E-mail some old friends listed under the various pages. Check out the rest of the site links and please send updates if anything changes. Visit alumni forums to catch up on recent discussions. It's free and there is nothing to lose.
Thanks for visiting, come back often and stay in touch. 
IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN A 30 YEAR REUNION FOR THE CLASS OF 1979, LET US KNOW AS PLANNING MUST BEGIN SOON! THE CLASS OF 1979 25 YEAR EVENT was held at Stuart Thomas Manor in Farmingdale on August 7th, 2004 and it was a smashing success. Those of you who missed it will never understand the amount of fun possible in one night!
The 5 hours we set aside went by too fast. I only got to talk in detail to about half the people I wanted to. Many of us were not ready to call it a night and met at the Finish Line where the festivities continued into the wee hours.
It had been almost 10 years since I set foot in that place, but it still felt like home. I really hope we do this again in the future, and many others who attended expressed the same thoughts. Some spoke about being apprehensive about going,
but soon learned that there was no reason for this. Others came for the first time, having missed both the 10 and 20 year events. And of course the many who managed to go to all 3 events so far also helped make it a memorable night.
And so far, we have recieved no complaints, other than the line at the bar was too long! My apologies to anyone who was offended by by excessive photography or other antics, whatever those might have been! I personally had the best time ever at this reunion,
and not only was the company great but the food was too. Everyone looked great and very recognizable as well. Now lets stay in touch a little more, send someone an e-mail or something to say hello once in a while.
Don't forget to UPDATE YOUR INFORMATION so we can find you for future events!! All the photos are being put on the website and will soon be viewable in the size shown above. Any people from the class of 79 who are interested in a 30 year, start thinking about it... It'll be here sooner than you think!
And of course, anyone wishing to join me for future LI or NYC outdoor expeditions such
as hikes or bicycle rides, etc. get in touch! Anyone who would like to list their business info,
or has any other suggestions for this website, let me know. Hope to see more of everybody around LI now and then!
The Deer Park of our youth will never be forgotten. Many of us remember those days like they were yesterday and find it hard to believe all those years have passed since we left those sacred grounds one at a time to go out and face the real world on our own. We used to see friends every day. Then college or work slowly started to pull us in new directions, and we started to see everyone less often. Many of us moved more than once, settling in other states. As we took on more and more adult responsibilities, we all had less time to hang out. As the years went by, a lot of us lost touch with our old friends. "I'll call him or her next week" became next month, next year, and before you knew years passed by. And time itself seems to pass in a flash now. The seasons, now a mere blip, you close your eyes too long and the year is gone. Remember when summers seemed to last forever! And the school year DRAGGED on ever so slowly! What happened to all that, our good old Deer Park, and us? Does anyone really still care?
At least the web has provided us with opportunities to reconnect, if only once in a while, with our past. Things like cruising aimlessly up and down Deer Park Ave, grabbing a few cold ones, spending our hot summer days at Robert Moses, Gilgo, Cedar or Jones Beach and going into bars like OBI, Cheers, Colonial Pub, Hammerheads, Reflections (all long gone) and the Kozy Kabin and Finish Line (still there) at night. Hanging out on moonlit beaches with bonfires going till dawn, sleeping late and never worrying too much about adult responsibilities. We were not going to live life like our parents did...those boring old geezers!!! (or so we thought!)
A lot of things have changed since those glory days. If you have been away for 20 or 30 years you are in for a surprise. Many of the businesses are gone or changed, and several have moved around. Some local landmarks are gone. A lot of the shopping centers recieved facelifts and there are many new stores. And yet some things remain relatively unchanged. The schools look better now, they landscaped and refaced most of the exteriors. And although Deer Park is one of the most densely populated areas on Long Island, NYS Senator Johnson worked hard with many individuals and groups to preserve about 850 acres of rare Oak Brush plain ecosystem at the Edgewood/Oak brush plains preserve site on Comac Road, where there are several miles of hiking trails and bikepaths open. Free 3-year permits are available and you never have to pay for parking. For the most part the forest there looks like it did in the colonial era. Check out the new parking lot on Commack road and look out for new improvements, such as a fitness trail, in the future. Belmont Lake state park already added a nice fitness trail in the northern area of the park, easily accessible from Prairie drive. The old mysterious landmark "bridge to nowhere" on Commack road in Dix Hills WAS slated for demolition, although it connects hiking and bike trails leading from Otsego Park to the preserve and could become part of a regional trail leading to Bethpage State Park, Jones Beach and even Queen's Alley Pond Park. We are trying to get funding to restore the bridge and begin the regional trail project that could begin right in DP and go almost anywhere. A new park is being developed for the old OBI property. The OBI was sold and torn down a few years ago.
