Are you old enough to remember this joke? How did Plainview get its name?
Two guys were standing on top of Manetto Hill, looking out at the Hempstead Plains. One turns to the other and says: "What a plain view."
It used to just break everybody up. It was a different time.
Face it: Unless you live along the North Shore's terminal moraine, Long Island is prairie flat. So living here around the base of Manetto Hill had big advantages. Sledding around Plainview was and still is just gnarley.
Most Patch readers have said their favorite spots are theon Washington Avenue, where there is a designated area for sledding. It's a long-steady run where the kids can fly.
Others claim their favorite spot is on the hill behind It's a good one, wide and drenched in sun when it decides to shine in winter.
But some of Plainview's favorite spots have disappeared.
There was the hill in front of The minister there never seemed to mind as a dozen kids raced pall mall down his hill, hurtling toward Central Park Road. It's out of action now, a Flexible Flyer's Ebbets Field. Now the spot has a lovely tiered gardens sloping down the hill we once coasted.
My friend and I took a ride recently to his favorite spot. It was a hill behind the old Joyce Road School (Now the .) He remembered it as almost vertical; wicked fast. We went by it and nobody was there that day, or perhaps we'd have joined them.
Of course, the best nearby spot wasn't in Plainview at all. It was the monster hill leading from the old clubhouse at Bethpage State Park. It was a straight drop into a bowl we imagined was a putting green. Here is where the cool parents would drive the really cool kids. Far from home on a weekend afternoon we might meet other cool kids from places other than Plainview.
A Plainview guy might even meet a girl from Bethpage! Back then, the possibilities were endless.
Did you hear the one about Bethpage...?
