The new L.I. Boutique and Art Gallery, a business that puts the spotlight on Black entrepreneurs, artists and artisans, opened its doors in Mastic on Monday. “We have quite a few different things — it’s not just clothing. We have some unique pieces,” says owner Philana Aiken, a photographer and entrepreneur who also owns Phenomenal Reflections, a selfie and portrait studio in Patchogue. Noting that there are many Black-owned businesses and entrepreneurs working on their own or sometimes...

Lawrence Wolff's walls are covered with movie memorabilia he has been collecting since he was a teenager. Credit: Danielle Silverman Stan Laurel, half of the quintessential comedy duo of Laurel and Hardy, was known to welcome strangers into his home. There, Laurel and his guest would typically kick back and watch a Laurel and Hardy movie or two together. Jack Benny, who, in a span of 14 years in the 1950s and ’60s, did 343 episodes of “The Jack Benny Program” on television, was born Benjamin K

Though it’s been a Montauk institution since 1920 and has operated as a nightclub since at least the 1960s, Shagwong Tavern has racked up a bunch of tickets over the summer because they allowed dancing on the premises. “We don’t understand why the town is fighting us to change our use, which has always been how Shagwong Tavern has operated,” says Jon Krasner, who’s owned the establishment for the past seven years. Krasner hired...

Melissa Famiglietti can’t wait to go back to Old Westbury Garden’s Shimmering Solstice light show. “We’ve done a couple of the local light shows and I liked the aspect of walking through it as opposed to driving through it,” says Famiglietti, 43, a stay-at-home mom from Port Washington, who describes it as an "immersive experience." "There was music playing, the lights were moving, there were things to interact with,” she says. This year, the Famigliettis will kick off the holiday season with a...

Lena Slawitsky of Commack shops at Losi’s Corner, which is owned by Jackie Herzog, right. Credit: Linda Rosier Holiday happenings in Amityville begin at 11 a.m. on Dec. 3, when the Junior League of Amityville hosts a Holiday Home Tour in the village. The tour of five decorated homes runs until 3 p.m., culminating with tea and cookies at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church; tickets are $20 at amityvillejuniorleague.com. At 5 that evening, a tree lighting takes place in the village gazebo...

If watching thousands of glowing lanterns floating along the lake at twilight sounds like the perfect way to spend a late summer evening, look no further than the upcoming Water Lantern Festival at Eisenhower Park on Sept. 10. “It’s basically a festival about healing and connection, and hope and happiness," says Shaylee Quick, east marketing specialist for the event which has planned nearly 80 Water Lantern Festials this year across the country, each drawing as many as 1,500 attendees. The East...

Though not earthshattering on the scale of The Beatles breakup, the end of The Queazles is giving its dedicated Long Island following the blues. “Not only is it going to be the last Queazles concert, but half The Queazles are going to be moving away, and we’re going to miss them as friends, too,” said Gerri Farrell, 69, of Huntington Station, a fan who is a retired special-education teacher’s assistant. “So, it’s going to be very heartbreaking.” After 15 years of performing at Long Island venues...

Karyn Dornfield couldn’t wait to see “Re-Visiting the Familiar: Seward Johnson At the Gardens” at Old Westbury Gardens – a reprise of an exhibition held at the gardens in 2017. “I just thought it was so fascinating,” says Dornfield, 70, a retired paralegal who lives in Westbury, and, as a member of the gardens, attended a members’ only event. On display through Sept. 5, the exhibit features 35 individual pieces of art and life-size sculptures focusing on scenes from day-to-day life including...

Port Washington resident Janet Lipman frequently finds herself browsing the bookshelves at Dolphin Bookshop for new reads, gifts and — when she brings her nieces and nephews along — toys. Dolphin has been a staple in her neighborhood since 1946. Life as of late has not been easy on independent book shops on Long Island. Bookstores across the country have closed in recent years due to the move away from physical books. The pandemic brought the cancellation of scheduled in-person events and sent...

Though you won’t find any farms in the Village of Farmingdale, there are acres of vibrant shops and restaurants on Main Street to graze. "Farmingdale's Main Street is becoming a destination location where people are coming to shop … and it’s a full-day experience," said Laura Napolitano, owner of Back in Time, a vintage home décor shop, adding, "I think we all complement each other here on Main Street." Visitors come from Queens and Brooklyn and points east, Napolitano said...

A “Hippies Use Side Door” sign ironically greets visitors to the Bahr Gallery in Oyster Bay. Clearly, hippies would be ushered right through the front door to join the dozens of middle-aged men and women who on a recent evening swayed side to side, bopped their heads, tapped their feet and sang along to the music of the Grateful Dead. The music was provided by David Gans, known as “the voice of the Grateful Dead” for his decades of introducing “Dead” shows on syndicated radio programs. The set...

Walt Whitman, Long Island’s pre-eminent voice of verse, would have turned 200 this year. The icing on the bicentennial birthday cake will be a series of celebrations ranging from talks to theatrical and musical performances at his Huntington Station birthplace this weekend. Whitman represents America’s first poetic voice, says Cynthia Shor, executive director of the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association, the historic home where Whitman lived until he was 4. “He used free verse poetry, which...

Susan Ettinger of East Meadow doesn’t remember much from her native Graz, Austria. After all, she was just 2 when her Jewish family fled its Nazi-occupied homeland in 1939. The story of Ettinger, her sister and only sibling, Gitta Wachs, and their mother, Margaret Welisch, is being staged in “Displeyst,” a new play running in the East Village. “Displeyst” is a Yiddish transliteration of the word “displaced,” explains Ashley Adelman, who is directing the play she co-wrote with Caroline Peters...

Where does inspiration come from? In the case of artist Nicolas Bruno: the answer is sleep. Or, more precisely, disrupted sleep. A Northport resident and native, Bruno, 25, has sleep paralysis, a sleep disorder that causes him to waken when his breathing is cut off. At those moments, he experiences disturbing nightmarish imagery and is unable to move. Out of the characters, situations and feelings that haunt his semiconscious mind, Bruno creates intense, dark and evocative works of art...

Powerful storms wreak havoc on people’s lives, forcing them to pick up the pieces and gradually move on. That’s certainly true for Jack Pesso, whose handcrafted collection of model ships was damaged in October 2012 in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy. “That storm took away my life,” he said of his seven-decade-long hobby and passion for building exquisite replicas of the Titanic, the USS Constitution and other notable seafaring vessels. Six years later, Pesso is slowly putting back together...

Autumn In New York means a bounty of hearty foods from a variety of squashes to apples, sweet potatoes, fennel and heirloom carrots. According to the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Medicine, fruits and vegetables are essential for a healthy diet. They can reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, lower blood pressure, decrease the risk of eye and digestive problems and prevent certain types of cancer. To keep meals healthy, Eric Werner, chef de cuisine at Cold Spring Harbor's sandbar restaurant, suggests avoiding excessive fats and sugar...

If finding flags hidden in the woods or floating along the river sounds like fun, you'll probably have a blast at orienteering. It's a hobby that's part-skill and part-scavenger, with plenty of adventure. It involves using just a compass to locate flags (or "controls") highlighted on a map, says John Pekarik, of Sayville, president of the Long Island Orienteering Club. Enthusiasts organize orienteering meets, usually in public parks, setting up courses that participants will race to finish...