc. There was a roofed pavilion at the end of the pier and some of the local "heroes" would climb the roof and dive off of it. After a couple of bad hurricanes the pier deteriorated and the city fenced off the entrance to it, but people would climb over or make holes through the chain link fence and barbed wire and go fishing anyway. After a few years however, there were not enough deck boards left to walk out on. The last time I saw it, (the 60's) the only things left were a few broken pilings sticking out of the water
676 The biggest seafood restaurant in Prince's Bay was Semlers.
677 The biggest factory in Prince's Bay was S.S. White, and they made dental tools. They had some pretty advanced devices that were also used in the fledgling semi-conductor field...sand blasters that allowed development labs to take off molecular layers of the semi- conductors one layer at a time
678 The famous big ship that got stuck in the mud in the Kill Van Kull was the USS Missouri, the biggest battleship we ever had. She did it coming out of the Bayonne Navy Yard. She was grounded right off Richmond Terrace approximately in front of St. Peter's Girl's High School.
679 Fitzgerald's Fairway Club was the bar across from Al Deppe's
680 The bar where Buddy Hackett got a lot of bookings before he was known was Dooley Warren's Melody Club on New Dorp Lane. Tommy Billotti ( Paul Castelano's chauffeur was a bouncer there )
681 The farmers market on Richmond Ave was called 'the auction' by us old timers.
682 The Conca D'oro Swim Club on Forest Ave. Mariners Harbor
683 The Royal Flamingo Swim Club on Amboy Rd.
684 The D'Antoni's were the barbers of choice.
685 Bement Pharmacy
686 Annual Lou Marli Thanksgiving Day Run at Clove Lakes Park
687 Connies sweet shop, which was right next door to Buda Bakers, where you could get a good egg cream and play a game of pool in the back..
688 Laughing Fat Lady at Old South Beach Boardwalk (I remember her at the Sand Lane Rides)
689 The Volunteers of America had a really nice place at the end of Joline Avenue on the beach in Tottenville. It was used for city kids in the summer months.
690 When we lived on Bement Ave. , we could hear the tigers and lions roar at night (from the Zoo), in the summer
691 SIRT - The gates were raised and lowered by hand by a worker in a small shack.
692 During World War II there were army barracks at Fox Hills, over the railroad tracks at the top of Chestnut Avenue, Rosebank
693 Tray riding down Howard Ave. on trays "borrowed" from Wagner College dining hall
694 Port Richmond HS basketball team playing for City championship at Madison Square Garden (1957)
695 We lived on Seaside Blvd. ( Now Father Capadano ), South Beach about 500 feet from May's Hotel. We lived in a bungalow which was very hot in the summer. This was before air conditioning. I remember sleeping on the front porch and going to sleep listening to the sounds of laughter and music coming from May's.
696 My great Aunt told us stories of coming home from work, SS White's in Prince's Bay, in a horse drawn carriage, in the middle of a snow storm
697 Family doctors would make house calls for $2 or a chicken leg if you didn't have the $2.
698 Pharmacist compounded their own prescriptions under the physician's direction.
699 North Shore Railway was 10 cents from Mariners Harbor to St. George, then you could continue to South Beach as well
700 I remember the Saturday night auctions near the airport
701 Miller Field was an U.S. Army Military Base. When I was a child I used to watch the troops jumping hurdles. I'm guessing it was a training base. We always played around with all the kids on the block and sometimes one of them would purposely through one of our shoes over the barbed wire fence just so that we could go to the main gate and have one of the soldiers drive us in a jeep to retrieve the shoe that was thrown over the fence.
702 My father used to go to Buda's Bakery every Sunday morning to buy crumb buns.
703 I can remember riding up and down Richmond Ave with maroon and white streamers taped to my car, after the Turkey Day football game between Curtis and New Dorp High Schools
704 There was Ciro's Italian restaurant on Reid Avenue and Hylan Blvd
705 Al Deppe's Hot Dog. It brought back GREAT memories. Did you know they had a Franks &Beans plate called "The Gasser"?
706 I can remember as a teenager, ice skating on Cameron's Pond, we would light a fire on the little island in the middle of the pond
707 Sloppy-Joe's tavern corner Sunset and Bradley Avenue
708 Bradley Avenue was called nanygoat hill.
709 The sound "sh-shineee?" "sh-shineee?" was the call of the shoeshine men on the ferryboats.
710 I remember climbing the remains of a wooden roller coaster at Midland Beach
711 I remember the remains of a horse race track (probably the old fairgrounds) on the east side of Richmond Road where the Berry projects are now
712 This one is a bit long but you are going to love it. It’s from a Staten Island airplane pilot. A year or so before Staten Island Airport closed, an archery range and a golf driving range were opened just north of the airport office building. When we were taxiing out for take off we could see archers and golfers actually trying to hit us. Still have an arrow hole in the plane. Just before we departed the airport for the last time, heading for secure Miller Field, another plane and I took revenge. We taxied first to the archery range, turned out tails to the office and opened full throttle with our brakes locked. My plane has 600 HP and the other plane about half of that power. I suspect some bows and lots of arrows wound up in New Jersey. After dispensing justice to the archery range we repeated the performance for the golf driving range, sending hundreds of golf balls across Richmond Avenue
713 Miller Field witnessed landings by aviation giants Charles Lindbergh & Admiral Richard Byrd.
714 Jahn's Deli on Forest Avenue
715 The WPA was a government program. It paid a small salary to keep people employed during the lean years before WW11. The New York Stage and Theater actors and singers etc. were no different. They would come to Silver Lake and set up a stage and put on Operettas and Plays and we would come from all over the Island with our blankets to sit on the grass and watch some of the best performances we would ever see in our lives for nothing. I think that was some education in itself as I do not think I would have ever have had such an opportunity on my folks income to get to see this caliber of theater.
716 In the early 'sixties, we'd go to concerts at Silver Lake as well. Also the Joseph Papp Shakespeare productions at Clove Lake.
717 Benny Goodman came to Midland Beach, or one of the beaches, one summer around '61.
718 The N.Y. Philharmonic came to the Paramount Theater in Stapleton
719 Goats on a lawn across the street from P.S. 12
720 The Candlelight Bar
721 Joe Rella's Ice Co.
722 Soap Box Derby Races in St George Theaters parking lot
723 Playing tackle football on the lawn of Boro Hall in St George
724 Schwartz 5 & 10
725 Johnicks On St Pauls Ave. Best Chili dogs ever.
726 Sleigh riding in Silver Lake Park
727 Peter Pan Alley on Forest Ave.
728 I remember when PS 39 had a blacktop ball field installed. It was a big thing in those days and of course they had a parade to celebrate its opening.
729 Sunnyside Hospital was torn down for the Staten Island Expressway
730 Zodiac Disco on Hylan Blvd just past Richmond Avenue
731 Huge live big bands at the Tompkinsville Pier on Saturday nights
732 I remember when PS 39 had a blacktop ball field installed. It was a big thing in those days and of course they had a parade to celebrate its opening.
733 Weissglass was between Union and Van Pelt on the south side of Forest.
734 My first part-time job was stocking shelves in the toy department at Majors on Forest Avenue.
735 Stevensons Luncheonette on Victory & Mountainview they had hand packed Breyers ice cream and stayed open late to get the "bulldog" edition of the daily news.
736 The small town feel that is now missing, such as shopping for Christmas trees on a vacant lot, across from Nunzio's pizzeria on Hylan Blvd. and Midland Ave.
