The old Bayville

I recall Reinhardts in the 50's as I used to work there on weekend during summer. Chick Reinhardt was one of the nicest guys.
Pete and Louise Mayo opened Mayo's down near Centre Island Beach in the early 60's. In town it was the Holiday with Joe and Sam.
This was when we still had the Bayville Police Dept and we would beat the Glen Cove All Stars (little league) every year with Mr. Stanco. Bill Gronneman was assistant coach.

Hank Wragge was Scoutmaster when I was a boy scout in the 50s.
Jim Dougherty was 6th grade teacher, Miss Rogers was 5th. Mrs. Sparenday was 8th and Mr. Gibbs was 7th.(from the early 50s).
Tony Belsito was chief of police then.

Jack Davis was our coach for all sports at Bayville School but he left Bayville and a fellow named Paul Butler was coach my last year or two at Bayville School.

The town library was actually in an old house on Library Lane.

There was a bar at East Slope Rd and Bayville Ave, but I cant recall the name. And, of course, the Log Cabin, Pig n Whisle, Moms and Gus' pizza before he move to his own place down the other end. And who could forget the Cabana. Dickie Jenkins owned it then (early 60s).

That is all I can recall. I have lived in California since the late 60s after I had served in the Army.

I recall Clifton Flowers and jumping off the Bayville Bridge near his boats when the police couldnt see us.

I think the town had 900 residents then excluding those from summer homes.

Bayville had to be the greatest town I could ever hope to grow up in. I have nothing of fond memories. There wasnt much to do, so we played sports most of the time we werent in school and were the best in the area in baseball for sure. That was when Dont Be Cruel and Houndog were 1 and 2 for like the whole year!

joe wrote:

or when the beaches were open all night and the wild parties in the 60-70s

Joe,

I had an old girlfriend who lived over on Cliff Drive. Many fuzzy nights were spent on the beach totally out of my mind.

I knew Warren briefly in the early 70s through a friend, who was a bluegrass collaborator of Warren's. I have two CDs of music by Warren in a band called "Service for the Nervous", undated, but probably from the 80s or 90s. Interesting stuff that I'd be willing to share with an old friend of Warren's. I can be reached at traiger@gmail.com.

Bill wrote:

How about the Sunday night bluegrass at Full Sail Inn back in the late '70's. It was Warren Carlstrom's troupe. They had earned a national bluegrass award back then. Warren has since passed on. I recall when he sat down at a piano at an 8th grade graduation party on Walnut Rd in GC. Even at that age he could knock your socks off with his talent. I wonder if he and his bluegrass crew cut an album. I did a search of his name on amazon.com without luck. If he did and anyone knows I'd appreciate the information.

Before Abe a fellow named Lou ran the soda fountain and magazine store. There was a small market next to him and the gas station.

Bob Jones ran the Sinclair gas station near Hotines, the Flying A was across from it and Ed Muller had the Texaco on Bayville and Ludlam.

We used the Bayville Bridge as a diving platform in those days.

The bar know known as Walls used to be a soda hang out with a jukebox. No alcohol.

I worked at Chick Reinhardts during some summers.

The Picolo brothers had the holiday and years later Pete Mayo ran the bar close to Centre Island Beach. At the other end we went to the Log Cabin and Pig "n Whistle. I recall a stand called Moms.

We whipped the Glen Cove allstars every year in Little League. Ralph Stanco and Bill Gronemann were the coaches.

Sandy Belsito was the chief of police, with Sam, Harry, George and ????. Joey Belsito is claimed to have only gotten a half haircut at one time cause the barber near Friendly Corner lost a bet on a horse race during the haircut and refused to do anymore hew was so upset! I dont know it it actually happened but everyone talked about it.

All we had was an A&P market which didnt sell meats because there was a butcher next door and then the drug store. And we had Our Hobby Market which did sell meats but catered mostly to Centre Island etc.

My teachers were MrGibbs, Jim Dougherty, Mrs Sparendei, Ms Carrol, Jack Davis, Mr Butler, Mr and Mrs Gault. Bayville School went to 8th grade. Mine was the last class to go to Oyster Bay HS. After that, everyone went to Locust Valley.

Charlie had the luncheonette downtown. Joe Alfano had the TV repair.

I grew up there in 40's and 50s. Loved every minute of it and have the greatest memories of Bayville. It is a great town to grow up in!

