SHEEPSHEAD BAY, Brooklyn

by Kevin Walsh

When I first started researching NYC history I assumed that Sheepshead Bay was named for its one-time resemblance, in outline, to a sheep’s head.

After all, that’s how a peninsula on the North Shore in Nassau County, Cow Neck, was named. Only later did I discover that it was named for a fish that can no longer be found in the local waters, the sheepshead. I’m told it’s pretty good eating, too. Can it be found on local menus?

Though Gravesend was settled by Lady Moody in 1643 it remained populated primarily by the Canarsee indians for the next few decades, and after they were gone, was frequented only by the occasional fishing party. The land was swampy and not considered a prime area for development. By 1873, homesteads had emerged along the few roads, while the area was primed for an expansion that no one had thought possible.

SHEEPSHEAD BAY MAP 1873

Emmons Avenue, 1931. From Welcome Back to Brooklyn by Brian Merlis

The eastern end of the Coney Island Boardwalk (known formally as the Riegelmann Boardwalk, for the Brooklyn Borough President when it opened in the early 1920s) is the gateway to the present-day Manhattan Beach. It must be something to live in that apartment building, especially with its western view: nothing but sea and sand all the way to the horizon. It’s on the southern end of Corbin Place.

One of the living fossils on Brighton 15th Street is a light indicating a telephone that connected directly to the local precinct. The phone is long gone and few of the lights are still in place.

Private property eh? Sign, sign, everywhere a sign, blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind.

Manhattan Beach Estates Associates are quite welcome to this bit of cracked concrete.

Another relic of times forgot can be found at Avenue Y and Haring Street, where there’s an old mercury-vapor park lamp. These were installed on octagonal poles to cast light on playgrounds. This one has long since lost its bulb and filament. In the late 70s and early 80s they were replaced by much brighter sodium vapor lights, and relics like this are now very rare.

Babi Yar Triangle, at Corbin Place and Brighton 15th Street, is a pleasant park with kids’ recreations, chess tables and a house across the street that looks like it was built in the colonial era.

From http://www.nycgovparks.org:

On September 29th and 30th, 1941, Nazi Einsatzgruppe soldiers, supported by members of the Ukrainian militia, massacred 33,711 Jews in the Babi Yar ravine outside Kiev, Ukraine’s capital. Over the course of the 778 days of Nazi rule in Kiev, the ravine became a mass grave for over 100,000 people. In addition to the Jewish Ukrainians, the Nazis murdered Gypsies (Roma), physically and mentally handicapped people, Soviet Prisoners of War, homosexuals, and public dissenters of the Third Reich’s activities.

Brighton Beach has been a Jewish enclave since the 1920s. A reading of Russian author Yevgeni Yevtuchenko’s 1961 poem “Babi Yar” marked the 1989 dedication of this memorial park.

 

The Magnate

Today the only sign of Austin Corbin’s legacy, is, well, a sign–on the street named for him. But Corbin (1827-1898), a wealthy financier of the late 19th Century, built two magnificent hotels in the area as well as the railroad that connected them with the rest of Brooklyn–spearheading the development that continues today.

left: Manhattan Beach Hotel (Merlis, Welcome Back to Brooklyn); above, Oriental Hotel (Merlis, Rosenzweig and Miller, Brooklyn’s Gold Coast).

Corbin acquired 600 acres east of what would become Coney Island Avenue east to the edge of Gravesend Neck–a tract about 2.5 miles in length… in 1875, and set about building a bulkhead, filling in the swamps, surveying a railroad from Greenpoint to what was newly named Manhattan Beach, and building the Manhattan Beach Hotel. Designed by J.P. Putnam, it opened July 4, 1877 with President Grant cutting the ribbon. The two siubsequent year saw Corbin expand the hotel into a sprawling complex, making it the premier resort on Long Island’s south shore with grand parlors and dining rooms furnished with Eastlake pieces. Evergreens and floral designs lined the resort’s pathways to the shore, lined with manmade ponds stocked with goldfish.

J.P. Sousa and Victor Herbert, riding high in the pop music of the period, frequently played Manhattan Beach, with the March King’s biggest hit, “Stars and Stripes Forever” making its debut at an 1897 show.

The Manhattan Beach Hotel’s heyday was in the 1880s and 1890s, but it closed by 1911. Already, there were reports of local fishing suffering because of the pollution emanating from this vast complex. After Corbin took over the Long Island Rail Road in 1880, the LIRR set about building the piece de resistance, the Oriental Hotel, located on what is now Oriental Boulevard and Irwin Street. It was constructed in a Moorish style with multiple towers and dozens of balconies and over 400 guest rooms. The magnificent hotel remained open through the 1916 summer season, after which the resort business moved further east, and the hotels would be gone. Corbin built the neighborhood of Manhattan Beach on the landfilled eastern end of Coney Island; it was originally a gated community. Oriental Hotel is remembered by Oriental Boulevard, while the LIRR’s service to Manhattan Beach was terminated in 1924 along with its Bay Ridge Branch passenger service.