737 Going with the family to The Moravian florist, to shop for new Christmas lights and ornaments.
738 Occasionally, on special occasions, having dinner at the Tavern on the Green
739 I sold magazines in the late 30's, and then the Staten Island Advance in Sunnyside and in Grymes Hill, when it cost 3 cents a copy.
740 I bought my first 45 record "lightning’s striking again" by Lou Christie at Woolworths.
741 We would drive around the Island every Sunday afternoon and go to the Dinger Farm, young Gus was my dad's friend.
742 My dad used to drive his (Gus from Dinger Farm) stock car for him at Weissglass Stadium.
743 We would go to watch the model airplanes being flown at the old airport.
744 St. Peter's dances
745 I also remember Gus Semler , with the football field and the bar ,with the large multiple seating out houses on the picnic area Gus Semler was a great guy and would do anything for any sport being played in the field , that was surrounded by and old wooden fence
746 Strawberry ice cream sodas at Paul's , corner store at Lincoln and South Railroad Avenue , Grant City
747 The old train station in Grant City, ( when the tracks were above ground ) that had a pot-belly stove in it, to keep warm waiting for the train
748 A mafia godfather lived on Staten Island. Paul Castellano, lived in a mansion on a 3.5 acre estate on Staten Island at the top of Todt Hill at 177 Benedict Road ,valued at $3.5 million and built as a copy of the White House. In fact, he called it his "White House."
749 The El Sal Resturant was located next to the Royal Flamingo Swim Club on Amboy Rd.
750 Deppes corner consisted of Al Deppes (corner of Richmond Ave & Arthur Kill Road); Gas Station (corner of Arthur Kill Road & Richmond Ave ); Elks Club Building (corner of Richmond & Drumgoole); Miniature golf (corner of Drumgoole & Arthur Kill Road.); Fairway Club (corner of Arthur Kill Road & Richmond Ave)
751 We used to ice skate on Arbutus Lake.
752 Villa Deste Pizza - Oakwood
753 We also ice skated on Wolf's Pond and the older folks would park their cars facing the pond with their headlights on so we could see.
754 Fitzgerald's Fairway Club was the bar across from Al Deppe's
755 Dairy bought out or absorbed by Weissglass was called New Dorp Dairy
756 Wooded area on left, heading to Al Deppe's from Gifford's Lane was called Fairyland.
757 The Orange House was at the foot of Arbutus Ave on the beach.
758 As a youngster, it was a great treat to go to Al Deppe's more for the games in the back than the food!
759 Avino's Pizza down at New Dorp Beach.
760 We used to go to the Pavilion at the end of Hylan to sit and watch the boats.
761 On the fourth of July we would go there to watch the fireworks from Perth Amboy.
762 The old bridge over the Fresh Kills was a drawer bridge but never in my life did I ever see it opened
763 The wicker seats on the train did do a number on women's stockings as there was always a loose piece to snag them!
764 There wasn't any air conditioning nor ceiling fans on the trains so the windows were opened to get some air during the summer.
765 The poles and hanging holders on the trains were white porcelain covered.
766 The trains also had conductors and other workers on board to take your ticket or sell you a ticket.
767 The fare from my house to Great Kills when I was young, was eight cents each way.
768 Later on going to the Ferry would cost thirty two cents
769 The conductor would punch where you got on and were getting off besides the cost. Everyone, knew the conductors after a while.
770 February 1961 after attending a Broadway play, we did finally get to th the Ferry then to the train in St. George. But the train only got as far as between Tompkinsville and Stapleton due to the heavy, deep snow covering the tracks and third rail. We spent the night on the train (only about a dozen or so people in total in both cars) until the early morning when a locomotive came from somewhere, finally and pushed us the rest of the way.
771 My dad had an uncle, Joe Pesci, who owned Joe’s Restaurant (Joe’s Question Mark, The Question Mark
772 A schoolmate of mine, her father owned a small bar/tavern on Richmond Terrace somewhere between St. Peters Place and Laporte Place. I believe, if my memory serves me right, it was called the Hole in the Wall. It was on the Borough Hall side of Richmond Terrace, not the water side and it was quite small.
773 Honey for the Bees - a disco in the late 70’s on Clove Road
774 It is a positive fact that Seaview Hospital was a Tuberculosis Hospital operated by the City of New York.
775 The Farm Colony was across the way. Not a TB Hospital at all but a home for older people.
776 Halloran Hospital was a U.S.Army Hospital during WW11 and did a lot of reconstructive surgery for wounded soldiers
777 Halloran Hospital was changed to Willobrook after the Army moved out.
778 Sea View was originally use as a hospital for T.B. patients operated by the City of New York
779 Farm Colony was a cooperative. I remember a very large barn with milk cows. I do believe it was a cooperative farm.
780 The Sandcastle-a gay bar in the 80’s located in South Beach
781 My fondest Memories of Graniteville was Dominick’s Pizzeria on the corner of Forest Ave & Morningstar Road.
782 I could remember when R&H was right up the street from where I lived (Wright St) My friends and would go to the back of the brewery and climb up the latter to the tower where we would catch a few pigeons and sell them for a dime each to Rubin's egg and chicken market located on water street right under the train tracks.
783 Habilds camera and art supplies store on Winham Avenue in New Dorp.
784 Summer camp run by the CYO in Prince's Bay at the end of Seguine Avenue. (behind SS Whites)
785 Also in Prince's Bay right next to the CYO summer Camp was a factory which later became in indoor shopping center called the "Trade Mart" where they held Chinese auctions on the weekends.
786 As kids, we used to play in the greenbelt around the New Dorp/Oakwood area.
787 Some people forgot to mention a few things about Paul's Sweet Shop in New Dorp. Aside from selling the best darn Egg Cream you ever had, Paul used to sell Pea shooters with extra bags of ammo that we would buy and bring them into the Lane Theater, sneak up into the balcony and start shooting people during the movie. Paul himself was not a bad guy but he had no patience for kids, especially juveniles. If you were a kid and in the scope of 2 minutes after entering the store without spending money, Paul would chase you out and you wouldn't even think about reading any comics or magazines without first paying for them.
788 Before Jake's ice cream trucks started routes on the south shore. There was Cal the ice cream man and I have to say, the nicest darn ice cream man I could ever remember. After he finished serving everyone when he started driving away, he would throw free bubble gum out the
789 In Great Kills park before they built the stone jetty, there was a bulkhead that you could easily scoop blue claw crabs up with a scoop net. I remember catching dozens of them and big ones every time I went there and we also used to use the crab traps.
790 I remember the bridge that runs over the Kill Van Kull on Richmond Avenue was a small two lane narrow stone bridge before they renovated it and people used to crab there.
791 The junkman coming along Van Duzer street yelling "any junk today?" his horse had a hat on.
792 The street cleaners in the 1940's who wore white jackets and swept the curbs pulling a pail on wheels.
793 Sunnyside Hospital was torn down for the Staten Island Expressway
794 Zodiac Disco on Hylan Blvd just past Richmond Avenue
795 The Old Woodrow Methodist Church with a grave yard filled with many, many of the old family names of Staten Island
796 Library in Huguenot was a very small one room building next to the Reformed Church
797 Huguenot, there used to be a post office on Amboy Road where, I think a barber shop is now. Then it became a barber shop and then a sneaker/sports store after the Post Office left.
