Welcome to my Long Island blog.
This blog is a mini journal that will keep you up to date on all the best things to do on Long Island as well as adventures you might have missed.
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And don't forget to tell us about YOUR adventures on Long Island. Share your good times with the rest of us and I'll post your story right here.
Loving-Long-Island.com contributor Lisa Mancuso spent a week in Montauk Point with her husband and teenage children. They had a great time and Lisa was kind enough to share her experience with us.
Read all about Lisa’s Montauk vacation here.
Looking west from the Montauk Point Lighthouse. Camp Hero in the background.
Hidden away behind a fish market and completely invisible from the street, Matthew’s Seafood House Restaurant draws little attention. The entrance, located at the end of a narrow alleyway, is more intimidating than inviting, and so I’ve passed right by this restaurant many times without taking much notice.
It turns out I’ve been missing quite a bit.
Read my full review of Matthew’s.
This is Matthew's fish market. The restaurant is down the alley to the left.
The good and bad about what should be one of Fire Island’s better restaurants.
Read my full review of Bocce Beach here.
The Island Mermaid is one of Fire Island’s best restaurants. With the largest wine list and menu on Fire Island there’s something for everyone at prices typical for island dining. The service is good and the spacious deck offers beautiful sunset views of the Great South Bay.
Read more about Island Mermaid.
Island Mermaid as seen at night from the top deck of the ferry.
I had dinner at Island Mermaid on Fire Island last Thursday as part of a package deal called Taste of Fire Island. For $45/person you get dinner, ferry ride and parking.
The food and service were very good, the scenery was outstanding, and it was a nice break from mundane.
Read my full review of a Taste of Fire Island.
A lemon martini at sunset at Island Mermaid in Ocean Beach.
Summer is in full swing. Heat, humidity, thunderstorms (luv them), beer, boats, bbq’s, beaches. And just when I thought it would last forever something happened to remind me that the end is just around the corner.
It was Saturday night. There were steaks on the grill and cocktails in hand when Karilyn mentioned that she had seen Halloween pumpkins and school supplies on sale at the store earlier in the day. Right then and there my summertime bubble burst. I felt as if someone woke me up during a really good dream.
School supplies? Pumpkins? Already? UGH!!
We spent a good half hour discussing how sick it is to have Halloween stuff in the stores at this time of year before resuming normal conversation.
On Sunday morning I found this poem taped to my office door.
On a quiet beach somewhere on Long Island’s north fork.
Passing Summer
by Karilyn Drago
Already shadows grow longer,
night falls more quickly
creeping up on me, as a lover from behind.
Tree frogs call to one another,
sing the melody while crickets chirp the backbeat
and the spider spins her silken web.
A hot July, air barely breathable,
gives way to these cool evenings
with August yet ahead.
It is a false promise, yet a welcome respite – lie to me.
Today I saw school supplies, pencils and notebooks, alongside pumpkins and scarecrows upon the shelf
whispering of cooler days to come.
Not yet, but soon.
I am not ready to concede, oh no, not yet.
Thirty days and more ‘til Labor Day.
It will be hot again.
Summer, firm in her grasp will claim me once more,
unwilling to yield to September and beyond.
I pour another glass of Chardonnay
and toast the summer stars
as they cling to the coal sky -
the overture -
before Cassiopeia and the golden leaves of her
evening gown.
Nestled in among the quaint shops and lovely restaurants in the picturesque town of Cold Spring Harbor you will find the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum, an attraction that is definitely worth a visit.
Its rooms are filled with wonderful artifacts that tell the tale of the fascinating history of Cold Spring Harbor’s early ties to the whaling industry as well as the unique maritime heritage of Long Island.
Continue reading about the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum.
Killer whale skull at the museum.
If you were on Long Island yesterday afternoon you may have heard about the tornado warning and maybe even witnessed a severe summer squall blowing through your neighborhood.
We were sitting on the dock at the Snapper Inn enjoying cocktails and the shade provided by thick black clouds. They seemed to be north of us, so I figured whatever was coming would pound the north shore and leave us alone. How wrong I was.
At first there were only a few drops, then it started to rain hard enough for us to move from the dock to the tent. And then, within a matter of minutes the sky opened up and the wind started blowing. Really blowing… The winds even knocked down a tree on the grounds that had been toppled and saved 25 years ago in a different storm.
According to the National Weather Service the storm came through at 40 to 50 mph and produced wind gusts up to 60 mph. Based on what I saw I don’t doubt those numbers.
Here are some pictures…
Black clouds. Nothing to worry about...
A little rain.
The rain begins in earnest.
Visibility is reduced and the wind picks up.
Driving rain is blowing inside the tent; customers and staff race to close the panels.
Storm damage: Down for the second time in 25 years, this tree's trunk is now broken and cannot be saved.
Not long after the rain started, the skies cleared and the evening sun cast a golden glow on boats in the river.
After a long day slaving away at the computer I went out for some dinner at Kingston’s Clam Bar. It was very windy yesterday and along the way I encountered this dust blowing across a soccer field.
There was so much dust in the air my eyes were burning.
For dinner I had clams and oysters on the half shell followed by a plate of fried calamari, and all washed down with a couple of pints of Paulaner hefe-weizen, a summertime favorite beer. (Sorry no pictures of dinner.)
