Tags Posts tagged with "Port Jefferson Village"

Port Jefferson Village

Photo from Kevin Wood

The PJ-SBU shuttle is back!

Starting Thursday, Aug. 19, Stony Brook University students can come Down Port to shop, eat and enjoy what the village has to offer.  

Created in 2019 as a partnership between the Port Jefferson Parking and Mobility Department, the university’s office of Community Relations and the Port Jefferson Business Improvement District, the program had to stop in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Kevin Wood, the village’s parking and mobility administrator.

Now, nearly a year and a half later, students can take advantage of it again.

“When Stony Brook came back from remote learning, it signaled to me that we should bring the bus back,” Wood said. “The university is looking at Port Jefferson as its downtown, so the bus makes it a direct link there now.”

Photo from Kevin Wood

The shuttle is free to students and runs four days a week — Thursdays through Sundays. It starts at the university’s SAC circle and then moves to the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel, SBU’s Chapin Apartments, Stop and Shop East Setauket, Arden Place in the village and ends at the LIRR before heading back to the campus. 

“Stony Brook University is proud to partner with Port Jefferson and the Business Improvement District to provide the student shuttle service for shopping, dining and entertainment in the village,” said SBU Community Relations Director Joan Dickinson.

Wood added that the shuttle is a 19-passenger vehicle and is ADA compliant. 

“Anytime we can bring visitors who spend money to the village without having to park is a win,” he said. 

Mayor Margot Garant said the village welcomes all SBU students, staff and residents.

“The shuttle is important to connect the Brook to Port Jeff Village, and to ensure the student body are welcome and have safe, easy access to our shops and restaurants,” she said. “We encourage them to sit back and enjoy the ride!”

Photo by Julianne Mosher

And they’re off!

On Saturday, Aug. 14 cars from the last century geared up to tackle the ascent on East Broadway in Port Jefferson village to commemorate the 1910 hill climb.

Sponsored by the Port Jefferson Harbor Education & Arts Conservancy, in partnership with the village, the event allows vintage car enthusiasts to retrace the original hill climb course as spectators cheer them throughout this historic tribute. 

According to the event chair, Bob Laravie, this was the seventh recreation of the climb – its original, as the name states, being in 1910.

“We’re celebrating right where the original cars ran,” he said. “We had every decade starting from 1909 up to one car from 1980.”

The conservancy decided to bring back the hill climb in 2010, with the plan to run again every five years. After a successful 2015 run, the pandemic halted the 2020 event. 

So, the 2021 hill climb was highly anticipated for people who love old cars. While many drivers were local to Port Jefferson and its surrounding communities, others came from across Long Island — as far as Queens and Montauk. One couple brought their 1911 Hupmobile Model 20 roadster across the Sound on the ferry to participate. 

Laravie said there were about 60 vehicles at the start of the climb, parked outside the Village Center. 

“We’ve done this every five years since the 100th anniversary and we look forward to doing it again in four years,” said Lisa Perry, president of the conservancy.

Mayor Margot Garant said the event speaks about the village’s role in the automobile industry which many people are not fully aware of. She noted that after the building — which is now the Village Center — was no longer used for making boats, car engines were created inside its walls. 

Some of the early 20th-century cars at the event very well could have had their engines made in Port Jefferson. 

“It’s great to see the turnout today,” Garant said at the event. “And, more importantly, to celebrate the history of the village in another dimension.”

You can watch a recording of the hill climb here.

Photo by Denise Mordente

During the Aug. 2 public meeting at Village Hall, five code officers were presented with awards for their heroic actions in the line of duty. 

Deputy Chief John Borrero was recognized for helping a victim during a fatal shooting downtown on March 24. Investigators James Murdocco and Brent Broere were recognized for performing CPR and administering Narcan to save a young woman’s life. Sergeant Nick Desimone and Officer Tim Gross were recognized for saving the life of an unresponsive passenger on the ferry. 

Photo by Denise Mordente

“We were very proud to honor the life-saving heroes that are part of our village,” said village trustee Kathianne Snaden. “It was beautiful to see them receive their proclamations in the presence of their families and children.”