Does anyone remember getting behind Mrs McCoon, the realtor, along the shore road? And her driving at 8 MPH? haha

Richard wrote:

Before Abe a fellow named Lou ran the soda fountain and magazine store. There was a small market next to him and the gas station.
Bob Jones ran the Sinclair gas station near Hotines, the Flying A was across from it and Ed Muller had the Texaco on Bayville and Ludlam.
We used the Bayville Bridge as a diving platform in those days.
The bar know known as Walls used to be a soda hang out with a jukebox. No alcohol.
I worked at Chick Reinhardts during some summers.
The Picolo brothers had the holiday and years later Pete Mayo ran the bar close to Centre Island Beach. At the other end we went to the Log Cabin and Pig "n Whistle. I recall a stand called Moms.
We whipped the Glen Cove allstars every year in Little League. Ralph Stanco and Bill Gronemann were the coaches.
Sandy Belsito was the chief of police, with Sam, Harry, George and ????. Joey Belsito is claimed to have only gotten a half haircut at one time cause the barber near Friendly Corner lost a bet on a horse race during the haircut and refused to do anymore hew was so upset! I dont know it it actually happened but everyone talked about it.
All we had was an A&P market which didnt sell meats because there was a butcher next door and then the drug store. And we had Our Hobby Market which did sell meats but catered mostly to Centre Island etc.
My teachers were MrGibbs, Jim Dougherty, Mrs Sparendei, Ms Carrol, Jack Davis, Mr Butler, Mr and Mrs Gault. Bayville School went to 8th grade. Mine was the last class to go to Oyster Bay HS. After that, everyone went to Locust Valley.
Charlie had the luncheonette downtown. Joe Alfano had the TV repair.
I grew up there in 40's and 50s. Loved every minute of it and have the greatest memories of Bayville. It is a great town to grow up in!

I think we were in the same class!

Patti wrote:

Anyone remember Mayo's Bar - just east of the now defunct Gus' Pizzeria, prior to the entranceway of Centre Island Beach? I think the owner's name was Louise Mayo.

Yes, I recall, many people from Centre Island hung out there. I used to work at Gus' delivering Pizza.

Hi, all. I just stumbled on this site and glad I did.

My Mom, Dad and I spent summers in Bayville for several seasons between the late 19302 and through the War years, ending around 1950, what with family weddings, college, military service, etc.

What I recall fondly are:

-the annual dance at the fire house where cousins won several jitterbug contests;

-the "cardboard house" between sixth street and the village on the south side of Bayville Avenue;

-Jerry's Juke Box, roughly across the street from the cardboard house and just a few doors east of Rienhardt's Park, where our crowd kept the juke box humming into the summer nights. Two big hits I recall were Tommy Dorsey's "Dry Bones" instrumental, a great lindy and Arthur Smith & the Crackerjacks' "Guitar Boogie."

Ella Fitzgerald and Louie Jordan teamed up for "Stone Cold Dead in De Market" a calypso romp from @ 1945.

-"The Other End" especially the Pig 'n Whistle.

-Playing sandlot baseball with a summer pick up team from around the east side of Bayville Avenue, mostly all summer kids from all over the City and its Burroughs, and playing at Oyster Bay HS as our "home field." Most of us were staying at houses between the village PO and 6th street.

-The occasional baby-sitting party in Centre Island, where we were pretty well behaved [or else]; but I did get introduced to Southern Comfort there.

-earlier on before the big hurricane took her out of business, dining at Hazel's Boat House, right "under" the Bayville Bridge. Hazel had a great operation there until the storm.

-During the polio scare years, when the big papers published daily and projected beach water quality reports, burting with pride when Bayville racked up A+ ratings.[Yeah, it was a big deal].

-the rare [disgusting] jelly fish fights where we slimed eachother unmercifully, fortunately with "clearies," and experiencing no casualties beyonf fractured egoes that always managed to giggle at the insults.

-night swimming at flood high neap tides, an unearthly treat for me, a sorry tenderfoot with no worries about slimy rocks and fiddler crabs that thrived at very low tides. Never did go through with clamming.[Shame on me].

-First sweetheart who danced at Jerry's, cheered for the baseball team, and dated me for several years back in Queens. Also the whole crowd, from some pretty diverse family backgrounds and home bases, who melded like "family" each summer.

