There’s always something or someone coming and going in the Village. Take, for instance, the building where the old Horace and Sylvia’s restaurant used to be (100 Deer Park Avenue). A new restaurant called The Babylon Social will be opening in that space, but first, a lot of renovation is taking place. As the construction crew worked on the front of the building, an interesting artifact was revealed.
Obviously,
this sign was a remnant of a long-ago retail establishment. Now, if you are a long-time
resident of Babylon Village, you know that there are folks who have lived here
for generations and know just about everything about everything that took place
here. But no one seemed to remember Breitbard’s Department Store. It wasn’t The
Necessary Store or H.C. Grand’s 5 and 10 Cent Store that many remembered. It was a mystery.
Here’s
where the power of social media comes in. Someone knew that Breitbard was the
birth name of famous NY radio personality William B. Williams. His online
biography states that he was born in 1923 in Babylon. That’s all we needed. The
Historical Society was able to locate his 1940 year book and a few other
tidbits of information. Among the comments on the Historical Society’s Facebook
page were some additional pieces of information provided by residents and –
best of all- a message from William B. Willams’ son, Jeffrey.
We
were able to connect with Jeffrey and give him a tour of his dad’s home town
and, with the help of Babylon Town Historian Mary Cascone, fill in a lot of
blanks in the story of his father and grandparents. The Historical Society
wants to find a proper way to honor him as a Babylon Notable and will be working
with Jeffrey to plan an event.
And
just in case you’re too young to remember, William B. Williams was the host of
WNEW radio’s “Make Believe Ballroom.” He was a connoisseur of the great
American songbook and holds the distinction of bestowing on Frank Sinatra the
nickname “The Chairman of the Board.”
As
for future developments – as William B. Willams might say – stay tuned!
- submitted by guest poster Marsha Collock
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