Snaden said these officers are role models for their families and for the community.

“We are grateful every day for the work that they do,” she added. 

Photo by Kimberly Brown

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Ecolin Jewelers of Port Jefferson has maintained a loyal customer base while offering a wide variety of jewelry and services.

The owners, Linda and Russell Baker, began their business in 1971. The couple rented a small storefront in Stony Brook to get their footing as the new jewelers in town.

A few years later, the Bakers’ business became successful enough to enable them to purchase their current property, located across from the harbor in the heart of the village. In 1979, the store had finally finished being built.

The well-known Ecolin Jewelers is a unique name choice for a jewelry store. However, Ecolin was not the Bakers’ first choice when they first set up shop.

“When we were sending name ideas off to Albany to be approved, we had picked three pretty plain names like The Gem Shop, The Gem & Mineral Store and Stony Brook Gems,” Linda said. “But we were rejected on all of them because someone else was using a similar name.”

Thus, Ecolin was born. Linda’s father suggested she take the “Eco” from her passion for ecology and use the first three letters from her name. The title was immediately approved, and Ecolin Jewelers was open for business. 

Along with running the business, Linda also worked nights pursuing her other passion, music. As a musician, she played piano and sang at clubs, on cruise ships and the Three Village Inn. 

“When I was doing music I worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” she said. “The idea was to get the business on its feet, and it worked.” 

Growing up on Long Island, Linda and Russell have always found themselves staying close to Stony Brook and Port Jefferson. The couple pride themselves on using American products.

“I think what’s unique about our store is that we make and design a lot of the jewelry here. We don’t just buy from factories in China,” she said.

Linda truly believes in supporting local and national American businesses, so all of the brands she buys from reflect the integrity of her own shop. A few of the brands she displays are LAGOS of Philadelphia and William Henry of Oregon. 

During the pandemic, Ecolin shut down for a few months but reopened when curbside trade was permitted. Although operating business by curbside, which included repairs and cleanings, may have been completely out of the ordinary for a jewelry shop, Linda made do with the obstacles thrown her way.

“We had one or two customers during the pandemic who really wanted to get engaged, and we successfully pulled that off,” she said. “It was strange going outside and showing the jewelry in the parking lot, but you do what you have to do and adapt to whatever comes your way, just like the generations before us did.”

The growth of Port Jefferson over the years has benefited Ecolin in many ways, especially with the increase in tourists. When Linda and Russell first bought the property, few people resided in the community.

“It was sort of a ghost town,” she said. “We were part of that first wave of town improvement. There were only a few businesses surrounding us in the beginning.” 

With the major growth of the village came the major growth of Ecolin, keeping it successfully running for 50 years from its modest Stony Brook beginning. 

For more information about Ecolin Jewelers, visit ecolin.com or call 631-473-1117.

Peace, love and local music. 

That was the idea behind Port Jeff’s first Port Palooza — a day-long festival at the Jill Nees Russell Stage at Harborfront Park.  

Spearheaded by Kevin Wood, the village’s parking administrator and owner of The Space downtown, the event was cosponsored by the village as a way to bring people together after the last year and a half. 

“I think it’s going to be the first of many, and it’s a great launch,” Mayor Margot Garant said at the concert. “It’s exactly what we envisioned. So, I’m looking forward to doing it year after year and I think it’s going to grow.”

From noon to 8 p.m., on Saturday, July 31, local artists took on the stage, including Flamenco guitarist Jonathan Fritz; Port Jefferson’s Cole Fortier and his father, Andrew; Mount Sinai’s The Como Brothers; musicians from Port Jefferson’s School of Rock All Stars; Common Ground; Grand Folk Railroad; and a special performance by the Frank Catalano Jazz Quartet from Chicago. Jeffrey Sanzel of Theatre Three kicked off the event with an invocation. 

Wood said this was something that happened after COVID-19 restrictions began to lift. 

“I thought people needed to get together,” he said. “Peace, love and local music. And that’s exactly what this is: peace, love and local music, with the exception of the last act which we’re importing from Chicago.”

