A talented writer running a personal blog named More Glib Than Profound posted a chronicling of his childhood memories of F.W.I.L. Lundy’s Bros. Restaurant. Living in Sheepshead Bay all my life, I’ve heard so many stories of the massive restaurant that, as legend has it, sold 15,000 meals on Mother’s Day. But Lundy’s was before my time, and the portrait painted in my mind was thinly done. More Glib, however, made me feel like I was there, to the point that in the middle of it I jumped out of my chair on Monday night and strode over to Randazzo’s (the closest equivalent, which he also writes about) to partake in beer and clams at the bar.
What he writes of the restaurant’s history is a little off. But in terms of atmosphere, if you’re too young to remember Lundy’s as it was in the 1960s, read More Glib’s account. Here’s an excerpt:
Lundy’s had NO hostess service. That meant it wasYOUR job to scour the place for a vacant table. During summer weekends or holidays at prime dinner hours, you were left on your own to compete with other families to scout-out this two-level football field-like dining room. It should also be noted that Lundy’s had other smaller, intimate nooks and crannies in the labyrinth of rooms along Ocean Avenue.
In emergencies, we traveled in pairs to hunt down unoccupied tables. If there weren’t any, one of us would stake a claim on a table while the existing party was finishing. Then the other would run to alert the rest of our clan.
I stopped by the Winsor McCay “Hell House” (1811 Voorhies) yesterday to snap photos of the damage left by Friday’s fire. I spotted this stained glass window that I never noticed before. I couldn’t get a good shot of it without trespassing, so I let it be and moved on.
Lisanne, however, is an adventurous soul who braved the wilds of the neighbor’s yard, and got this great shot. Not only is the glass cool – and probably original – but the aesthetics of the photo itself are really spectacular. The green moss contrasts the purple hue of the glass, and then there’s orange and blue – I mean, this photo just came out way better than mine. Props to Lisanne.
Damage didn’t appear to be too bad to the exterior of the Winsor McCay “Hell House” (1811 Voorhies Avenue), and the structure seems salvageable. The second floor windows were boarded up along the front. On the side, only one window – the forward-most one – was boarded. All others were intact, suggesting that the worst of the fire may have been contained to the front of the house.
Below is a gallery of photos. The ones of the damage were taken by Sheepshead Bites. The ones of the fire were taken by Eugene D., a reader who happened to be going by during the fire. He sent them this morning.
The Sheepshead Bay “Hell House” earned its moniker Friday morning after a smoky fire forced panicked residents out into the two-day blizzard.
Firefighters responded at about 8:30 a.m. after the blaze broke out on the second floor of the three-story, single-room-occupancy building at 1811 Voorhies Avenue.
It took upwards of 60 smoke-eaters nearly a half-hour to beat the fire down.
No injuries to either firefighters or civilians were reported.
The cause of the blaze, which erupted on the second floor, was still unknown by Friday afternoon, but fire sources listed it as suspicious. Fire marshals were investigating.
FDNY sources said that there was “a good amount” of fire and water damage because it took so long to put the blaze out.
We haven’t been to the location yet to view the damage ourselves, but hope to this afternoon. We’ll let you know if it’s as bad as it sounds. We’re hoping that this doesn’t mean a restoration is totally out of the question, or that it is so damaged it must be torn down.
We’ll watch closely and get back to you as we find out more.
Before the neighborhood had Applebee’s, before we had T.G.I. Fridays, and before Coldstone Creamery, there was Beefsteak Charlie’s.
Over on Facebook, we’ve been reminiscing about the nearly-forgotten metropolitan chain since I brought it up yesterday. For those too young or too new to the area to remember, Beefsteak Charlie’s was a steakhouse across the street from Waldbaum’s on the corner of Shore Parkway and Ocean Avenue. Back then, you could get unlimited salad, unlimited shrimp, bottomless pitchers of beer, and endless platters of ribs for way under $20.00.
For me, it was the go-to restaurant of choice. My three brothers and I ate off the kids menu and gobbled down shrimp from the salad bar. It’s probably the first place I ever had a shrimp, a rib, or a sip of beer.
It shut down in the mid- to late-90s, one of the last of 60+ locations. There are still two locations in Manhattan and one on Long Island, but it’s unknown if they have any relationship to the chain that sprung out of the Manhattan restaurant first opened in 1910.
