You Know You're From Long Island When... (Commack, Oceanside: insurance, fence)

[Pippi1818]

Originally Posted by nymom

Was it Korvette's?
We used to buy little turtles at Kresge's (Kreske's?)
...and guppies at Ed's!


Does anyone remember the huge cage full of birds at the Walt Whitman Mall?

How about Woolworths? I used to work in Korvettes in Hempstead. It was Klein's first!I used to take the bus from in front of Hills (where I worked when I got older) to A & S in Hempstead and spend the day WALKING AROUND HEMPSTEAD when I was 13 with one other girlfriend! We would take the bus back to Hills in front of the Telephone Building!

How about Wetsons!!!! It was across from Kleins!

I feel so old!

[Pippi1818]

Originally Posted by OvertaxedOnLI

NYTom, I'm sitting here cracking up... Ummm, I think you meant The Boardy Barn? (then again, bawdy isn't that far off either, LOL!)

Howard Johnson's Ice Cream... wow... Just the other day, believe it or not, I was craving my alltime favorite flavor of theirs: Brandy Alexander. Second favorite was Lime Sherbet.

I think the last Howard Johnson's Restaurant on LI was the one outside MacArthur Airport; must have closed in the late 1980s?

Didn't everyone buy from Pergaments and Channel before someone invented Home Depot and Lowes? I know my parents' house was entirely done in Pergaments Paints (and Sanitas wallpaper, and black-and-pink tiles in the bathroom).

How about going Rollerskating in Levittown (I think) and then having a "Kitchen Sink" at Jahn's "down the block?"

[Pippi1818]

Gertz and TSS! The roller rink in Islip is still there, but it is just an empty building. The property is ZONED FOR A ROLLERRINK and until that zoning is changed the building will stay empty!! (I checked it out!)
After the Bayshore "Drive In'" closed does anyone remember the flea market there? Lots of junk...but fun for a new mom in Islip!

[Pippi1818]

Originally Posted by OvertaxedOnLI

Thanks for mentioning Grants! Even though in my previous posts I'd recalled Woolworths, Kresges, Kress', and McCrory's, I still had this nagging feeling there was one other "dime store" I'd forgotten the name of. Of course, it was W.T. Grant's.

If I recall right, the two "big" dimestore chains on LI were Woolworths and Grants. I think McCrory's was a close third.

When did Swezey's in Patchogue close down? They had a smaller store in West Babylon which was converted to a Bed Bath & Beyond about a year or so ago. I've only been in or through Patchogue about a dozen times but do remember the lace mill; it was the huge dark brick building on the north side of Montauk Highway when coming into Patchogue Village from the west, correct? Didn't it stand empty for many many years as a result of longstanding fights over what should be done with it after it closed?

You know, it's funny how the old names can stick with a place years later. I still think of the big hospital in East Meadow as "Meadowbrook Hospital" rather than Nassau County Medical Center, and I have to think twice to keep from referring to "Salisbury Park" rather than Eisenhower Park!

The Old Lace Mill was recently torn down and there are office/medical/law offices there now (2008). Swezey's closed about 4 years ago. Salisbury Park til the day I die!!!!

[Pippi1818]

Originally Posted by nymom

Does anyone remember a bar called Sparks? I saw a lot of good bands there.
Also...who remembers Bob Buchman from WBAB?

Buckman jumped ship and went to....(spit on the ground!!) New Jersey for a long time! He just retired! (2008) He lives in Smithtown.

[Pippi1818]

Originally Posted by rizzo27

Peter's Clam Bar in Oceanside, not Vinny's. Right next to the landfill. Sorry, it's been a while.

It is Pete's Clam Bar and it is still there! Vincent's Clam Bar was (and is) a resturant (sp?). (2008)

[Pippi1818]

Originally Posted by MoonlightFlight

Does anyone remember the clam bar on on the south side of Rte 25a between Centerport and Northport? I think it was at Sandy Hollow Rd, or one of those deadly curves. Anyway, there was no inside, just an outdoor clam bar with tables around it that was only open in the summer. You could smell the salt air coming in off the harbor and listen to the seagulls while eating dozens of littlenecks.

I think those memories are part of what led me to move to the shore as an adult, after having grown up in Plainview. I lived on the South Shore while I worked at JFK, and then I raised my daughter in Northport. Now, I'm back in the middle again, this time in South Carolina. I really miss the salt air and seagulls.

I think they finally closed the Clam Bar (2007). I only ate there once and the food was bad and the prices were high! Lots of Bikers, remember?

[NYMouth]

Originally Posted by Jake Ryan

What a small world, it was probably around 1982 or 1983 or therabouts....I remember Rose milett and they had a guy named "crabby" or something that drove the boat, does that sound right?

LOL Crabby was Rose's son Frankie. He wasn't so crabby after work. LOL
Do you remember Miss. Morgan, Miss. Robin or Miss. Chris? I had a Jake on my afternoon bus run. If I remember correctly he had the morning sesson and went home at noon. Cute kid and quick with the wit. LOL This was during the '83-'84 season. He also, lived in Oceanside between Lawson and LB Rd.

[NYMouth]

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.

The orginal Ed's Tropical Aquariums was on Sunrise Hwy. and Horton Ave. On the Lynbrook/Valley Stream border. But I think it was considered in VS.

[nancy thereader]

We used to buy little turtles at Kresge's (Kreske's?)

Those poor litle turtles which were painted and , of course, died almost immediately because they were suffocated.

I lived in Roslyn and going to Hempstead (on a bus with a group of friends) was a huge treat, especially on Friday evenings when all the stores were opened and all lit up. Grilled cheese and strawberry ice cream sodas were what we'd order at the counter in Woolworths. So nutritious, but who knew about things like that then?
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