A committee is working to try to save the old bridge and get a recreational bike and pedestrian trail started to connect to the LI Motor Parkway trail through Nassau and into Queens. And there is no reason a shore to shore trail cannot be constructed along the Sunken Meadow and Sagtikos Parkways, and the Robert Moses Causeway. Another area worthy of preservation and clean up is the brook that runs behind Birchwood field, known as Sampawam's creek. This would be a nice greenbelt that could link to the bay. The wetlands running from Gieger Lake to Belmont (Carll's River) also might have potential. The good news is that the Ocean Parkway trail will finally be built next year, unless another lawsuit is filed against it. After that it will cross the causeway bridges by 2010, ending at Montauk highway. There is no reason it cannot be extended north to Sunken Meadow, linking to Edgewood and the old bridge along the way. The developer who bought Pilgrim will allow it to cross his lands.
There is little land left for residential or commercial development. The old Deer Park racetrack has been developed into homes. Remember the Deer Park airport? The movie theatres? How about the nearby drive in movies? Friendlies? Arby's? The beer distributor? The strawberry picking farms in Dix Hills? All are gone. The LIRR is electrified now and the Deer Park station was moved east to the Brentwood border. Right about where another old station was located around 1900. There is a 24 hour golf course adjacent to it. AIL closed its doors forever in May 2005 after being acquired by EDO. It has been demolished. and a TANGER OUTLET center is under construction. A Home Depot opened in January 2002 on the old AIL parking lot and a Stop N' Shop and a Ruby Tuesdays opened shortly thereafter. Construction of yet another Home Depot, a Wal Mart, and a Kohls began on Crooked Hill Road. Park Place (formerly DK's) closed and has been replaced by a bank. Unicorp plans a huge shopping center to replace the Finish Line/OTB center on Commack road, and also has demolished the entire shopping center including the Finish Line. A new Strohemann's bakery distribution center was built behind the AIL facility on the old ballfields. On Deer Park Ave., Meyer's Drugstore has been replaced by a Walgreens. Day Drugs also is gone. The bike shop is also out of business. St Cyril's Church was expanded, Nathan's replaced Arby's, The Suffolk Jewish center closed and sold the place to a Gospel-type church. Sizzler became a Boston Market, White Castle replaced the old Crown gas station, Jack's became a Checkers. The Taco Bell near the high school was recently torn down, only to be replaced with a bigger, better Taco Bell. The Beechtree closed its doors and Mulberry Street (Vinnies) is gone and replaced by the Ludlow Grill. Memorial-Sloan Kettering hospital has opened a new outpatient facility on Commack road just north of the Commack multiplex theatres, which themselves were supposed to be torn down so they can be replaced by newer, better theatres. And the old Gardiner Manor mall, including Sears and the old Gertz/Sterns is gone, replaced by "Big Box" stores including a new Lowes. Waldbaum's acquired the land behind the store through to Nicoll's rd and has torn down the old shopping center, replacing it with one that does look much nicer and expanded the old store into a much larger Waldbaums
The DP public pools were rebuilt a few years back and actually look smaller. The Deer Park Fire department now has a substation and training facility as well as athletic fields at Comac and Nicoll's Rd in what used to be a Babylon highway department yard. The DP bowling alley was renovated and looks great so we should be able to enjoy that for a while. Belmont Lake is still a great place for a bike ride, barbeque, or canoe trip. Robert Moses, Gilgo and Jones are still the best beaches anywhere on the planet... (OK Hawaii is nice but too rough for most people!) The water has been very clean for the last few years. The land including the OBI was purchased by Suffolk county in a complicated deal allowing the former owners to make a nice profit. The south bound causeway bridge was completely rebuilt recently, and the northbound side only patched up for now. If you have not been to the beaches and parks in a while, make sure to visit them soon. The NY empire pass is a bargain for frequent visitors, $59 get you in all year to any state park or beach as often as you wish. Lets hope that in our lifetimes we get to see Gardiners Island, Plum Island and the Morgan Estate on Eaton's Neck acquired for parkland. Gardiners is still private but could be developed, Plum Island may either close or do major upgrade to the lab, and the Morgan estate is over 400 acres of mostly forest, fields and a mansion. It also includes the historic Lighthouse and Coast Guard Station
Other new things on LI include a new minor league baseball team, the LI Ducks, who play at a new
stadium in Central Islip near NY Institute Of Technology, and another minor league team at Coney
Island called the Cyclones began playing to a packed house at the new Keyspan park stadium.