After dinner I noticed the planet Venus shining brilliantly in the western sky. The picture just doesn’t do the scene justice, but I hope you get the idea of how beautiful it was.
Venus is the very bright “star” in the picture above. You can see the yellow glow of Kingston’s dining room to the right.
New York, NY (May 26, 2010)—There is no place like Huntington. With its harbor villages and picturesque towns it has long been a haven for residents and tourists, ripe with glorious beaches, abundant fishing and a sense of place that embraces both the quintessential Main Street and the height of sophisticated culture.
WLIW21’s new production, Hometown Huntington – exclusive premiere Monday, June 7 at 8 p.m. on WLIW21 – celebrates the Town of Huntington, then and now, by giving voice to the shared memories of one Suffolk County community via interviews with past and present residents, including Tony Award-winning singer/actress and Northport native Patti LuPone, actor and Dix Hills native Ralph Macchio, and Huntington resident Bunny Hoest, creator of the syndicated comic The Lockhorns. Hometown Huntington is hosted and narrated by former New York State Parks Commissioner and former New York State Historic Preservation Officer Bernadette Castro, a Lloyd Harbor resident.
Nestled on Long Island’s North Shore, over 190,000 people call the Town of Huntington’s 93 square miles home, from the Villages of Northport, Asharoken, Lloyd Harbor, and Huntington Bay to the Town’s many hamlets – Cold Spring Harbor, Elwood, Huntington, Huntington Station, South Huntington, Melville, East Northport, Halesite, Dix Hills, Centerport, Greenlawn, and Fort Salonga – and five harbors: Cold Spring Harbor, Northport, Huntington Harbor, Centerport, and Lloyd Harbor.
Hometown Huntington acknowledges the area’s rich history – The Battle of Long Island, African-American writer and former slave Jupiter Hammon, poet Walt Whitman, William K. Vanderbilt II’s summer mansion, Eagle’s Nest – but focuses more on the regular people who shaped the Town and made it the special place it still is today, from the farmer to the ship builder, the revolutionary to the rum-runner. “Remembering My Hometown…” moments throughout the film feature viewer-contributed stories and photos.
“Hometown Huntington perfectly captures the spirit of WLIW’s ‘21 Weeks of Summer’ initiative,” said Executive Producer and WLIW21 Acting General Manager John Servidio. “It’s a feel-good program that celebrates one of our local community’s accomplishments and offerings, including beaches, harbors and great entertainment.”
Hometown Huntington begins with “The Way It Was,” a look at Huntington’s founding families, including the Primes and the Sammis, Knutson’s Shipyard, Cold Spring Harbor’s whaling history, and Finnegan’s, long considered the “Cheers” of Huntington. Pamela Prime, Vera Sammis Murphy, Tim Finnegan, and Dan, Lillian and TK Knutson all share family stories; Jack Abrams, curator for the Huntington School Museum, recalls what caused the Town’s first gridlock incident back in 1947; and Huntington Town Historian Robert Hughes discusses the dramatic population increase from 1950 to 1960.
The second part of the film, “Happy Days,” spotlights the cherished storybook childhoods and close-knit communities of post-World War II suburbia, from clamming on the beach to sledding behind the Old First Church. Residents remember Huntington Village’s first toy shop, Kiddie City; “Freddie the Shoemaker,” now enjoying his 80th year in business; the joy of a burger served hot off the train at Hamburger Choo-Choo; clothing stores like Ingerman’s and Marshs; Gunther’s Tap Room in Northport, frequented by Jack Kerouac; and many others. Len Totora (deceased February, 2010) recalls opening L&L Camera in 1956 and what’s kept him in business so many years, and Hoest reveals Huntington’s influence on The Lockhorns, the comic which brings the Town’s people and places to more than 200 million readers worldwide every week.
Hometown Huntington’s final part, “Home Sweet Home,” recounts fond memories of school, church and family life, and closes with Huntington’s cultural scene and today’s thriving downtown. Voted the Best Downtown for the fourth consecutive year in Long Island Press’s annual “Best of L.I.” poll,† Huntington is loaded with popular attractions like independent film house the Cinema Arts Centre and long-running family businesses, including Finnegan’s Restaurant and Tap Room, the Book Revue, and Reinwald’s Bakery.
Hometown Huntington visits them all and interviews the owners to learn the secrets of their success: friendliness, excellence, customer loyalty, community pride, and longevity – all traits Joye Brown pointed to in a recent Newsday column‡ about what makes Huntington’s downtown so popular. Preview video and more at wliw.org/huntington.
The Hometown Huntington DVD with bonus material – a private tour of Castro’s historic Panfield estate – is available exclusively through WLIW21 at wliw.org and 800.767.2121 beginning June 7 for a suggested donation.
Hometown Huntington continues WLIW21’s ongoing commitment to locally-focused programming, including the award-winning New York The Way it Was series, the New York War Stories project, Shoreline Sonata: A Long Island Love Story, Going Green Long Island, The Jews of New York, Visions® of New York City, and Leaving Long Island.
A production of WLIW21 for WNET.ORG. Executive Producer: John Servidio. Producer/Editor: Charlotte Coté. Producer/Writer: Theresa Statz-Smith.