Although the jazz quartet is Chicago-based, it still had a local connection. Wood’s grandfather, Al Gallodoro, was a world-renowned saxophone and clarinet player with the Paul Whiteman and NBC Symphony orchestras. Catalano knew of him, too. Wood and the musician met once at a New York City club, and they began talking. Catalano eventually bought one of Gallodoro’s saxophones.

“It couldn’t have gone to anyone better,” Wood said. 

Ending with jazz, the festival had it all — pianos, guitars and heavy metal. The one thing that didn’t make the set list this year was rockabilly, “but that will happen next year,” Wood said. 

The Como Brothers took the stage, playing their viral Port Jeff anthem, “Take Me Home” along with several new songs. Over the last two years, the brothers have been releasing such songs sporadically on their Spotify account, which will lead to an eventual EP release. 

Matt Como said when Wood reached out to them asking to play, they were thrilled. 

“This is actually the first full, original gig we’ve done in a while because of the pandemic,” Matt said. 

“It’s great to be playing for people again,” Andrew Como added. “We’ve been holed up in our basement writing new songs, so this gave us the chance to show people what we’ve been working on.”

Wood said that although the event was free for all to enjoy, raffles were held to raise money for the Middle Island-based animal rescue, the Star Foundation. A red guitar signed by all the musicians along with a pet portrait, hand painted by local artists Nancy and Bob Hendrick, raised over $1,500 for the foundation. 

by -
0 1210
Crowds gather at Port Jefferson’s Bayles Landing awaiting the departure of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the yawl Myth II. Photo from the Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

Franklin D. Roosevelt launched his 1932 campaign for president of the United States by sailing from Port Jefferson across Long Island Sound into New England coastal waters.

Roosevelt had accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on July 2, 1932, at the party’s convention in Chicago.

Returning to New York where he was governor, FDR announced he would be going on a week’s cruise with his sons and departing from a secret Long Island location, later revealed as Port Jefferson.

Escorted by state troopers, Roosevelt motored from his home in Manhattan to Port Jefferson, arriving in the village around noon on July 11, 1932.

As seaplanes roared overhead, FDR was greeted by the tooting of boat whistles, screeching of car horns and the cheers of the hundreds who had lined Water Street (East Broadway).

Roosevelt made his way to Bayles Landing and boarded the Myth II, a 37-foot yawl rented for the trip from Prescott B. Huntington of St. James, New York.

Offering sleeping accommodations for six and a galley with a two-burner range, the unpretentious vessel had a black hull, orange deck and white cabin. With no auxiliary engine, the Myth II was solely dependent on her three sails for power.

Before casting off, FDR chatted with two local boys, Randall Woodard and Gilbert Kinner, who would become instant celebrities in Port Jefferson when they appeared in dockside photos and newsreels with the presidential nominee.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, New York State Governor and Democratic presidential nominee, is pictured aboard the yawl Myth II as he prepares to leave Port Jefferson on a vacation cruise with three of his sons.
Photo from the Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

Getting underway, a launch captained by E. Post Bayles pulled the Myth II into the choppy waters of Long Island Sound where the tow was parted, and the yawl caught the wind.

At the helm, Roosevelt laid a course for Connecticut, backed by a crew of three of his four sons, as well as friend George Briggs, who kept the ship’s log.

The luxury yacht Ambassadress, chartered by FDR’s supporters and advisers, and the motor yacht Marcon, packed with newspapermen covering Roosevelt’s voyage, followed in the Myth II’s wake.

Ostensibly, the vacation cruise was to provide FDR with rest and relaxation before beginning his campaign for president, but the trip was more about politics than recreation.

Roosevelt anchored at several ports during his “holiday” including New Haven, Connecticut; Marblehead, Massachusetts; and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

At these locations, FDR worked to bring dissident Democrats into the fold, meeting with political leaders from New England who had supported former New York State Governor Alfred E. Smith as the party’s presidential nominee.

During each stop, political heavyweights attended strategy sessions aboard the Ambassadress and Roosevelt held daily press conferences with the reporters tagging along on the Marcon.

A victory for the Democrats, the extensively photographed cruise showed Roosevelt as a vigorous leader who was prepared to command the “Ship of State” as well as he captained the Myth II, countering claims that FDR was a helpless invalid crippled by polio.

