Overview

Change can be good or bad, depending on your point of view. South Beach, Staten Island today bears little resemblance to the South Beach of the past. Today, the seaside community across the Narrows from Brooklyn boasts playgrounds, ball fields, and some scattered businesses along a peaceful two-mile plus boardwalk. Back in the day, however, South Beach was a very different place. After railroad access was established in the 1880s, there was massive development of hotels, rides, restaurants, and attractions. South Beach at one time rivaled Coney Island with thousands of daily visitors, but then change came, and eventually all that was built was taken down. May's Hotel was over 60 years old and one of the last survivors of the boom era until it was demolished in 1956. This book is about May's Hotel and South Beach as seen through the eyes of a property manager who lived there with his extended Italian American family in the 1930s. He was responsible for running the Hotel, Dance Hall, bathing pavilions, and bungalows on the property and in 1939 hosted a special private concert where Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie performed together. The story pays tribute to the times of a bygone era as part of the rich history of old Staten Island.

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