Billy Minicozzi recognized the Nov. 19 mystery photo. "It's looking down by Oyster Babies, said Mike Rich, our boss at the Sanitation Department. It is near the post office." On a sports note he said he hoped the Giants will win again and added that the Mets may get free agent pitcher Barry Cito to sign with them.

Jack Hutchinson said the picture is taken, "Standing on the corner of Audrey Avenue where it turns to go toward the railroad. Across the street is Al Dente and Oyster Babies - where Audrey Avenue turns into Shore Road."

Belle Santora called to say, "It's the corner where Café Al Dente is, across from the post office and I see that baby school - Oyster Babies and the house next to café. I knew the people who lived there many years ago, the Pennuccis." When she voted in the November election she said, "Frances Schwartz was asking about me. She wanted to know why I wasn't working up there. I used to work on the national elections for years. Then I was getting $50 a day and my husband would say I was earning 'coolie' wages. I got up at 5 a.m to be there at 6 a.m. to get ready for the voters at 7 a.m. I also worked at the school elections." She said people would recognize her and know which table to go to.

Mary Lou Donisi Cuccu called too. She recognized the corner with Al Dente restaurant. When she was 5 years old she lived in the house behind the grocery store her grandmother and uncle ran in the little grey building. The store was sold to Ed Minicozzi. The house next to Al Dente was owned by the Pannuccis, she explained.

On Veterans Day Anthony Fabbicante told us that a surgical scissor sharpening business is run out of the little gray building. He doesn't have a sign because he is well-known in his field. It is nice to know that it is another of Oyster Bay's successful businesses.

And More...

Debrah Breen of Planting Fields called for the Nov. 9 mystery picture saying, "It's the terraced cloister area at the Chelsea mansion. The rear of the mansion faces the moat with a bridge over it."

We received a call from Brenda and Richard Downing who are now residing in Dallas, Georgia. She said they recognized the Chelsea Estate in Muttontown.

We received some calls that created a mystery for us. The mystery picture appeared in an insert in another publication from what we have gleaned. The best thing is that it gave us two more great stories! Ruth Colgrove of Locust Valley was looking through some old mail and recognized the photograph of the tables and chairs that were made out of the old Beech tree at Planting Fields Arboretum. She said of the tree, "The original trees were brought across L.I. Sound. So this picture is of the furniture that was made from the branches of the tree. My mom saw it when it was coming to Planting Fields - they had to take the power lines down to get it through the streets. When my kids were little, they were allowed to climb the tree; that was before it became a busy park. I took Boy Scouts there to climb. Now there is a new Beech starting to grow there. I'm glad they used the wood for the benches."

Mike Rickert too recognized the Planting Fields location. He said, "I've been going there since I was 14, when we hitchhiked there. It's nice on a rainy day. The lighting is great and in winter I like to sit in the room with the cactus and euphorbias. I can sit on the bricks and put my feet up and the heat on and the snow is coming down. It's beautiful."

He said, "My daughter is like Tuesday Adamms. Rainy days are the best and sunny days are terrible. She is 18 and a wonderful sweet girl. We went to Old Bethpage Village Restoration and I held the umbrella and she used her digital camera. She's very talented, and she is right about rainy days." Mr. Rickert is in the printing business now, his seventh business, he said. - DFK