798 Remember calling the Verrazano Bridge "the guinea gangplank"
799 The family of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy summered in the 1950s
800 South Beach lifeguard parties
801 The "Perils of Pauline” films were shot at Brady's pond in Grasmere with a special railway line being built as far as Rosebank.
802 Killie Bends was a tidal creek that ran through the pasture land at Sailor's Snug Harbor in Livingston
803 The farmers market on Richmond Ave was called 'the auction' by us old timers.
804 Always heard that the name Fingerboard Road was given to my street by an old fashioned "Finger Board" sign pointing to street on corner of the now Fingerboard Road and Bay Street. People would always say..."Turn at the Finger Board" and that's how it got it's street name
805 Our iceman in the 20's was Mr. Franzreb who also had a riding stable on Clove Rd. He used to come to the house with his covered cart pulled by a horse and bring a huge chunk of ice into the house using huge tongs for our old brown wood icebox.
806 I remember the cement stairs leading up to Tompkins Circle on Victory Blvd. Near the V that formed Corson Ave. And Victory Blvd. When I was young there was a little newspaper kiosk near the stairs and next to that a Chinese Laundry. This was during the late 20s, 30s an 40s.
807 I remember Kipp's German Bakery at the corner of Monroe and Victory Blvd.
808 I also remember Goetz Bakery, a half a block up from Kipp's on Victory Blvd. You could get a whole big frosted layer cake there in the 40's for 50 cents.
809 Howdy Doody's very own Clarabell the Clown appearing at Clove Lakes Stables in the 50's and scaring all the little kids including me since he never talked but just honked his horn and looked downright creepy!
810 Tony's Candy Store (Bard & Forest) where the owner Tony would give us a peak at his dirty magazines when the "ladies" left the store...Tony was also known for having at least 4 cigarettes going in his ashtray at the same time and never smoking any of them!
811 My uncle taking me to Weissglass Stadium to see professional wrestling. I got to meet Killer Kowalski in the locker room having a beer with the Golden Boy Arnold Skoaland. They were mortal enemies. How could they be drinking beers together! And Kowalski was from Poland but speaking perfect English! My uncle reluctantly told me Killer was from Detroit Michigan. I was shattered.
812 Smiling Sonny's Toy Store. Forest & Oakland....All those great toys and yet Sonny never smiled
813 Carvel...Forest & Bard...major hangout....swarms of kids sitting on the back of their cars in the lot wondering where to go and what to do.... and having a great time doing nothing!
814 Anderson's Beach House was a trip. It had a stand on the beach that sold soft drinks, hot dogs, etc. The Beach House itself was a bucket of blood, fight's one night friends the next, only local people, Prince Bay.
815 The Christmas Tree Inn was just up a couple of blocks, all Jersey kids since 21 was Jersey's drinking age.
816 The Tottenvilla was another memorable "restaurant" bar on Hylan Blvd. in Tottenville
817 Alfee's was attached to Al Deppes, just past the arcade
818 Diving for clams on the sandbar in the middle of Great Kills harbor just had to look for the "State Boat” since it was illegal because of pollution. Never got sick. The “State Boat was gray. Island Marine Services, Great Kills harbor.
819 The clay pit ponds, from the old brick factory, Now under the garbage dump. Hills Pond, there would have someone drown every year diving on the submerged drag line.
820 My memories are of Crochito's on Sand Lane, South Beach which - when I was a boy - was a curiosity since it offered burlesque (ladies in various states of undress, which to a 12 or 13 year old in the early 50s always was found to be an intriguing thought, and a continual subject of conversation among me and my pals
821 LaRosa's Bakery, the best cannolis and Italian ice in NYC, just off Sand Lane (Sal LaRosa was a classmate at New Dorp High School for the two years I attended before I was shipped off to boarding school)
822 Time Out Arcade (SI Mall)
823 And, all of the amusement rides at South Beach, and the Boardwalk. As a 17 year old I was an SPH (Seasonal Park Helper) at South Beach, cleaning the beach every summer morning, starting at about 6AM. And a vivid recollection is all of the fires that occurred in the dry cattails of the marsh areas on both sides of Sand Lane, toward the beach. Seems every few weeks, there was a conflagration!
824 The Esso gas station at Hylan Boulevard and Sand Lane (by the round-about), which was owned by Jimmy "Pip"
825 There was an infamous pool parlor on the south side of the RR tracks in Grant City. It could be seen from the train.
826 The pool room in Great Kills was known as Pop Martinson's. It was on the hill on Amboy Road.
827 The St. George had a kids section where a "Brunhilda" type matron kept you in line and in the in tow section....you didn't mess with her....and we were good kids. Double feature for a Quarter! The "monster" movies were the best....Godzilla, Rodan, Space stories....Theater was well kept and had a peculiar scent to it unlike the other Island theaters
828 Levine's on Stuyvesant Place a local newspaper, candy, cigar, magazine and soda fountain service....home of the nickel coke and the infamous zombie The zombie was about six or seven different flavors of fountain syrup mixed of course with seltzer....delicious and probably rotted your teeth! Father and Mother Levine gave over to Mel the son after a while. In summer you needed a winter coat it was so cold in there! Mel was always sweating no matter!
829 Hyatt Sweet Shoppe on same block a few doors over gave them competition for the fountain service but also served as a fast food shop. Curcio Family owned that.
830 Jone's Dance Studio at 105 Stuyvesant trained many a young lady in Tap Dance. Miss Jones also taught piano
831 Grasso's grocery store owned by Emilio F. Grasso and wife actually delivered food to the area residents. Nice family owned store. Usually had a cigar in his mouth! Always caring boxes of groceries to his truck for deliveries in the area.
832 Joe the baker pizza in the same building as the kiddie rides on Sand Lane, South Beach
833 My brothers used to live in the children’s home (Bethlehem Boys Home) on Fingerboard Road & Hylan Blvd
834 The bakery in Travis was Gadonski's Bakery
835 Fiorelli Pharmacy in the center of Great Kills (1934-1969) Had a soda fountain until 1954
836 Esquire Club 161 Clove Rd at Del. Ave. S. I., N. Y. GI 2-9625
837 The movie the Godfather was filmed in the Sherwood house at 204 Douglas Rd. with a back entrance to Longfellow. The wedding scene was in the Sherwood's back and side yards that was also adjacent to the Norton's home which was also featured in the movie. The film of the baker asking for justice was in the dining room and Sonny's trist was on the second floor in Annie Sherwood's bedroom. The kitchen scene was the Sherwood kitchen unaltered for the movie. In the hallway underneath the stairs leading to the upstairs was a working phone booth. There was a scene with Michael and his wife Kate sitting on a small stone bench. That bench found its way to the Sherwood Farm in Yulan N. Y. via the liberation by the Late Drew Danishewski, the late Peter Sherry, Mike Sherwood and Me, Anthony Rondinelli. We took it in a Volkswagen beetle. The stone wall in the movie was plastic. The Demyans got the contract when one of the film people asked Bobby Sherwood if he knew of any catering place that could cater to a large group of movie people. Bobby recommended Demyan's who we all knew and was friends with many of the family members. Mr Demyan is in the movie (Jack) standing in some background scenes during the wedding.
