Hi locals! My NANUET pages are doing exactly what I hoped they would do; I have gotten some wonderful emails from people who have generously shared their own memories of our humble hamlet. I've also been contacted by some long lost old friends. Please feel free to share your memories with me. Anything about Nanuet before 1976 is welcome, pictures too. I won't upload a single word without your permission, and if you wish to remain anonymous, that's fine too.

-Dan

Nanuet: Do you remember...

• The Red Rail: Bar on Middletown. There were rumors that there was a brothel upstairs. Our neighbors Janice and Marty Goldfarb sometimes jokingly said to my parents, "see you at the Red Rail!"
• Hutton-Johnson: The mill next to the Red Rail.
• The rail station and the old lady who tried to sell “antiques”. They spruced up the facade with colorful painted flowers and birds before it was shamefully taken down
• Nanuet National Bank: Hopperesque building at Prospect and Main, NE corner. Became Empire Tobacco and Candy; now an auto parts store.
• Boggiano’s: Prospect and Main, SW corner; now Martio’s. My dad once went in for some light bulbs, and Mr. Boggiano told him he thought he might have some up on that top shelf over there, and expected my father to go climbing up there himself.
• The old library: Upstairs between Boggiano’s and Phil’s, with Miss Meyers and her crazy nail polish; now an apartment. Nanuet's first public library was housed in Highview.
• Phil's Barber Shop: A few of his red waiting chairs are still in Martio’s.
• Johnson’s: Stationary on Main, next door to Phil’s. Robert Kirby, Mike Goldfarb, Jamie Overmeyer, and I used to look at the magazines, located in an alcove in the back.
• Shoe Repair: My mom says the guy had a bad leg, and always tried to convert her to Christianity.
• Jocar Pizza: SE corner of Orchard and Main, now All State. Never compared to Rex, at least according to my brothers.
• Charlie's Meat Market: Involved in some sort of numbers racket in the late 70s.
• Om: Nanuet's first (and only) head shop. Now Stacy Gelbman's day care center.
• Elliot’s: Little candy store/grill on Church across from the Highview playground. The Overmeyers bought it in the 70s, and I told them they should call it "The Glass Onion". Even though they didn't, I insisted on referring to it by this name.
• Hobbies: Market at the Golden Triangle.
• The Pub: now called "The Crossroads". It was owned by Donna Padilla for a while.
• L.H. Martin: In Pearl River. Not to be confused with C.H. Martin, way up in Samsondale, past the mothball fleet.
• Durland Boats: In the Grand Way parking lot.
• Buy-Rite: The brick toy store at the corner of 59 and Middletown, with its series of arched windows.
• Grand Way: On 59.
• Don-Len's Diner: Originally the Hialeah, now the Nanuet, it'll always be Don-Len's to me, Kenny Braziller, Cheryl Kantor, and so many others.
• W.T. Grant and Company:"Grants" next to Grand Way, with its big orange-lettered sign. I remember a little "ride" they had there with a red plastic bucket seat, it went round in vertical circles. William T. Grant had over a thousand stores in the USA until the 70s, when they slowly faded away. His philanthropic foundation is a high-profile supporter of NPR.
• Rex Pizza: On 59. We assumed they were Italian, but actually they were Albanian.
• Hong Luck: Old style “chow mein” restaurant on 59.
• Miniature Golf: Located where the Nanuet Theater-Go-Round was, right by the tracks on 59. Now a fundamentalist Christian Church. I went there several times as a little boy (Golfing! Golfing! Not the church!!). I remember once I went with Janice Lowenstein and her mom.
