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Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines: The Famous Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Resort Communities on the Atlantic
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| RECOMMENDED READING |
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| Into The Pines Kitchen Cookbook |
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Into the Pines Kitchen contains 200 recipes from 100 contributors, including Pines notables Scott Bromley, Gilbert Parker, and Hal Rubinstein. As a nod to bygone days, the book also features a posthumous contribution from John Whyte, one of the Pines' founders. The book includes original photography of the island from Pines artists William Karam, Mark Lonsbury, and Barbara Sahlman.
• More About this Book»
• Buy this Book Here» |
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| MEMORIAL |
| Grove Friends Remember Amelia Migliaccio |
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| by Bruce-Michael Gelbert | |
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| photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert |
Dell Harbin, Amelia Migiaccio, Linda Dickerman ,Barbara Hirsch, Pat Wagnis, Lyn Belensky & LynneTunderman, A Gay Bouquet, CG Pride 2006
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In a memorial service, at the Cherry Grove Community House on May 17, for Amelia Migliaccio, who passed away on January 9, friends gathered to remember the Grove icon and share stories about her. Denise (Dell) Harbin organized the afternoon remembrance and Sherri Rase, acting as DJ, played recorded Italian music as accompaniment for people's tributes, which stressed both Amelia's sweetness and her feistiness.
Twin sisters Susan and Ruth Freedner first met Amelia in the Grove in 1968. In 1969, she convinced them to join the Arts Project of Cherry Grove (APCG), to which she was very devoted, and in 1978, enlisted them to play the Gemini, twin courtesans, in the APCG production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." Susan recalled when Amelia had the only television in the Grove and remembered watching the first human landing on the moon, in June 1969, on that small black-and-white TV as part of a group of 27 women. She also mentioned the delicious creampuffs that Amelia would always make for the casts of the shows to enjoy in the dressing room. Ruth said that they had been Amelia's neighbors, they at East Winds, she at West Winds, on Lewis Walk, and would plan lunches together, to bring to the beach to share with a sizeable group of friends, and prepare other meals together as well.
Marge Cozzolino, who knew Amelia for 47 years, first saw Amelia and Lyn Hutton, who were lovers then, wearing leather and shooting pool here. Marge was staying at Holly House and Amelia and Lyn lived the house Different Drummer, with many cats. Marge and her late lover, Saja Lee, then stayed with Amelia and Lyn, and one of the cats, who was not neutered, sprayed on and ruined two of Saja's peignoirs, one after another. Marge also remembered speaking disparagingly to Amelia about a man, for whom she served as driver, who was responsible for the lights for the downtown Manhattan Feast of San Gennaro and smoked smelly cigars, not knowing that he was Amelia's grandfather.
Joan Van Ness recalled when Amelia and Lyn were her neighbors on Gerard Walk and said that, though they were merely nodding acquaintances, Amelia stood in the doorway of Amelia's, the restaurant she owned then, and welcomed Joan back to Cherry Grove.
Denise noted Amelia's part in starting the annual Fourth of July Grove Invasion of the Pines, the Grove LGTB Pride parade, and the parades during the Cherry Bowl, the volleyball tournament. Lynne Tunderman's memories concerned the invaluable "This Is Your Life, Amelia Migliaccio" tribute, with Amelia present, on September 22, 2007, also organized by Denise, and the Gay Bouquet contingent of women, costumed in a rainbow of colors, that Amelia brought into being. Lynne pointed out that religion and politics were volatile subjects that one knew not to bring up with Amelia, but reminded us that, early in the AIDS crisis, Amelia would send food from Top of the Bay, the restaurant she owned then, to Grove people with AIDS who needed it.
Sal Piro joined the Cherry Bowl as a cheerleader, soon becoming head of the cheerleaders and serving with Amelia on the committee that organized the tournament. He said that, even when she stepped down from the committee, she continued to serve as the Cherry Bowl parades' Not So Grand Marshal, a title she cherished, and also continued her work on behalf of the games even when she became ill. Sal had cast Amelia in the last four of the 10 APCG shows he directed, most recently as assistant to (or wrangler for) Post Mistress Jeanne Skinner, then entering her 90s, to cue her entrances and her lines. Jeanne added her own memories of working with Amelia in these shows.
Sally Ann Piacentino spoke of the network that she and Amelia and I had created, helping each other to take care of the diabetic cats each of us once had. Rae DiStefano and the Freedners shared further stories of Amelia and her beloved cats.
Warren Boyd Wexler showed Amelia some of the first Fire Island photos that he took and she immediately responded by having him hang them on a wall at Top of the Bay, where they remained during the years that the restaurant was hers.
I added further remarks and provided the afternoon's not so grand finale, singing the Bach-Gounod "Ave Maria" in Amelia's memory. |
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