838 The natural spring with the coldest water around, across from St. Simon's in The Clove;
839 Pete Bisso's nursery south of Richmond Road in Dongan Hills
840 Travis on Cannon Ave( had a real cannon)
841 Hay Rides from Clove Lakes
842 Army/Navy store in Stapleton
843 The Idle Hour Bar
844 Tabors Bar
845 Benny's Soda Shop, Meiers Corners
846 The old Christopher House off Willowbrook Road was suppose to be Haunted
847 Woolworth’s for their famous ice cream waffles sandwiches
848 Going into Woolworth’s for a ice cream sundae and you can pop the balloon for the next free sundae
849 I lived across from Clove Lakes where the so called Indian Caves were. I heard that some kids got lost in there but actually it was an old iron ore mine from the 1800's and they were blocked off.
850 Working summers at U.S. Gypsum and the Farmers Market
851 Going to Staten Island Community College in 1964 which was located at 50 Bay Street. I took the 69th Street ferry from Brooklyn for my first semester
852 Summers at Graham Beach bungalow Colony
853 Mr. Munroe's nursery in Sandy Ground who was a descendant of the Maryland Oysterman
854 Across from the street from the Lane Theatre there was a theatre that showed Italian language films.
855 Another memory I have is of the Midland Beach boardwalk which had many films shown on an outdoor screen on the boardwalk on some evenings.
856 I also remember how sad it was when they took down the drive-in theater to make way for the big flea market and eventually the Staten Island Mall.
857 I remember the blackouts during the war and I remember the celebrations when it ended. All the mothers and children on Grimsby Street where I grew up went out into the street making a lot of noise by banging pots and pans together.
858 I remember another hospital on Staten Island you didn’t mention. It was all the way at the end of the island somewhere since it was known for treating patients with communicable diseases. When I was about 5 or 6, I developed scarlet fever. The doctor came to our house and ordered an ambulance to take me to that hospital. I spent 21 days there in isolation. The ward I was in was just for children. We had beds separated from each other by glass partitions that didn’t go all the way up to the ceiling and did not completely close us in since the glass only covered 3 sides of each of our little space. We could talk to each other and against the nurse’s wishes we used to throw toys and books etc over the partition to the children on either side of us. My parents could visit but they had to wear masks and gowns and gloves.
859 I remember that snowstorm of 1947 you mention since my brother was nearly 2 years old and we took him outside so we could take a picture in our front yard on Grimsby Street to show high the snow was. It was much higher than he was tall. I seem to remember that that snow lasted for months!
860 I also remember a few hurricanes. One hurricane brought flooding. The army brought vehicles which could move in water as well as land and came up our street and took us to safety in St. Margaret Mary’s church on Lincoln Avenue since it was very high off the ground.
861 The cottages of Spanish Camp (near the beach) in Annandale
862 After WWII there was an auto dealer on Hylan Blvd and New Dorp Lane, there we could go in and see the new Tucker cars and place an order for a future delivery of one.
863 I used to go to Semlers Park in Grant City on Sunday afternoons late l930s they would give us a little beer as we watched a baseball game. I remember meeting the actress Ann Rutherford and some others there one Sunday.
864 Travis on Cannon Ave( had a real cannon
865 The Ten Commandments on Rossville Avenue in Rossville
866 Joes candy store on Arthur Kill and Winant
867 Woodys junk yard.
868 Hanging out at the Bentley yacht club
869 We would walk the beach from the Perth Amboy Ferry up to Lifesavers Beach or to the bottom of Page Avenue
870 In the winter months we would hang at Ernie's and the corner fountain shop at main and Amboy Road
871 The floatation platform at the beach near Mount Loretto
872 I remember a cave off to the left as you went up Victory Blvd hill after passing Clove Lakes Park. The story went that it was an Indian Cave.
873 Bowling at Sal's on Richmond Avenue
874 The old US Gypsum Mill on Richmond Terrace, with the chain driven Murphy trucks
875 Carl's soda shop, right at the Dongan Hills train station.. the best and only egg creams I ever had
876 Star Theater 10 cent movies
877 The North Shore SIRT line
878 Many silent films were shot on Staten Island, including THE PERILS OF PAULINE.
879 During the war years (WWII) Looked for hostile aircraft, with my father, from the “watch tower” on top of the Wagner College Administration Building. We occasionally saw light from the fires of our merchant ships being torpedoed by the Germans. Watched huge convoys steam out the Narrows in the early morning
880 Tony's Barber shop on Nelson Avenue
881 The Springstead Lumber Yard was on Amboy Road at about the Great Kills/Eltingville town line. In the 1930's it was the Springstead Coal Company later morphing into the Springstead Oil Company and then the Lumber Yard
882 Our apartment building swayed when the LNG tank in Linden NJ blew it's top from accumulated gas that seeped up into the insulation. The explosion blew out many of the storefront window glass at the Forest Avenue Shopping Plaza (Sears)
883 The Masonic Temple on Amboy Road, Great Kills. Bowling in the basement with that small town flavor of only 4 lanes and pin boys.
884 Flag Day Parade and Summer music series at Westerleigh Park
885 Stuckers dock in Great Kills
886 Stucker's Studebaker Dealership on Amboy Road, Eltingville right next to Springstead Lumber
887 Prestel Soda Fountain & Paper Store on Richmond Road, Dongan Hills
888 Walker park clay tennis courts
889 Shipyards on Richmond Terrace
890 There was a Miniature Golf Course where the Hess Station is on New Dorp Lane
891 Crabbing along the bulkhead in Great Kills harbor and bringing home bushels of blue claw crabs.
892 I grew up in the Todt Hill Apartments. Our apartment building swayed when the LNG tank in Linden NJ blew it's top from accumulated gas that seeped up into the insulation. The explosion blew out many of the storefront window glass at the Forest Avenue Shopping Plaza (Sears)
893 Galliger's Deli on Amboy Rd. Tottenville across from The Aquahonga Bar
894 Summertime, The Good Humor Man, Mr. Softie Ice Cream and the Whip! all for a dime.
895 Sinclair Gas Station, corner of Midland Avenue & Hylan Blvd (Duane Read is there now)
896 The little green Brooklyn ferry with the stove in the middle to keep warm
897 Drinking at the Swiss Chalet in Great Kills
898 Winter in Staten Island when NYPD closed Snake Hill and you could sleigh ride down the hill instead of the golf course.
899 Ship Ahoy gas station in Grant City
900 Phil's Candy Store on Broad Street, Stapleton. Occasionally they put on magic shows for us kids in the basement.
901 Valentine Pharmacy (established in 1900) originally on Jersey Street and then moved to Forest Avenue
902 The Chrampanis Farm stand on Richmond Avenue featured a bunny in a hutch. It was a children's
903 favorite
904 House "O" Weenies (Hylan Blvd in Great Kills )
905 Joe the Butcher, on Broad St., close to Gordon Street, Stapleton - He was a great old Italian guy, who used to carry a revolver in his back pocket. You'd see it when he turn around to slice your cold cuts.
906 Motorcycle races up Todt Hill Road (from Richmond Road) on Sunday mornings in the 1940's
907 Cookies Steak House by Garbers
908 Sonny’s Lounge in Great Kills
909 Rick’s All American Bar on Forest Avenue
910 Cohn’s Babyland & Toyland on Castleton Avenue
911 Times Square Store on Castleton Avenue
912 Goodhue Center which is the reason why everyone who grew up in New Brighton knew each other
913 I grew up in South Beach projects , I always looked forward to Summer , that's when Jimmy the Good Humor man came around. I am talking about 1958 to 1962. He had a thing where you brought ice cream and saved the sticks , if you saved 10 sticks you got a toy, the more you saved the bigger the prize
914 Looking out the window Lemon Creek looks much the way it did 40 years ago (minus the bridge at the end of Bayview Avenue). Much of the natural beauty we enjoyed as children still exists here and that makes it worth living here on Staten Island.