During the hotels’ heyday Sheepshead Bay turned to the horses to attract the summer crowds. The Coney Island Jockey Club, Brooklyn’s most magnificent racetrack, opened June 19, 1880 by a consortium of financiers headed by Leonard Jerome, the grandfather of Winston Churchill. A local road that led to the track was named for him, as the Bronx’s much longer Jerome Avenue is. The suburban Handicap and Futurity rcaes were held there until they eventually wound up at Belmont by 1915. The track was also home to Brooklyn’s first mechanized flight, as two dirigibles flew to Brighton Beach. By 1910, flight pioneer Glenn Curtis was flying biplanes from the track, and Calbraith Rogers took off on a transcontinetal flight that took 3 months, a world record at the time.

Betting on the horses was banned in Brooklyn in 1910. The Jockey Club limped on for awhile, but disbanded in 1916. But the track didn’t die. In 1915 Harry Harkness, the son of Standard Oil Co. director Lamont Harkness (we’ll see the name again later) opened the Sheepshead Bay Speedway for auto racing and air shows. Harkness, however, later got mixed up with mobster Arnold Rothstein (who had his mitts in a lot of pies, from Juniper Swamp development in Glendale, Queens to the 1919 Black Sox scandal), lost his millions and died broke, the Speedway closing in 1919. (Merlis, Rosenzweig and Miller, Brooklyn’s Gold Coast).

The former speedway was purchased by another group of developers; this one laid out streets and built one-family homes, calling the area New Flatbush, a name that didn’t stick.

 

“Never Again”

The center mall at Shore Boulevard, just south of Emmons and Neptune Avenues, is the site of the only memorial park in NYC remembering the Holocaust, in which a government in Germany set about to liquidate an entire race. It was dedicated in 1985.

There is a light and it never goes out.

You who read these words, remember:

Remember that, in the years of darkness from 1933 to 1945, in German-occupied Europe, six million men, women and children were murdered with unprecedented brutality only because they were Jews.

Remember that thousands upon thousands of Jewish communities were uprooted, schools and synagogues destroyed, and the hopes of an entire generations reduced to ashes.

Remember that all this happened at a time when evil was triumphant because the world remained silent.

Elie Wiesel, Survivor
Recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace, 1986

“Remember”, inscription in the memorial by Elie Wiesel

Shore Blvd. marks the western end of Sheepshead Bay, though it is atop landfill. The bay formerly drained into Coney Island Creek, which separated Coney Island from the rest of Brooklyn. Since the 1890s the western end has effectively been separated from the rest of the bay by the Ocean Avenue footbridge.

 

F. W. I. L.

The Lundy family were fishers and entrepreneurs in Sheepshead Bay as early as the 1880s, with several businesses operating in the Coney Island and Sheepshead Bay area selling shellfish to local hotels (one such business is pictures in the 1920s, above right.) Frederick Lundy Senior began what eventually became one of Brooklyn’s touchstones as a humble clam bar in 1907. It was later expanded on stilts over the bay in the 1920s, but it had to be demolished in the early 30s when the City decided to place a new bulkhead on the south side of Emmons Avenue, replacing the motley arrangement of docks and businesses that had been there (see the photo at top for what it looked like then). (Merlis, Rosenzweig and Miller, Brooklyn’s Gold Coast).

Frederick Sr. son, Frederick William Irving Lundy, recovered magnificently, building the Spanish Mission-style restaurant at Ocean and Emmons Avenues on the bones of what used to be the Bayside Casino in 1934.

From an Amazon review for Lundy’s: Reminiscences and Recipes from Brooklyn’s Legendary Restaurant:

Lundy’s was an immense establishment, seating 2,800 patrons in its heyday, but the enormousness of the space was second to its food. The food was not only excellent, according to nearly every source listed–the portions were in keeping with the grandiose feel of the building itself. Author/historian Robert Cornfield writes, “The oddity is that for all its great size, simple fare, crows, and noise, Lundy’s was not a cold, impersonal restaurant, but was replete with community excitement, curiosity, warmth, and the delirious happiness of a splendid holiday.”

While Lundy’s closed in 1979 the building was never demolished and it was reopened, with about 800 seats, in 1995.

Spanning Sheepshead Bay just west of Ocean Avenue is a picturesque wooden bridge with a low fence that looks as if you could easily jump over it into the bay, or even get knocked over if sufficiently jostled. The bridge has a very old pedigree: it was first opened by Austin Corbin in 1880, and after a few false starts (Corbin kept closing the bridge since he thought “undesirables” would frequent his development, then-exclusive Manhattan Beach) it has been continuously open since. It’s called the Ocean Avenue Bridge since it was originally built to connect the two pieces of Ocean Avenue across sheepshead bay but was rebuilt a block west after the original became unusable.

The bridge was lit by mini-versions of the old Belt Parkway “woodie” poles; faux “bishop crook” fixtures were installed in the late 1990s.