-Pump's Tavern, where the older set went for a neighborhood beer or some take outs.

-The post office itself, a bit of a kick wakling three-quarters of a mile or so to your own box for pick up.

-Very early on [yeah, I have some years on me], the ice box and the deliveries; the kerosene lamps with wicks, and the outhouse that finally went @ 1939-40. There was also that wind-up Victrola.

Re: the ice box. Coming home from a movie late one night, say 1942 or '43, Dad raised the light on the kitchen lamp and uttered a shocked epithet of four letters. Atop the ice box was the biggest praying mantis any one of us had ever seen.[Or since, for me].

Many other memories indeed. Just glad I happened by.

Patti wrote:

The bar close to the bridge was called "The Shore House." It was originally a gay bar back in the '60's. Jan Brown was the owner and she was involved in the "theatre" in NY. She opened it as a place for her gay friends to socialize without being ostrasized (sp?). It was an older crowd. Then in the mid-70's her son took over and with that, his many friends started to appear. It had become predominantly straight. I was one of the friends!:-)

Just to clairfy the above info a bit; Jan Brown & husband Vic Brown originally owned Brownie's Cafe and did major renovations to upddate the interior. They sold Brownie's (it became The Holiday Inn.) They then hopped across the street & purchased The Shore House which whose patronage was ALWAYS GAY. Jan & Vic Brown catered to the original crowd because they were ballroom dancers from the city. Not Brownie's but The Shore House was the perfect venue for their love of dance & music & created the best atmosphere for music lovers, and the dance crowd.

i remember getting stuck on the merrygoround in like 1976 when it was on it's way downhill wow what a memory!!!!!!! Oh, and for some reason i remember in 1969 when i was 6 years old hereing the abby road album standing outside of the tides motel. cool lol

Patti wrote:

Anyone remember Mayo's Bar - just east of the now defunct Gus' Pizzeria, prior to the entranceway of Centre Island Beach? I think the owner's name was Louise Mayo.

Remember! Heck yeh. Louise and Pete Mayo were like second parents to me. 14 years old? No problem!

Bayville Expat wrote:

<quoted text>
Yes, I recall, many people from Centre Island hung out there. I used to work at Gus' delivering Pizza.

And how 'bout Norm's Tackle Shop? Norm McCloy cold wrap a rod like nobody's business! My old man had hi make up several sets of custom rods over the years. I stillhave most of them and that Eisenhower-era glas' is jsut getting better and better as it cures...

PeterS wrote:

Bill - I used to go to the Full Sail, but for totally different reasons. They were cheap, and you could score. But that was a long time ago. You might be interested in the site
http://griffinscornerscafe.com/images/The_Rig...
They are people who used to play with Warren Carltrom.
I live between Ludlum and Centre Island, and don't drink and drive. The Full Sail was just about the furthest I would go for a drink. I also went to The Holiday, Fisherman's Reef, Wall's, Holt's Grove, Reinhart's, Zuccaro's, and a few bars I'm not sure of the name. One was in the little strip of stores by the lunchenette. I remember they had peanuts in the shell, and there was another place That is still there but is open for about an hour a week - now called the old place or the other place - it used to be a fun place to go. There also was a bar close to the bridge called FarQuar's but I did not go there as it was supposedly gay.

The bar next to Vessio's candy store was called "Papa Beer's Parlor"....The gay bar was called "The Shore House" and yes the little old lady who still runs the old place opens it for about 3 hours a week usually on Thursdays....The reason the Full Sail Inn was eventually closed was because it was a coke hot spot and customers would be so loud when they left after last call that all the people who lived on East Slope Rd. complained for years, then it was closed....The deli that used to be the Fishermans Reef was called The Shack....It was more of a hang out for kids who wanted to play the Video Machines...Wall's was good back in the day but you can't even go there anymore without having to pay $13.00 for a cheeseburger....

Richard wrote:

Does anyone remember getting behind Mrs McCoon, the realtor, along the shore road? And her driving at 8 MPH? haha

I remember her. She was my great aunt and lived on Tildean Lane.

All those memories. How about a recent one. Billy Joel driving into a Bayville house on the way to Center Island. Hello, Christie Brinkley, you got out just in time.