915 Vanderbilt’s tomb still had the original gates and was patrolled by a man carrying a “salt” shotgun. (B&O guards also used them patrolling the RR tracks)
916 SIRT train fares varied by distance (I too remember the straw seats which flipped forward and backwards) We used to joke about signs saying “Please do not shoot the buffalo while the train is moving”.
917 Georges Hairstyling (New Dorp Lane and North Railroad Avenue) (New Dorp Plaza)
918 Wet land at $5.00 per acre – Soon to become the world’s largest dump
919 Nassau Smelting
920 Pheasant / Rabbit hunting in the marsh along Seaside Blvd (Now called Father Capadano Blvd)
921 Walking over the Bayonne Bridge (I watched the Bicentennial firework show from there)
922 When the Verrazano Bridge was built they stated on opening day that they would remove the tolls when the Bridge paid for itself. 50 cents toll when opened and 75 tolls about a month later, now a whopping $11.00
923 The old St. Stephan’s in Tottenville ( prior to fire )
924 Hoffman’s Island had structures on it (and some of the largest rats I’ve ever seen!)
925 Verrazano Narrows Bridge - taking pictures of the bridge during construction was forbidden inside Fort Wadsworth
926 The Ritz Roller Rink (in Port Richmond )
927 Pinball Inferno (across from OTB on Forest Avenue)
928 The All Night Newsstand (New Dorp Lane & Hylan)
929 Having Paul Zindel (Famous Author) as a teacher in High school
930 I was raised in Midland Beach, when the beach was packed and swimming was fine in clear, clean waters. A frozen Milky Way from the concession stand on the boardwalk as your feet burned on the sand. Pete DeVita's for school supplies and Christmas shopping with your allowance, Cle's butterfly stitches and Miss Cini's 2 for 1cent penny candy.
931 Temptee Freeze frozen sundaes for a nicke
932 Goodies hamburgers.
933 LaRocca's Ices (on Lincoln Avenue - 1,000,000 flavors)
934 I remember seeing the Army tanks out on maneuvers up and down the streets around the Armory on Manor Road
935 Our Westerleigh bunch went to the Armory for supervised (NRA) marksmanship training...we could walk the seven or eight blocs at night with our .22 rifles, uncased, without drawing any attention !! Imagine something like that today.
936 We hunted in the woods above Meyer's Corners at the top of Gansvordt Blvd where there were plenty of rabbits, quail and pheasant, and the duck hunting in the wetlands out by the vegetable farms was real good
937 There was a skeet, trap shooting club out on Richmond Ave near the farms. The men would let us kids pick up unbroken clay pigeons after they were through....they made wonderful BB gun / sling shot targets.
938 I remember that the Bayonne ferry would frequently hit bottom when the tides were right and they his a wave, but it never seemed to bother them.
939 One of my biggest days was meeting Bobby Thompson ( Famous NY Giants Baseball Player) at PRHS....he spent a lot of time on the Island helping out with high school baseball
940 I remember Joe's pony tracks (my uncle Joe Sarcone) on Richmond Ave near Forest Avenue. City kids would take rides around the tracks which my cousin and I would lead the ponies on Sunday mornings. Once around the track for a dime three rounds for a quarter. He also had a petting zoo, this would have been around 1950' early 1960"s.
941 Gabes Auto Body Shop my dad ( Gabe Migliori) who built stock cars and raced at Weissglass stadium
942 Our grandmother "Rosie the Greek" was the founder of Johnicks Luncheonette on Saint Paul's Ave. Johnicks was named after her 2 sons, John and Nick "The Greek" Fillou. My father Nick ran that establishment for almost 40 year, (Johnicks was first known as The Texas Wieners )and famous for their chili dogs.
943 For $5.00 our parents would take us horseback riding at the West Shore Stables. The dirt trail was what is now the West Shore Expressway.
944 On hot nights we would sneak into the '700's' on Victory Blvd. and go swimming with a group of girls. The pool no longer exists.
945 The Tompkinsville pool.....the smell of hot tar from the piers reminds me to this day of that pool. And then walking up to Johnicks for a chili dog.
946 The Greek farms on Richmond Avenue
947 The Shelter in St. George waiting for the bus after school from Curtis H.S.
948 Buying cases of soda at the Willowbrook soda store (glass bottles that had to be returned)
949 Ice skating at Willowbrook park
950 Pino's pastry shop on Post Avenue and Richmond Avenue
951 Trotters car club on Victory Blvd and Cannon Avenue
952 Lombardi's motorcycle and bicycle shop on Bay Street
953 Dew Dales records - Port Richmond
954 Gasco Field, on Willow Avenue off Bay Street in Clifton, the home of the East Shore Little League. Baseball season would kick off each year with a parade from Labetti Post to the field. In the late 50s and early 60s. Advanced for its time, it had a sound system for a P.A. to announce the lineups and an electric scoreboard for balls, strikes, and outs.
955 In the 1950's a feast was held on Olympia Blvd. adjacent to Sand Land. They had Opera Singers, music and food and all kind of treats.
956 I remember when the entire Boardwalk at South Beach had dozens of rides, games, fortune tellers, and food.
957 They also had a bandstand on the Boardwalk and I loved listening to the music as a little girl.
958 Licastri's Bakery was a block from my home on Piave Avenue, and each day when they would bake their bread and rolls the wonderful smell of bread baking would come out of the bakery. We would buy the bread and eat it while it was still hot!
959 I remember the ice truck which delivered ice to our homes. The kids would jump on the truck while the delivery man brought the huge blocks of ice to the homes with big ice tongs.
960 I also remember the little truck that came around our block every week and where we bought our vegetables.
961 Another truck also came by which sharpened knives, scissors and the like.
962 There was a place on New Dorp Lane where they had huge track layouts for your miniature racing cars. I think it was .25 per hour.
963 Korvettes was closed on Sundays, that's when we used to ride our mini-bikes there.
964 I remember fishing on the third hole at Latourette Golf Course before I learned how to play golf.
965 The Ritz used to be famous for giving out dishes each time you went to a movie.
966 Chuck Wagon was on Hylan Blvd in Dongan Hills and then it became Pizza Victoria.
967 We used to call the Staten Island beer R& H, Rotten & Horrible, instead of Rubsam & Hormann
968 Learning to drive in the Midland Beach Parking
969 The Bayonne Ferry over to Uncle Milty's (the boats were the Altair, Vega, and Deneb)
970 Jimmy Anderson and the Careless 5 singing Summertime at the Meadowbrook in Great Kills
971 Kiwannis Grasshopper Little League at Weisglass Stadium
972 The Square Barber Shop in Port Richmond Square run by Roger Dantoni and his 2 sons
973 Mango's Pool Hall,. first in Port Richmond Square and then moved above Manzella's
974 Food Fair or the Pantry Pride supermarket where Forest Ave Pathmark is, next door was the old Sears & Roebucks
975 Weisglass Milk on Forest Ave. Delivered Ice cold milk in Glass quarts right to your house before sunrise
976 McDonald's Playground on Forest Avenue
977 Chironna Brothers Fuel Oil on Forest Avenue
978 Boating on Lemon Creek by Tottenville. The bridge keeper used to raise the end of the bridge ramp with a block and fall, then, after getting a volunteer to help, would insert a large key into the gears of the bridge and using a cross bar would walk around it to open the bridge. They would open it just wide enough to let the waiting boat go through.