 

Rock me on the water

Sheepshead Bay was one of the first fishing ports in the USA catering to party boats; the Bay and nearby Atlantic waters teemed with fish, shellfish and crustaceans. Unfortunately, when housing came to the area beginning in the 1920s, storm sewers were constructed on Ocean Avenue, East 27th and Bragg Streets that emptied directly into the bay, making anything pulled out of the bay inedible. And, when silt piled up on the south shore of Emmons Avenue, additional unsanitary conditions and vermin began to proliferate. This led the City to install a bulkhead in 1937 that streamlined the shoreline and provided the party boats with formal docking areas. In the 1940s about 40 such boats were docked at Emmons, while today there are about a dozen. Weekends still find throngs of fishermen putting out into the Atlantic in search of dinner.

FOR MORE SHEEPSHEAD…SEE PART 2!

Your webmaster Kevin Walsh: erpietri@earthlink.net

85 comments

Lorry Gray January 8, 2013 - 2:12 am

Loved the information you shared. I lived in a family owned house on E. 21st st. between Jerome and Voorhies for many years. I’ve heard for many years then the house was originally the area’s courthouse. I can not find any information to either confirm or deny this. Does anyone have any knowledge of the location of the first courthouse?

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Dr. Bob Lichtman June 17, 2013 - 12:31 pm

My family lived on East 16th Street, a block north of Emmons Avenue, close to the Belt Parkway. As a kid I walked to P.S. 225 in Brighton and used to dive for coins off of the bridge across from Lundys. Took many a boatride on the ferry from the bay to Breezy Point and back. The Lido apartment was at 2775 East 16th Street, and a dirt triangle was across the street where we used to play baseball. A home-run was over the fence separating the road from the Belt Parkway. At 17 I dropped out of Lincoln High School and went into the Army. I vividly remember the Marine Bowling Alley where I was a pinboy and Baroni’s Pizza Parlor where a whole pie was a dollar. Sunday evenings it was clams on the halfshell with my dad and brother at Lundy’s. “Gone are the days when my heart was young and gay.”

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Larry Shar November 22, 2013 - 1:15 am

Bob, I lived at 2775 east 16th street for the first 18 years of my life and also walked to PS225 until I was shipped off to Sheepshead Bay HS; you must be older than me because by that time I was one block outside of the Lincoln district; devastating because all my pals went to Lincoln. Played many a baseball game at the triangle with the likes of Matty Galante who lived across the street: as we’ll as kick the can, Johnny on the pony, ring-a-leevio, roller skate hockey, football in the street (button hook at the blue Plymouth)…..graduated Sheepshead with Larry David….great memories
Larry Shar

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Rita November 10, 2017 - 5:28 pm

Hi Larry……I too graduated 1965. You are in the yearbook but you don’t look familiar. Nice to meet you! 🙂

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Mary T August 10, 2022 - 1:03 pm

I graduated from SBHS 1964 but had to take the bus.

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Guy K. February 27, 2015 - 12:01 pm

I also lived at 2775 E.16th in the early 1980s. Used to walk my dogs in that dirt triangle (it wasn’t used by anyone for anything at that time). Opposite 2775 there was a lovely, old little 1 story wood frame home sandwiched between the newer ’40s/’50s brick homes on the block. A beautiful throw back to olden days in that neighborhood. Don’t think it’s there any longer.Guy K.

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David Newton Dry August 27, 2013 - 7:51 pm

I was brought to an apartment in 2939 Ocean Ave. when I was 4 yrs. old and at 5 yrs. went to Kindergarten at a school on Ave. Y & Ocean Ave. possibly P.S. 110 or later 254. A year or so later my family moved to a small bungalow behind the main wood house on Emmonds Ave. facing the Bay. I walked to P.S. 225 Brighton Beach school with the other neighborhood kids. In 1942 our family moved again in Sheepshead Bay to 2744 E. 26th. St and Vorhees Ave. and I attended and graduated in 1944 from P.S. 98. During WWII I had an after school job delivering groceries by bicycle over the Bay bridge to the “rich” people that lived in Manhattan Beach. My High School was via BMT subway system to George Westinghouse Vocational H.S. at Flatbush Ave. Extension. I later attended and graduated from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn with an engineering degree. I immediately left Brooklyn after graduation, with my wife, a Brooklyn girl, and never looked back.

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chillin dawg October 27, 2013 - 2:45 pm

Lived at 2764 e 16 st for a couple of years — probably 1958-1961— went to shellbank jhs —played handball at manhattan beach and dove off the ocean ave bridge –got heros at jimmys and bowled at Freddie fitzsimmons and Neptune lanes — got cake at wiesens

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Julio Cecchetti November 14, 2013 - 1:14 am

Why is there no history of the Sheepshead Bay Maritime Training Station which graduated thousands of men, including 16 year old boys, during WW 2 into the US Merchant Marine to sail supply ships for the armed forces?

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Anonymous October 26, 2017 - 10:49 am

My Dad was at that training facility when he was 17 in 1943. I found papers on the ships he was on including the JJ Coney which I found out was hit by a torpedo but did not sink of course or I wouldn’t be writing this ha ha. The stories I researched about the Merchant Marines are astounding as my Father never talked about his service as I a Vietnam Vet

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sheila herling malkind December 28, 2013 - 10:37 pm

thanks for all the info about sheepshead bay. i was born in 1938 and lived for 17 years at 4725 bedford ave, near the bay parkway, couple blocks from emmons. of course my family went to lundy’s on a regular basis — the biscuits, lobsetr au gratin, shrimp cocktail, blueberry pie with ice cream (how did i not become huge?). i went to ps 98, graduated in 1951, went to madison, grad 1955, hunter college, 1961 (took 6 months off). moved to chicago. lived there 40 years. now in beautiful san francisco. would love to hear from billy miller, my classmate, who told me i got a 45 on the geometry regents in h.s.

