Guide to Great Neck “Great Neck: A special place to live” (Bill San Antonio — March 18) is indeed true.
In 1961, my parents moved from Brooklyn to the Terrace Circle apartments. During my two years there, I attended the old Cutter Mill Elementary school, which only served students up to the 3rd grade.
The school disappeared decades ago and the site has stood vacant for some time.
The following year, we moved to a home in the unincorporated Lakeville community. That started my journey through Lakeville Elementary, Great Neck South Junior and Senior High Schools.
I remember going to the Flushing World’s Fair in 1963 and 1964. We rode Schenck Bus, a private bus operator boarding at the City Line. They extended their route from Glen Cove via Northern Blvd. in Great Neck to downtown Flushing, right up to the World’s Fair entrance. In those days, the drivers made change and drove the bus at the same time. Nobody would dare bring soda or food on the bus or leave any litter behind.
I would also ride the Universal Auto Bus route from Middle Neck Road to Great Neck Plaza and on to the Kings Point Merchant Marine Academy. There was also the Great Neck to Lynbrook route operated by Schenck Bus. Riding that route, I would switch for the Bee Line Bus and pay another fare taking me to either Hempstead or Freeport. There were no free transfers in those days.
Many of the stores I patronized in the 1960’s have become distant memories.
During those years, my parents would send me to Mangel’s Delicatessen on Northern Boulevard at the City Line. A dollar would buy milk, bread, a head of lettuce and still leave some change.
In 1964, a two story medical office building was built on the vacant lot next to Mangel’s Delicatessen.
My dentists, Dr. Herman Belkin and Dr. Martin Wenig, practiced there for many decades. There was a barber shop just around the corner. A haircut was a $1 or $1.25. The barbers were either World War II or Korean War veterans.
In those times, a crew cut was the norm. The liquor store at the city line succumbed to a fire years ago. The site is now occupied by a FedEx package shipping store. My first two wheeled bicycle was purchased at North Shore Bicycle.
It is Brickwell Cycling today.
On the next block on the south side of Northern Boulevard one block west of the city line in Little Neck was a bakery.
Sundays, my parents would send me out to buy rolls which were only seven cents each. The Little Neck Movie theater was just 50 cents. There was a matron and children had their own section.
I also remember going to the movies at both the Playhouse and Squire Movie Theaters and shopping at Gertz Department store in Great Neck Plaza.
There was the Walnut Lanes Bowling Alley in Great Neck Plaza which is now a CVS Pharmacy. I also frequented Acme Bowling Alley, on Northern Blvd. one block west of Jayson Avenue. It has been replaced by a series of 10 small storefront stores.
On the next block, Cutlers Lighting was originally a supermarket. Down the block at the intersection of Northern Boulevard and Great Neck Road stood the original Scobee Diner.
This site is occupied today by Danny Automotive Group of Great Neck.
At the corner of Buttonwood Road and Northern Blvd. was Avis Rent-A-Car. We collected the 50 states buttons Avis gave out to the customers.
They were followed by a cigar store and currently a Maserati Car Dealership.
On the south side of Northern Boulevard where Auto Expo stands today was a Kosher Poultry Market. You could buy a fresh chicken for a few dollars.
Down the block was the old Amy Joy Pancake House which was our neighborhood version of House of Pancakes. A Korean fast food restaurant took over the site and was replaced by the Moonstone Modern Asian restaurant.
On Great Neck Road, adjacent to the Terrace Circle apartments, was a Sears Roebuck, Terrace Chemists, an old-fashion luncheonette and supermarket. Terrace Chemists is now Petlands Discount.
The Sears Roebuck has become the H Mart Plaza Indoor Mall. If you went upstairs to the management office at Sears, they would offer children a free lollipop.
The old luncheonette has become Mayflower Cleaners. I remember the great ice cream malteds and purchasing Newsday for a nickel. In those days, Newsday published Monday to Saturday with no Sunday edition.
The original Grand Union supermarket changed hands several times before becoming the H Mart. I spent many hours at the Lakeville Library and fondly remember Ms. Tisdale. She was a friendly and supportive librarian.
Across the street was the Great Neck American Legion Post. A three story office building housing the Great Neck Medical Group, NYU Langone Medical Center of Great Neck stands there today.
