You Know You're From Long Island When... (Smithtown, Commack: house, rent)

[PhilG]

I love this post. I'm in the midst of convincing my wife to move to the village of Babylon from our little city of Albany, NY, where it snows on April 12.

-How about Mount Misery up Melville Road?
-I think I spend about $987098 at the Turnpike Diner in Farmingdale.
-Riding my bike down the bike path near my house all the way to Sunrise, -then to Merrick Rd. to Cedar Creek Park, then down to Jones Beach.
-IROCs
-Adidas breakaways as far as the eye could see
-LIRR from Manhattan after seeing a concert...falling asleep on the train and waking up in Ronkonoma. Where did everyone go??
-decent canoli
-decent pizza
-the Caumsett overnight trip in 6th grade...it felt like the other side of the world!! where is Caumsett? Huntington??!!??

[NYer]

Originally Posted by PhilG

...-the Caumsett overnight trip in 6th grade...it felt like the other side of the world!! where is Caumsett? Huntington??!!??

It is north of Huntington- go north of the village, past Billy Joel's old house, into Lloyd Harbor... follow the signs!

[Barefootgirl55]

Whenever it would snow, I would call in sick to the office and take off to go cross country skiing at Caumsett. There were trails where you could ski down to the beach and ski along the water's edge.

It was (maybe no longer) a hidden gem - whenever I went there, I almost always had the entire place to myself.....surrounded by the estates of the super wealthy.

Love that area......

[robink40]

Originally Posted by missingny

Also, my father taught in West Babylon Senior High for 30 years...anyone go there?

I graduated WBSH in 1977, who is your father and what did he teach?

[momix5]

Anyone remember a real hole in the walll bar in Ronkonoma called Kiss? It was on the lake!Remember when WBAB sponsored road rallys that ended at the boardy barn? What about Kleins in Commack it is now Macys and it was Sterns too! Remember David's cookies? Remember the x-rated movies in Ronkonoma? The muliplex's really put the "twin movie" theatres out of business. I remember the twin movie in Ronkonkoma that is now an OTB, I saw Animal House there! Remember when Rocky Horror played at midnight at the Patchogue and Hauppauge theatre? Does anyone remember the Commack Roller Rink? The Commack Arena? Flea Markets?

[robink40]

What about the Drive in Movie in Copaigue (it had a few kiddy rides and the Whale you could crawl through) and there was also the skating rink. Jolly Rogers, Adventureland, Nunnleys (sp?), Hayden Planeterium (sp?), Belmont Lake State Park, Babylon Riding Academy, I could go on and on. Solomon Grundy's Clipper in Bayshore, up the road Pewter Tankard, dancing at 2001 then going for breakfast at the diner, racing the sun home and getting up with only a couple of our sleep to go to work or school. How about the ice skating rink in one of the old hangers at Republic where the Islanders use to practice. The Volunteer Fireman's Carnivals and the competions. I sometimes wish I could turn back time to enjoy all of those times again.

[41Willys]

Originally Posted by momix5

Anyone remember a real hole in the walll bar in Ronkonoma called Kiss? It was on the lake!Remember when WBAB sponsored road rallys that ended at the boardy barn? What about Kleins in Commack it is now Macys and it was Sterns too! Remember David's cookies? Remember the x-rated movies in Ronkonoma? The muliplex's really put the "twin movie" theatres out of business. I remember the twin movie in Ronkonkoma that is now an OTB, I saw Animal House there! Remember when Rocky Horror played at midnight at the Patchogue and Hauppauge theatre? Does anyone remember the Commack Roller Rink? The Commack Arena? Flea Markets?

LOL,, This is WBAB Babylon thanking everyone on L.I. for showing the world they looooove Rock and Roll.