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Carl J. February 27, 2014 - 10:25 am

Raised in the Bay from Age 1 to 21, my family owned the house on E 21st till 2002. My relatives were in the bay since the end of the 19th century. Looking at the pictures of the Bay and the fishing boats, I see Global Warming must have hit the bay area waters, as there are Vermillion Snappers for sale on one of the fishing boats. Or could it be that the Bay boats go fishing in the Gulf of Mexico nowadays? I liked the bay when most of the boats were wood and painted white with orange trim and had fresh fish caught in local waters. (That meant, no vermillion Snappers, Jacks, Torbot or Fresh water Drum.) That bay is all but gone now, today its just huge strip mall by the water. The true bay is now a ghost of the past infested with the spirits who once made it so memorable.

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PERSON November 29, 2020 - 6:47 pm

WHAT HOUSE ON E21ST BECAUSE I THINK ITS MINE

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Carl J. June 25, 2021 - 9:24 pm

The one with the BIG numbers. Have you put up a Bronze plaque with my name on it yet? LOL!!

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LYLE October 11, 2015 - 12:58 am

We lived on Emmons Ave in the Hampton apts…across the street from Hickory Q restaurant…looking out at the Bay. We owned a store called Seymours on Sheepshead Bay Road..

Dined at Lundy’s and the best food at Jeans Clam Bar on Emmons Ave.

Best times…..

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NJ October 19, 2017 - 10:41 am

I used to shop at Seymours back in the day. It was down by the station, right?

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Mela December 30, 2018 - 8:32 am

Hi Lyle: Read your post and like that you mention the Hickory Q and Jean’s. I met my first husband in 1972 at KCC. He lived in Sheepshead Bay. Took me to the Q and Jean’s. Also introduced me to Jimmys heroes (which he and his friends called Arnold’s & Franks) on Sheepshead Bay Rd.

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Samantha Zito September 25, 2020 - 7:57 pm

My family owned the hickory q:) got any pics???

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s March 17, 2017 - 5:40 pm

omg, such a wonderful stories on comments. i live on Voorhies & sheepshead bay rd corner. i moved here 8 years ago from Russia and i love this location. my 2 kids were born here and growing, and I hope they will be proud one day that they grow up on sheepshead bay.

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plusmoe November 29, 2020 - 6:52 pm

isnt it just convenient that you posted that on my birthday 3 years ago, I genuinely hope your kids say that they were proud to grow up here because i did recently and let me tell you its not like it was before, its alot more cold and worn out but I still love sheeps with all my heart. When you see shit getting better around sheepshead bay over near emmons Voorhies sheepshead bay road and that area know its me. Lmk if u need anything because i got that sc: plusmoe

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PAL88 April 1, 2017 - 12:52 pm

Anyone have any news, pics whatever from the Bay Au Go Go across from Lundys in the 60s?
Spent many weekend nights there…

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Sharon June 11, 2017 - 1:00 pm

I’m trying to track down the location and any pictures of the racing track. My parents were original tenants of the coop on east 28 and Voorhis Avenur

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Mary August 21, 2017 - 12:29 pm

I grew up at 2661 East 19th Street in a big house and then moved to an apartment at 2680 East 19 Street. Used to go to Lundy’s all the time – wonderful biscuits and seafood! I was sent alone, as a child, to pick up clam chowder for our Thanksgiving Eve family dinner. I brought an enameled covered pail and stood in the clam bar until a waiter would notice me. The waiters were all African American back then. We walked across the Ocean Avenue bridge to swim at Manhattan Beach – yes, those houses were amazing! And I remember throwing coins into the bay for boys to dive for. Does anyone remember Peter Pan Playground? I think it was on Emmons Avenue.
What great memories! 12th Street Park, P.S. 254, Shellbank Jr. High, and Sheepshead Bay HS.

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NJ October 19, 2017 - 10:45 am

I grew up at 2738 E. 19th St., and my best friend still lives at 2680 E. 19th St. Also went to PS 254, Shell Bank and SBHS. This is very bizarre, cause I have the same memories, Peter Pan Playland, throwing coins into the bay watching the boys dive for the them. Do we know each other?

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Mary T August 10, 2022 - 1:01 pm

I was Mary Teague, red hair. Also attended Sheepshead Bay Methodist Church. I had a friend named Bonnie who lived at 2680.

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Aaron Gewirtz September 11, 2017 - 1:11 pm

My family moved to Ocean Parkway and Avenue Y in 1952. I was 12 years old at the time. We used to go to the “Bay” and rent rowboats At Stella Maris Fishing Station. We eventually became “serious” fisherman and purchased a very used 5 HP outboard to stick on the back end of the rowboat to take us out for Fluke and Porgies in the summers.

