Harry Youngs Bicycle Shop

Man, every kid in Sag Harbor, who before he closed up shop in 1966 knew Harry Youngs. Harry owned a bike shop on Main Street in, what is now the southern part of Fisher's Antique Shop. Harry, and his partner Harry Wallace, fixed bikes and sold gas from a pump out front for 22 cents a gallon. These dudes, for some reason always dressed in black clothes and caps and reminded me, in appearance of the Wright Brothers as you seen on TV on their first flight. Harry was quite deaf and you had to shout to make him hear. He was also very old, as was Harry Wallace. Anyway, I got my first bike when I was five. I lived down by the Whaling Museum and had to walk back and forth to the Pierson every day. I started kindergarten and the first day, my mother had a neighborhood high school girl walk with me to school. I was only four. On the second day, the girl stopped at Cleveland's market on Henry Street to talk to some boys, so I proceeded on to school myself, and didn't need her anymore as I knew the way myself. Anyway, I figured I could cut my time in half to and from school if I had a bike. That's how I became acquainted with the Young's Bike shop. I was always racing around, crashing into trees at the bottom of Pierson hill, etc. so my bike was in the shop alot getting repaired. I broke the pedal off one day and Harry charged my mother 25 cents to weld it on. I remember there were always a hundred or more bikes laying around the shop. I guess the baby boom generation keep Harry busy with work. Next to Harry's shop was Ben Fisher's candy and coin shop. and just south of that was a barbershop owned by a man named Conklin, I believe. I did not really like getting a haircut from him so I usually hit Marty's or Sam's.



Harry outside his bicycle shop. Circa early 1960's
From the highly recommended book, Voices of Sag Harbor, Edited by Nina Tobier, Publisher: Harbor Electronic Publishing 2007