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From Deb Lawlor of Lynbrook
My name is Deborah Lawlor (Moran) and
I have lived in Lynbrook my entire
life. I was born in Brooklyn in 1952 and my folks (Irene and Francis)
along with my maternal grandparents bought a house here on the corner of
Vincent Ave and Wanut St. in 1954. I still live
here with my husband and
recent college grad son.
I recall a supermarket on Merrick Rd with big windows where the
Astoria Bank is now.....not sure if it was Grand Union or Food Fair, but my
grandparents would take me there and I would "plant myself" on the
"horsey" inside the store that you would put quarters in while they
shopped for groceries. I attended Our Lady of Peace school from 1958 to 1966
and can recall when they were just adding the 2nd floor of the school when I
was in about the third grade.
I recall Grants with it's
wavy floors and was even able to have lunch at Woolworths
lunch counter with my baby son in his stroller and my Mom before it
closed in the 90s.I also recall the "other" movie theater in
Lynbrook,
the Arcade Theater on Atlantic Avenue.
Wasn't there a restaurant on Atlantic Ave called The Village Green ??? Does anyone remember John's Bargain
Store on Sunrise Highway and the A&P nearby
? We would use Herren-Rogers Travel Agency
where you could walk through into Meadowbrook Bank on the corner of Atlantic
and Sunrise Highway.....now a Karaoko Suits. Our
neighbors were Pauline and Merrill Steiner and he had a kosher butcher shop
in Lynbrook. Also, Dilbert's Big Ben where Cross Island Fruit now stands. So
many memories.
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From Bernice Silberman Greenberg:
We moved to Lynbrook in 1930, I was five years old and my sister
was a one-
year old. We moved from Brooklyn because the rents were too high.
We
lived in a two family corner house on Winter St. and Nieman
Ave. My
family lived in the upstairs apartment, my Aunt and Uncle and three
daughters lived in the larger downstairs apartment. The house had
originally been owned by a very wealthy family who lost their money in
1929 and had to give it up.
On the corner of Merrick Road and Nieman Ave. there
was a very large,
empty Casino called the Chateau Madrid. It had been abandoned when
Lynbrook became a "dry" town. It was our play house.
All the kids in
the neighborhood played in the "haunted" house. The property
was
bought by the Catholic Church and today the Church stands on the
corner where the gambling casino stood in the '20's and 30's.
The woods and a creek at the end of Winter Street was our favorite
hideout. We collected pollywogs from the creek in the summer. We
took a "short cut" to the Village and the Lynbrook Movie
Theater.
Every Saturday afternoon we went to the movies. A double feature, the
news, a serial with Gene Autry, and an amateur show, where kids in the
theater would perform for prizes, all this for five cents.
At night, the adults were given a dish each week to add to a set of
dishes, as enticement to spend twenty-five cents for admission to the
movies.
I attended West End Elementary School and can remember the names of
all my teachers from the first grade to the eighth grade. I attended
Lynbrook High School and graduated in June 1941. I lived in Lynbrook
on Curtis Place until I went to college.
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From Christopher Barnes - Hancock, NH
I'm not sure how to start this, so I'll jump right in.
As near as I can tell, my family lived at 109 Charing Cross in 1936-41. We children
took part in singing activities with an organization called, "Lillian M.
Quinlan's Juvenilles." I remember the name
because it is part of the "theme song":
We are the juvenilles
/ Lillian M. Quinlan's Juvenilles.
/ We love to sing and play / A rat-a-tat. A trat-a-tat-tat,
/ We're on our way ...
Thankfully, that's all I can remember, but it gives a flavor
of the times. I know we sang on the radio at least once, and before
live audiences. The reason I am writing
is: does anyone out there have any information they can share about
this group? Send a note to Art at Lynnhistory@aol.com, and also to me
at cbarnes@worldpath.net
Sincerely yours,
Chris
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I have to share this story with you.
I'm 47 now and I lived in Far Rockaway from age 5 to 17. When I was a teen, I had some problems
and bought some wine and sat on the shoreline drinking and feeling sorry for
myself. I listened to the waves
rolling in one after another until it just blended as one continuous roll. There I was in all my misery, and the waves--suddenly they sounded like a
roomful of people laughing. I
swear this is true!! I felt like
the ocean was laughing at me, and I felt so stupid!!!
Years later
I read about the history of the Rockaway Indians and Rokawanhaka,
which means "Our Place of Laughing Waters", when I was doing some
research in the Queensboro Public Library in Jamaica. What a chill that sent down my
spine. I knew exactly what they
were talking about!!!
Ann-Marie
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Hello,
I don't
know if I have anything much worthwhile to add, but I am wracking my brain to
remember. I was born in Lynbrook in 1933, and attended Marion St. School, East Rockaway (1938-44). We played a game called
"territory" in the schoolyard.
You drew a square and halved it.
Then you tried to throw your pocketknife into your opponent's half,
and if you did (if it stuck in blade first), you got to draw a straight line
through it and erase the old boundary.
When you could no longer get three fingers in your territory, you had
lost. I remember going to Kuckens
Brothers grocery store, then across the street to buy penny candy (an
agonizing process). It seems to
me that on some of my wanderings I passed the Henri Charpentier Restaurant,
derelict and forlorn, closed in 1930, I have read. Every Saturday morning I went to the
double feature (plus news and a serial) at the Arcade Theater, for a
dime. During the WWII, they put
an amusement tax on movie tickets and when I got there one Saturday, they
wanted 11 cents, which I did not have.
Ah the tragedies of youth!
Went back to visit Marion
St. school a few years ago, and it is still beautiful and as I remember
it. But all the vacant lots where
we used to play, and all the woods, seemed to be gone. My family moved to Orange County
when my father feared German submarines lurking off the coast of Long Island, in 1944.
