Buckley’s owner honored for 50 years in business in V.S.

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Since 1969, Buckley’s Restaurant & Pub has sat on South Franklin Avenue, its sign serving as a green and white beacon for those coming home on the Long Island Rail Road or just passing by.

And with its regular music performances and kitchen, the small bar serves as a place for regulars and visitors alike to hang out and grab a drink.

It was for these reasons and more that Buckley’s founder and longtime owner Edward Buckley was honored for his 50 years in business in Valley Stream at the village’s annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration on March 8 at the American Legion Hall.

“It’s the golden anniversary,” said Valley Stream St. Patrick’s Day celebration chairwoman and organizer, Sharon Daly. “ … He’s always been involved, and he’s just a good guy. Although he doesn’t live in Valley Stream, he does business in Valley Stream, and we wanted to honor him.”

Buckley has spent much of his life in Rockville Centre, starting off in the Army, and then becoming a business owner, buying and managing bars in Rockville Centre and Islip along with a partner.

He would later strike out on his own, founding Buckley’s as his first solo venture.

Buckley’s would go on employ hundreds of Valley Streamers as bus boys, dishwashers, waiters and waitresses, including Daly herself, she said. But perhaps his most famous employee was Valley Stream’s own Steve Buscemi, who worked as a bus boy there.

Buckley’s purchase of the establishment was quite by chance, when he learned through a business acquaintance that the location’s previous tenant was looking to sell. Considering his deep green roots — his family emigrated from County Cork, Ireland — you could maybe call it the luck of the Irish that Buckley’s found its home in Valley Stream.