Are they still around? I use to drink at Bob Bucmans place by SmithTown

[41Willys]

Originally Posted by robink40

What about the Drive in Movie in Copaigue (it had a few kiddy rides and the Whale you could crawl through) and there was also the skating rink. Jolly Rogers, Adventureland, Nunnleys (sp?), Hayden Planeterium (sp?), Belmont Lake State Park, Babylon Riding Academy, I could go on and on. Solomon Grundy's Clipper in Bayshore, up the road Pewter Tankard, dancing at 2001 then going for breakfast at the diner, racing the sun home and getting up with only a couple of our sleep to go to work or school. How about the ice skating rink in one of the old hangers at Republic where the Islanders use to practice. The Volunteer Fireman's Carnivals and the competions. I sometimes wish I could turn back time to enjoy all of those times again.

Remember Belmont? Just a little trivia here, ya know the grass that seperated the East and West bound lanes on southern state? Well when you got to Belmont there are those HUGE pine tree's in a line, on both sides? Back in the day when the estate was just built that was actually the driveway for the estate! (Between the pine tree's)

[Mopic5]

Originally Posted by Pidgett

My wife's parents lived on LI back in the 40's and 50's. They remember when three quarters of Nassau County were potato and cucumber farms! Mrs. Pidgett, the better half, asks:

Is there anybody here old enough to remember:

Farms in Nassau County?
Farms in Queens?
The Hempstead Plains (Formerly the largest prairie in the East. Yes, I said prairie )?
LI without the LIE?
Levittown before the Levitt Brothers created it?
First suburban shopping centers on the Island?
Shoe-King-Sam?
Friendly Frost?
Chow Chow Cup?
Matinecock Dairy Farm in Plainview?
Davega's Dept Store?
Old Country Road having only TWO lanes?
The massive radio towers out in Suffolk County?
When Bethpage was called "Central Park?" (Yup, it was.)
Hempstead Speedway?
Dairy Barn?
Mount Misery Road in Huntington when it was the ONLY way to get from Melville to H'ton?
Lollipop Farm?
Dix Hills before it was developed?

My wife and her folks would LOVE to know!!! Me, I'm from Maine, so it's all greek to me!

Thanks y'all!

Hi Pidgett,

Just unearthed your queries from 2 months back. From 1953 at the Bethpage/Plainview border I remember some of these things. We moved into a “development” amidst a half dozen farms in this corridor with owners names like Gerhardt, Brunn and Borrella coming to mind. As a little tike, I worked for the Borrellas (bachelor brothers), shucking feed corn and delivering eggs.
Old Country Road was a mile away and was indeed two lanes. Plainview was little more than a development concept situated between Hicksville, Woodbury and Old Bethpage. The intersection of Mannetto Hill and Old Country had a Crown gas station and an ice cream stand called Jack Yerk’s (which would later move out to Route 25 at the Smithtown Bypass) and that was it. Further east on Old Country Road was a prison farm that abutted the property of a State run TB sanatorium on Round Swamp Road.
It seems that the Woodbury Shopping center (strip mall later to become “Plainview SC”) was up but not Morton Village.
The shopping destinations for my mother were still quite a drive up on Hempstead Turnpike. There was a fun place there for us kids called Jolly Roger’s indoor Carney stuff + rides, including a wonderful old-fashioned carousel with pumping horses and brass rings.
P.S. - The former name for Farmingdale was "Hard Scrabble" - no joke.

[robink40]

Originally Posted by 41Willys

LOL,, This is WBAB Babylon thanking everyone on L.I. for showing the world they looooove Rock and Roll.

Are they still around? I use to drink at Bob Bucmans place by SmithTown

Yes, WBAB is still playing Rock, however, Bob Buchman is now the station manager of 104.3 in NYC (classic rock) and has a show monday thru fri 2 to 4. His wife still owns the Radio Grill and I have been there a few times and had the chance to sit and chat with Bob for a couple of hours. Both he and his wife are great people, very down to earth. In fact, long story short, my husband and I was there for a private party and decided to stay for dinner. As we sat and ate, Bob hung out with us to chat. He decided to order dinner also and told me (I had been eating the Lobster dinner) that I made it look so good, he had to order one for himself.