After seeing our posts about 1811 Voorhies Avenue, now known to some as the “Hell House” for its graffiti and nefarious residents, local historian Joseph Ditta sent us the above photo of the same house published 101 years ago.
According to Ditta, the photo came from a very rare 1909 marketing pamphlet titled Views of Picturesque Sheepshead Bay. The home was occupied at the time by Winsor McCay, a pioneering cartoonist who influenced Walt Disney, Moebius, William Joyce, and Maurice Sendak. His most iconic series wasLittle Nemo in Slumberland. McCay died in 1934 and was buried at the Cemetery of the Evergreens.
Now, more than a century after it was built and lived in by a historical icon, the property’s owners seek to tear down the structure and replace it with condominiums. Failing that, they’re attempting to subcontract it to the city for a new life as a halfway house or homeless shelter. Such a turn would seal its fate to further destruction, until it’s finally pulled down and forgotten about like so many of Sheepshead Bay’s notable structures.
What should be done is a full restoration and landmarking. Evidence of Sheepshead Bay’s rich cultural history is fading fast, and homes like the Winsor McCay House ought to be preserved to remind people of our past. Like the other historical homes of Brooklyn, the McCay House could be a museum, cultural center, and pillar of community organizing for generations to come – a far more desired asset in Sheepshead Bay than another condo or halfway house.
Over the weekend, we asked all our Facebook buddies to upload their old photos of Sheepshead Bay and tag them “Sheepshead Bites”. We were happy to see some readers listened, and a dozen or so photos poured in. This one came from Lisanne, a 1961 photo of East 13th Street looking towards Homecrest Avenue and Neck Road. I can’t even begin to imagine fields in Sheepshead Bay.
It’s not too late to add yours. Go friend us on Facebook, and then start uploading new and old photos of the area and tag them “Sheepshead Bites”. They’ll still be totally under your control – it just allows our friends to see them.
“The truth is out there” may have been Fox Mulder’s motto, but it’s one the Sheepshead Bites staff will have to adopt as well.
On February 1, 1998, Sheepshead Bay resident and UFO enthusiast Alex Cavallari witnessed something he had no doubt been waiting for: Mr. Cavallari had a sighting. Yet just over a decade later, the case and the witness has all but disappeared.
Mr. Cavallari described the object as a “small orange/red colored light dot in the Eastern sky” over Nostrand Avenue, near Avenue X. Capturing it on his 35mm camera, he described it as being the size of a “basketball when viewed at arm’s length” and “appeared to be a solid mass of light.”
John Foster of the Accidental Mysteries blog stumbled across this photo of the Rockaways, circa 1910. Besides being an amazing photo, it gives a lot of insight into what life – and architecture – might have been like on our side of the shore. Sheepshead Bay, especially around Plumb Beach, had bungalow colonies similar to this one, used initially as summer homes for the city’s wealthier residents. If you take a stroll around some of the alleys on the eastern portion of Emmons Avenue, you can still find many homes like this, though now they’ve got more of that “lived in (for 100 years)” look and none of the symmetry.
Sheepshead Bay Rd. and Jerome Avenue in the early 20th Century and now (St. Marks in the background) (Courtesy of Forgotten NY)
Did you know there are two Sheepshead Bay Roads? One of our favorite amateur historians, Kevin Walsh, took a historical stroll down Sheepshead Bay Road in his latest update to Forgotten NY. He explains the formation and original paths of one of Southern Brooklyn’s few remaining original roads, existing before the grid pattern confined our streets to boring, practical layouts.
Walsh also takes a look at the character of the current Sheepshead Bay, comparing it to the racetrack and hotels of past eras. When you see the article, you begin to understand why roads like Voorhies Avenue and Jerome Avenue strike out where they do, and can get a sense of what our area may have felt like back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
While you’re at Forgotten NY, don’t forget to check out his 2006 three-part series exploring more of Sheepshead Bay.
![Sheepshead Bay Rd. and Jerome Avenue in the early 20th Century and Now (St. Marks in the background) [Courtesy of Forgotten NY]](http://sheepsheadbites.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/SheepsheadBayRd_JeromeAve.jpg "Sheepshead Bay Rd and Jerome Avenue")