Roosevelt would go on to defeat Republican candidate and incumbent President Herbert Hoover in the Nov. 8, 1932 election, marking the end of a campaign that began on a summer day aboard a sailboat in Port Jefferson Harbor.

Kenneth Brady has served as the Port Jefferson Village Historian and president of the Port Jefferson Conservancy, as well as on the boards of the Suffolk County Historical Society, Greater Port Jefferson Arts Council and Port Jefferson Historical Society. He is a longtime resident of Port Jefferson.     

by -
0 1925
A steam locomotive is shown in August 1878 at Port Jefferson’s original LIRR depot and freight house situated west of Main Street (Route 25A). Photograph by George B. Brainerd; Photo from the Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive.

After the Long Island Rail Road brought a branch to Northport in 1868, a group of prominent Port Jefferson businessmen lobbied for extending the north shore branch eastward to their village.

Although a leading wooden shipbuilding center in the years following the Civil War and blessed with one of the finest harbors on Long Island, Port Jefferson was surprisingly isolated for so important a village.

Going to New York City by train involved a tedious stage ride from Port Jefferson to Medford, the nearest station on the LIRR’s main line, followed by a rail trip to Long Island City and a ferry run across the East River to James Slip in Manhattan.

Stock certificate for the Smithtown and Port Jefferson Rail Road Company, which was absorbed by the LIRR. Photo from the Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

Port Jefferson Harbor often froze over during the winter and limited travel by packets, steamboats and other vessels engaged in waterborne commerce.

Hoping to make Port Jefferson more accessible and boost its economy, a committee of villagers was formed and charged with inducing the LIRR to bring freight and passenger service to Port Jefferson.

The diverse group included realtor William Fordham, publisher Harvey Markham, druggist Holmes Swezey, and tinsmith John Lee. They met regularly from 1868-1870 with representatives from St. James, Setauket, Stony Brook, and other communities where support for extending the Northport branch was strong.

Following lengthy discussion, a proposal was submitted to and accepted by the LIRR. The Smithtown and Port Jefferson Rail Road Company, organized in 1870, pledged to raise the money necessary to construct the 18-mile extension from Northport to Port Jefferson. Upon completion of the project, the LIRR agreed to lease and operate the franchise for 20 years.

Respected Port Jefferson shipbuilder James M. Bayles was elected president of the Smithtown and Port Jefferson Rail Road Company, and Robert W. Wheeler, who ran a flour/saw mill in Port Jefferson, served on its board of directors. The corporation had an authorized capital stock of $200,000, divided into shares of $25 each.

After surveys were completed, rights-of-way secured and contracts finalized, construction began on the 18-mile road. Gangs worked from 1871-1873 on separate parts of the route. The eastern, or Port Jefferson section, employed 200 men under the direction of Captain John Scully.

On Monday, Jan. 13, 1873, the first train left Port Jefferson at 6 a.m. with 24 passengers for the over three-hour, 58-mile trip to Long Island City. The fare on the inaugural run was $1.90.

The terminal at Port Jefferson, including a depot, freight house, turntable, and platform, was located on the west side of today’s Main Street (Route 25A).

The coming of the Smithtown and Port Jefferson Rail Road Company, which was absorbed by the LIRR in 1892, raised property values in Port Jefferson and eased travel to and from the village. 

The railroad also brought tourists to Port Jefferson, hastened the village’s transition from a shipbuilding center to a vacationland, lessened Port Jefferson’s dependence on sea trade, and made the village a transit hub. 

Kenneth Brady has served as the Port Jefferson Village Historian and president of the Port Jefferson Conservancy, as well as on the boards of the Suffolk County Historical Society, Greater Port Jefferson Arts Council and Port Jefferson Historical Society. He is a longtime resident of Port Jefferson.

Sandra Swenk today at her home in Port Jefferson. Photo by Julianne Mosher

This month marks 50 years since Sandra Swenk was sworn in as the Village of Port Jefferson’s first woman mayor. 

In July of 1971, the 34-year-old mother of two took office as the village’s third mayor. Now, five decades later, she has paved the way for other lady leaders — not only here where she calls home, but throughout Long Island. 

