"The Summer Estate" Chapter One

This story was requested by Michael...There are several chapters in this saga...this is

CHAPTER ONE

The year was 1950, the place, West Islip ,Long Island, the occasion, Liz and Mike buy a Summer Retreat.

My father saw an article in the news paper, offering property in West Islip at a very good price. Being a Cianciaruso and having Real Estate in his blood (from his mothers side) he took the family on a Saturday outing and drove "All the way" to the Island.

They went to the real estate agents office and was referred to a building on the former Guggenheim Estate to meet with an agent.

At one time the Guggenheim family owned all of the property in this area of West Islip. 1000's and 1000's of acres, a lake,many ponds, several homes, various buildings and a horse stable were on this estate.

The agent showed them several pieces of land, my father wanted to see property on the main road, not far from the lake and at good price.( He new what to look for) He was shown a lot, over 3/4 of an acre large , situated the main road ( Haynes Ave) and only a few blocks from the lake. The lot was cleared and had many huge trees in the front and several positioned around the lot. It was directly across the street from one of the homes used by the Guggenheim's. The price for this property was $699.00. Fifty dollars down and monthly payments of $15.00.My mother and Father decided to take the plunge and they purchased the property. Our estate was forever known after that as "The Lots"

As you can see Nana and Pop Pop were coming up in the world, due to hard work on both their parts. They owned a 3 story Brownstone in Astoria, purchased in 1947 for $8000.00, a 1950 Hudson automobile, advertised as "The Car you step down into" and now a weekend Retreat....all this done on Pop Pop's salary of $90.00 a week....ah, life was good.

to be continued