979 The Venitian Gardens restaurant had the best Antipasto around
980 Bumper cars at South Beach
981 Weisglass Dairy trucks
982 Summer Concerts at Silver Lake Park
983 Skating at Martling's Pond (Clove Lakes Park).
984 Staten Island Zoo (known for its' reptile collection).
985 Westerleigh Park and summertime dances around the bandstand.
986 Sailing in Raritan Bay out of Princes Bay at the foot of Seguine Avenue (today part of the national shoreline park).
987 The Carousel diner and the Stadium on Main street in Tottenville.
988 The haunted shed at the Gericke farm in Charleston on Arthur Kill Road
989 Going to the races at Weisglass, especially the demolition derby.
990 YMCA day camp
991 Riding lessons at Clove Lake Stables.
992 In the old days at the Conferance house at the end of Hyland Blvd there was much to find relics of the colonial era.
993 The fast pitch softball games at P&G
994 Baby Day Parade held in Midland Beach on Labor Day weekend on the boardwalk
995 We used to have the soda delivered by the case
996 Holtermans bread and cakes delivered
997 The old Italian man drove up our street in his small truck to deliver salami, capicola, cheese and hot italian bread.
998 Ugly horse shoe crabs at Great Kills Beach
999 Before the Verrazano Bridge went up and you could actually "cruise" Hylan Blvd.
1000 Having Paul Zindel (Famous Author) as a teacher in High School
1001 I remember at Miller Field, everyday at lunch time, the alarm would ring from the army base.
1002 Old Homes Day at Richmondtown
1003 I remember Dot's Deli down the street where all us kids would buy quarts of R&H Beer for "our fathers", then hop the fence to the park and drink beer and eat pizza we bought from Nunzio's on Hylan Blvd.
1004 Red & white poke-a-dot paper milk cartons from Weisglass Milk Co.
1005 I remember hunting for pheasants and rabbits on the old Bloomfield Avenue dump off Arthur Kill Road and trapping muskrats, it was like living upstate.
1006 The Bayonne Ferry Fire.
1007 Drag racing on Drumgoole Blvd.
1008 Mauros restaurant when it was on Broad Street.
1009 Sunny Side Hospital
1010 Skiing at Clove Road and Foote Avenue (before PS 35 was built)
1011 Going for shoes at Buster Browns on Port Richmond Avenue and playing the nickelodeon.
1012 Chasing the mosquito spray trucks. (Yeah, that was healthy!)
1013 Stick ball until the lights went on.
1014 Hormann's Castle - Grymes Hill where the nuns lived.
1015 Little League Bazaars.
1016 Picking Punks in Travis to light firecrackers
1017 Our Lady Star of The Sea Church, when it was on Hugeunot Avenue below Amboy Road.
1018 Hawking golf balls at South Shore Golf Course
1019 The one armed guy slicing cold cuts in Tumminello's deli
1020 Watching the bread slicing machine in Marine Park Bakery on Hylan Blvd
1021 Trapping muskrats and taking the pelts to Freds Tackle Shop for the Furrier
1022 Getting a hot pretzel or Italian Ice when leaving E.J.Korvettes
1023 Looking for change in the seats of the old cars in Stuckers Junkyard
1024 Fishing off the old sunken barge in Great Kills Harbor
1025 Jumping and swimming off the cement pier at the bottom of Arbutus Avenue
1026 Elk's Club Bazaar
1027 Playing baseball & stickball at PS10 in Egbertville
1028 Hanging out at Paul Sweet Shop in New Dorp
1029 Watching them move houses on trucks from St. George Street, Andrews Road & Rockland Avenue, a few blocks to Dalton Avenue & Ebony Street in Egbertville because the expressway was supposed to go through there.
1030 Walking down to New Dorp beach to go swimming.
1031 Swimming in the brook off Rockland Avenue
1032 I went to PS 28 in Richmondtown and the courthouse & jail was next door. When we went out for lunch there would be prisoners in the court yard next door to us.
1033 The picnic area past St.Andrews church on top of the hill looking down at Richmond Avenue above the airport. there were tables & grills there
1034 Picnics at Harmony Park, getting beer for my father in tin cans with handles on them.
1035 Marks Chinese Restaurant in Dongan Hills
1036 Rosie Greens Store in South Beach (Norway &Appleby Avenues)
1037 The Sugar Bowl on Olympia Blvd, South Beach
1038 Candy Corner on Lincoln Avenue in Grant City
1039 Remember when the only places to shop were, Stapleton and Port Richmond
1040 Msgr. Farrell Dances.
1041 Climbing the rocks at the Graniteville Quarry.
1042 Shooting Pheasants on Richmond Avenue where the mall now is.
1043 Remember when Ralphs Ices had only two flavors, Lemon and Orange.
1044 The twelve o’clock whistle.
1045 Race riots at the old New Dorp HS in 1977.
1046 Kings Row – great meatball heroes
1047 Manor Sweet Shop on Manor Road - Every day buying the NY Times, Daily News, and a pack of baseball cards - all for 24 cents
1048 Victory Lanes - Saturday Morning Junior Bowling League. Victory Diner - When it was on Victory Blvd!
1049 Fazzino's Deli on Manor Road. Benny Fazzino had a pizza oven in the back of the store, selling 6 & 8 slice pies.
1050 Midget Car Racetrack on Richmond Avenue. (Across from the now Costco)
1051 Spanish Camp, Annadale A wonderful place to grow up in the summers.
originally a summer tent to bungalow colony on around 20 acres on the bay.
originally started by immigrant Spaniards in the late 1920s
Here are a bunch of memories from Ann Marie Keegan mostly from F.A.S.T.
1052 Every December, JC Penney's in the Forest Ave. Shopper's Plaza turned their backroom storage/warehouse into a Christmas wonderland, complete with a Santa whose lap you could sit on.
1053 Singer's(sewing machine and fabric store)in the Forest Ave. Shopper's Plaza sold 45s in the back!!! This is where we bought our records until the Record Baron opened up on Forest Ave next to the OTB.
1054 S&H Green Stamps redemption store on Forest Ave. before it was replaced by the OTB.
1055 The produce department in the Penn Fruit supermarket (in the Forest Ave. Shopper's Plaza) had sawdust all over the floor plus a man who weighed your bags of veggies/fruit and wrote a price on them.
1056 Sears on Forest Ave. was turned into a mini-mall.
1057 On Forest Ave. near the old Sears, there was a short-lived indoor skating rink where you skated on... wait for it... plastic fiberglass "ice"!!!
1058 Neisner's 5&10 dime store was replaced with a Goldwyn's catalogue store.
1059 Pantry Pride supermarket on Forest Ave. (where Pathmark is now) had a back entrance that was a ramp with a couple of those kid rides that you put a quarter in to ride.
1060 Telling stories about where you were when the 1977 blackout hit!
1061 The t-shirt/transfer shop in the Honeycomb level of the SI Mall.
1062 The Ground Round on the second level of the mall where you could throw peanut shells on the floor and watch old cartoons while you ate.
1063 There was an Esso gas station/garage on the corner of Richmond Ave. and Victory Blvd. that had a display car with the hood up and a dummy/mannequin dressed in mechanic overalls, leaning over with his head in the engine, "making
repairs".