• Mapleways Bowling Alley: Just up from Grant's and Don-Len's When it closed, Nova Lighting took its place, along with Gaylin's, where my mom said you could find any houseware item you could ever imagine.
• Shoppers’ Paradise: Monstrous and depressing market up Pipetown in Spring Valley.
• The Peace Vigil: SE corner of 59 and Middletown. My dad was there every Saturday morning, protesting the Vietnam War (sometimes being spat upon by other Nanuetters), while my mom was a few steps away at Saturday services. I bounded back and forth between the two.
• Nedick's: Coffee shop in the Korvette's parking lot changed to “Dickens” when Nedick’s went under; a simple rearrangement of the letters. A Nedick’s just re-opened across from Penn Station: “Back after 25 years!”
• E.J Korvette: Home to a great record department. I bought scads of LPs there back in high school, waiting with bated breath for their big sales that would be advertised in the Sunday Times.
• Hills: Supermarket next to Korvette's.
• Tiedemann’s: Grocery store across from the Hebrew Center.
• Kiddie Land: On 59 in West Nyack. When Rye Playland or Palisades Park was too much of a schlep, we might just go down the road to Kiddie Land. Built on a swamp.
• The Knolls Day Camp: 100 Convent Road, just around the corner from my house The Paikins ran this day camp. Their big old house has now been levelled, and now there is serious talk of building 4-storey housing for seniors on the grounds. Is nothing sacred?
• Eagle Day Camp: Down Hutton Avenue, off 59. Rose Kiesler's day camp. Tina Dellacroce also lived on Hutton.
• White Birch Inn: At the corner of Birchwood and Pascack It had several names over the years, and I only remember this one! It catered primarily to Spring Valley's black community. Birchwood itself was the only black section of town; technically Spring Valley, but part of our school district. I once went with my friend Joanie to buy some pot at a boarding house in Birchwood. This guy lifted the mattress of his bed, and there was an enormous stash of weed--bricks and bricks of the shit.
• Mrs. Wooldridge’s Nursery School, Higgins Funeral Home, the Hebrew Center, Doris Stark's home: Buildings on the east side of Main, starting at 59.
• Cultural Note One: The writer Michael Rumaker briefly lived in the little house on Doris Stark ’s property, just next to the Hebrew Center, in the late 50s. The address was 52 Main Street, Nanuet. In his book “The Butterfly” he writes about his girlfriend “Eiko” who is really Yoko Ono. He met her when she had car trouble driving along Middletown Road from upstate. Sy Lowenstein was was Rumaker’s psychologist at Rockland State ("Dr. Sylvan" in the book). A visit by the protagonist ("Jim") to the Lowensteins’ house is described in the book, with a toddler Bruce Lowenstein briefly mentioned. Beyond the Lowenstein's backyard, "Warm windows shone in the darkness." This could very possibly be describing our house. On Nanuet: "The town was not very big. There was the main street on which he was walking now. On either side there was a church, several grocery stores and bars, a shoe repair shop [...] a luncheonette."
• Cultural Note Two: Rupert Holmes (nee Goldstein) grew up on Prospect, just up from the railroad tracks at around Jerry’s Avenue. He then moved to Demarest, just across the street from the Grace Baptist Church, second house from the southwest corner at Orchard, right next door to where my old friend Jamie Overmeyer’s grandparents lived. Several of his songs wax nostalgically for his life in Nanuet, among them "Terminal" and "Town Square".
• Cultural Note Three: Elephant’s Memory, John Lennon’s backing band for the “Some Time in New York City” record, lived in a house on Pascack. It burned down, probably arson, at some point during their stay there.

