| Jennifer Merin Most people who don’t live in New York, and many who do, have never heard of City Island, let alone visited the place. But, that’s about to change -- thanks to a movie called “City Island.”
The film isn’t a blockbuster. Like the quaint, old-fashioned neighborhood for which it‘s named, it might take some searching to find it. But both the place and the movie are well worth the effort.
The movie is a romantic comedy starring Andy Garcia as a City Island native, a family man who wants to escape his humdrum job as a corrections officer to become an actor. To that end, he leaves City Island several evenings a week to acting classes downtown.
His wife (Julianna Margulies) suspects he’s having an affair. Their relationship is rife with secrets, and there are many misunderstandings that make the plot an endearing and delightful comedy of errors.
Of course, City Island -- the place -- plays an important part in “City Island” -- the movie -- and the allure is increasing tourism. City Island is a delightful place to escape the Big Apple’s bustle without even leaving the city.
City Island is a small community located at the very edge of New York City, just beyond Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx. It was part of Westchester County until 1895, when it and the eastern Bronx were annexed to New York City.
Surrounded by the waters of western Long Island Sound and Eastchester Bay, it‘s marked by two lighthouses -- Execution Light to the northeast and Stepping Stones Lighthouse to the south -- and boasts a rich and exciting history, much of which is today preserved inside the Historical Society and Nautical Museum.
A visit to the Historical and Nautical Museum, housed in the beautiful old Public School 17 at 190 Fordham Street, is a must. The museum is open Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 1 to 5 pm, or by special appointment. Admission is free.
Inside, you’ll find exhibits, artifacts and a library of books about City Island, dating from the time the area was first settled by Europeans.
Then called Magnets or Great Minnefords, the island was part of the 9,000-acre tract purchased in 1654 from the Siwanoy Indians by Thomas Pell (1613-1669), who named his estate Pelham on honor of his tutor, Pelham Burton. After Thomas Pell’s death, Pelham Manor was inherited by his nephew, Sir John Pell, who sold off City Island to John Smith of Brooklyn. The island changed hands several times. In 1761, Benjamin Palmer purchased it for a syndicate that intended to develop it as a commercial center that would rival Manhattan. The name was changed to City Island.
Making City Island a rival commercial center made good business sense. The island is ideally situated to service ships -- schooners, at that time -- traveling between New York and points north and south. But the project was suspended during the Revolutionary War, when British troops occupied. During the 1790s, an attempt to revive the project failed.
So, City Island developed slowly. In 1818, George Horton, a Westchester official who’d purchased 42 acres on the island, promoted the building of five streets -- Pilot, Pell and Schofield are still there -- and the public highway -- now City Island Avenue.
The island’s first commercial enterprise, established in the 1820s, was EC Cooper’s solar salt works which produced salt from evaporated sea water.
Then, Orrin Fordham, a Connecticut shipbuilder, established a fishery that cultivated oysters in planted shells. The first of its kind in the U.S., Fordham’s “factory” revolutionized the business, leading to oysters becoming the world’s most-eaten shellfish and the U.S.‘s chief fishery product during the late 1800s.
>From 1847 to 1869, oyster cultivation brought settlers to City Island. Others moved there to work in enterprises that serviced, supplied and built ships.
In 1862, D. Carll Shipyard was the first commercial shipyard built on the island. After the Civil War, Carll Shipyard and other commercial boatyards began constructing and rebuilding luxury yachts, including several America’s Cup winners.
During both world wars, the federal government commissioned the boatyards to build submarine chasers, tugboats, Vosper-style P.T. boats, landing craft, and minesweepers. Then, after World War II, the leisure-boating industry again rose to prominence.
Although the toll bridge built in 1873 to link the island to the mainland became a free bridge when the island was annexed to New York City, limited access discouraged dense development. Homes were built to accommodate oystermen, shipyard workers and other residents, but City Island has maintained the small town ambience and distinctly nautical flavor that make it so appealing today.
It’s really not that difficult to get there, or to get around the island to enjoy its popular seafood restaurants, hire a yacht from one of the marinas for a pleasure ride or fishing adventure, reach the beach to lounge on the sand or swim and visit the Historical Society and Nautical Museum.
The most popular means of transportation is the City Island Seaside Trolley. Service, suspended for the winter, starts up again in April, with trolleys departing from Pelham Bay Station (the last stop on the subway’s number six train) every hour. The trolley works like a self-guided tour that takes you to various attractions and other drop off/pick up points so you can explore the island as you please. Best of all, tickets to ride are not only free, they get you discounts at shops, or free desert, or a bottle of wine at select restaurants.
The first stop is the historic Bartow Pell Mansion Museum. It’s not on City Island, but it is a wonderful old stately home that’s directly connected to the island’s history and it‘s early owners. Take some time to see it, perhaps take a guided tour that shows off its original eighteenth and nineteenth century furnishings and glorious gardens. Or, enjoy one of the museum’s bike tours, adventure hikes, garden walks or other special events. Then hop back on the trolley and head for City Island.
You won’t see City Island’s array of attractions in “City Island,” but the movie will make you long to spend some time in its charming and seductive location. You can find out more about City Island at http://www.cityislandchamber.org. And, you can find out more about “City Island” at http://www.cityislandmovie.com.
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COPYRIGHT 2010 JENNIFER MERIN
Copyright 2010 Jennifer Merin
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