Over time, we became friends with the six Lauro Brothers, their sons, and the rest of the family members who ran and worked the business. I have incredibly fond memories of working there on weekends (I used to get $5 for the weekend but would have done it for nothing). Just hanging out at the “store” was fantastic. There were lots of really great “characters” that would hang around that place and the hollering in Italian and English that went on could have been made into great movies.

My sister and I were saddened to learn of the passing of the last of the brothers a few years ago.

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Mari October 14, 2017 - 10:08 am

HI EVERYONE! I am doing my thesis on the history and culture of Sheepshead Bay. One of the parts of this project is to interview people about the neighborhood and living there. Whether you have moved from Russia or are the third generation living there, it doesn’t matter. Everyone here is obviously enthusiastic about the neighborhood and the history of it. Please contact me if you have any questions.
Email: badam190@newschool.edu

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Trygve Alger October 25, 2017 - 2:06 am

dec 15 1952 missing scallop boat sheepshead bay brooklyn nyc, any info welcome

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Anonymous May 26, 2018 - 10:50 pm

and the spirit of god hoovers upon the waters and creates repreations of this webmasters photos as was in the beginning ever shall be world without end and the spirit of god hoovers upon the waters and ressurcts the holocaust victims .do not worry for I hae risen you shall see us from the holocaust in galilee amounsgst the office of the living and the shroud of turin the ressurction of one god the father almighty creator of the heavens and the earth resrrucri

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Anonymous July 6, 2022 - 5:56 pm

WTF?

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Sally June 13, 2018 - 1:10 am

Luv this story…always great to hear great stories regarding Sheepshead Bay glad I grew up in the best neighborhood !!!!

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Val cooper August 26, 2018 - 6:37 pm

I too grew up in the best of times of the bay. 1957 was my first day till 1998.

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Anonymous May 14, 2019 - 7:39 pm

yes val i agree me too

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Cole September 12, 2018 - 8:03 pm

Hi Sheepshead Bay residents!

I’m a journalism student from CUNY and just got assigned Sheepshead Bay as my beat. I’m looking for sources who have lived in the area for a while to help inform my reporting. If anyone has any ideas or feedback about what issues need more coverage in Sheepshead Bay, feel free to contact me at cole.zerboni@journalism.cuny.edu.

Thanks!

Cole Zerboni

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George Hazel October 12, 2018 - 5:43 am

Does any old timer recall the name of the drug store at Voorhes and Ocean Ave in the 40s and 50s?

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Anonymous May 14, 2019 - 7:41 pm

hi george i dont recall any drugstore church on east side and tappens retaurant on west , and apartment buildings

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john imperatore November 25, 2018 - 4:47 pm

does anyone remember Schatz

bros marine in geretsen beach

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John Comis September 15, 2020 - 10:17 am

Yes I remember the Schatz brother’s marina.
Eddie Schatz ran the place from a fifty foot houseboat that he lounged in on weekends.
I had an old wooden boat so I was put t on the closest slip to the street.
I eventually got a slip across the canal that belonged to the Deauvilla Cabana club.
That place was great

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john imperatore July 24, 2021 - 1:00 pm

i was the mechanic at schatz bros from 68 to79 also kept my boat on pier 5 next to the shed at schatz great times

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Dylan Amalfitano September 21, 2021 - 8:21 pm

My grandfather had a 22ft cruiser on the furthest slip out right across from TGI Fridays from about 86-95. I spent many of the best days of my childhood there. My uncle also had a slip close to ours.

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Mary T August 10, 2022 - 1:15 pm

Was treated to a day at the fancy Deauville Cabana club by my friend Bonnie Mogul’s family. Usually swam at Manhattan Beach, walking over from Voorhies Ave and East 19th
street, marveling at the luxurious homes there. Also took the bus to Brighton Beach.

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Peter February 26, 2019 - 12:03 pm

I lived on Bedford Ave. between Z and Voohries in the 60s and early 70s. I went to PS 52 and Shellbank Jr. High. I played a lot of baseball at Bedford Park. Does anyone remember a luncheonette on Nostrand Ave. called Georges? What about Kress department store across the street which was in the same plaza as Jahn’s and Hills supermarket which I think was also called Bohacks at one time?

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Mary T August 10, 2022 - 1:23 pm

Oh my goodness! Yes! Just looked it up and it was at 2981 Ocean Avenue. I was sent as a child to buy lettuce and came home with cabbage.

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Bobby F. February 28, 2019 - 9:56 am

As a kid lived at 2643 E. 19th st. then to Emmons Ave, went to ps 254 and Shellbank. Used to swim at Pier 9 on weekends for coins. ” wanna be happy wanna be gay, toss a coin in Sheephead Bay.I remember the Zarzana bros.

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Anonymous January 12, 2021 - 3:45 pm

Grew up Ave Y and East 22 bd. Great memories. I knew the Zarzana brothers too.

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Mary T August 10, 2022 - 1:25 pm

2661 East 19th Street in the 50’s-60’s.

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Bobby F. March 3, 2019 - 9:23 am

Lots of great memories.

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Anonymous August 16, 2020 - 12:08 am

Hey I grew up at 2648 East 22 St ….