Compiled with help from the Edsall Avenue Jew Crew: Mike Goldfarb (now Goldmann), David and Victor Eisenberg, my brothers Ethan and Jerry Silverman, and honorary member Barry Schein.

Eric Thoromon, October 2008:

Dan,

Found your Nanuet site after searching the net to see if there was anything on the old Lake Nanuet, which I remember from my childhood.  I lived in West Nyack from 1960 to 1966 (age 3 to 9) and share many old memories of Nanuet, which was my family's main destination for shopping and recreation.

I learned to swim at the old Lake Nanuet, and I remember the somewhat grouchy couple who ran the place.  The water was half lake, half pool, with poured concrete and rock-and-mortar walls in the kid's section and more of a natural lake in the deeper water.  There was an anchored wooden raft in the deep water that the bigger kids and adults swam to and dove off of; I also remember a wobbly diving board.  My family has home movies taken there; if I can find any stills I'll email them to you.

Buy Rite!  Oh, what a mecca in those days!  A nondescript warehouse setting, but great buys.  When I was about 8 and had an allowance of 40 cents, a matchbox car could be had at Buy Rite for that precise amount (39 cents plus a penny tax -- the first NYS sales tax was 2 percent).  That price was discounted from the 49 cent suggested retail.  A $2.00 AMT plastic car model kit went for $1.49 at Buy Rite, but for this product one was better off at Korvette's, where the $2.00 models went for $1.39.  Korvette's was another destination -- I remember we purchased a collapsable, single-unit stereo phonograph there in about 1964.

My parents did their banking at that little branch near the Catholic church/school that was set back from Route 59.  Do you remember how the hedges at that school were carefully carved into elaborate shapes?

Grand Way -- I don't remember going in there much, but it sure dominated the scape.  Big orange (red?) letters, as I recall.

Route 59 theatre -- was that a Cinamascope theatre?  I remember seeing "How the West was Won" there, and I seem to remember it was on a curved screen.  I also saw "Mary Poppins" there when it was new -- it was the only theatre around where it was showing, and the place was a mob scene of people trying to get in.

How about the Nanuet Restaurant?  Great pizza -- thin crust made in a deep dish -- very unusal effect.  And that place is still there, with its 60s-era neon sign!  (I live in Jersey now, but I ventured by there with my family over the summer.  I'm not sure if the pizza is exactly the same as it used to be, but it's still awfully good.)

Anyway, thanks to you and your posters for the memories!

Regards,

Eric Thoroman

Gary Bletsch, August 2008:

Dear Dan,

Your website on Nanuet entertained me immensely. I am a New City boy, but I spent countless hours at Lake Nanuet. I did not notice Lake Nanuet on your website. Since I learned to swim there, it holds a place in my life, as it must do for many others.

The lake started out as a dammed-up stream. When I first started going there with my mom and siblings in the early 1960's, there were still frogs, fish, and water-striders to be caught. As a little boy, I asked my mother what the black birds with the red wings were. She explained that they were Red-winged Blackbirds!

Lake Nanuet had a snack-bar that we used to call "the stand." For me, a child of parents who always picknicked and almost never bought stuff from the stand, the hamburgers and sodas offered there still beckon to me as mysterious, forbidden treats.

By the end of that decade, the lake was being chlorinated. I will never forget the slow dwindling of frog populations there. One day I caught one, and even as a kid, I thought, "Hey, this is probably the last time I'll catch a frog here!" It was. I understand that now the lake is just a pool, owned and operated by the town of Clarkstown.

An old German couple owned the place. I am told that they had meetings of the German-American Bundt (sp?) there in the thirties, before (most) Americans wised up to Hitler. I also recall hearing the thick German accent of the owners on the loudspeaker, especially at closing time. One evening the old man came on and announced that, since it was such a lovely evening, he was going to let people stay for ten minutes later than the usual closing time. What a guy! I believe their surname was Thofern or something like that. Amazingly enough, I was visiting my  parents years later, and found an obituary of one of the elderly couple in a Florida newspaper. I should have kept it!

I still have a Stratego game that my mom bought at Buy-Rite, or whatever that brick toy store was called.

My folks were friends of the Durlands, who had the boat dealership in Grant's parking lot.

Here's a tidbit about Shoppers' Paradise. They had magnetized shopping carts. Supposedly, it was impossible to take the carts off the property. Strong magnets in the underside of the cart would interact with something iron in the ground along the edge of the parking lot, stopping the cart!

I worked for Nanuet National Bank in the early 1980's, in the Route 59 Office. Mr. Jack Horan was the branch manager. He ran a tight ship. The five dollar bill on your website astounded me. I did not know that that bank--or any small bank--would have actually printed five-dollar bills, or any other denomination! I figured that was more the province of the U.S. mint.

