Community Corner

City's 90th Anniversary Bash Set for Kennedy Plaza

Sunday's celebration of Long Beach will strike a 1920's theme.


Long Beach will turn back the clocks this weekend, back to the days of Prohibition when rumrunners and West End speakeasies thrived and Flo Ziegfeld and his “scantily clad girls” frolicked on the beach.

The City of Long Beach turned 90 on April 13, the date when the Village of Long Beach gained a New York State charter incorporating it as a city in 1922, and to commemorate the occasion the Long Beach Island Landmarks Association and the city will hold an anniversary celebration at Kennedy Plaza, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 3.

The Roaring Twenties-themed event will showcase a display of Long Beach photos from yesteryear, a bus tour, band and fashion show.

Doug Sheer, a member of the Landmarks Association and Long Beach Historical & Preservation Society, said that the association was searching for at least a year for a way to commemorate the founding of the city. “We realized that what was coming up was the 90th anniversary and that seemed like a prime to remember the city,” he said.

Sheer will display about 20 over-sized versions of his vintage photos and postcards of Long Beach scenes, structures and people in the lobby at City Hall. “I’ll be there until about 1 p.m. just talking and answering questions,” he said.

Outside, a harmonica band will perform period music and residents will model 1920's costumes, donated by the Salvage Chic, as part of a fashion show. An eclectic mix of vendors will line the plaza, and some will sell raffles and prizes. Baskin Robbins will hold a contest with 31 Long Beach-related questions, and whoever answers each one correctly wins a scoop of ice cream.

Long Beach radio show host will emcee the event. “To participate in an event of this magnitude and pay tribute to 90 years of history in Long Beach is a wonderful thing,” Appel said. “I am looking forward to interviewing many people and making this event fun and entertaining for everyone that participates.”

The days kicks off at the neighboring Long Island Rail Road station, where an historical marker will be dedicated at the front of the station starting at 9 a.m. The markers, three in all, were made possible through a grant from Nassau County to the Landmarks Association, and two others will be post in other parts of town this summer.

At 1 p.m., two buses will depart from the plaza on a heritage tour that will circle the island from the West End to Point Lookout. The approximately two-hour excursion will make two stops, one at the Felix House, a historic home in the city’s Red Brick District, and at Riverside Boulevard at the boardwalk. “Where, weather permitting, we’ll get out and talk about the Long Beach Hotel, we’ll talk about the history of Long Beach and the boardwalk, the wreck of the Mexico in January 2, 1837, the Foundation Block and things like that,” said Sheer, who will serves as a guide.

The association mailed several invitations to the 90th celebration, including to government officials from City Manager Jack Schnirman and City Council President Fran Adelson to Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg and former senator, Al D’Amato.

Sheer said that the city’s present and prior administrations were instrumental in making the celebration possible. “We’ve been working with the city officials quite a bit and they’ve been very helpful.”


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