1064 In 1969, some of the Mets (Ed Kranepool, Jerry Kooseman, Art Shamsky) had an autograph signing outside of JC Penney's (in the Forest Ave. Shopper's Plaza).
Thats it for now for Ann Maries Memories ( until she sends some more)
1064 One of my own memories - Stealing (or I should say forgeting to return) those big frosty mugs from A&W Root Beer
1065 Cub Scout soap box derbies at the top of College Avenue
1066 U.S. National Guard Tanks rumbling down Slosson Avenue to the Armory
1067 Woolworths used to serve huge ice cream sandwiches made of waffles with strawberry, vanilla and chocolate ice cream for 35 cents.
1068 The original Port Richmond Post Office was on Bennett Street
1069 Faber Pool for swimming lesson with a picnic lunch afterwards
1070 the Square barber shop listening to Doo Wops
1071 The store in Stapleton - Store of a million items - the owner would let the kids pick a free toy out of a big box
1072 Watching the helicopters and airplanes taking off in miller field
1073 Devil worshipers on the grounds of Vanderbilt’s Tomb
1074 Sitting on top of the hill at Ridgewood Avenue, watching the movies showing at the Drive-In
1075 Pool Hall in New Dorp – Hylan Blvd.
1076 Picking Berries, apples & pears in the orchard across from Schmidts Lane
1077 At Countess Moore High School, there was a dairy farm next to it, and 1 day a cow wandered over to the school, stuck his head in the window and nearly scared the nun to death.
1078 At Midland Beach they used to set up a big screen on the beach and show movies.
1079 There was an area near Bradley Avenue in Meiers Corners called “Nanny Goat Hill.” The nickname apparently referred to the fact that many of the Italians who lived up that way kept goats.
1080 The pool at the end of Midland Beach where the #109 bus turned around to go back up Midland Avenue.
1081 Stewards Root Beer – Hylan Blvd, before it was A&Ws
1082 Warren Manor in South Beach
1083 Bobby Darin would spend summers in South Beach
1084 Wolfs Pond Park on 4th of July
1085 Flying saucer scare of 1966
1085 Flying saucer scare of 1966
1086 Watching the bridge go up across the bay and then working on it putting the antennas on top of it.
1087 The sound the bear made when shot at Al Deppes
1088 The old "A&P Store" at Davis Avenue and Castleton Avenue
1089 Muskrat hunting, during the 1950s, between Pouch Scout Camp and LighthouseHill.
1090 Midget Car Racetrack on Richmond Avenue. (Across from the now Costco)
1091 Spanish Camp, Annadale , A wonderful place to grow up in the summers.
Originally a summer tent to bungalow colony on around 20 acres on the bay. Originally started by immigrant Spaniards in the late 1920s
1092
Stapleton Service Laundry on Greenleaf Ave.
1093 SVEA Hall and Dolly's Tavern on Post Ave
1094 Crawling thru cement storm sewer pipes stored at "the Waterworks" on
Post Ave, across from PS 19.
1095 Vaudeville at the Ritz Theater
1096 Garber Brothers and Tompkins Department Stores.
1097 Cricket matches at Walker Park.
1098 The firehouse and dalmation dog mascot at Hook and Ladder Company #79 at corner of Alaska and Castleton Ave
1099 Reimans Hardware, A&P, Frank's Pharmacy, the Sunnyside Club, and Northfield Savings and Loan, all in Four Corners.
1100 Rave Inn on Jewett Ave.
1101 Saturday morning serials at the Empire Theater. You kept returning to see how the hero escaped.
1102 Fluorescope machine at that Port Richmond shoe store. Who knew the rays could be dangerous?
1103 Open school nights at PS 29 on Victory Blvd, where you could use the gym and stay out of trouble. They didn't worry about lawsuits back then.
1104 Pick up basketball at DeMatti Playground on Forest Ave.
1105 Dew Drop Inn and the Buddy Buddy Club on Clove Road
1106 Chilled Lowenbrau beer mugs at Demyan's Hofbrau Haus
1107 Summer Typing Classes at BakerBusiness School in Stapleton
1108 Basketball at Pier 6/ CromwellCenter
1109 Ice Skating on that small pond at St. Francis Seminary on Todt Hill Road
1110 Harry's Luncheonette and Vince's Barber Shop at corner of Victory Blvd and Todt Hill Road
1111 The famous bank robber Willie Sutton living near me on Kemball Ave in
Four Corners.
1112 Knocking on Bobby Thompson's door where he lived on Flagg Place off Todt Hill Rd, and asking for his autograph after he hit "the shot heard round the
world".
1113 Doctor Atlas making house calls for our family. His son Teddy is still a noted boxing commentator.
1114 Clark's House of Flowers and the Gibralter Supply Company
oil burner business near the FairviewCemetery on Victory Blvd.
1115 Tobogganing down hills on Latourette Golf Course
1116 Stevenson's Luncheonette at corner of Victory Bld and
Mountainview Avenue
1117 That designated smoking room on the lower deck of the Staten Island Ferry, with the blue haze everywhere and people smoking. Thank God that habit has died out!
1118 The beautiful stone building near the CloveLakes rowboats, used for wedding receptions.
1119 The distinctive clackety sound our car made on Drumgoole Blvd, as it passed over the seams in each concrete section.
1120 The Staten Island Advance, dutifully printing writeups, with runs, hits and errors for every Pee Wee baseball game we played.
1121 Horse drawn carts and that distinctive bell, used by the Ragman and the Tool Sharpening man
1122 Gus Kibbe's Sweet Shop at corner of Jewett and Egbert Ave
1123 Buying tropical fish at Huber's Aquarium on Victory Blvd and Richmond
Ave, across fom Joe's Question Mark Restaurant.
1124 The old abandoned water reservoir at corner of Victory Blvd and Royal Oak Road. It was later flattened out and made into a softball field.
1125 Mauro's Market on Victory Blvd across from PS 29. We would drive poor Mr. Mauro crazy, buying penny candy, then changing our mind.
1126 Playing Strikeout and Yankee Pirate against the walls of the PS 29
playground.
1127 Sneaking into the Pouch Camp Pond on Manor Road to swim on hot summer days.
1128 The Atlantic Inn on Hylan Blvd
1129 Henny's Steakhouse on Richmond Ave.
1130 Hitch hiking everywhere on Staten Islandas kids, without fear of crime
1131 Sunyside Hospitalon Little Clove Road.
1132 The Log Cabin on Forest Aveand Richmond Ave
1133 Lyceum Theatre on Sand Lane next to Azzara Funeral Parlor. Familiarly known as the "scratch house" because the seats were so itchy.
1134 Large Sanitation garage on Richmond Road and Clove Road (taken down to build SI Expressway)
1135 La Rosa Feast every summer along Olympia Blvd.
1136 My father played sandlot baseball with other longshoremen at Semlers
Park (Grant City), a baseball field where Doctor's Hospital was and another baseball field where the Island Chateau is now.
1137 Picking punks in the summer to keep the mosquitoes away.
1138 My father said he and his friends would walk across the Kill Van Kull during low tide and in the winter when it was iced over.
1139 There were two Marrone Hardware Stores. My grandfather (Frank Marrone) had his hardware store on the corner of Sand Lane and Robin Road across from Crocitto's. Torn down in 2010. His brother Gaspar Marrone also had a hardware store on Olympia Blvd.down the road from La Rosa's Pastry shop.