Before my folks moved to Florida, they sold their place in New City and rented a place just east of the Nanuet Mall. It was an old farmhouse. The place had a little stream running between it and the mall; I figure that stream must run north-south at that point. The house was old, with small rooms. There was even a small barn. Somebody made out like a bandit with that place. When I moved out west, I moved my entire fossil collection to the loft of the barn, leaving it there as a surprise for someone someday. There were even some Eurypterids in there....

Ray Keyrouse, August 2008:

My parents, Walter and Marjorie Keyrouse OWNED the Red Rail prior to 1947 and I can guarantee dad was not in the "Red Light" business

Steve Balbo, January 2008:

Very cool web pages. I accidently found you last night. I was having a flashback of swimming at Requa lake in the early sixties, and called my mom in South Jersey to ask where it was. She says "Monsey". Your post card collage was a riot. Just what I was looking for. Thanks mate!! Sent it to Houston today, and my high school friend stepped out of a meeting, he was blown away. He grew up in Pearl River and you knocked his socks off.
 
So, there comes some positive feedback from a sleepy, hippy, surf town in Santa Cruz. The rest of your sight is a tease, keep adding stuff!!

Sammy Belil writes, January 2008:

More Nanuet memories: Zippy’s at the Nanuet Mall (there were actually 2 of them), Intrigue, The Hungry Lion, and the Nanuet Mall Movie Theatre. Do not forget Buy Rite (coolest toy store ever!!!!!), Kern Piano, “The Sound of Music” (but Korvettes was BY FAR THE BEST for LPs), Nanuet Mall Restaurant by Horn and Hardarts.

This just in from Art Svensson, December 2007:

The first portion of Nanuet Grade School was built in 1908. The south wing was built in 1929. Both my father (b.1904) and my Aunt Esther (b.1908) attended the 'old school'. My brother claims the north wing was built in 1952.  My brother was flirting with all the young teachers, so they gave him detention.

You show an old post card marked as Orchard St.  Wrong "Apple breath"!! Wrong, wrong, wrong.  It's Demarest looking toward Orchard. The remnant of the stone curb on the right is still there. It was in much better shape in the 1950s.

I asked my Aunt Esther (turned 99 on Nov 9th) if she remembered the Hanover Hotel (Gustave Arwe, Prop.). She did indeed!  One of the Arwe girls (they had 10 children) was a good friend of hers. The hotel was on the NW corner of the 'Four Corners', set back from Nyack Turnpike (59) and within 15' of the Naurashank River (we called it "the brook").  There was an ice cream parlor to the right; a tavern to the left. Over the years the building was remodeled and modernized.  On the right was  Eberling's deli (later Kemmer's) and on the left, Roloff's Liquor store. 

We all agreed that the Hob-Nob Restaurant was Swiss Trudy's in our timeframe. Swiss Trudy died in recent years.

I ran into Paul Demoa after the funeral. He is a longtime fireman and party doll. I asked him about the old fire alarm ring and the pumper wagon. He said the wagon was in a NYC fire museum and the ring had been converted to horseshoes!

The VanCourt house is GONE. We agreed it had held the Partridge law offices in the 1950s. There was a florist, Flowers by Dieter, on the south end.  You might remember it.

The Pines. How I pine for the Pines. My aunt doesn't remember the Pines.
But that wall looks familiar. There are 2 candidates on Convent Road. The first when you are nearing the top of the hill. It looks a little high to me. The other is as you pass St. Agatha's home. Just off Convent is a road leading south (I failed to record it's name).  There is an older building there replete with Catholic regalia. The building looks like an old 'Summer' boarding house/hotel. Could be the place. Check it out at next years reunion.

Mapleway's alleys were installed by my Uncle Birger.

Carl Fisher had a 'mansion' in Nanuet where Normandy Village is now sited. It had a yellow picket fence along Main St. 