A lifelong resident, she was born at Mather Hospital in 1937 and grew up inside The Mather House Museum during the ’40s, as her family were caretakers. 

Photo from the Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

“I had some good years there,” she said. “There were some things that are not there anymore, like a summer house, a beautiful old summer house that just kind of deteriorated years ago, but most of the property is fairly original today.”

After living there as a child, her family moved to various different homes surrounding Main Street — eventually settling with her husband John in a stunning historical home on Prospect Street in 1960.

“Port Jefferson is a great place to raise a child,” she said. “Because they can walk to school, and then we had downtown, and it wasn’t as busy as it is now.”

Swenk decided to become involved with Port Jeff’s politics early on, sitting on the board with her late husband to incorporate the village in 1963.

“We wanted to see the village incorporate and control its own destiny, so to speak,” she said. 

Always interested in keeping the quaint village beautiful, Swenk wanted to see street trees, plants planted and window boxes in the local storefronts. She and a group of volunteers helped make that possible. 

In 1971, Swenk decided to take the leap and run against the men of the village. In what she said was a low-key campaign, she said that she had a lot of support back then. Along with her son and daughter, she hand-delivered pamphlets around the village. 

“I was proud of her,” said her daughter Brenda. “She did a lot. There was a lot of family involvement. There were a lot of things that we all did together.”

Swenk ended up winning, serving three terms until she was beaten by Harold Sheprow in 1977.

“I was always interested in revitalization,” she said. 

According to Swenk, she wanted to keep the small-town atmosphere and have a recreational harbor. With the village known to be more industrial back then, she hoped to get rid of the gravel trucks and oil tanks that stayed near the water and the ferry. 

“I also wanted to have what’s called adaptive use, using the older buildings for present uses,” she said. “I was big on historic preservation, and still am a historical society member.”

Swenk said she used Cold Spring Harbor’s streets as a model. 

Above: Sandra Swenk on July 5, 1971 on the steps of Village Hall. Her daughter, Brenda, cheers her mother on in the lower right.
Photo from the Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

Another accomplishment she had during her tenure was working hand in hand with former state Sen. Leon Giuffreda (R) on a big safety issue that was happening around the village with its gravel trucks. 

She said trucks didn’t have covers and often times gravel would spill into the busy streets.  

“It was always a battle to get it cleaned up,” she said. “But today, if you see any kind of a truck, could be just a little truck or big truck or a gravel truck, they have to have covers — and now they do.”

Swenk said that from day one since she was elected, village board meetings were always busy. 

“There were more people who went to the public meetings, probably because I was a woman and they wanted to see how I was going to run them,” she said. “People just didn’t know whether a woman could handle a job like that.”

But she got the support she needed to win. 

“I think people realized I was genuinely concerned about the village. And its growth, and its business and its appearance,” she said. “That was very important to me and it still is.”

At first, she was the only woman in Village Hall, but during her second term, a woman trustee came in and gradually it grew from there. Since her run, Jeanne Garant served as mayor from 1999 to 2005, and her daughter Margot has just been elected to her seventh term.

Now, a half-century later, she still lives right off East Main Street and is still heavily involved with what’s going on around town. A member of the historical society, the First United Methodist Church and volunteer at The Mather House Museum, she keeps busy, but still reminisces about what life was like Down Port so many years ago.

“There’s no question that it’s changed,” she said. “When I was growing up here, we had all the necessary services in the village — we had a laundromat which we don’t have anymore, but for years had a hardware store, a dress shop, a drugstore. So, some of those needs have been lost along the way.”

Swenk wishes there was a grocery store for village residents to shop at. “I would love to have a grocery back here,” she said. “We’re really lacking that.”

She said she has been unhappy to see the development over the last decade, building upward with the continuous lack of parking — something that was an issue even during her tenure. 

District Attorney Tim Sini (D). File photo by Victoria Espinoza

Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini (D) today announced the indictment of an alleged gang member for Attempted Murder for shooting two victims in Port Jefferson Village.