Bill wrote:

How about the Sunday night bluegrass at Full Sail Inn back in the late '70's. It was Warren Carlstrom's troupe. They had earned a national bluegrass award back then. Warren has since passed on. I recall when he sat down at a piano at an 8th grade graduation party on Walnut Rd in GC. Even at that age he could knock your socks off with his talent. I wonder if he and his bluegrass crew cut an album. I did a search of his name on amazon.com without luck. If he did and anyone knows I'd appreciate the information.

I was in that "troupe" ("Easy On The Tuba" - we didn't even have a tuba) along with Kevin Ege, Warren's then wife Tone, and a cast of whoever blew in from wherever. Warren and i ended up in Norway and he did several recordings here .. i also have recordings of the troupe from that time. Thinking about remastering them and releasing. Should sell about 3 copies! You can reach me through my website www.jeffwasserman.no
best,
Jeff Wasserman

Hi Tom..........I enjoyed your post about Bayville, the way it was back in the 1930's and 1940's. Yours are the oldest memories of Bayville, I've read to date. Do you have anymore memories you could share on this website ? I moved to Bayville in 1973 and I'm still living here (38 years). I don't think I'll ever leave. I love it here.

Tom wrote:

Hi, all. I just stumbled on this site and glad I did.
My Mom, Dad and I spent summers in Bayville for several seasons between the late 19302 and through the War years, ending around 1950, what with family weddings, college, military service, etc.
What I recall fondly are:
-the annual dance at the fire house where cousins won several jitterbug contests;
-the "cardboard house" between sixth street and the village on the south side of Bayville Avenue;
-Jerry's Juke Box, roughly across the street from the cardboard house and just a few doors east of Rienhardt's Park, where our crowd kept the juke box humming into the summer nights. Two big hits I recall were Tommy Dorsey's "Dry Bones" instrumental, a great lindy and Arthur Smith & the Crackerjacks' "Guitar Boogie."
Ella Fitzgerald and Louie Jordan teamed up for "Stone Cold Dead in De Market" a calypso romp from @ 1945.
-"The Other End" especially the Pig 'n Whistle.
-Playing sandlot baseball with a summer pick up team from around the east side of Bayville Avenue, mostly all summer kids from all over the City and its Burroughs, and playing at Oyster Bay HS as our "home field." Most of us were staying at houses between the village PO and 6th street.
-The occasional baby-sitting party in Centre Island, where we were pretty well behaved [or else]; but I did get introduced to Southern Comfort there.
-earlier on before the big hurricane took her out of business, dining at Hazel's Boat House, right "under" the Bayville Bridge. Hazel had a great operation there until the storm.
-During the polio scare years, when the big papers published daily and projected beach water quality reports, burting with pride when Bayville racked up A+ ratings.[Yeah, it was a big deal].
-the rare [disgusting] jelly fish fights where we slimed eachother unmercifully, fortunately with "clearies," and experiencing no casualties beyonf fractured egoes that always managed to giggle at the insults.
-night swimming at flood high neap tides, an unearthly treat for me, a sorry tenderfoot with no worries about slimy rocks and fiddler crabs that thrived at very low tides. Never did go through with clamming.[Shame on me].
-First sweetheart who danced at Jerry's, cheered for the baseball team, and dated me for several years back in Queens. Also the whole crowd, from some pretty diverse family backgrounds and home bases, who melded like "family" each summer.
-Pump's Tavern, where the older set went for a neighborhood beer or some take outs.
-The post office itself, a bit of a kick wakling three-quarters of a mile or so to your own box for pick up.
-Very early on [yeah, I have some years on me], the ice box and the deliveries; the kerosene lamps with wicks, and the outhouse that finally went @ 1939-40. There was also that wind-up Victrola.
Re: the ice box. Coming home from a movie late one night, say 1942 or '43, Dad raised the light on the kitchen lamp and uttered a shocked epithet of four letters. Atop the ice box was the biggest praying mantis any one of us had ever seen.[Or since, for me].
Many other memories indeed. Just glad I happened by.