The little store at the foot of Church St. at Main St. was a newspaper stand circa 1918. The owner's daughter used to sell papers at the RR depot.

The "permanent wave" was invented by Carl Nestle. Google "nestle permanent wave"; lots of stuff.  He also had a 'mansion' in Nanuet located just north of Ludwig Rd on the east side of Noth Middletown Rd. When I was a kid, the 'mansion' was gone. At the top of the hill were the remains of his water tower! It was about 20' high, built of wooden timbers, with a cast-iron spiral staircase. It was in pretty rough shape, but we rebuilt the platform at the top. It was, of course, one of our "forts". On the Bardonia side of the hill were the remains of an orchard. I remember picking pears there one year.

Best regards,

Art

Sandy Gargano (Asaro), NHS 69 writes:

Hi Dan,
I enjoyed your site regarding Nanuet. I will add a few tidbits for memories.

The "old lady" who maintained the shop at the train station was, I believe, Mrs. Tartanian, whose daughter, Mary, graduated with me from Nanuet in 1969. Mary was quite artistic.

When I entered kindergarten in 1956, George W. Miller was in the process of being built, so many of us attended kindergarten in the Grace Baptist Church, and others either went to Highview or the basement of Jolene Cleaners. Talk about a small town.

Nanuet Middle School wasn't around in my years, so I attended Miller from grades 1-6, then hopped over to the high school for grades 7-12. Everybody knew everybody.

I definitely remember Miss Meyers, the librarian with the crazy nail polish and her hair up in two coils at the top of her head. I remember the squeaky hardwood floors of that library, too. Not too long ago I was told Miss Meyers is still alive.

I grew up on Crescent Lane between Villa and Cara Drives. Our section of Nanuet was called Pearl River Heights.

I used to go to Venturini's on Townline Road and brush the horses and someone had horses off Ehrhardt Road, too.

We all walked the railroad tracks to get places. When I hear the train whistle near the post office crossing I think back to the "olden days."

One more thing. When it snowed heavily, we listened for the 7:00 AM whistle at the firehouse. If it went off, there was no school. Only years later did we listen to the radio for this news.

My maiden name is Asaro and I still reside in Nanuet, on a road that didn't exist when I was in school. Nor did the Nanuet Mall exist until I graduated. It was always a small and great town; it has grown considerably, but it's still great.

David Hoagland, NHS 77, has thought about this:

I loved Phil's barber shop. I would go in for my crew cut with my Dad and brother, and Phil with his heavy-framed eyeglasses (I think he wore glasses....) would always let us choose a lollipop from a glass container. I can just about smell the barbershop scent of shave cream and aftershave thinking about it.

Svensson family memories (From Art Svensson, Nyack HS 56):

Hi Dan!

My niece (Illinois) brought your site to my attention. Nice job.

If you look at the foot of Church St on the 1876 map, you will see "Nanuet Engine No. 1". Firehouse #3 has a 1860 date on the facade. I think we can conclude that 1860 was the founding year of Nanuet's fire company. It's likely the first firehouse postcard shows their original building. It has a Civil War era "look". The second building was built circa 1915. It was designed and built by my paternal grandfather, Carl Peter Svensson. He was the fire chief for many years. It appears the original building was incorporated in the design. The towers were used to dry the canvas hoses.

In the 1920s the upper room was used for dances and movies. The building was seriously damaged by a fire circa 1950. My impression is that it was pretty well gutted. Firehouse #3 was built soon after. In the 1950s the fire company would block off the street a few days and sponsor a carnival.

A very old fire engine (horse-drawn, man-powered pump) was in the bottom of "Overmeyer's barn" which was sited on the west side of Main street across the street from Perrino's (?) deli. Hopefully the old "smoker" was rescued and restored. Just north of Overmeyer's barn was an empty lot (IIR) and then a bakery (great bread), then an empty lot and then Johnson Bros' store. Then Boggiano's variety store and then an A&P (?) at the corner of Prospect. Boggiano later expanded into the corner store with their hardware operation.

