Man, 92, recalls his youth in Sea Cliff

I rode the trolley car all the time for five cents a trip from Glen Cove Landing to Sea Cliff when I was 6 years old. I remember that my parents danced at the Battershall Inn where the Memorial Park is now. I was born in Glen Cove, but grew up in Sea Cliff because my family lived and worked there.

I used to watch them play baseball at the parks, I worked here even when I was young and I swam down by the beach. We had a locker at the pavilion. My mom would throw me into the water and say, ‘Swim.’ You didn’t take lessons back then. I remember a cold bottle of Coca-Cola cost a nickel. I remember eating homemade ice cream at Schoelles down the street. They made the best ice cream. When my uncles got sick I sold cigars and cigarettes for 10 cents a pack.

Everybody knew everybody. It was a nice small community. On Sunday, at the stationery store, we used to write people’s names on the newspapers, so they could pick them up.