'Two White Castles' in Lynbrook

A steam engine barreled through the snow in this photo taken sometime before 1939, before the LIRR tracks were elevated.

Courtesy Art Mattson

The ‘Two White Castles’ was taken by Lynbrook photographer John Cribbin, probably in the late sixties or early seventies. It depicts the old structure in the foreground being replaced by the new one to the rear (right) of the photo.

Photo by John Cribbin/Courtesy Art Mattson

Stauderman Avenue Looking Southwest (the “Feather Factory” at the extreme right, looking toward the back of today’s White Castle, which is hidden from view behind the trestle.

Courtesy Art Mattson

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Two members of the Historical Society East Rockaway & Lynbrook, Maria Burke and her husband Ray, a former chief of the Lynbrook Fire Department, recently sent me a digital copy of a vintage photo, “White Castle in Lynbrook,” that they found online.

I’d seen the photo before, but I always seemed to get the perspective wrong. Coincidentally, 2016 is the 95th anniversary of the founding of White Castle in Wichita, Kansas, in 1921. It was the first fast food restaurant in the US.

I discovered that the vintage photo that the Burkes sent me was taken before 1939. I know that because that was the year the LIRR tracks through Lynbrook were elevated. Using a magnifying glass, I could see the price of five cents per hamburger on the White Castle sign. The price was raised to ten cents in 1940, so that fits. I next learned that the White Castle in the old photo is not the same building as the one that sits at the corner of Broadway and Sunrise today. A fantastic photo, “Two White Castles” was taken by premier Lynbrook photographer John Cribbin, probably in the late sixties or early seventies. Thanks to his wife Elaine, you can see it here. It shows the old “castle” in the foreground being replaced by the new one to the rear.

Long before the Burkes stoked my interest, I had some uncertainty that the photo was even shot in Lynbrook. So the other day my wife Nori and I attempted to find exactly where the photographer stood for the shot. Take a look at the nearby photo. I took it while standing in middle of Stauderman Avenue. The “Feather Factory” is at the extreme right. I was facing southwest looking toward the back of today’s White Castle, which is hidden from view behind the trestle. The electric stanchions match up perfectly to the vintage photo. Moreover the view from the elevated LIRR showed that the buildings to the south west also match those in the vintage photo. I still do not have an exact date for the photo, but after all, I have to leave some jobs for my eventual successor.

Art Mattson is the Lynbrook Village Historian and a Director of the Historical Society of East Rockaway and Lynbrook. He is also the author of “The History of Lynbrook.” The second edition is available on-line and at local stores.