That Vancourt postcard reminds me of something. Heading north on Main St from Prospect, there was a gas station on the SW corner (Mobil?) and then the Partridge law offices. After that an empty lot and then a building that was half Post Office and half Liebert's Insurance (Don Liebert was a 2nd cousin, thrice removed...or something like that). After that the tracks.In the 1950's, with Main Street widened, the sidewalk was very narrow at Partridge's building. So I suspect that Vancourt and Partridge buildings are one and the same. Hopefully, it's still there today.

My brother, sister and I had a conversation this past Friday about your site.  It's interesting that we each remembered different things about Nanuet.  If you decide to add a page of our memories (you have our blessings), I suggest you head it the "Svensson family memories" or somesuch.  As I told you, my niece, nee Dawn Richter, alerted me to your site.  Her good friend, Karen Scarpantoni alerted her.  Both are your former classmates.  They both agree you would not remember them.

Back to fire houses: the "four corners" photo is clearly not THE four corners.  The original fire alarm ring is proof of that.  I recall seeing it but do not recall exactly where.  I hope it's still around.  The official Nanuet Fire Dept's site is sort of worthless in terms of history.Your photo of Church St near the school playground threw me at first.  It's at the foot of Church St.  The little shop was then (I think) a repair shop of sorts.  The house to the right was occupied by the Roth family.  On the East side of Main Street:  on the right was a butcher shop (sawdust covered white tile floor) and then Keyrouse's drug store and then Keyrouse's liquor store.  A little farther North was Anne's ladies shop.  To the left was St. Pauls Luthern Church (hence Church St).  I was a member and was confirmed there as were my siblings.  No stinking 'playground' in those days!  The car is a 1955 Chevy which helps date the photo

BTW the 'black roadhouse' on Pascack was the "White Birches" even in the 70s.  It was founded by the father of Allen Gales (sp?).  Allen was a friend of mine.

An NHS '68er has this to add:

Hey Dan:

My cousin sent me your link about Nanuet. Nice. I grew up there in the 60's. I lived in the little house at 13 Highview Avenue next to the building that was Elliott's luncheonette. We owned the building, which was actually an old barn or garage, that was Elliott's. The photograph in your postcard gallery is not Elliott's. Elliott's was much bigger, if you stood on the playground side of the street, it had a picture window with a red lamp hanging in it, then in the middle the doorway in, then to the right a more regular window. I have photos of it somewhere. Also our house didn't have a porch. My parents bought the property about 1953, and the house that we lived in was bought from the church and moved from the opposite end of the block. The church was expanding and was planning to knock the house down. It had a porch but in my mother's zeal to modernize it, and make it easier to move down the street, the porch was torn off. She often talked about regretting that decision. Anyway, it was interesting to read your perspective of growing up in Nanuet. My father was a volunteer fireman, as were most of his brothers, and he worked in Lederle Labs, as did most of his family, including my grandmother, and my father also worked for Charlie's meatmarket. I remember Charlie and his sons, one of which was young Charlie, and I am pretty sure my father delivered meat for then into the early 70's, I was surprised to read about running numbers???? I think maybe they sold the business, but then was it still called Charlies' Market?

Not sure what the mistaken Eliott's photo is of. But my father grew up in a house at the bottom of the hill on Church Street at Main street that looked like the house. I don't know if there was a little store there though.

My mother took over Elliott's, I think maybe after Overmeyer. Eliott's sold to someone, who really couldn't make a go of the business. My mother liked the extra income, my brother and I were in college at the time, so she took over the store. My mother was a fabulous cook, and she did quite well. It was hard work though, I helped out a little after I graduated from college ('72), I was doing some substitute teaching, and my two younger sisters worked there a lot. She ran it 1970 to probably about 73, if you graduated in 82, you were about 8 in 70, so did you go to Elliott's then? My mother was calling it Highview Luncheonette.

Thanks for your site on Nanuet, it was fun to look at.

Ted Eckman tells me this:

Hi Dan!!