My family moved to Bayville in 1973. We lived on Highland View Drive and as a youth, my friends and I played in what we referred to as "The Swamps" (the marshland between Bayville and Locust Valley). Back in the 70's, it hadn't yet been declared a wildlife refuge, so we couldn't be kicked out by anybody. There were piles of wrecked cars stacked on top of each other. Piles of huge broken slabs of concrete that we played on. The cars were crushed, so we weren't able to play inside them, but we climbed as high as we could on the piles. I remember seeing rusted drum brakes still attached to some of the cars. We built forts in the swamps as well. We got chased by stray dogs every now and then. We built bridges over the streams and after we had big storms, a boat would end up washing up into the swamplands for us kids to play on. The old barbed-wire fencing was still up, attached to the hand carved wooden posts which probably belonged to Nicholas Godfrey back from the late 1800's when he used to swamps to harvest salt hay to sell to the City. The burned out house and the abandoned house right near it, were great to play in before they got torn down in the late 70's or early 80's. We always caught tadpoles in the streams and collected old bottles and cans so we could line them up along the top of this huge tree that floated in after a huge storm we had. We would use our sling-shots to shoot at the bottles and cans and knock them off that huge tree trunk. My neighbor had a huge hill that went from the top of Highland View Drive, all the way down to the streams edge and in the Winter, we cleared a path so we could sleigh ride that whole stretch, and if we were lucky enough and it was cold enough, that stream would freeze over and we could sometimes sleigh ride over it to the other side. Those were fun days and made for some great memories. Those swamps were like a 2nd home for the kids that lived on the roads that touched the marshlands. Sometime in the 1980's, the land came under the protection of the Government and was declared a wildlife sanctuary. They tore those 2 houses down, hauled away the half sunken boats, got rid of the piles of concrete and the piles of old, abandoned cars. They cleaned up the loose garbage and put those wildlife signs all throughout. A few years after that, the wildlife in the swamps started to increase. I remember a family of Red-Tailed Foxes living in there. The adult male would come out of the swamps every day and stop at our house and my Mother would feed him chicken and hot dogs. Sometimes, I would go outside to do something in the front yard and the fox would be sitting at the edge of our driveway patiently waiting for my Mother to come out and give him food. He looked like a dog, because he sat the same exact way that a dog sits. My neighbor complained to my Mother about giving food to the fox, so that came to an end. A few years ago, someone spotted a White-Tailed Deer at the edge of the swamps (on the Locust Valley side). I will always cherish my memories of playing in those swamps and all the fun that me and my friends had in there. Robert Taylor, Alan Taylor, Dwain ?, Mike Schwed, and others. What a great childhood I had growing up in Bayville.

Im 80's baby keg partys on the beach house partys all over summer time flipin cop cars oak point swat team came in that nite holloween nite cause us they made cerfew banning all the girls out there i made west harbor jumps in 93 wit duke and paul jumpin off da bridge drunk high chillen dwn at the stands fightin motorcyle gangs capon leaky where the top cops then a movie came out the program layin on the yellow line sum heads did that and got ran over saw indian jones film sabrina in bv i can rember i was riding my bike back in the around 91 and saw this kid come dwn godfrey fast into a dumpster but then my left hand man left me kevin p. Deihl rip and i start chill at my grandmas in the valley 4th is da bomb in bv back then and tree ex acid snw pushed all over there tile ray ray and sum other dope pheans brought that herion and started killIn my bois nemo rip and my lil brother shawn halvi rip its never been da same herion mest lv and bv up i was the big tree man now i look at this lil kids lol

Some things I remember in the 80's are St. Gertrude's Feast, Fishing on the L jetty, having tough feet after a long summer of walking on rocky sand, the smell of low tide and bunker, "hero laps", IGA, clam digging, sand getting everywhere, house parties, Ralph's Pizza, the Breakers, the Bayville arcade when the games were still 25 cents, a huge fire in the swamp, Islanders winning four cups, BMX in the woods making jumps, Steves Pier I when it was open and serving great lobster the huge fish tank extending around the restaurant, Discount Toys, Crazy Holloween wars, people fighting at Souvlaki late at night, eating berries off of trees, amazing Fourth of July Fireworks when they were still semi-legal, beach parties at the C.I. 1/2 crcl, making fires on the beach at night, boating, Mrs. Mckinny, Mrs. Zeller, Dr. Young, Mrs. Summers, Mrs. Singh, Mrs. Bernardo, Mr. White, Mrs. Merrit LOL she was tough, handball during lunch break, Mr. Grandinetti, C-side iced tea $1.50, snapper fishing, old man Finn at the creek dock snapper fishing.