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Leigh Karalekas April 15, 2019 - 1:48 am

We’re interested in learning more about the history of Sheepshead Bay, as my husband’s father (a Greek immigrant) owned a diner on the pier at Sheepshead Bay from 1927-1931. It was near a business named “Jake’s” that was on the same side of the street as the diner, and there was a sign that said “Ocean Fishing.” The diner was on the Main Street where trolleys were ridden.

We were given an old photo by a relative (now deceased) who marked the location of the diner, but the resolution of the photo is not clear.

Any info would be appreciated!

Thank you,

Leigh Karalekas
kzeus4@msn.com

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Bobby F. May 4, 2019 - 8:22 am

I don’t remember a Main St. but I remember trolleys on Ocean ave. and Emmons ave.

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Bobby F. May 5, 2019 - 7:46 am

I remember the trolley ran on Ocean Ave. and ended at Emmons Ave at Lundys. Don’t remember a Main St.

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Paul December 16, 2019 - 11:08 pm

I think Leigh mean the main street (Emmons), and not referring to any particular Main Street. The unnecessary capitalization is wheat made it a bit confusing. I am bit too young to remember the trolleys but in the 1960s as a kid I saw some tracks that remained, especially in areas where the sidewalk was eroded away.

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Marc robbins May 13, 2019 - 7:18 pm

What is not mention Frank hammer captain whipy two.
Goly went to help the peligan rescue great ship
The two fishing stores and Lundy’s .who my father help stop hold up he knot pistel out of robber hand and Jack Lundy jump over the counter and Chase him out .we never wanted on line again going to eat there

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Britt Kendrick January 25, 2020 - 5:25 am

I am a Lundy family member he was my Great Grandmothers brother. Lived in the Forest Hills home where the Double Homicide took place and ran around the restaurant as a young child. Lundy lived in an apartment in the Restaurant. There were many robbery attempts. There was NO “Jack” Lundy…he went by Irving.

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p puckerstein April 26, 2021 - 4:43 am

Britt in my minds eye I remember Lundys and tappens on ocean ave but also Pappas on ocean avenue, is that possible? I’m thinking early 60s

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Mary T August 10, 2022 - 1:27 pm

Yes! I recall all three restaurants in the 50s and 60s.

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ken zaveckas May 20, 2020 - 8:48 am

HI.. would anyone be able to help me with info on one of Sheepshead Bay’s own, Capt. Paul Boyton, the “Fearless Frogman”. I was on a Coney Island blog which naturally took me on the amusement parks where I learned in depth about Sealion Park and Paul Boyton. Eventually learned about his fascinating and amazing life, which was detailed with all his exploits, except that, after he sold Sealion appx 1902, his life seems to be a mystery. This seems impossible, especially since all his exploits were picked up in the papers prior to 1902. Have searched many sites and have found very little between 1902 and 1924, his death. I know he passed on from SB. Is/’was a “Mansfield Place” a street in SB? Could that be where he had his residence ? What were the circumstances surrounding his death and how did he pass his life from 1902-1924 from the SB area ? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.

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Louis B March 29, 2022 - 11:41 pm

He was my mother in laws father!! Geraldine Dudley. She passed away at 95 years old.They used to talk about him all the time. He invented the wet diving suit and ran a circus.

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Ken S July 23, 2020 - 2:49 pm

I was also very happy with my growing up in Sheepshead bay on Avenue Z and Batchelder Street..(American park)…as a teen I went to Seniors, Jahns, and Martins….when I wanted to ‘break the bank” 🙂 :)…then I moved to Manhattan(and the Hamptons) where I am now…love the reminiscing about the old days…I always thought I grew up rich…after all i had my bike, my stick ball bat, my glove, my pensy pinky…what else would I want…if anyone can relate …cheers…Ken

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Mary T August 10, 2022 - 1:30 pm

Oh, yes! I had my “Sweet Sixteen” party at Martin’s. Very swanky!

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PHILL September 7, 2020 - 8:59 am

Does anybody remember Ross’s bar and restaurant? Had an open window to the street. Huge room with tables.

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Susan October 24, 2020 - 3:12 pm

Grew up on E 24th street between W and X. My father owned a hardware store, Wittner’hardware on Ave. X. Went to PS 206, then Shellbank, till my parents moved us up to the country when I was 13. Sheepshead Bay brings back many good memories for me.. loved sitting at the outside clam bar at Lundys. Could watch them open clams all day

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Louis B March 29, 2022 - 11:36 pm

Was that Mel’s hardware store on Nostrand Ave
Between X and W not far from the library? You must have known Debra Dudley who lived in a home on E. 24 st

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JP April 25, 2023 - 12:23 pm

Hello Louis

This Forgotten NY post has brought back so many specific memories and refreshed general remembrances. Great site. Just a reach out to your 03/29/2022 23:36 reply (above). If you are still in contact with DD, please tell her that her graduation partner from SMS 6/1967 sends his greetings across the span of time. Best to all.

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David July 7, 2023 - 1:33 pm

Did you have a brother named Jerome?

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JP July 11, 2023 - 2:48 pm

David – not sure if your response was intended for me, but no, I don’t have – nor had – a brother named Jerome.

