You Know You're From Long Island When...

[sundvl]

Your funny!

[sundvl]

Originally Posted by OvertaxedOnLI

Resurrecting an oldie, just for fun

You know you're from Long Island when:

Jones Beach Theater is the best place in the world to see a concert.

Billy Joel said it best, “Either you date a rich girl from the North Shore, or a cool girl from the South Shore."

What’s the big deal about the Hamptons?

You don’t go to Manhattan, you go to “the City"

You never, ever want to “change at Jamaica..."

You never realize you have an accent until you leave.

You can name at least three bands that came from Long Island.

At some point in your life you or someone you know has owned an animal that came from North Shore Animal League.

You walk around the mall aimlessly.

When you walk in the city and you see two men holding hands...it becomes normal to you.

No word ends in an ER, just an AH.

When you’re away from Long Island, you love it and when you’re there, you don’t.

You know that the beach is the most magical place in the world at night.

You know the exact point at which Queens turns into Nassau simply on intuition.

You’re still waiting for a bridge to Connecticut.

You’ve tried to use your father’s monthly ticket to ride the LIRR. It worked.

No matter what you do, you end up at the diner.

Your distant future might involve the state of Florida.

You’ve tried to find the Amityville Horror house.

Each one of your diverse friends mercilessly makes fun of his own background.

You love that salty smell of the ocean.

No, you don’t want mustard on that burger!

One of the most exciting days of your summer is when the tickets to the Jones Beach Theatre shows go on sale.

You know White Castle is terrible for you and the food sucks. But, you periodically “Get the Crave".

You can order a pizza pie and a soda and people will understand.

You don’t associate Fire Island with gay men.

You know that parts of The Godfather were filmed on LI.

You have, or someone you know has, fallen asleep on the LIRR and ended up in one of these three places: Babylon, Port Washington or Hicksville.

You’ve missed that “Drunk Train”, the 2:42 out of Penn and had the dreaded wait until 5:30.

You think Islip MacArthur airport is cute and you enjoy watching it grow up.

Your parents took you to Nathans or Carvel.

You can correctly pronounce places like Happaugue, Commack, Islip, Islandia, Nissequogue, Wantagh, and Massapequa.

You know the location of 6 malls, a dozen McDonalds, and 36 7-11’s.

You grew up thinking Chinese food was a basic food group.

You’re used to driving down the street in December and seeing more light-up menorahs than you can shake a latka at. In fact, even your non-Jewish friends know what Matzoh is. And you’ve never driven more than 10 miles without seeing a temple.

Oh, your parents are from Brooklyn? So are mine!

Yes, admit it, you’ve cruised the DPA.

You can remember making up rules for 'Shotgun'� calls in high school.

You were upset when all the Roy Rogers turned into Wendy's.

You actually "get" these jokes and pass them on to other people from Long Island.

I thought it was just me who thinks it is indecent to put mustard on a hamburger. I live out west where it appears to be standard practice. BLAHHHHH!

[sundvl]

Originally Posted by OvertaxedOnLI

McCrorys, YES! Thank you, Check!

What an incredible trip down Memory Lane this is turning into... gotta love it!

John's Bargain Stores, now how could I forget that? We practically lived in that place as kids and teens. If the closest "candy store" didn't have the replacement Spaldeen you needed (probably because yours ended up in one of the neighbor's gutters because you were playing tennis in the street with that instead of a "proper" tennis ball), John's Bargain Store was the place you went to.

Speaking of shopping memories, how about S&H Green Stamps, Plaid Stamps and Blue Stamps? And the books we pasted them into (my mother had shoeboxes full of them). Hills' Supermarkets, A&P, and the gas stations were the best sources for the stamps (gas stations... 19 cents a gallon, and wasn't that for high-test?).

Wetson's Hamburgers.. that was the other place I was trying to think of; didn't Big Steer take them over in the late 60s?

Ah yes, EJ Korvettes and Lerner Shops (which is still around, just called LernerNY now). That's one of the places where you could buy your love beads, Nehru jacket, bellbottoms, granny dresses, Huk-a-poo shirts and colored-lens eyeglasses.

momix, the two Ed's Tropical Aquariums I knew of were the one on Hempstead Tpke in Farmingdale, and the one inside Roosevelt Field (was it right outside Gertz - another store from the past! - or outside Penney's?). Guppies... the rabbits of the fish world! I once bought six pair of fancy-tailed guppies at Ed's, with dreams of breeding hundreds. Ended up with 3 guppies and two extremely large and fat angelfish.

Thanks for helping me to find out the name of the burger place I had been trying to remember for months now. I could not find it because I was spelling it Westons oops! Everyone in my family thought I was nuts but I could have sworn we ate there and the place existed. And lo and behold it did. I can't remember what I did yesterday in Arizona but 30 years ago in NY? YOU BET! LOL!

[KittyNY]

Originally Posted by sundvl

Ok what was that soda/ice cream place in Babylon that served sundays in a mini bathtube? Later it was a dance club. HMMMMMMMM and thanks for making me think Wetsons was not a figment of my imagination.

Are you thinking of Jahn's? They had great ice cream, and elaborate sundaes. I remember Wetson's too, they were the first one. I can't remember what the mascot was though! They were orange and white.

[KittyNY]

Do you all know that Korvette's was named that because it was started by a bunch of Korean War Veteran's? Somewhat like Kresge's, but we always went there for our Christmas trees.

[sundvl]

YES!!!!!!!! Thank you that's it.
I knew it started with a J.
The mascot for Wetsons was I think a clown like McDonalds too. The owners copied the McDonalds thing while driving cross country they liked it so much. Thanks for helping.

[Coney]

Originally Posted by KittyNY

Do you all know that Korvette's was named that because it was started by a bunch of Korean War Veteran's? Somewhat like Kresge's, but we always went there for our Christmas trees.

It used to be EJ Korvettes and the E looked like the old fashioned scripted "And" sign - kind of rounded. That E was a symbol for 8 because it looked like an "open" 8. The full name denoted 8 Jewish Korean Vets.


A former Korvettes Employee.

[Gpsma]

Name origins
According to Korvette's founder, Eugene Ferkauf, the name E.J. Korvette was coined as a combination of the initials of its founders (Eugene and Joe) and a re-spelling of the naval term Corvette. This claim, and the fact that the name pre-dates the Korean War by three years, contradict an urban legend that the name stood for "Eight (or Eleven) Jewish Korean War Veterans".[4]

[MoonlightFlight]

Thank you, Gpsma, for correcting the fallacy about the E. J. Korvette store name. Snopes.com is always a good place to check before perpetuating urban legends.

Snopes on E. J. Korvette:
snopes.com: E.J. Korvette -- Eight Jewish Korean War Veterans?

E.J. Korvette (initially a retailer of leather goods) was founded in 1948, two years before the Korean War began, by a Jewish World War II veteran named Eugene Ferkauf. Ferkauf explained the nomenclature thusly:

I had a name picked out for the store, E.J. Korvette. ''E'' is for Eugene, my first name, and ''J'' stands for Joe Swillenberg, my associate and my pal. As for ''Korvette,'' it was originally meant to be spelled with a ''C'' after the Canadian marine sub-destroyer, simply because I thought the name had a euphonious ring. When it came time to register the name, we found it was illegal to use a naval class identity, so we had to change the spelling to ''K".

[Toyandgadgetguy]

Originally Posted by ClarkStreetKid

Who's been to Mary's grave?

I'd like to talk to you about this. Interested?