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Friday, November 24, 2017
Vol. 77, No. 47
ROBBINS LANE CAR WASH
Syosset brothers open dessert shoppe & speakeasy BY GARY SIMEONE
The Robbins Lane 5th graders had a fun, successful and wet day fundraising at the annual car wash on October 14th. Special thank you to the Syosset Fire Department for surprising the children with a firetruck to wash and for supporting the PTA! See page 6.
SHS junior to dance in The Nutcracker
Eglevsky Ballet, Long Island’s premier ballet company and academy presents its annual production of the holiday classic, The Nutcracker, featuring choreography by the company’s executive artistic director, Maurice Brandon Curry and starring Unity Phelan, soloist at New York City Ballet as the “Sugar Plum Fairy” and Jared Angle, principal dancer at New York City Ballet as her “Cavalier”. This year, “Clara” is being portrayed by 16-year old Yumiko Yanagihara of Syosset. Miss Yanagihara is a junior at Syosset High School. Celebrated film and stage actor Chris Comfort will portray Clara’s lovable and mysterious godfather, “Drosselmeyer”. Under the direction of maestro David Bernard, the Massapequa Philharmonic Orchestra will play Tschiakovsky’s magnificent
score. The performances will take place on Saturday, December 16th, at 1pm and and 5pm and Sunday, December 17th at 2 PM at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of Long Island University in Brookville. This new production, which premiered last year, has a number of different elements chosen to dispense with the pas de deux usually performed by the Snow Queen and Snow King. Instead, it will be danced by Yanagihara as “Clara” and the “Nutcracker Prince”, portrayed by Eglevsky Ballet company dancer Greg DeSantis. Curry says, “By doing this, the connection between the two characters is more developed and also gives the opportunity for Clara’s dream to have a more poignant and personal effect on our audiences.”
By day, the storefront location at 294 Main Street in Farmingdale serves as an ice cream and dessert shoppe called Charlotte’s. By night, through a secret passageway down to an underground entrance, the location becomes a speakeasy for people to hang out, smoke, and enjoy an outdoor patio section. Nick and John Devito, two brothers who were raised in Syosset, opened Charlotte’s, who they named after their mother, in 2013. After spending many years in the printing business in Manhattan, the brothers decided it was time for a change and ended up looking for a space to rent on Long Island. They ended up in Farmingdale in a building that offers six apartment rentals, three retail stores, and leased office space. “We wanted to open a business, so we asked around the neighborhood what people would prefer and we got a lot of responses for a new coffee place,” said Nick. “We wanted to add a little more than coffee, so we added dessert items and ice cream and frozen yogurt choices to the menu.” He said the brothers felt Charlotte’s was a perfect complement to the surrounding businesses because it offered people a place to go for dessert after they had dinner at nearby restaurants. It was by happenstance that the brothers discovered the old speakeasy in the basement of the building six months ago. “We were refurbishing the downstairs area and happened to come upon this old speakeasy that supposedly had been in existence since the 1920’s. It was truly an incredible find,” said Nick. The speakeasy was in a state of disrepair, but still had some of its original parts in place including an untouched tin ceiling and wall covering. There were also ten wooden posts that were standing to support the ceiling. Devito said that they were able to salvage the tin wall covering and placed it in the entrance area. The original tin ceiling was taken down and transferred to the bathroom. The ten posts were also taken down and were reinforced with steel beams. “All of the wooden posts were used on the bartop. We made sure to repurpose and reuse all of the original stuff that was down there.” He said one of the coolest things about the speakeasy is that there is a secret entrance through a bookcase on the first floor that leads down into the location. There is also an escape route in the downstairs area with original tin wall covering that leads out into an adjacent parking lot in the building. “The route must have been built as a way for people to get out in case the cops showed up because in that time speakeasies were illegal.” The two brothers make a habit of giving tours of the building and speaking about the history of the location. “It’s kind of a fun thing for the kids,” said Nick. “We’ve had girl scout tours come through and recently hosted a Farmingdale Middle School class.”
Photographers unveil Faces of Syosset PAGE 4 HB Thompson sixth grade social PAGE 10