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anonymous December 24, 2020 - 8:31 am

Pre 1960 there were remains of what looked like grandstands running from Ave X to Ave Z on Nostrand Ave. Students of PS 52 were not allowed to walk along this dirt road. We were bussed over to PS 52
not been able to find out what were those remains ? deep in the earth… a child could have been- maybe one was- seriously hurt falling in there. Then there were strip malls on both sides of Nostrand Ave
running from Ave X to Ave Z . So what was there ?

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philip riggio January 12, 2021 - 3:36 pm

phil I lived at 2729 ford st 1950-1960

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Will Benedicks January 18, 2021 - 2:06 pm

I lived on Ford street between Voorhies and Shore Parkway from 1954 to 1960. My play friends were Anthony Riggio, Vinny Givernale, Rudy Barrata and Richie Demayo.

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Paula April 17, 2021 - 4:03 pm

I just came across these conversations about Sheepshead Bay! I, too grew up there. We moved there in 1960, on Brown St off Ave Z. I also loved living there. Of course, those were the days when you
played outside all of the time and walked everywhere. I think the house I grew up in, which my parents bought for about $30,000, is now selling for $1,000,000!!!.
Great memories!!

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Lynne May 6, 2021 - 10:56 am

Lived in co-op at 2212 Brigham Street from 1955 – 1963. Walked to Graham Theater at age five with friends, sans parents. Spent entire day in theater packed with kids. Only adult was the “matron” pointing flashlight at offending feet on backs of seats. Sundays was Lundy’s — always. My first “credit” account was with Tom from Bungalow Bar. Father taught me to ride bike in Marine Park. P.S. 104, Dr. Pinkus principal; Mrs. Selwyn, K teacher.
How independent we were in those days.

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Louis B March 29, 2022 - 11:30 pm

My teeth have 11 cavities from eating all that candy at the Graham movie theater!!! The Saturday matinee for 50 cents. House on haunted hill, the mole people, the Vikings were only a few of the movies I saw there. PS 194! Dr. Pincus principal and Ms Selwyn
was my kindergarten teacher in 1956.Mrs Barbash 1 grade, Mrs Litchenstein 5 grade and Mr Fogarty 6 grade. Yes we walked to school unattended and safe.I lived in the wonderful Nostrand
Housing projects on Bragg Street. Best neighbor growing up ever.

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Mark May 15, 2021 - 6:23 am

Kept my boat at the Schatz Marina for years. Was a great area!

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DJ August 3, 2021 - 7:39 am

Grew up on E 21 St between Ave U and V with family from early 1950’s to ’70’s, attended St Edmaund’s. Lundy’s, and Jean’s were the family’s go to eateries to celebrate, later Paulie’s Randazzo’s. Blue fishing with dad on party boats. Friends with Mikie Lauro our teen hang out was at Shellbank Jr HS across street for Frank’s Pizza. Tony ‘Babe’ Mauro, Joe Antonelli, Bart Boriello, Johnny Puelio, the Halloran cousins all part of the scene. Plumb Beach submarine race watching and horseback riding. Larry David and extended family lived at 711 Oveanview, Neil Sedaka at the Seacoast Towers, Neil Diamonds parents still owned a small retail cloths store called DIAMONDS on Brighton Bch Ave. A culturally diverse community as an Italian my friends were Irish, German, Jewish, Phillipino. On E 15 St and Neck road was one block of black descendants of the stable boys who used to work the old Race Track in late
1800’s. The parachute jump and steel horses at Steeple Chase best rides ever with the Cyclone. Nathans the best till one day saw a deep fried roach
sticking legs up out of a potato fry seconds before placing it in my mouth. The weight lifters and body builders. Those leathery tanned old timers on the
handball courts at the Brighton Beach Baths in their 60-70’s who could beat any 20 year old. Schatz’s (?) knishes and the bakery that made cheese
danishes to die for. The Bay A Go Go on Ocean Ave and the other club on Sheepshead Bay Rd, and the comedy club on Emmons. Without doubt a GREAT place to live and a GREAT time to be a kid growing up as ALL OF IT WAS JUST A BICYCLE RIDE AWAY FROM YOUR FRONT DOOR.

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Rui Farias December 18, 2021 - 12:15 pm

Does anyone know any information on the Coney Island Sheepshead Bay and Ocean Avenue Rail Road Company, era 1881?

