Old Staten Island
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Best known for its vast parks and beach areas, Staten Island is a place where many generations of people have come to make a good life for their families.
Staten Island has always been known for its family values and slower pace of living. Yet, we are just a boat ride away from the most exciting place in the world... "Manhattan"
For residents of other boroughs, Staten Island's beaches and parks are a retreat from the crowded city streets.
This is a borough, rich in history and I hope to share some of that history with fellow native islanders and welcome all who have made Staten Island their home.
Enjoy your tour, in text, photo and video and please visit often, as I try to update on a regular basis.
Author John Sublett's nostalgic books
touch the hearts of fellow Staten Islanders
By Ann Marie Barron | For the Staten Island Advance on August 14, 2014 at 5:45 PM, updated August 14, 2014 at 6:03 PM
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Searching deep into Staten Island's fascinating history has helped satisfy John Louis Sublett's overwhelming curiosity and even earned him a little money. But the South Beach mechanic-turned-author hadn't anticipated the much more valuable reward.
"People read these books to their elderly relatives and it brings them together,'' the author said of his six books about Staten Island's past. "One woman read the books to her dying mother -- every day until her mother passed away. Another woman showed the photographs to her husband who suffered from Alzheimer's disease. She showed him the pictures ... and he remembered.''
Those results were more than Sublett bargained for when he began this journey 10 years ago. It was then that he started a website dedicated to the Island's bygone era. The response was overwhelming, as Staten Islanders shared in great numbers. That led to an impressive collection of memorabilia including photographs, maps, newspaper accounts, personal accounts and tales of the Island's days hosting everything from Colonial meetings in Tottenville between John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, to an early 20th Century South Beach vacation destination.
In his book, "Staten Island Short Stories,'' copies of newspaper clippings and advertisements from 1914 promise a respite from the frenzy of city life by visiting South Beach's bath houses and amusement pier. Another tells the tale of an elephant swimming from Coney Island to New Dorp in 1904. Police sought the owner and promised he could reclaim the animal by "proving property and paying expenses of capture and board.''
"People told me I had so much stuff, I should write a book,'' Sublett explains. A few years and six books later, Sublett is richer for his efforts, but not in the ways he'd imagined.
An Amazon.com customer review explains it best: "What I thought was going to be just a fun gift for my mom and siblings ... turned into an awakening of the heart,'' wrote one customer. "Different passages tweaked a thought, a remembrance of some person, day or event that brought a flood of feeling back. We laughed, remembered old friends, stolen kisses, walks on the beach.'' Sublett self-published the books through Amazon, and also sells them on his website, www.oldstatenisland.org John Sublett of South Beach, a Staten Island collector and historian, has published many books, including "Famous People From Staten Island" and "Staten Island Trivia." He is currently working on "Dark Days on Staten Island."
Sublett, 61, who has a seventh book in the works, is clearly touched by such reviews. "People think I make books to make money, but this is more important than the couple of dollars I make on the books,'' he said.
A native of Midland Beach, Sublett always loved the Island, and spent much of his childhood at the beach. Yet, he grew up poor -- one of three children of a widowed mother on welfare -- and he saw not nearly enough of what was to him a fascinating place. He'd heard tales of the Island's past, but never saw evidence of it. "My mother told me about the rides on the boardwalk [in South Beach],'' he said, but I'd never seen them. I'd never seen anything." Photos from his website's visitors changed all that.
A tiny South Beach bungalow, where he lives with his 30-year-old autistic son, John Jr., has been his home for the past 15 years. What was once his living room now houses an office, complete with a desk, computer, reference materials and volumes of information on the Staten Island of yesteryear. It's where he spends a lot of his time, comfortable in cozy flannel pants, his next project always on his mind. "I type with one finger, that's why it takes so long,'' he says with a chuckle. He estimates he's sold about 1,000 books on Amazon.com, and a few hundred more from his website and home office.
Now retired from his 30-year career as a mechanic for a Coca-Cola factory in Queens, Sublett has more time to dedicate to the seventh book, which will examine closely Staten Island's most gruesome crimes, offensive criminals, tragic accidents and horrific storms. Stories like that of 8-year-old Melvin Nimer, who in 1958 confessed to stabbing both of his parents to death in the family's Vanderbilt Avenue home.
"I've exchanged emails with him,'' Sublett said of Nimer, who spent time in a psychiatric unit in Bellevue Hospital before being released to his family in Utah. "He answered all of my questions.''
Subletts proudest moment came, he says, when his books were placed on the shelves of the city's libraries.
"To be in the New York Public Library is an amazing thing,'' he said. Though he's donated copies to most of the city's branches, he says he hasn't gotten to every one yet.
His books include one about the borough's rich theater history, another about famous people who once called the Island home, one on Island trivia and another focused on Island folklore, legends and stories.
Which of his books is his favorite?
"The one that's not finished,'' he says with a smile. "I won't publish it until I get it right.''
© 2014 SILive.com. All rights reserved
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Click on the arrow above to view a musical slide show
Bowling on the Green - Mill Road, New Dorp.
