Our Town: NHP fights battle against citification

The Island Now

It’s about time I wrote about New Hyde Park, that little hamlet just west of Williston Park.

I had always thought that New Hyde Park was the area between Hillside Avenue and Jericho Turnpike and between Herricks Road and Denton Avenue. 

How wrong I was.     

Actually what I thought of as New Hyde Park is made up of Herricks, North New Hyde Park, Garden City Park, Manhasset Hills and New Hyde Park proper.   

I like to describe a town’s character by pointing to its most magical spot.  

Paris has the Eiffel Tower and London has Westminster Abbey.  

Closer to home, Williston Park has Hildebrandt’s, Manhasset has the Miracle Mile and Port Washington has Louie’s Oyster Bar and Grille. 

So what’s the architectural center point that best symbolizes New Hyde Park?  

Given the fact that New Hyde Park is actually four towns in one, this is sure to be a challenge. 

Once again my plan is to plot a minor excursion into this western hinterland and keep my eyes open.  

I begin at the intersection of Herricks and Hillside and head south.  

I give a tearful goodbye to Williston Park and immediately to my right is Herrill Lanes. 

I work with professional bowlers so I’ve been there before.  

I’ve always liked the sound that bowling balls make when they hit the pins.

And who doesn’t like those comfy bowling shoes — a real throw-back to the fifties.  

However, I don’t like the smell of bowling alleys — too dusty, I think.  

I keep heading south and notice Dominck’s Italian Deli on the right. 

It is recessed away from the road with a large parking garage on the right and a big home on the left making it a perfect little piazza.   

I have thought maybe one thousand times that if they would develop the outside into a patio setting I would come there once a week.

I keep heading south until I get to Jericho Turnpike and head west. 

I pass Jonathan’s — I once had brunch there; fond memories.  

To my left is Uncle Bacala’s — nice Italian seafood. 

I keep going west past the Denton House and suddenly develop a feeling that I’m closer to New York City than I want to be. 

The feeling is subtle and comes from a combination of too many speeding cars, streets that are too cramped and too many traffic lights. 

Undaunted, I keep going past New Hyde Park Road, and get to  Lakeville Road — where I make a right and head north. 

Back in 1683 New Hyde Park was an 800-acre parcel of land given to Thomas Dongan who was fourth royal governor of New York. 

He called the land “Dongan’s Farm,” and built a mansion on Lakeville Road. 

By 1691 he fled back to Ireland and the land was eventually purchased by George Clarke in 1691 who named the land Hyde Park after his wife’s maiden name.

When I get to Union Turnpike I make a right and head back east. 

I travel to Marcus, keep going east until I get to Hillside Avenue and see Spring Rock Golf Center on my right.    

Many Korean-Americans over there hitting many golf balls.  

I am tempted to stop by and hit a few myself but resist the urge given my limited time frame. 

Like most Americans these days, I am too busy to waste my time on trivial things like fun and games.  

I keep going east and now am in familiar territory.  

I spy Iceland Rink on my left and think fondly of the big poster I have of myself hanging over the ice and worry whether my phone number is large enough.  

I then pass by Sushi Republic, the wonderful Japanese restaurant where I have lunch maybe twice a week. 

Soon enough I am back in my office in Williston Park and wondering about how best to characterize New Hyde Park. 

The answer is easy — the best way to describe New Hyde Park is to speak nostalgically of Lakeside Avenue when it had Thomas Dongan’s mansion which was surrounded by open farmland and grazing cattle. 

Those days are long gone and what is of great concern is the slow, steady inevitability of Nassau County turning into Queens County.  

This is unsettling.  

I always thought of myself as a suburban guy, not a city guy  but clearly the city is coming our way.  

It has crawled its way past Lakeville Road and is steadily encroaching upon Williston Park.  

I feel like handing out brooms to all the people in New Hyde Park and ask them to stamp out any evidence of Queens County by sweeping toward the west.. 

Somehow I do not think this will work. 

I would even be willing to commission a 25-foot tall bronze sculpture of a broom by Claes Oldenburg and place it somewhere on Lakeville Road as a symbol of the resistance to the slow approach of Queens into Nassau County.    

New Hyde Park is the border land between Queens County and Nassau County and for that reason it needs all our love — good will and blessings we can muster.  

There will be no Trumpian wall built between Queens and Nassau. 

There will be no 25-foot bronze broom to symbolize the protection of suburbia.  

Welcome to the 21st century.  

Progress and growth and change will not be stopped — so Nassau County, get ready to be citified.



<p class=A McDonalds in the historical landmark Denton House circa 1795 on Jericho Turnpike, New Hyde Park.

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By Dr. Tom Ferraro

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