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Our town was built by the lumber barons. Traverse city lays in the arm of West Bay of the Grand Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan. Its at the top of the mit as they say. Michigan is shaped like a mitten.
Well.......first people that came here (invaders) were just a few settlers who farmed the area but then the great resources were just too tempting and people came and built lumber mills. There are rivers that the wood could be moved on and so it became an area of commerce. In some ways opening the way west. In the Upper part of Michigan they mined for copper and tin and people came from Cornwall in England to do that.
Traverse City has remained a small town but has spread out into the counties surrounding it. The main attraction now is tourism. A lot of folk retire here. Many small towns surrounding Traverse City rely completely on summer visitors and winter sports. There has been a surge in vineyards, where once we were the "Cherry Capital" of the world and full of orchards of all kinds, many have since gone into wine making and it helps keep us very rural. There is very little in the way of industry, a great blessing. It keeps our town beautiful.

Long Beach was first sighted by the crew of Henry Hudson's Half Moon ( Halve Maen in Dutch ) during his voyage in 1609 when he discovered and named the Hudson River . It is a barrier beach island that is about 7 miles long and maybe a mile wide at its widest .It lies just off the south shore of Long Island proper .Long Beach remained pretty much uninhabited except for a few Bonnacker fishing shacks until 1870 because there was no fresh water on it .In 1870 , The Long Beach Hotel was built and it was promoted as a summer get away spot for New York City's upper classes .The hotel did well until it burned down in 1907 . The next year , Senator William Reynolds , who was New York's youngest ever senator at age 24 , and who had made a fortune in theaters and amusement parks , including the fabulous Dreamland on Coney Island , decided to develop Long Beach as an exclusive playground for the rich .He dredged out the channel ( still named Reynolds Channel ) on the north side between Long Beach and Long Island and used the soil to fill in the marsh and build up the height of Long Beach . As a publicity stunt , he brought out elephants from Dreamland and used them to help build the 3.5 mile long boardwalk along the beach . He then built a 300 room fireproof hotel . In 1913 Long beach became an incorporated village in Nassau County , Town of Hempstead . Famous dancers Vernon and Irene Castle opened a night club here .Clara Bowe , Eddie Cantor,Flo Ziegfeld , and Rudy Vallee built houses here .It was THE place to go until the Depression hit in the early 1930's .Here is a pictorial history tour of Long Beach . I hope you enjoy it .It focuses primarily on the downtown and boardwalk areas of town .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= Efs6uNRCI9o

Sorry , I tried at least a dozen times and couldn't get the link to take

view link Looks like my links are working today , finally .

view link Come for a ride on the boardwalk where I ride my bike almost every day .

that video was cool. It is so much cleaneer then what I remember. I wonder if i would miss the cheap amusement games,quick eateries, and the strange people that use to wander the board. I noticed a bike lane pretty nifty. has the board walk been rebuilt since the 1970's? ssaw no cracks in the planks and it seemed wider then what i remember. Is there still a section called Lido bech next to the golf course and you did not mention a very important tourist spot. Remember godfather 1, when sonny all angry takes off pulls to a toll booth. cars block him in and machine guns ridle him as he hits the ground? that is the toll to long Beach home of Don Corleon.

Long Beach underwent a lot of upgrading in the late 70's that continued right on until 2 years ago . It had become pretty run down during the 50's and 60's because it was a Democratic town in a Republican Nassau county . The county purposely dumped all of its mental patients into the old hotels in town that were converted to nursing homes and SRO hotels for that purpose .When we first moved here , mental patients used to roam the streets all over town . The boardwalk is being continually renewed , as sections get too old , they are replaced .Lido is still at the East End of town , I am only a couple of blocks from Lido .The old toll booth on the Loop parkway where Sonny was killed was torn down years ago , but the house in Lido where they filmed the " Long Beach scenes for the Godfather is still there , and only a few blocks away from me .Did you check the other link , Yichel ? it has a lot of historical photos of Long Beach going back to around the turn of the twentieth century .

you m,ust live real clos to whre my uncle and 2 cousins lived. one right on the main drag a three story modern ugly house My uncle had a bungalo right next to where they filmed the godfather. strange I use to go out thee often. Dug the I did check them out. I also today picked up the newbiography on Henry Hudson. It has a plottede map of his going up Long beach then to Coney Island (wanted to ride the aquaduct) into the harbor.

What a great video I swear in the 1950 segment I saw my brothers? I loved that board walk Never went into the Laurel but the Lido theatre owned by the Gruenbaums was a fun place we did not have to sneak in he would let us go in for free I would getone of thos hotdogs that would turn and cook each visit.(I was a friend of his snm - only friend of walter) I remember the submarine tower. I am trying to figure our that one car shot L can't decide if it was a rambler? or a sunbeam? but loved those wings
thank you