Eltingville, Staten Island
| Eltingville | |
|---|---|
| Neighborhood of Staten Island | |
 An X1 bus approaching the Eltingville Transit Center | |
| Coordinates: 40°32′22″N 74°09′23″W / 40.53944°N 74.15639°WCoordinates: 40°32′22″N 74°09′23″W / 40.53944°N 74.15639°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| County | Richmond |
| Time zone | UTC−5 (Eastern) |
| ZIP Codes | 10308, 10312 |
| Area code(s) | 917, 718, 347, 929 |
Eltingville is a neighborhood in the Staten Island borough of New York City, United States. It is located on Staten Island's South Shore, immediately to the south of Great Kills and north of Annadale. The main commercial area of Eltingville extends down Richmond Avenue, with offshoots heading north on Amboy Road and Hylan Boulevard. Eltingville is represented in the New York City Council by Joe Borelli.
History
Originally called South Side, and later Seaside, the neighborhood owes its present name to a prominent family by the name of Elting which settled there in the late 19th century. It was the southern terminus of the Staten Island Railway until 1860, when the line was extended to Tottenville. The community's main business district sprang up around the railroad station, which is located a short distance west of the intersection of Amboy Road and Richmond Avenue.
It is probably with the neighborhoods of Eltingville and Great Kills in mind that New York Telephone named a telephone exchange "Honeywood" in the 1920s; this exchange, which also served Annadale and Huguenot, was retired from service in 1959, but a local business establishment—Honeywood Liquors on Hylan Boulevard—remained for decades as a reminder of the exchange's existence. When Honeywood 6 and nearby Tottenville 8, with operators connecting all calls, converted to dial service the combined exchanges became Yukon 4 (later known as YU 4). Today, the 984 exchange is overlaid by 356 (formerly FL6), 226, 227, 317, 948, 966, and 967. The 605 and 608 exchanges were added in 1998 and 1999, respectively.[1]
In the early 20th century Eltingville was settled primarily by Scandinavians, with the population predominantly composed of Norwegians, to the point that separate families in the neighborhood often shared identical surnames, including Hansen, Johnson (the -son ending is accurate though not as common as the -sen ending for Norwegians), Erickson, Ronning, Nygren, Bundesen and Swanson. These names were so common that people in Eltingville would differentiate between families by appending their trade or other defining characteristics with nicknames, such as "delicatessen Hansen", "fish Hansen", "two-family" Hansen. The Scandinavian influence in Eltingville meant one could buy herring in wooden barrels which would be taken home and pickled. The Eltingville Lutheran church was founded by Norwegians, including Henry W. Erickson, who was a charter member of the congregation and the contractor who built the church, and the church served as a thriving support base for the community. Many of the older homes built in Eltingville, and other parts of the South Shore, were built by Scandinavian carpenters, including Henry W. Erickson, and another prominent builder, Ernst Nilsson, who emigrated from Sweden at the age of 12 and became a millionaire in house construction in southern Staten Island. Many of these homes have since been demolished and continue to be torn down, and little is documented about the contributions of the Scandinavian immigrants that built them. Optimo Cigar, a once popular cigar store chain found across New York City, originated from the store founded in Eltingville by a Norwegian man, Paul Alan Moe. For many years, the Eltingville train station had an Optimo cigar store situated adjacent to the steps leading up to the platform. The Optimo store at the Eltingville station closed in the 1990s, allegedly due to a fire, although two fluted, Greek-style columns from the storefront remain on the site as a reminder of the store.
Beginning in the mid-1960s, Eltingville was the scene of massive new home construction as part of the suburbanization of New York City. Like many other Staten Island neighborhoods, the farmland that had predominated the area was developed, and the once rural area became part of the city conurbation. This initially caused logistical problems, chiefly a lack of sewer lines, which then needed to be built. As a result, local traffic frequently had to be detoured from many main thoroughfares, including a large section of Hylan Boulevard during the 1990s.
Eltingville today has a large Italian-American population, like most of the south shore of Staten Island, with many Italian-owned businesses, including Giovanni's Ristorante, John Vincent Scalia Funeral Home, Portobello Cafe, DeMonte's Salumeria, Sure Electrical Contracting, Carlo's Fish Market, DeRosa & Sons, Pastosa Ravioli, and a large number of pizzerias. The offices of State Senator Andrew Lanza and New York City Councilman Joseph Borelli are also located on Richmond Avenue in the neighborhood. Eltingville is home to a smaller number of Irish-Americans, as well as a growing population of Russians and other minority ethnic groups.
The St. Alban's Episcopal Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[2]
Education
Eltingville is home to many schools, including P.S. 42 and Eltingville Lutheran School, all of which send students to I.S. 7 for middle school.
Transportation
Eltingville is served by the S59, S78, S79 SBS and S89 local buses. It is also served by the Staten Island Railway at the Eltingville station, and the SIM1, SIM1C, SIM4, SIM4C, SIM5, SIM6, SIM7, SIM8, SIM10, SIM15, SIM22 and SIM31 express buses, many of which terminate at the Eltingville Transit Center.[3]
Notable residents
- Evan Dorkin, comic book creator, worked at a comic book store in Eltingville off and on for six years.[4]
- Vito Fosella, politician, campaign headquarters was in Eltingville.
- Patti Hansen, fashion model, a Tottenville native who visited her Norwegian grandparents often in Eltingville and attended the Eltingville Lutheran Church.
- Steven Seagal, actor, once lived in Eltingville.
- Justin Volpe, former police officer of the New York Police Department involved in the Abner Louima incident, grew up in Eltingville.[5]
See also
References
- ↑ http://localcallingguide.com/lca_prefix.php?switch=NYCRNYSSDS0
- ↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
- ↑ "Staten Island Bus Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. August 2018. Retrieved August 18, 2018.
- ↑ Sims, Chris. "Evan Dorkin On The (Final) Return Of 'The Eltingville Club' [NYCC 2013]". Comics Alliance. Archived from the original on 4 July 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
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