A bank originally occupied the northeast corner of Great Neck Road and Clair Street. Today it is the Babylonian Jewish Center.
In 1964, the government began issuing copper clad coins which would replace old pure silver coins.
Somehow I knew that long term saving pure silver dimes and quarters would be a good investment. I began saving silver coins and converting copper clad coins into rolls returning them to the bank and starting all over again.
At the same time, I was fascinated by the dollar silver certificates which were discontinued in 1933. I managed to find some of those. Finally, the old Freedom Land Amusement Park in the Bronx (which is now Co-Op City) required use of a pure silver dollar for admission.
I managed to save several. Sometimes for fun, we would place coins on the tracks by the LIRR Station on Little Neck Parkway. It was funny seeing the flattened coins though they were no longer of value.
The Great Neck Veterans of Foreign Wars had a building on Great Neck Road located directly across the street from Cutter Mill Park. It was replaced by the Parc Vue apartments.
The old cleaners on Northern Blvd. would give kids a free piece of bazooka bubble gum. It is now an AT&T store. The old Cities Service gas station, which changed its corporate name to CITGO has come and gone to be replaced by a small five store shopping strip.
Supermarkets in the 1960s would issue stamps redeemable for simple gifts. My parents would let me lick the S&H Green (Sperry & Hutchinson), Triple S (Grant Union) and Plaid (A&P) stamps into the stamp books and help pick out the gifts.
We were probably one of the few families in Great Neck that did not own a car. Neither of my parents held a drivers license. This would help explain how at a very young age I became fascinated with and quickly learned how to get around by bus, subway and Long Island Rail Road.
In my teenage years, several friends and I collected road maps. In those days, we visited all the gasoline stations on Northern Boulevard. In the 1960s, all four corners of Lakeville Road and Northern Boulevard were occupied by gasoline stations. Every gasoline station gave out road maps for free.
I would fill out the postcards they would provide to request roads maps for cities and states. Some gasoline companies would gladly send you a box of maps for all fifty states, dozens of cities or even foreign nations.
Esso and Shell would provide roads maps for Central America, South America, Europe, South Africa and even some Asian nations.
My family physician Doctor Alexief on Jayson Avenue just off of Northern Boulevard charged $20 for a visit.
He kept my medical records on 3 by 5 index cards. Lakeville Park at the corner of Pembroke and Concord Avenue which opened in the 1960s was built on a vacant lot.
In 1970, my local chapter of the Young Americans For Freedom (a conservative/libertarian youth group) hosted Honor America and Support Our Serviceman rallies during the height of the Vietnam War at the local Great Neck American Legion Post.
We attracted speakers such as the late Jewish Defense League founder Rabbi Meir Kahane and many politicians including Republican Raymond Rice and Conservative Lolla Camardi, who were both running against then Great Neck Congressman Democrat Lester Wolff.
They ended up splitting the opposition vote against Wolff in the November 1970 General Election. This gave liberal Democratic Congressman Wolff another term.
After the shooting of four students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State, Ohio, Great Neck South High School, like many around the nation was shut down due to protests and teach-ins.
In the interest of equal time, I convinced our principal to conduct a seminar for those who supported our intervention in Vietnam. He wasn’t happy about classes having to be suspended twice within two weeks.
Being a young conservative/libertarian, it was swimming upstream with a handful of friends going against the always politically correct positions of faculty, school administrators, other students and many Great Neck residents.
On July 4th, 1970, I organized two bus loads of over 100 participants from the American Legion Post to attend the national Honor America Day Rally in Washington D.C.
Newsday ran a feature story on the trip. In recognition for all of my activities that year, the local Great Neck American Legion post nominated me for a patriotic student award.
One Sunday, my picture with award in hand made the front page of the old daily Long Island Press.
I rode the original New York City Transit Q12A bus which ran along Little Neck Parkway.
In 1990 it was renamed the Q79 probably due to avoiding confusion with the Little Neck to Flushing Q12 route.
The bus would take me to Union Turnpike and after short walk, to the old Glen Oaks Movie Theater along with Mays Department Store.
A transfer to the Q46 Union Turnpike bus provided connections to the Lake Success Shopping Center with a full Sears Department Store, other businesses and the adjacent bowling alley.
The 1960s was a simpler time to grow up in versus today.
Larry Penner
Great Neck
