Bad Economy? For Some At Least

Man, as I write this, the Dow Jones is again down 337 points. Retail sales for October are down 2.8 percent. I guess you've heard the old saying, shop till you drop. Well I guess everyone has just dropped! I've just returned from a local steak house tonight with the old lady. I got there about quarter to six, and by seven the place was filled. Apparently there are still people out there, like me, who don't mind dropping a couple of C notes for a decent steak dinner. A chat with the owner of a local liquor store this afternoon revealed his sales are up 20 percent. He attributes this, to people not going out to restaurants as much, and buying their wine at his store. Although this was not indicated by what I saw tonight, I have noticed weeknights seem slower however. Speaking of restaurants, in the 60's there were not many around Sag Harbor. The Remkus family had the Seaside right next to the North Haven bridge. The late Dr. Harry Diner here in Noyac, bought the place over 20 years ago and called it the Harbor Professional Building. The family sold it last year and soon it will become condo's. There was Alippo's Spaghetti House on lower Main Street, where you would see Mrs. Alippo sitting out in front of her place on a chair at all hours. as well as Race's Drug store a couple of doors up, where the bike shop is now, where you could get fountain service. The original Paradise Restaurant, not the same one as is there now, was on Main St. and was THE local hangout. You had at least a half dozen bars downstreet, but they survived on serving drinks, not food. On the cove, you had Baron's Cove Inn, opened about 1962 by Frank Barry. That place is also in the process of becoming condo's at this time. Right outside town you had Tony's Coffee Shop on the Turnpike, and Lenny's Casino on the corner of Long Beach Road and Noyac Road. And that's about it. Local families did not eat out that much, if at all, so that was the reason for few restaurants. The same was not true for booze. A lot of the population drank, and this supported the many bars around town, along with at least two liquor stores that stayed open till ten on weekends, Christy's and Sag Harbor Liquors.The Paradise Restaurant in 1969