A familiar saying holds that a “photo is worth a thousand words.” If that’s the case today’s post will feature a lot of words, as I’m short on text but plenty of photos. City Island has always been a Forgotten NY favorite place from the City Island Bridge all the way south to Johnny’s Famous Reef where I can get two tremendous fish fillets and a pound of French fries for under $20. Don’t worry, I only do that every couple of years. I hope to get back to City Island soon and have had three FNY live tours there. The island has a comprehensive nautical museum, a waterside cemetery, a fishing village ambience shipyards where America’s Cup winners have been launched and dozens of restaurants, not just Johnny’s.
It also has 239 Play, #239 City Island Avenue at Schofield, where in March 2016 City Islanders Dan Treiber and Reina Mia Brill bought a 150-year-old building formerly home to Marine Supplies and transformed it into 239 Play, selling vintage toys, postcards and other bric-a-brac. I visited Marine Supplies many years ago and didn’t believe a store could be more cluttered, but 239 Play beats it by a mile as every square inch is full of collectibles, from toys to playing cards, LPs, cassettes, drinking glasses, and other attractions. You can browse all day and I dare anyone to come away empty handed.
The specialty store is near the former home of Mooncurser Records, which sold hundreds of LPs going back to the 78 RPM and wax cylinder era. The store closed after the owner’s death in 2006, but 239 Play has replaced it in the browsable City Island annals. Fortunately it survived the Covid era and is still open.
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9/12/23
2 comments
Bric-a-brac is a seriously cool term.
Loved Mooncurser and Roger. We bought
many gramaphones and 78s from him over
the years.