Jones Beach: memories told through postcards

Long Island historian recounts Jones Beach’s legacy

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Jones Beach State Park has been one of Long Island’s iconic tourist attractions since Aug. 4, 1929. As Robert Moses’ creation prepares for its 90th summer, Constantine E. Theodosiou, of Cedarhurst, details some of its history through postcards and images in his book “Jones Beach,” part of the Arcadia Publishing Postcard History Series.

“I didn’t really have that in mind,” Theodosiou said about publishing his book around the time of the park’s 90th summer in operation. “I just wanted to have this book done for my enjoyment and for the enjoyment of others. It’s a wonderful feeling knowing that this book will coincide with that.”

A State Education Department administrator and former social studies teacher, Theodosiou describes himself as a local history aficionado, having previously co-authored two books about Jackson Heights and Corona, Queens.

While researching Jones Beach’s history online, Theodosiou found a peculiar postcard on eBay that gave him the idea of using postcards to portray the park’s story. “I spotted this postcard” — one on which the park is mislabeled as being located in Flushing — “and that charmed me enough to buy it,” he recalled. “Seeing its content of these old automobiles going toward the Jones Beach water tower inspired me to say, ‘Why not do a postcard book on Jones Beach?’”

During his research, Theodosiou also savored the opportunity to bond with his son Emmanuel, who will turn 20 this year, and to learn about the beach they visit together whenever they have a free summer afternoon. Even after he completed the book, Theodosiou continued to collect postcards and other images from the park’s past.

“Postcards offer a wonderful opportunity to look at things as they were,” he said.

In “Jones Beach,” Theodosiou explores the beach’s origins along with its predecessor, High Hills Beach. He also highlights its amenities — the boardwalk, the bathhouses and activities like the now abandoned pitch-and-putt course — through the years.

“It’s not meant to be a deep historical analysis of the place,” he said, “but the pictures themselves are delightful. I want people to read this book and to feel that Jones Beach isn’t just for the here and now, that it’s been here for 90 years.”

Theodosiou added that Robert Moses’s creation stands for an ideal uncommon in today’s world. “A democratic spirit took a proud step forward here, and that’s very important,” Theodosiou said. “Nowadays, we see politics as the enemy or antithetical to our interests. Here we have a time where government, during the Great Depression, started to get its sea legs to try to work on behalf of people. And Moses was slightly ahead of the curve with that.”

Parks director contributes to retelling

Theodosiou approached George “Chip” Gorman, the Long Island regional director for the state Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, to write the foreword to “Jones Beach.” While Gorman has worked on other projects focusing on Jones Beach, he wanted to write this foreword because it covered the park in a unique way: through postcards.

“It’s more historic than someone coming down and taking pictures in recent years,” Gorman said. “It goes back to the beginning of Jones Beach and, through the postcards, he tells the story of Jones Beach.”

Gorman said that his office keeps similar mementos at the Planting Field Arboretum’s archives, and that he was impressed that Theodosiou built an expansive private postcard collection. “He worked very diligently to put this historic collection together,” Gorman said. “The amount of work he put into this — to make it so that it flows nicely and historically correct — is amazing.”

Gorman recalled his years working at the park, where he got his first job in the summer of 1977, while flipping through the book in Jones Beach’s administrative office. He reminisced about the old Boardwalk Restaurant at the Central Mall, the West Bathhouse and the chrysanthemum displays that once attracted tourists to the beach. He even credited the park for being a great location for his first date with his future wife.

“When I read the book, it was emotional reliving those times I had, and those who live on the South Shore of Long Island will have those exact same feelings,” Gorman said. “I really believe that as people read it, they will connect with the book and their time at Jones Beach.”

“Jones Beach” will be available online and in bookstores on April 30.