A huge new 11 floor Federal court complex also opened in Islip. A few major chunks of the former hospital in CI are gone too,
including the powerhouse and a few other buildings since NYIT cut back the scope of their college campus there. An aquarium opened in downtown
Riverhead and another is planned for the redevelopment at Pilgrim. The historic Fire Island Light
was re-lit and completely renovated. I strongly suggest a visit to the top of the tower! Fairchild Republic is gone, replaced by a mall. But Republic
airport is doing well, as is Islip, where Southwest is now the main airline. Unfortunately the "ISP" airport has had some scandals and the new runway apron is crumbling. Grumman is really
small now, it's sad because they built not only the A-6 and F-14 but also the lunar excursion
modules which landed on the moon, the wings for the space shuttle and parts of the Boeing 747.
Most of their plants are gone forever, sold for industrial and office development. An aviation
museum is being developed at Mitchell Field. Gardiner Manor mall in Bay shore was demolished, and replaced by a Target, a bookstore, and Stern's was knocked down in fall 2005 and Lowes is about to open up there.
"Outlet malls" and "Big Box" retail stores are popping up everywhere. The overall economy is booming on LI and real estate prices were up, but we are now experiencing a slowdown.
Nissequoque River State Park opened in Kings Park, and the Paumanouk hiking trail is now
continuous from Rocky Point to Southhampton, where it disappears for a bit, and reappears at
the border of East Hampton all the way to Montauk Pt. And controversy continues as 2 different developers
gave up on their proposals for redevelopment of the long closed Kings Park Psychiatric Center. A third one spent millions and then
had its contract with NYS nullified. A lawsuit is sure to follow. The site remains largely abandoned other than one or two buildings.
At least they put in a decent bike trail through the grounds over the long abandoned RR spur. But oddly enough it does NOT continue into the state park... Yet!
And we wait, for more than 6 years now, for the 13 mile Ocean parkway trail to be built. Some of the local residents there don't want outsiders. But they live on largely public land...
Well... that is just too bad...it will eventually be built once the irrelevant lawsuits are once again thrown out of court. But they have succeeded in delaying the right of the public to access the area and
created enough headaches that a full Environmental Impact Statement will now be needed. Expect more delays!
Over 45,000 acres of the Pine Barrens have now been acquired by Suffolk County and New York State, protecting the globally rare ecosystem. The forests are recovering well from the big fires of 1995. Sadly, arsonists often light fires there and much forest has been damaged. A major blaze also damaged over 100 acres at Edgewood 2 years ago and several smaller ones burned over summer 2005. Then, a raging fire in April 2006 tore through the SE corner of the preserve, crossed LI Avenue and into Heartland. No buildings were damaged, but the RR had some minor damage and had to be shut down for a few hours. It really scorched the area and we expect it will take years to fully recover. But the scrub oak is already pushing up new shoots, and some of the pines did survive. We made some serious progress with cleaning up the site and will continue with our efforts to have several improvements made to the site including better bike trails, signage, possibly establishing a fitness trail or a dog run area, and getting the remaining junk out. Also trying to protect the Sagtikos parkway 130 acres adjacent to the road. Anyone willing to help, just let us know! You can still get far away enough from developed areas while hiking or biking to where it is totally silent and some cell phones won't work! Two new state parks, known as Shadmoor and Camp Hero, opened in the Montauk dunes area. Camp Hero is really unique... hopefully they can reutilize and reopen some of the historic WWII bunkers and cold-war era radar sites. But you cannot see them except for the exterior at this time. You can also take a tour at Montauk Point to see the seals during the winter and early spring. Call 631-668-3781 for details.
