Friends beget friends beget friends.
But this is only so in the real world, not on the internet. The social world on the internet is no social world at all.
You can have 1,235 friends on Facebook and never spend a single moment face to face with any of them. In contrast you can make new friends on a chance encounter in the real world and this can have lasting and interesting results.
My encounter with the members of The Bench club is a good example of this.
Two weeks ago I did a piece on the activities that surround the three benches on Willis Avenue across from Baci Gelato.
In the span of 15 minutes I think I met seven people. The week later I did a follow up on that story and this week, let’s call it installment #3 on The Bench. I decided to interview Pasquale Filocamo owner of Superior Hair Styling which happens to be located right across the street from The Bench and one of its regulars.
Pasquale has been in Williston Park for 32 years and has many many loyal Williston Park clients.
On this day who should I meet in the shop but John Kiernan, former Town Supervisor and Commissioner of Parks for Nassau County.
Pasquale has one other on staff, Jennifer Gregus and together they manage both men’s and women’s hair. They also offer coloring which is something I’ve been worrying about for many years.
Pasquale is originally from Calabria, Italy and has two brothers and one sister who are still there. He visits them about once a year and I pounced on the opportunity to see what he would say about the differing lifestyles between Calabria and Williston Park.
He told me that over there it is way more easy going and people tend to just hang out in the evenings. This is just what Andrea Cereillo told me a few weeks ago.
Pasquale said that in America “people are always in a big rush to get somewhere”. I would have liked to explore that idea but I was in a rush to meet my deadline.
I remember when I was in college at Iona and was dating a girl name Anne. We went to see Perry Como sing in Westchester. Perry Como was the quintessential Italian entertainer with his good looks, gentle way and those cardigan sweaters. And he was a barber in Italy when he was younger.
Can you imagine a new Perry Como on the scene today? Not.
I liked Pasquale’s shop because there is an old world pace to it. It lends itself to slowing down and chatting for a while.
Which is what I did with John Kiernan before he left. John told me he has been a resident of Williston Park since he was three. He described how a trolley used to run up and down Willis Avenue in the ‘30s and when built Williston Park was the largest single track development east of the Mississippi. He said that the homes were built to accommodate ice boxes and coal bins and that the development was called Happiness Homes by Chatlos.
We suggest that things have indeed changed.
No more trolleys on Willis. No more hanging out and chatting like they still don in Calabria. Way too busy for that stuff. Gotta keep going, no time to sit and no time watch things.
Thank goodness for The Bench, this is a journalists dream. It has given me a chance to meet new folks.
Folks like Pasquale Filocamo and Jennifer Gregus and even John Kiernan.
These things do not and will not occur on the internet or on Facebook. They only happen in real life and with real time.
It is funny that I was certain my column had ‘jumped the shark’ when I did the piece on The Bench. Oops, wrong again.
