A Building With Many Faces: 98 Beach Street

 

98 Beach Street, btw 1943 and 1947

It's only recently I learned this building burned down in 1976. Growing up in Stapleton, we went up and down to the stores and library around Tappan Park almost weekly, but I haven't the slightest memory of the building. The site was vacant for about forty years, only being built on about a decade ago.

I first caught sight of the building when I was doing research on the Van Duzer - Beach Street intersection. There's no full-on view as with many of the tax photos. The photographer approached it from an angle, which was a good thing, because it allows us to see the building in the context of its neighbors and street. 

 ca. 1940 - I was immediately curious about the name "WALTER" across the front in my first glimpse of the building

ca. 1940 - Walter is revealed as Walter B. Cooke

According to this informative page, Walter B. Cooke was a major entrepreneurial undertaker who opened funeral parlors across the region. He sold his chain in the early fifties, but the name lives on in several locations.

When I say the building had a complicated history, it's more that I mean it had several very distinct uses in its lifetime. From the various maps, I can tell it was built sometime before WWI, but not what specific year or for what purpose.

The first tenant I can discern is Walter B. Cooke's funeral parlor. Around 1943, it became home to the United Seamen's Service. It's a non-profit established in 1942 to support Americans connected to the maritime industries. It operated there for about four years before moving to South Beach and then closing. 

After the USS, it became the Villa Restaurant. That doesn't seem to have lasted that long and the next tenant was the Meurot Club. It had been a fixture of St. George and Staten Island nightlife for decades. Its original location was located on the corner of St. Marks and Fort Place. 

the Meurot Club from in front of Brighton Heights Dutch Reform Church, ca 1940

the Meurot Club from the east side of Fort Place, ca. 1940

The Meurot Club decamped to Stapleton in the sixties and seems to have operated there for less than ten years. In 1972, 98 Beach St opened as the Keyes, a dinner theater. The opening show was The Owl and the Pussycat. In 1974, a new owner took over the spot and it became Beau's La Comedie Restaurant (and discotheque). It was open until January 1976 when it burned down. 

And that's the way it stood for the next forty years.

January 13th, 1976

Lost Entertainment: the Miami Club

Miami Club, ca. 1940

Things were so very different in the past. Not necessarily the long ago past, but long enough that most of us don't know about them. 

A clear thing I've learned just by looking at maps and photos, is that we were once a much more social society. There were bowling alleys, pool halls, bars, and halls and night clubs all over the place. People went out to do things and then did them among big groups of other people. This must have been still going on when I was young (in the seventies). The change seems to have really taken hold by the early nineties. That's when things like the Columbian Lyceum and most of the bowling alleys started getting knocked down. I think there are only three actual pool halls and two bowling alleys left on the Island. 

In my research these socializing places turn up everywhere. Part of it is because neighborhoods were different in the past; some more upscale, some more downscale, others had large centers of employment that encouraged bars and pool halls, etc. The other part is that we just did this more; people went out and joined the Elks, the KToday, most of us, at least once a little older, seem to cocoon ourselves in our homes and with our immediate family. 

It's only a vacant lot, now, but once upon a time, there was a little tropical oasis on the corner of Brighton Avenue and Ely Street in New Brighton, just a block from Jersey Street. It was called the Miami Club and hosted comedians, singers, and dancers regularly for years. 

Originally, Frank Santore (1903-1974) opened it as a bar after the repeal of prohibition in 1933. He later turned it into a club and ran it as that for 34 years. Around 1967 he must have sold it, and Michael Supino (1923-1994) took it over. According to his obituary, he ran it for 5 years. Articles in the paper show it went into foreclosure in early '73 and another piece implies the building came down in 1975 or so. Since then it's looked like what's below.

Corner of Brighton and Ely, 11/24

Back then, as can been seen HERE, Jersey Street was a thriving commercial strip. By the time I was a kid, most of that was gone. Back in the day, you could see all sorts of acts. From ads in the Advance, I discovered some of the performers' names: Alan Dale, Val Valente and His Orchestra, local comedian Joe Cavalon and regular performers Carroll & Gorman. Sometimes people on the way up did early gigs, such as Vic Damone, Jimmy Roselli, and Judy Scott.

The most interesting thing I discovered was a blog post from 2005 by singer/songwriter Naomi Caryl. One of her earliest gigs was at the Miami Club. They liked her enough to have her back four or five times.

Many people ask me, 'What were these Nightclubs like?' Well, no surprise: people 'smoked like chimneys' and 'drank like fish' in these clubs. They truly did, of course. And the last thing that the customers were interested in was 'the show', except for the "Exotic Dancer". And the management was only interested in what you did if it helped to sell drinks.

The third singing job I had was in a small but rather interestingly decorated Club on Staten Island called. "The Miami Club". It had fake Palm Trees and everything else that signified "Miami".....and it was quite a challenge to get there. Back then, there was no Verenzanno Bridge to get over to Staten Island from Long Island. 

You had to drive into New York City, if you weren't already there---which I wasn't----and take the then only way to get to S.I., The Staten Island Ferry....It was a rather picturesque little trip because you not only saw all the buildings in the skyline of Manhattan, but you also saw The Statue of Liberty, coming and going. In those days these clubs didn't close until 4 AM, though usually they let you go around 2:45 am or so.....Anyway, they loved me at The Miami Club, and so I was asked back there to perform, four or five times. Just as an aside, one of the "Exotic Dancers" that played that club with me billed herself as "Whirling Janet From Another Planet". Great name, isn't it? And she was a really nice fun young gal with a great sense of humor 

Naomi Caryl, 2005

Contrasting ads from the Santore and the Supino eras; not much difference between 1960 and 1972. I love that the '72 ad asks for men to wear jackets to watch the go-go girls. It really was a different world. 

Based on what I read in the Advance, I can go down a deep, deep well investigating the history of clubs like the Miami all across the North Shore. So get ready for it. If you have a club or hall in mind, let me know, and I'll see what I can find.