We hope to improve LI by creating a network of recreational trails for bicycles, walkers, joggers, rollerbladers, and any other non-motorized transportation you can think of. I don't know about you, but I HATE being in a car these days. When I was 16 I could not wait to get my license and ditch the bikes. I don't think I rode one again until I was about 20 or so, and have not stopped since. Even if you don't see yourself riding 50 miles or running a marathon, it is still a great thing if you can take a peaceful walk without getting run over, splashed with water, or fogged with diesel smoke when you step outside. Please consider supporting these goals so we can avoid getting in the car just to travel a half mile to the local park or strip mall. These projects include creating such trails from Belmont Lake to Babylon Village, a 13 mile trail along Ocean Parkway from Jones Beach to Captree and eventually Robert Moses Beach, another connecting Otsego to Edgewood Preserve via the old bridge on Commack and over to the Sunken Meadow parkway greenbelt up to the beach, an extension of the Bethpage parkway bike path to Syosset, another 13 mile route along the abandoned LIRR Wading River branch, and my personal favorite, restoring the remaining LI Motor parkway, (AKA Vanderbilt parkway) as a recreational path running from Deer Park (via the old bridge of course!) to Queens, where the bike path already exists. It's hard to get people motivated to support these projects, and there is always one resident along the way who fights it tooth and nail because they feel an increase in crime will come with the "outsiders" coming through. However, in other areas where such trails have been built, home values INCREASED and crime decreased, it actually improved the quality of life in the area and created a park like atmosphere in these areas where it was safe for local children to play away from motor vehicles.
It's much more relaxing and fun when you can go out for a ride or walk and not have to deal with traffic clogged roads, diesel fumes, inconsiderate motorists and dangerous conditions. The "Ribbon Park" open space concept is one whose time has come. Please support these plans by checking off the info you send to the site, and speaking in favor of them whenever possible. Anyone interested in supporting any of the bikepath projects should visit the The LI Motorparkway site , The Rail-Trail site , and The Old Bridgefor more info and let the DOT and local leaders know of your support!
NYPA built a 44 megawatt power station near Pilgrim hospital in 2001. And LIPA has added 2 powerplants adjacent to it that brings the total output up to about 120 MW. They avoided an environmental impact statement by building 3 small plants instead of one large one. LIPA has planned a huge windmill farm to generate energy just off Robert Moses beach, some people are concerned about the impact on views and on birds. The Heartland industrial park expanded onto 88 Acres once owned by Islip town, about 17 acres were saved adjacent to the Edgewood preserve and will be graded to minimize impact on the preserve. It sits just over the border of Deer Park at the new RR station. The owner has acquired 462 more acres at Pilgrim state. Thankfully the old Multi-town incinerator land was sold back to NY DEC. The biggest development plan in decades is the mixed use proposal planned at the Pilgrim complex. The development there should not impact Commack road too much since there will only be access from the Sagtikos Parkway, LIE service roads and Crooked Hill road. There is also a DOT plan to build an unwanted "TRIM Intermodal" rail to truck transfer facility there too. This one could cause more pollution, noise, and traffic around Deer Park. If anything, such rail "intermodal" facilities should be dispersed throughout LI and building a mega-facility will only cuase more problems than it solves. Therefore, citing the almost forgotton laws of 1987 which created the Edgewood preserve, We have decided to fight the current proposal since it is in clear violation of the intent of these laws. Otherwise the rest of LI will benefit at the expense of Western Suffolk, which will have the burden of so much truck traffic and associated pollution. An draft environmental impact statement was published in May 2007 and public comment was accepted until October 24, 2007. However, if you still have comments they will probably still be accepted. It also does not fit in with a large nature preserve and the new planned community. It could turn into another Multi-Town boondoggle if it gets off the drawing board. Multi-town never really got started but did but spent millions of our tax dollars. The only remnants of it are a vandalized air-monitoring station tower and an old test well or two.