Enjoyed your web page!  Was reminiscing to the wife about my being a kid and the name Requa Lake popped up out of one of the cracks in my brain.So, Google it and here we are. First of all, I live in Michigan which as you know is so far west of the Hudson River in Steinberg's mind that it can't even be seen on the distant horizon.

I grew up in Bergen County. Oradell. One of the greatest joys of my misspent  adolesence was when we took a day to go to Requa Lake.  I was amazed to see your postcard entry.Sixty years later (I'm 75) the postcard recalls it as I imagined. Especially the high slide!! I can't tell you how many hundred of times I went down the thing. Pure joy! I remember my mom used to tell me that I could swim until my lips turned blue.

Jewish?? Well, not quite. Although in Oradell You couldn't find a Jew without an electron microscope! Except Mr. Julius Smith (??) who ran the local newspaper store on Kinderkamack. (He used to ask us boys "How's your schlonker?) But, I, living in metro New York learned a little about being Jewish. I graduated from Dwight Morrow High in Englewood (Oradell then didn't have a high school) where 1/3 of the kids were Jewish and to this day I keep in contact with many of my friends who were. Horowitz, Grossman, Levy, Marcus, Spack, Snitz and Turteltaub, (Saul, Google him.).

Route 17, as you know, cut going north from the city to NY state was always interesting. In the '30s and 40's half of New York emptied and came across the bridge and headed north on 17 to get to the Jewish Alps. They had these large black sedans. Often they would remove the trunk lid and attach a wooden box extension out the back where they could cram more stuff in. And  running board gates which ran from the front fender to the back fender so stuff could be transported between the gates and the car. Both sides which meant if the gates were in place on both sides, pop had to crawl in through a window to drive the car. And, yes, a dissambeled crib on the roof of the car plus a mattress or two. We used to call them mockie freighters and Bronx bombers. Somehow we were always envious of the kids in those cars since we knew they were having a time we would never know. We were told that Grossinger's (The Concord, Kiamesha Lake etc.) actually rented unfurnished rooms for the weekend. 

Summers I worked for the Hackensack Water Co at Lake Deforest. I actually was hired to watch the kids fish at the fishing gate which was at the west end of the causeway road from New City to Congers. I got paid $2.09.5?hr. For sitting doing nothing.   

I appreciate much of your site. The humor is the best of it.

Jim Barrett remembers, 9/07:

Enjoyed your site about Nanuet. Grew up there, and although I moved out in 72, my Mom still resides there. I couldn’t help but notice you used the obscure term “sliding pond” while talking about the lake. You must be from Brooklyn NY, as I have only found a very small handful of people who can tell me what a sliding pond is. I have searched the web for the origin of that term, only to find it might have come from a small section of NYC.

I used to frequent a small burger joint in front of the Mall called Jolly Boys, I don’t know if you recall that. It was located next to a strip of stores that had a TV repair shop in it called Hardans TV Repair, a place that I hung out in because of my passion for electronics. Well thanks for the great site, will spread it around.

Elliot Sherr, NHS 82, writes in the following:

I used to get my pizza at Jocarr Pizza, but I really always thought it was Joe Carr's Pizza (I was 5, I don't know if I could read) and we never went to Rex's since it was so far from my house.

Of course I remember Elliott's across from Highview, with the sign that said "Hershey's Ice Cream" on it in big letters. I used to go there after school and buy fireballs (1 cent each) and then suck on it all the way home (the advantage of being a walker). I also used to walk with my dad to Boggianno's and we would buy a pack of baseball cards every weekend. I would get 50 cents for allowance, spend 25 cents on cards and save the other quarter for my first car (that was the plan)!!!

There was also a really small toy store on the corner of Main St. and 59 (across the street from the Hebrew Center), this then became a furniture store and then who knows. But, I remember it was an old dusty toy store, way before there was a Lionel Kiddy City near the Korvettes (in the same mall as the Nedick's). I also remember the Nedick's - - that's where the McDonald's is right now.