John Loring Shares Tiffany & Co. Stories Of Louis Comfort Tiffany

Louis Comfort Tiffany’s designs shown at historical society’s event  

John Loring made Louis Comfort Tiffany (LCT) truly Oyster Bay’s own in his lecture April 22 at the Oyster Bay Community Center, hosted by the Oyster Bay Historical Society (OBHS).  Mr. Loring, design director emeritus of Tiffany & Co. spoke about his recently published book Louis Comfort Tiffany at Tiffany & Co. in a slide presentation. The photographs on the screen followed their order in the book and remembering his talk, will enrich the reading experience for those who bought the book. Signed copies of the $60 volume sold for $40 to benefit the OBHS, which most of the audience opted to do. Copies, unsigned, are still available at the historical society’s Earle-Wightman House shop at 20 Summit Street.

View Tall Ships In NY Harbor, Reservations Needed

Celebrate the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 on May 23

In celebration of the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, a parade of ships will be sailing into New York Harbor on May 23, beginning at 8 a.m. The Oyster Bay Historical Society and the Post Library Association are sponsoring a trip to the Brooklyn waterfront to view these spectacular sailing vessels.

Interestingly, President Theodore Roosevelt published his first book, The Naval War of 1812, written partly while he was at Harvard. It set the standard for studies in naval strategy and was required reading at Annapolis for many years.

Oyster Bay Impersonates The Hamptons For The Popular TV Series Royal Pains

Too bad the public doesn’t know when it’s Oyster Bay or the Hamptons

“Wow,” said Harlan Friedman, Oyster Festival co-promoter, as he was walking to his office in the B.H. Powers building on Audrey Avenue. “With my face buried in my morning Starbucks and my ear glued to my Blackberry, I saw something miraculous. It was a new store, right across the street from my office. It was filled with golf bags and clubs! Nike, Callaway, Taylor Made, you name it, they were all there!

“I dropped everything. I ran up to the guy putting the sign up and as I was about to ask when they were opening... Well, actually, I asked, instead, if this was a real golf store, but it turned out it was a Royal Pains store. Looks like we still have to leave town for our golf needs to be filled.”

There Was No Prohibition On Cocktail Culture’s Sold-Out Preview

Exhibit at Planting Fields on Cocktail Culture running now through September 30

It was a sold-out affair as Coe Hall Mansion, at Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay, held a preview party for the opening of their new exhibition “Cocktail Culture: the Gold Coast Years From Prohibition To 1960,” on March 30. The exhibit is running now through Sept. 30. 

Henry Joyce, Planting Fields Foundation (PFF) executive director, has once again created a well-designed exhibit space in Coe Hall Mansion’s Great Hall. He summed up the new show saying he would like visitors to come to Planting Fields and see the Cocktail Culture exhibit. “It’s about clothes that would have been worn in the house in the period of the house’s heyday, 1920 through 1960.” There are great  flapper clothes from the ‘20s and wonderful clothes from the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. And included are marvelous accessories, shoes, bags and great cocktail hats, including one of Mr. Joyce’s favorites, a small green cocktail hat by Elsa Schiaparelli.

Gillibrand, Israel Host LI Sound Roundtable

Legislators seek regular funding schedule to preserve Sounds economic engine

Oyster Bay, known for its pristine water quality as a result of years of good stewardship – a great place to grow oysters and clams – was chosen as the location for a roundtable discussion on funding for the Long Island Sound. On April 13, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Congressman Steve Israel hosted a Protect the Long Island Sound roundtable with local stakeholders held at the Sagamore Yacht Club. Federal funding for restoration and stewardship programs to protect Long Island Sound expired at the end of 2011. Senator Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Representative Israel, a co-chair of the Long Island Sound Caucus, introduced legislation last month to support the restoration of Long Island Sound through 2016. The LI Sound borders New York and Connecticut, with 8 million people living on the coast and 20 million people living within 50 miles.

100th Anniversary Of Titanic Links W.R. Coe To Voyage

Theodore Roosevelt White House aide Archie Butt went down with the ship   

Timing is everything, and the choices W. R. Coe, whose mansion Coe Hall is the centerpiece of Planting Fields Arboretum State Park, made on his voyages crossing the pond, all worked to his advantage. John Hammond, Oyster Bay town historian says in his book Oyster Bay Remembered, that Mr. Coe was booked on the Titanic on April 12; however, because his wife, Mai, was ill, he changed his reservation on a later date to the Lusitania.

Henry Joyce, Planting Fields Foundation executive director said, “Mr. Coe was not booked on the maiden voyage of the Titanic, but was booked for a return voyage from New York to Southampton. With the sinking of the Titanic, they instead re-booked on the Lusitania in June of that summer.” That was why their new Renault Landaulet, which they bought in Paris in June 1912, was shipped by rail to London for their use while they were in England that summer.

TR In The Spotlight At April 12 Lecture, The Progressives And The Constitution

Friends of Sagamore Hill’s Dr. John A. Gable lecture series continues

It is once again time for the Dr. John A. Gable Lecture Series sponsored by the Friends of Sagamore Hill (FOSH) and held at Christ Church Parish Hall. The series kicked off on March 29 with a talk by Lieutenant Colonel Gregory Wynn speaking on “Theodore Roosevelt: The Intellectual: TR as writer, contributor, and correspondent.” The next lecture in the series takes place on Thursday, April 12 at 7:15 p.m., as James L. Coll, associate professor of American and Constitutional history at Nassau Community College speaks on “The Progressives and the Constitution.” Admission is free and refreshments are served.

Estampas Folkloricas Peru To Perform On April 12 At HCC Dinner

This year the 15th Annual Hispanic Cultural Center dinner will showcase three performances by Estampas Folkloricas Peru. Estampas Folkloricas Perú is a nonprofit organization whose main goal is to preserve, promote, and diffuse Peruvian folklore and cultural manifestations through dance and music. Its repertoire includes traditional dances from the different regions of Peru, including the coast, the mountain areas and the jungle.

Most members of the dance group are students from colleges, universities and schools districts in Nassau and Suffolk Counties and New York City.

OB-EN Writers Win Awards at RHM’s Great Presidents Contest

Educational excitement in the OB-EN school halls extends to Raynham Hall Museum

Educational enrichment comes in many forms. The classrooms of the Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School and the James H. Vernon School are often buzzing with excitement as parents and friends share in many writing celebrations with students as young as kindergarten ages. These celebrations and the reading and writing programs in place in the Oyster Bay-East Norwich schools have been praised by the Columbia University Teachers College and visited and studied by teachers from other districts all over Long Island.

There’s Still a Great Variety of Items at Buckingham Village

Buckingham’s Variety Store is reinvented as Buckingham Village

Something old has become something new as Buckingham’s Variety Store has reinvented itself into Buckingham Village. It is located at 36 Audrey Avenue in downtown Oyster Bay. Walter Imperatore, of Renaissance Property Associates, LLC, who manages the Oyster Bay real estate for owner Charles Wang said, “It is a new concept for the store. It’s been an idea in the back of our minds for a while. Recently, it seemed to us that there were a lot of little businesses that wanted to open up locally. Think Long Island First was the first. They were recently joined by Chef Fran’s Kitchenware. Now we have these different store owners with their own products sharing space.”