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MASTIC BEACH
PHARMACY
It never ceases to amaze me, this entire spin off saga of trying to recreate and find as much pictorial or written history of my home town as I have in the last six years. Just a few weeks ago I got an e mail from John Doucette a retired Suffolk County Police Officer, in response to my call for a photo of the Mastic Beach Pharmacy that sat in the middle of our town. While John didn't have any photos, what he did have was information as he worked there in the 1960's and he gave me a tip on where I could find Bernie Siegel the pharmacist son of pharmicist Alan Siegel who along with his partner Marty Cogan ran the store for most of the time when I was kid. Bernie who runs The Medicine Shoppe in East Patchogue also worked at his Dad's store in the '60's . So I sent off a letter to Bernie and within a few days of doing so a Milt Price (bless him for photgraphing everything in sight in Mastic Beach from the '30's - 50's!) photo post card turns up on E Bay of the store in it's original configuration. While the auction was winding down, I also had recieved a short response back from Bernie saying "Sorry I Do Not Have Any Photos" and so I stayed on the auction and hoped I would not be outbid because in my 6 years of watching for Mastic Beach photos on E Bay...this was the first time I ever saw this one ! One door closes and another one opens.
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The unaltered store that Albert A. Glassman first opened about 1945. Originaly around 1941 the drug store was located on Mastic Road near the 5 corners in this building below.
November 2006
In any event sometime in the 1940's the Glassmans relocated to a new building on the northwest corner of Elder & Neighborhood directly across the street from the Kozy Korner Ice Cream parlour. The structure of the building is very reminiscent of the store that was first known as Wards General Store in section one and I would not be surprised if the were built by the same person. The diamond shaped Coca Cola sign was gone by the time Phil Trypuc took photos of the town looking west from the 5 corners circa 1952 , but the overhead Drugs & Soda sign was still up. Notice there are no sidewalks yet. By 1949 the Glassman's expanded the building and moved the garage to behind the store facing Elder Dr. The Glassmans may of lived upstairs of it as there was an apartment above with a door in the alleyway between the drugstore and Izzy Sirulnick's Hardware store. You can see that in this October 1949 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map and these photos of the west wing and Izzy's.
Blue Arrow Is Milt Price's Camera Angle.
"THE WEST WING"
I can still recall my first time inside it (around 1951) and being fascinated by the all wooden cedar souviners they carried. Plaques, wooden boxes, lamps, wishing wells etc. I was probably more interested in those than the toys. By the late '50's the plastic model kits they carrried helped fill out my collection. On many a Sunday when I had nothing to do, they were the only store open that carried models. The others Jay -Don's Hobby or the 5 & 10 were closed. My pal Jack Rutigliano also remembers if you were a few pennies short for a model kit (most were priced between .98 cents to $1. 29 , affable Marty Cogan would let you slide and say "Next Time Kid" I also bought many a Hot Rod and Car Craft and Rod and Custom magazine off their newstand.
This post card which is post marked Mastic Beach July 12 1948 no doubt came from there. The message on the back says " 7, 10, 48 : Hello Mr & Mrs Nolder : Here I am up here at Mastic Beach having a wonderful time wish you were here. I arrived here this morning. Will write more cards later. My regards to all..... Mike... The Nolders lived in North Braddock, Pa. and I found the card in West Virginia some 58 years later ! In this 1940's photo taken at a New Years Eve party in Paul Schulte's Mrs. Glassman is id'd by Greta Speiss Tucker as one of the two ladies sitting by Paul Schulte Sr. who obviously has stood up to perhaps make a toast... "To Mastic Beach.... A Great Little Town to work and live in"
Around 1970 either the Drug Store or Izzy's Caught Fire...... Because the buildings were so close to each other neither one was saved nor rebuilt. I am still hoping to find a picture of Alan Siegel and a better one of Marty Cogan who appeared in this Meet Your Local Pharmicist Ad in the Moriches Tribune March of 1959 .
BERNIE SIEGEL CIRCA 1957