1140 I worked for the original Perrys brick and blocks ,I came to work early one
morning and there was a building to be delivered in pieces, it was all red and
white it was pieces to be delivered up new dorp lane from where we were on
Titus Ave.It was the pizza clown and if memory serves me right there was a clown head for the top of the building. When it was done we all went and enjoyed the best zepoles and wonderful deep fried calzones.
1141 Oakwood Raiders Football Team
1142 The bar called Totties or Toddies, in OakwoodBeach
1143 The Kings Row, where Caggianos in New Dorp now stands, the GREATEST meatball heros!
1144 Pavillion on the Terrace
1145 The twelve o'clock whistle
1146 Watching the Blue Angels fly over South Beach
1147 The race riots at the Old New Dorp High School in 1977
1148 Going to "The Creek" to go ice skating, you could get to it through the dead end street at Tarrytown Avenue in Oakwood off of Guyon Avenue
1149 Saying whether you lived ABOVE or BELOW the Blvd. (Hylan)
1150 J.Rasner & Co. a hardware instution at 265 Jersey Street(corner of
Layton Ave)
1151 Met my husband Barry when he drove cars at Weissglass.
1152 On New Year's eve my Mom and Dad took us to a movie and then for a Chinese \Diner in Stapleton.
1153 May's Hotel (South Beach) had dancing in the summer. We could hear it at our house because we were very close. In the cooler months we use to roller skate in the dance hall.
1154 Drag Racing on Arden Avenue
1155 Oscar Weissglass (of Weissglass Milk) was our neighbor and used to flood an area in his back yard in winter so we could play hockey.
1156 Boehm's Beach in New Dorp? My grandfather owned the beach back in the 20's. It had a hotel, boxing ring, etc..... At the bottom of New Dorp lane we had a
street named after my grandfather Boehm Street and Herman Street.
1157 As a litlle boy around 6 years old watching ski jumps on the top of
Winsor Road. Now you would land on the S.I. Expressway.
1158 The launch at the foot of Meredith Ave in Travis that use to take the worker's toAmerican Cyanamid in N.J.. Also the little ferry launch that went over theAmboys.
1159 Going to Bay Streetin the 1950's and watching the sailors coming off the ships
1160 I lived in MidlandBeach on Grimsby St. next to Miller Field. I can remember watching prisoners exercising each and every morning.
1161 You mentioned the Jolly Trolley which we often frequented. Yes the Loose Caboose was placed nearby but was moved soon after.
1162 As kids I remember the Jolly Trolley pet cat jumping into a 5 gallon can of boiling hot frying oil that was carelessly placed on the floor. I don't think they had
deep fried cat on the menu though.
1163 Hanging out on the corner on Henderson and Davis in front of Franks. I was the original groupie of the Vagabond Missionaries and enjoyed rehearsals and battle of the Bands. Dave Johannson was the lead singer.
1164 I remember the airplane crash in 1960. My youngest daughter was only 2 or 3 month old. We were living in the South Beach projects at the time and remember hearing the crash which seemed to be overhead. Actually I seem to remember that one of the engines of one of the planes landed across the street from either our Project or the Dongan Hills project. I do remember when my husband and I drove over to New Dorp and watched the search being conducted by many people including Mill Field soldiers walking the field hand in hand seeming to rake the ground for objects thrown from the plane and possible human remains. I also remember the story that bodies fell from one of the planes and one was supposedly in a tree behind a house on the street where I grew up on Grimsby Street which is adjacent to Miller Field.
1165 I also have memoriaes of the prisoners of war incarcerated in Miller Field - some Italian and some German.
1166 When I came out of service after WW2, I worked at Clove Lakes Stables taking out the riders on the trails.
1167 Does anyone remember the trampoline school out by the drive in movie - before the Island Theatre was built?
1168 Roller skating on Sundays in the Finest parking lot on Victory Boulevard.
1169 Tina's Diner and Benny's Ice Cream Parlor on Victory Boulevard.
1170 Fourth of July parade in Travis
1171 Huck Finn and Becky Thatcher contest at WillowbrookPark
on 4th of July.
1172 Going to Van Briesen Park every Sunday to watch the bridge being
built.
1173 Riding by bike and roller skating on the expressway before it opened to
traffic.
1174 How about this...from the circle at Hylan in South Beach to Lincoln Ave there was just 1 traffic light...Lincoln.
1175 I used to say all the time, "What are you doing in the house? Go out and play!" Once the kids went out in the morning, when I wanted them back, I used a
triangle to call them in.
1176 Our family from Brooklyn used to make a caravan of cars
(about 5 or 6 - all my aunts, uncles, cousins) and we used to take the ferry
across at 69th Streetto come to Staten Island to go to Wolf's Pond Park,
where we used to barbeque and picnic. Little did I know that 25 years later, I
would buy a house two blocks from Wolf's Pond Park.
1177 Every December, JC Penney's in the Forest Ave. Shopper's Plaza turned their backroom storage/warehouse into a Christmas wonderland, complete with a Santa whose lap you could sit on.
1178 Singer’s (sewing machine and fabric store) in the Forest Ave. Shopper's Plaza sold 45s in the back!!! This is where we bought our records until the Record Baron opened up on Forest Avenue next to the OTB.
1179 The produce department in the Penn Fruit supermarket (in the Forest Ave. Shopper's Plaza) had sawdust all over the floor plus a man who weighed your bags of veggies/fruit and wrote a price on them.
1180 Sears on Forest Ave.was turned into a mini-mall.
1181 On Forest Ave. near the old Sears, there was a short-lived indoor skating rink where you skated on... wait for it... plastic fiberglass ice
1182 Neisner's 5&10 dime store was replaced with a Service Merchandise catalog
store.
1183 Pantry Pride supermarket on Forest Ave. (where Pathmark is now) had a back entrance that was a ramp with a couple of those kid rides that you put a quarter in to ride.
1184 The t-shirt/transfer shop in the Honeycomb level of the SI Mall.
1185 The Ground Round on the second level of the mall where you could throw peanut shells on the floor and watch old cartoons while you ate.
1186 There was an Esso gas station/garage on the corner of Richmond Ave. and Victory Blvd.that had a display car with the hood up and a dummy/mannequin dressed in mechanic overalls, leaning over with his head in the engine, "making
repairs".
1187 In 1969, some of the Mets (Ed Kranepool, Jerry Kooseman, Art Shamsky) had an autograph signing outside of JC Penney's (in the Forest Ave. Shopper's
Plaza).
1188 I used to go to or the Liberty Theater (16 cents to get in and then it went up to 25 cents and we thought that was terrible)
1189 For a while, I lived on the Narrows in a house, where, from my bed, I could actually watch the big ships go by, coming into NY harbor and hear the deep, impressive blowing of the ships.... the Queen Mary, the Queen Elizabeth, even the Andri Doria and others.
1190 I lived right near the Von Brieson Park and we played in the woods
around there ... Fort Wadsworth was within walking distance and we'd hear them
play taps morning and night
1191 Arties tavern
1192 Hermans bakery
1193 Joe the baker (when he was on forest ave)
1194 Walts Luncheonette
1195 Andys Barbershop
1196 Wilkes Corner Candy Store
1197 The Tackle Box (Bait and Tackle Shop)
1198 Montgomery Wards
1199 Mieslohns Funeral home (still there)
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