Does anyone know
the location of Kuckens Brothers?
If I knew, I'd have my orientation back.
Gerry Dobson
Art got two answers to Gerry's question. Here they are:
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Hi,my
name is Craig Kuckens and I read where there was a question about the store
my grandfather Henry and his two brothers Matt and Frank had on Atlantic Avenue
in Lynbrook. All are gone now except dad
who lives in Sarasota,Fla. He also
worked at the store and graduated from Lynbrook High. I have a few great
pictures if the old store which opened about 1908. Would like to hear any
stories about the store or any info that you can pass on.
Thanks. Craig
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I was just reading some of the letters and someone asked
about Kuckens brother's store- my granfather was henry Kuckens- all 3 brothers
(Matt, Frank) have passed on but my Dad-Jack Kuckens lives in Sarasota Fl
and will be 81 in Feb- the location of Kuckens Brothers Store was Carmen
and Atlantic Avenues-St Raymond's Church bought land and built there in
late 1950's.
Candace Kuckens DiPietro
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Greetings,
My name is Pamela Fregeau. I was born in Long Beach hospital in March of 1950, and my family was
already living in their home at 8
Maiden Lane, Lynbrook,
for approximately 3 years. Mom still lives there!
Lynbrook was so much fun back then. These was a "woods" and stream at the end of our
"dead end" street. We were told by our parents NOT to go down
there, so of course, we did! IT was loaded with berry bushes, and Hugh Trees!
We would make small bridges out of big stones to cross the stream...dam it up
to catch killies (bait) in, and even at times make
"Tarzan" ropes for swinging over it! It was so thick you couldn't
see two feet if you went off the path...in places! <<< AND, by the
way...I really DON'T recall seeing any RATS, either! >>> We just had
so much FUN! At times, during huge rainfalls, it would swell up to the top!
Once I fell in!
I recall the day "the curbs" arrived! Up until then, I could
ride my bike up and down the sidewalks wherever I wished. But when the CURBS
were built...that ended that. Then I needed to go through the driveways!
We, the kids on the block that is, all had this pet wild squirrel called
HAPPY. All you had to do was call out "Happy", and there it would
be! It was the friendliest, and loved to be FED! It must have been raised by
some family at one time.
I can recall the smell of the linseed oil on the wooden planked flooring
in "GRANTS"! I was in my stroller, referred to by my mom as my
"kiddie car", I believe I recall Mom
having to go up a step or two to get in to the store, and then they would go:
ba boom, ba boom, baboom...as the wheels rolled over them!
My first job was in the old Woolworth's! I recall going to work one day
after school, and....the fire had destroyed it. I still have a pair of pearl
earrings from there I bought at the center jewelry counter with my paycheck!
I think they were $2.00!
I have so many more funny stories! They just go on, and on!
The smell of coffee being grounded in the old A&P. Our first trip to
the "new Green Acres MALL". MAN, was it cold and windy there at
first, when it was just one strip facing the Sunrise Hwy, if I recall
correctly. Then it was two sided, and all open in-between. At least it
stopped some of that WIND!
Well, thanks for the opportunity to share some with you.
Take care,
Pam Fregeau, East Meadow
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Greetings again!
I believe Flossie [see L. J. Campbell's article below] was a "kissin' cousin" of mine. She passed a few years ago,
I believe. She lived on the Hendrikson Avenue side of
town. And I do recall the awful Seashell smell, too! The seashell streets, as
I recall, were still in East Rockaway when I was still a child!
Again, thanks!
Pam
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This is the last "recall" to you tonite...promise.!
My grandfather worked for Reingold Breweries for
40 years. Do you recall when they moved INTO Lynbrook?
thanks, Pam
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Oh gosh...I REALLY promise this IS IT!
Fred Pearsall, at 10 Maiden
Lane, and his family, Scottish, were our next
door neighbors. I recall they had flaming Red hair, and he could wiggle his
ears!!! Were they direct decendants of the original
Pearsalls? His son, I believe, still lives in Lynbrook.
thanks, Pam
Lynbrook's Sea Shell Streets
by Louise J. Campbell
If we travel back to the 1920's in Lynbrook
we find a lovely piece of local history. This wonderful story was shared with
me years ago by Flossie Beyer, who lived here for many years.
Flossie's family moved from the "City" to Lynbrook back in the early 1920's when so many
city-dwellers were making the trek to the "country" here in our
Village. At that time our local population had reached about 8,000 residents
and Shorty the Cop had begun his beat at the Five Corners. The 1920's was also the decade when Lynbrook
High School was built, the Montauk
branch of the Long Island Rail
Road was electrified, the Municipal Building
was constructed on Merrick Road,
and Sunrise Highway was completed. In other words, this was a very
"busy" time in Lynbrook. The
population had doubled in less than five years as well.
So it was in that timeframe and into that
community that Flossie and her family had moved. As you might imagine it was
very different at that time. Flossie told me that the streets back then were
not paved. According to her, "The roads consisted of a mixture of dirt
and loads of seashells." With a smile Flossie explained that the roads
were just fine during the winter months, however, when the summer arrived it
was a different story. As Flossie said, "You didn't need an alarm clock
to wake you up after the cold weather ended because once the hot summer sun
hit the seashells, the smell was absolutely horrible. There was no way to
sleep and you had no choice but to wake up!"
Whenever I repeat Flossie's marvelous story, I usually
entitle it "She
SMELLS Sea
Shells". And Flossie always laughed at that. History can be wonderful
and people like Flossie helped make it that way.
If you have a "story" that you'd like to
share, please e-mail us at this website and let us know what
"history" you have to tell us. We would love to hear from
you!
E-Mailing
us
lynhistory@aol.com
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