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STEVEN M EINHORN January 30, 2022 - 8:04 pm

2625 East 13th St. Apt 2G 1958-1993

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Louis B March 29, 2022 - 8:54 pm

Louis B.
2356 Bragg Street Apt 3B
1950-1977

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Louis B March 29, 2022 - 10:10 pm

2356 Bragg Street apt 3B 1950-1977
Stern Stern the water worm. Officer Carl. Bob
the mailman. Torres the porter. The monkey bars
The barrels. The shower with the drain plugged up
with cardboard to create a pool. The residents
sitting out on the benches especially at night.
Charlie the ice cream man with the speckled gum ball
to win a free ice cream.Johnny Bungalow Bar.The Good Humor Man. The local kiddy rides. Stick ball. Stoop ball. Punch ball.
Whiffle Ball. Ring a Livio. Johnny on a pony. The winter snow
forts. Dirt bombs. The rose gardens with bees. Halloween with
pastel socks.Lou the Grocer. Harvey the butcher. The Christmas lights.The Graham Movie Theater. PS 194
Shell bank JHS Sheepshead HS. Kings Bay
little league. Jack and Mannys mens clothing.
Cappys Shoes. Jahns ice cream. Brennan and Carr.
Tung on Chinese restaurant. Kings Plaza. Rainbow Lanes.
The Deauville. Seniors. Roll n Roaster. Martins. Martinizing
dry cleaners. Ciro’s pizza. Marine Park. Randazzos.
Riis Park. Plumb Beach. The Rockaway’s.Nathan’s
Connie’s pizza. The bay. Manhattan Beach.Skelly. Red light
Green light one two three. Richard Yees. The leading male at
Kings Highway. Leon’s Bakery. Mel’s Hardware store. Flipping
baseball cards. The lots next to Big 5 grocery store.Sledding
down the building ramp in winter. Go cart created with milk box and roller skate wheels.I can go on and on. Best of all great
family life friends and fun living in a dream world of
wholesomeness never to be matched again! No amount of
money could buy this kind of lifestyle.

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Steve Clair July 22, 2022 - 8:52 am

Here are a few comments.
My dad owned the Victory, 112 ft deep sea fishing boat, at pier 6. When not on deck he worked at his fish stand directly across the street from the Victory. My cousin owned and operated the ferry boats, they sailed from Sheepshead bay to docks at Rockaway point and Breezy point.
I have many pictures of the boats and the area. Those were the days
Recently to my chagrin, I visited this historic landmark. The city again lost its way and took money over history.
Now those small restaurants and even Lundays or so it use to be called is gone.No roller roaster or play land, even the Baron De Kalb K of C needs help but still there.
Most fishing boats have left, the piers who were rebuilt have gone to ruin and its history buried. Stella Maris the iconic bait supplier has survived.
Now instead of seeing the boats returning, their whistles announcing the days catch and stopping for a malt, a Sunday Orr great Italian food, you now keep driving, no parking, bad food as that sent of urine wafts thru the air.
I have my memories since that and many pictures remain.
Best memory working on the Victory durning the summer, night blue fishing was indescribable.

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James Murphy January 9, 2023 - 10:44 am

Steve Clair. i worked for your cousin Sonny. I believe your father was Ed Clair, Sonny’s uncle (not his brother of the same name). Your father was a friend of my father who was the dockmaster for the City. Anyway, would love to see the pictures you have of the ferries. I started a Facebook page called Rockaway Boat lines/Breezy Point. I have some pictures on there. You can email me at JMurphy54@att.net

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JP February 27, 2023 - 10:55 pm

If you open this link and its search function ( right on
the landing screen) you will find WONDERFUL
pictures of NYC houses and structures extant 1940.
My 1920 built former family home on E. 12th Street
off Shore Parkway is clearly there. Great Sheepshead Bay Road shots – unfortunately the poster has several bad and incorrect house pics as the scene
approaches the Station. Open link and it will offer a
search button; open that and a city (5 borough)
map will be revealed. The map has thousands of dots each representing links to pics of
1940’s existing structures. Great pictures.

https://1940s.nyc/map#13.69/40.7093/-73.99397

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JP March 3, 2023 - 10:48 am

This link contains an interesting and fact-filled history of Sheepshead Bay – well-written by a grade school student (parents had to have been a key part of it too). Great supplement to this thread.

https://archive.org/details/TheStoryOfSheepsheadBayManhattanBeachAndTheSheepsheadBayLibrary/mode/1up

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MARTIN J FELDMAN March 28, 2023 - 1:59 pm

Grew up on Bedford Avenue and Avenue W. I remember Gil Hodges also lived on Bedford Avenue north of us, and north of him on Bedford Avenue (of course)
was Ebbet’s Field. Dodger games were day games and televised on channel 5. I went to PS 206 and the school allowed us to sit in the auditorium to hear the
Yankees/Dodgers World Series game where Don Larson pitched a perfect game! Bummer for us Dodger faithful. Went to James Madison HS
(before Sheepshead Bay HS was built). Some famous alumni from that school, including Senator Schumer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Yes we played stickball
and baseball and shot hoops in the schoolyard at PS 206. There were also empty lots where we played touch football. When we weren’t going that we strolled
Kings Highway or Manhattan Beach looking for girls. (Discovered one on the bus ride home, got her #, got a movie date…the end!)

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JP March 30, 2023 - 3:59 pm

Knew the family that lived on the N/W corner of W and Bedford. Since you are wandering with your memories on a stroll up
Bedford, we can’t forget the two generation NY gubernatorial family connections that had roots up the block near Bedford and Kings Highway. Also knew the Brighton Beach Avenue liquor store owner who also lived north of W on Bedford.

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JP August 7, 2023 - 11:53 am

East 12th Street/Homecrest Playground

Any of you spend a bit of time at this park during the 60s? Softball, paddleball, stickball and above all – handball memories?

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