Port Richmond Avenue at Richmond Terrace - date late 1960's
On the Old South Beach Boardwalk home of the famous "Tirelli Caroursel"
Giant Slide on Forest Avenue (near Major's Dept. Store) date - 1970 (sent in by Don Ryan)
The sign is owned by Al Barry
The Kennedys on Staten Island (Jackie on the ferry - JFK at the ferry terminal - RFK with LBJ at the VZ Bridge)
Zinicola Bakery - Port Richmond - Sherman Avenue was the previous name of Hooker Place (donated by Daniella Collia )
1927 Stapleton Trolley
The Holterman Family
Some history of Holtermann's Bakery from Ken Holtermann
My grandfather and two other brothers (my uncles) originally took the bakery over from their father (the original owner from Germany - my great grandfather) and ran it for years and at the time when they inherited it there was a bother who was under age and was not included in the passing of the bakery at the time.
My grandfather and his two brothers sold the bakery to Hathaways Bakery. Hathaway ran it for years until the one of the Holtermann brothers took the bakery back from Hathaway. At that time they could not use the name Holtermann's Bakery because of a deal with Hathaway's (not to use the name Holtermann's for ten years) when they originally bought the place. So, the brothers called it "The Arthur Kill Road Bakery" for 10 years and then changed the name back to Holtermann's Bakery after the 10 year period and that is the way it remains today.
The old bakery used to be on Center Street in Richmondtown, Staten Island when it was purchased by Hathaway's, then my uncle moved it to its present location on Arthur Kill Road where it is today.
On Center Street in Richmondtown
Holtermans Bakery in 1915 was located on Center Street
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Holtermann's Bakery 1949 Divco delivery truck
Delivery driver cap
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Herman's Bakery
1227 Forest Avenue corner of Jewett Avenue photo dated circa 1932
(donated by Terry Toloczko)
Story from Terry Toloczko . . . .
Around 1923, my father opened Herman's Bakery, located on Jewett Avenue near Forest Avenue. In 1932, the bakery moved around the corner to a new building at 1227 Forest Avenue. The family - parents and two boys (Herman II and Carl) and one girl (Terry) lived in a three bedroom apartment above the bakery. My father was one of the presidents of the Master Bakers Association. He was also known as the "alligator baker" because he made bread in the shape of alligators and snakes. At one time, almost all the bakeries on the island were owned and operated by Germans; only one bakery was Italian. After my father retired (forty years in the business) his son Herman inherited the business. Sadly, the building was destroyed by fire in 1989.
The son (Herman II) went to work at Halloran Military Hospiatal (Willowbrook State School) as a baker after Herman's Bakery closed.
If you look at the photo close you will be amazed at the prices, a loaf of rye bread -10 cents a whole layer cake - 35 cents.
(donated by Terry Toloczko)
Story from Terry Toloczko . . . .
Around 1923, my father opened Herman's Bakery, located on Jewett Avenue near Forest Avenue. In 1932, the bakery moved around the corner to a new building at 1227 Forest Avenue. The family - parents and two boys (Herman II and Carl) and one girl (Terry) lived in a three bedroom apartment above the bakery. My father was one of the presidents of the Master Bakers Association. He was also known as the "alligator baker" because he made bread in the shape of alligators and snakes. At one time, almost all the bakeries on the island were owned and operated by Germans; only one bakery was Italian. After my father retired (forty years in the business) his son Herman inherited the business. Sadly, the building was destroyed by fire in 1989.
The son (Herman II) went to work at Halloran Military Hospiatal (Willowbrook State School) as a baker after Herman's Bakery closed.
If you look at the photo close you will be amazed at the prices, a loaf of rye bread -10 cents a whole layer cake - 35 cents.
Story about Weissglass
Our drivers resorted to delivering milk by rowboats during one of the worst storms to hit the Oakwood and Midland Beach areas in years. The storm referred to was caused by the exact right combination of extremely high tides, hurricane winds and full moon. Many families in this area were evacuated and were taken to the Oakwood Heights Community Church on Guyon Avenue. We supplied them with their milk needs. Parts of the shore area, between the beaches and Hylan Blvd. were flooded for as much as one half mile from the beach
1952
Trolley in front of Lincoln Hotel on Midland Avenue
(Photo courtesy of Richard Nickel, Jr.)
Some Sad News
The Castle is in ruins
The old Staten Island Hospital (SR Smith Infrimary) on Castleton Avenue in ruins. I passed by there yesterday and was I shocked at what I saw. Staten Island has to be ashamed that they let such a stately building decay like this.
The old Staten Island Hospital (SR Smith Infrimary) on Castleton Avenue in ruins. I passed by there yesterday and was I shocked at what I saw. Staten Island has to be ashamed that they let such a stately building decay like this.
Some Sadder News
March 2012, one of the most beautiful building ever to have been built on Staten Island is no more. Sad to say that the efforts to save this exquisite building has failed. Once known as the "Pride of Staten Island" is now just a memory. Many people have many stories of this place, I personally will remember it as the place where my mother took her last breath.
Midland Beach 1900
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If someone feels a photo is copyrighted,
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StatenIslandHistory.com may not be the author of these photographs, ads and drawings and does not claim to own any copyright privileges to them.
They are assumed to be in the public domain and a best effort is taken not to use copyrighted material.
If someone feels a photo is copyrighted,
they should contact me with proof for immediate removal.
