Pictured with me is
Oceanside Nathan's store manager, Beverly Hollis.
Hi,
I'm Howie. I grew up in
this little town in the 1950s. I
came here to Long Island from Las Vegas this week to visit some dear
old friends. One of them, whom I would like to honor today, is an old
tradition and a distant and treasured memory.
Nathan's
Famous first ventured out of its Coney Island home when it took over
the renowned Oceanside Roadside Rest in June of 1959.
At that time, the Class of 1960 – my class -- was also
venturing out with our fresh, new driver's licenses and newfound
teenage independence, about to enter its senior year at Oceanside High
School. To us -- the OHS
Class of 1960 -- Nathan's Roadside Rest was the most important and
central place to gather and "hang out" in our little town.
You could hang out
there all night and never be asked to buy anything or leave.
Our
Nathan's Roadside Rest was housed in a rather beautiful example of
stucco-covered Spanish architecture that was highly unusual for our
part of the country in its time — or ever.
Built around 1929, it took up an entire block and was of a style more
likely to have been found in Florida or California, but
not
New York. In fact, it clearly was one of the most beautiful
structures ever built in our little town.
According
to the historical website created by
Newsday, "The huge
building with picnic-style tables became a destination: to go after
high-school football games, after a day at the beach, to celebrate
when you first got your drivers' license, or just to people-watch and
meet kids from other towns."
In
addition to hot dogs, our Nathan's served up a wide variety of foods
that was virtually unheard of (except in Coney Island). The choices included
pizza, corn-on-the-cob and stuff that you could not buy standing
up almost
anywhere else, such as lobster and shrimp rolls,
clams-on-the-half-shell, "Ipswich" fried clams, chow mein on
a bun and frog's legs (yes, frog's legs), as well as hamburgers.
Sadly,
our beautiful Nathan's Roadside Rest was demolished in June 1976.
But the Class of 1960 still remembers fondly.