The largest project in decades to affect Deer Park directly will be the plan build the new TANGER MALL. The project was approved and the AIL complex was demolished. Almost as quickly, the new buildings have begun to rise. There will certainly be some increased traffic, noise, and air quality issues, we hope an access road from an extension of Pine Aire Drive can allow some of the traffic can get in and out from the industrial area to the east. It might not the best use of this large industrial site, certainly the old infrastructure could have been reutilized as an industrial or technology incubator site. ALL of the 20 or so acres of remaining pine barrens on the east part of the site were bulldozed. They plan to mainly use Commack Road's existing entrance, and also a couple on Grand Blvd. Another project called the "Unicorp" center tore down the Finish Line shopping center, one junkyard, and at 3 houses to create another 95,000 square feet or so of retail space, including a Rite Aid drug store at the corner of Nichols Road and Commack Road and a rumored "Big Box" type store. How much retail can the area support? The gas station is no longer part of either Tanger or Unicorp.
We have decided to work with NYDEC and others to improve the 850 acre Edgewood-Oak Brush Plains preserve. We have formed a non-profit group known as "Friends of the Edgewood Oak-Brush Plains Preserve" as part of the "Adopt a Preserve" program at DEC. We have cleaned it up almost completely, improved the bike and hiking trails, and had the towns of Babylon and Huntington help repair the old road as a recreational trail for running, walking, biking, roller blading, etc. Also we are researching other possibilities that would not have a negative impact, such as linking it to the proposed regional trail via the old bridge over Commack road. WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT! Anyone interested should contact me through the site e-mail. There really is a park in Deer Park but many have still never seen it. Funding for fixing up the bridge, improving the preserve, and building a visitor center that would include educational facilities has been obtained by NYS Senator Johnson, Legislator Steven Stern, Legislator Lou D'Amaro (A DP Class of '79 grad), and Assemblyman Bob Sweeney. We hope you join us and would love to hear ideas!
If anyone out there want to join me on the Bike NY ride, taking place on the first Sunday of May every spring, which is a leisurely 42 mile rode around the 5 boros of NYC with most roads closed to traffic for the duration, get in touch! You can bail out along either of the events long before reaching the end if you become weary of the event... or of ME :-)
The all year reunion on August 3rd, 2001 was a big success. It was nice to see old friends, as well as new ones. The food, atmosphere, and mood was excellent. We all need to thank Christa for her efforts in planning this event. Those who chose not to attend missed out big time! If you have an event that you would like to have posted here, send the information!
BE SURE TO VISIT THE DP FALCONS SITE created by Christa for more information and news!
Help make this site a success!
Please inform all alumni of Deer Park HS about this site. Offer those Deer Park alumni not on the web to send in their info! I recommend that everyone get a free email address from YAHOO! or NETSCAPE, etc. : web-based e-mail addresses that you keep forever, even if you change your web account. The more people we register increases the likelihood of great reunion turnouts!
This site is non-commercial and exists only to plan reunions and find old friends. If anyone has any content such as photos, graphics, ideas or news please send it. I will normally update at least once a week and hope you will send us updates when your e-mails change. If you find an obsolete e-mail or address let me know so I can fix or remove it. This site will never be used to SPAM or send junk-e-mail.
This site is located on the Deerparkschools.org server. This page, the comcenters, Motorparkway, the Bridge, LIRR rail-trail, recent photos, Save LI greenspaces site, Html Help and formulas pages are hosted by Denis Byrne 1979. All others are recommended links. The DP home of the Falcons page is hosted by Christa File 1979.
Thanks to Frank Castanza and Christa File for the DP aerial photos! And thanks to all of you who have responded to the site and all your positive comments! 
