14 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • DECEMBER 2021
THE DAILY
GOOD OL’ DAYS
BY SANDY PORTNOY
On March 25, 1977, 157 years of newspaper
history ended, when the original
Long Island Press shut its doors. The
“Press family” scattered, but reunited a
year later for our fi rst reunion, which
I covered for The New York Times.
The paper began in 1821, as the Long
Island Farmer, and featured articles
written by Walt Whitman. Circulation
peaked in 1970, when the Press
reached more than 440,000 homes,
but dropped to below 257,000 readers
in 1977. I joined the Press in 1974
and was assigned to cover the Town
of North Hempstead. Each night I
would decide which meetings to
cover in person and which to cover
by phone. Meanwhile, Newsday had
a team of reporters assigned to the
town.
Besides regular beats, reporters covered
breaking stories, ranging from
John F. Kennedy International Airport
plane crashes to the Amityville Horror.
I remember a murder at the Sunrise
Drive-In in Valley Stream. After
checking the movie schedule, I wrote
the story lead: “As the movie … played,
a real-life drama was taking place in
the parking lot.” My editor patiently
explained to me that drive-in movies
are shown at night and that he murder
took place during the day.
My education continued at the Salem
Inn, a Port Washington adult club,
where I covered a story on sexual
equality when women were added to
the male nude revue — a new concept
on the Island. Other stories were more
in-depth.
I am especially proud of the ones I
did on hidden pockets of poverty in
Great Neck, the do’s and don’ts of life
in Iran for Grumman as it prepared for
a long-term stint, and the Long Island
women at the Bedford Hills prison in
Westchester.
Part one of a series on Tourette syndrome
rain in the last edition of the
paper — the day the development I
wanted to live in opened. Instead of
putting down a payment on a new
home, I drowned my sorrows with
members of my “Press family.”
WE ARE LI
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