Editor’s Note: Lou Sanders, who has his journalism degree from NYU, and his late wife, Grace, a graduate of Adelphi, founded the Mineola American in 1952, giving the village its first successful newspaper. Lou and Grace lived in Mineola for 60 years, and his popular column is a signature feature of this paper.
Former Mineola resident Grace Weismantel, who will be 90 years old in October, is a retired nurse living in Florida. She still drives to the store and to doctor appointments. She recently wrote to me saying, “I am not coming north anymore. The cold is too much for me. I still do volunteer work at the church and, by sitting down, I can interview people who need help with food and medical problems.” Grace and her late husband, Walter, were great friends of ours for many years.
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Former Mineola mayor John Colbert suffered a stroke in August and was hospitalized for 70 days. John recently wrote to me to say that the stroke resulted in paralysis on one side. Fortunately, he is now able to walk again and is regaining use of his right hand.
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Mineola Bicycle, Fitness and Mower was started by Ben and Seymour Rossman 80 years ago. The business is now run by Seymour’s daughter, Audrey. When they first started, the store was on Jericho Turnpike, across from the Bank of New York. They had a competitor around the corner, Nassau Bicycle, which was a much bigger store. In those days, their store was so small that they had to put all the bicycles outside in the daytime and bring them back in every night. Their competitor went out of business and they have since moved their store to the corner of Beebe Road and Jericho Turnpike. It is one of the biggest stores in Mineola.
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Bowlers Touch Pro Shop at 190 East Jericho Tpke., located in Sheridan Bowl, does a very brisk business.
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Peter Andrews has thousands of unique gifts. The store has been on Hillside Avenue for 36 years. They have beautiful furniture. Other stores like to be near them because they have so much traffic. The owners are brothers Peter and Andrew Orshan. They also have stores in Farmingdale and Huntington.
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Mineola Card and Smoke Shop sells cigars, cigarettes, beer, wine, and Lotto tickets. They are located at 428 Jericho Tpke. The shop has been there for 15 years.
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K&S Barber Shop, located at 77 East Jericho Tpke., is a family-friendly barber. Kenneth and Sam Alexander are the owners.
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Serafina Design is located at 169 Hillside Ave. They have been there for three years and are doing very well. They specialize in evening dresses and dresses for special occasions.
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Western Beef Supermarket has been located on East Second Street for the last 22 years. They have all sorts of food— meats, poultry, vegetables and more. Many Mineola people were hoping they would take over the old King Kullen Store on Jericho Turnpike, but it wasn’t in the cards. Western Beef has four locations in the area.
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A cub reporter was given an assignment to cover the big, fancy wedding of Mary Von Elm. He came back and his editor said to him, “Did you get the story?” The reporter said to him, “There was no story.” The editor said, “What do you mean?” The reporter said, “The bride didn’t show.” The editor said, “You, dummy. That was the story. What happened to her? Did she change her mind, have an accident, was kidnapped, or what?” That, my friends, was the first lesson I learned in Journalism 101.