“This was a senseless act of gun violence committed by a dangerous individual,”  Sini said. “Both victims have been left with severe lasting impacts as a result of the shooting. My Office will continue to hold gang members and perpetrators of gun violence accountable.”

Ethan Ladd, 20, is charged with two counts of Attempted Murder, a class B violent felony; two counts of Assault in the First Degree, a class B violent felony; Criminal Use of a Firearm in the First Degree, a class B violent felony; and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, a class C violent felony.

Ladd has been identified by law enforcement as a member of the Just Chasing Money (“JCM”) gang.

At approximately 2 a.m. on June 19, Ladd entered a restaurant near 109 Main Street in Port Jefferson where he encountered a 23-year-old man and a 20-year old man and allegedly became engaged in an argument with one of the men. Ladd, the two men and several other individuals moved to a nearby parking lot where a physical altercation ensued with one of the men. 

Ladd allegedly retrieved a .380 caliber handgun from his vehicle and shot one of the men in the abdomen. He then allegedly shot the other man twice in the leg and once in the arm at close range before fleeing the scene in his vehicle.

Both victims were transported to a local hospital with serious physical injuries.

Following an investigation by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office and the Suffolk County Police Department, Ladd was arrested on June 20.

If convicted of the top counts, Ladd faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison.

Ladd was arraigned on the indictment today by Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei.

The People requested that bail be set in the amount of $1 million cash or $5 million bond. The Court transferred bail from Ladd’s arraignment in Suffolk County District Court in the amount of $25,000, which Ladd previously posted.

He is due back in court on Aug. 26 and is being represented by Steven Politi.

 This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Sheetal Shetty, of the Felony Offense Bureau.

 

by -
0 1300
The Bay View Pavilion, left, and Wilson’s Sail Loft, right, are pictured on the waterfront off Port Jefferson’s East Broadway. Photo from the Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

Once a lively Port Jefferson hotspot, the Bay View Pavilion was located in the village on the north side of Water Street (East Broadway).

The building was situated on shorefront property leased from Brookhaven Town by the Ladies Village Improvement Society (LVIS) of Port Jefferson, which also funded Bay View’s construction.

The two-story pavilion was 20 feet wide and 40 feet long, open on all four sides and protected from shoreline erosion by a stone seawall.

Bounded by a small lawn on its east and west, the building was painted green and adorned with a decorative sign, “Bay View,” donated by gifted local artist William M. Davis.

Opening to the public on July 4, 1901, the pavilion soon became a village landmark and well known for its summertime activities including ice cream socials, bazaars, cake sales, band concerts, dances and church outings.

Bay View Pavilion was located on the north side of Port Jefferson’s East Broadway. Shown decorated for Old Home Week, 1911, the building was the center of summertime activities in the village. The site of the former pavilion is known today as Mary Bayles Park. Photo by Perry; Photo from the Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

Water carnivals were also held at Bay View’s public dock which had been built by LVIS in cooperation with the Port Jefferson Yacht Club.

During the Old Home Week celebrations of 1908 and 1911, the pavilion hosted swim meets, boat races, diving contests and other aquatic activities.

Because of its prime waterfront location near Wilson’s Sail Loft, the Harbor View Hotel, F. F. Darling and other establishments, people were drawn to Bay View where they took in the ever-changing sights, but unfortunately the pavilion was also a magnet for rowdies.

The situation had gotten so out of control by 1924 that Leopold Cordier, who ran a paint store next door to Bay View, was appointed a deputy sheriff with authority to keep order at the pavilion.

Bay View also suffered from neglect and was in such poor condition that in 1927 the Port Jefferson Business Men’s Association called for the pavilion’s immediate removal.

After the Bay View eyesore was razed, the plot where it had stood remained largely unimproved until 1943-1944 when Brookhaven Town developed the property as parkland and the Suwassett Garden Club of Port Jefferson landscaped and maintained the grounds.

The site of the former pavilion is known today as Mary Bayles Park.

Kenneth Brady has served as the Port Jefferson Village Historian and president of the Port Jefferson Conservancy, as well as on the boards of the Suffolk County Historical Society, Greater Port Jefferson Arts Council and Port Jefferson Historical Society. He is a longtime resident of Port Jefferson.