Long Island entertainment venues we loved

The Emporium

The Emporium, the Patchogue music club that boasted seven bars, an outdoor beer garden, a dance floor and a bowling alley, announced Friday, May 5, 2017, on its website and Facebook page that it had gone out of business. It opened on Railroad Avenue in 2012.

Inside the The Emporium in Patchogue.

Jones Beach Marine Theater

Before rock bands roamed the stage and Northwell Health lent its name, Jones Beach was home to the Marine Theater, where audiences watched lavish Broadway musicals -- like this one from the '50s that featured a moat within the stage area -- produced by "Mr. New Year's Eve" himself, Guy Lombardo. Lombardo's orchestra, the Royal Canadians, would also play during intermission. Some guests would arrive via motorboat from Lombardo's Freeport restaurant across the bay.

Producer Guy Lombardo watching a rehearsal of "The King and I" at the Jones Beach Marine Theater on June 13, 1972.

Record stores; Tower Records

Record stores: True, a few holdouts still exist and vinyl is making a kind of mini-comeback, but will the thrill of perusing the aisles of Sam Goody or Tower Records (pictured here on Feb. 23, 1998, where it once stood at the Huntington Shopping Center on Rte. 110) and thumbing through bins of albums ever return? Unlikely.

Sam Goody

Sam Goody on Main Street in Huntington, pictured here on Dec. 7, 2000, the same year Best Buy bought the company.

My Father’s Place (Roslyn)

My Father's Place, Long Island's premier music club (1971-87), whose acts included a pre-"Born to Run" Bruce Springsteen, one of the first U.S. concerts by reggae legend Bob Marley, the Long Island debut by the Ramones and early gigs from some Long Island kid named Billy Joel. A new My Father's Place, located in the Roslyn Hotel, opened in June 2018.

Mike Epstein (foreground) and Jay Linehan, co-owners of My Fathers Place in Roslyn, work the busy bar on June 2, 1971.

The Long Island Arena (Commack)

The minor-league hockey Long Island Ducks and the American Basketball Association's New York Nets played at the Long Island Arena in Commack, but the always-freezing barn hosted some pretty decent concerts in its day, including Peter Frampton, who recorded a large part of his landmark "Frampton Comes Alive" album inside the arena. It's pictured here on Dec. 8, 1964.

WLIR/WDRE

Tuning to 92.7 FM (WLIR/WDRE, "The station that dares to be different") gave Long Island kids a musical education in New Wave, punk, post-punk and synth-pop. It was the place to hear the Smiths, Duran Duran and Depeche Mode and great jocks like Larry the Duck, Malibu Sue and Donna Donna. "Dare to be Different," a documentary about the radio station, screened at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival. Here, Jed Morey, when he was president of WLIR Radio, on April 5, 1999.

From left, Joel Arass, public affairs director, and Ken Kohl, program director, at the WLIR radio station in Hempstead on May 17, 1972.

Drive-in movie theaters; Sunrise Highway Drive-In

The last Long Island drive-in movie theater closed in 1998, but at one time the Island had more than a dozen, including what was billed as the United States' largest: Copiague's All-Weather Drive-in, which had parking spaces for 2,500 cars. Here, the drive-in theater at Sunrise Highway in Valley Stream on Jan. 17, 1972.

Westbury Drive-in

The Westbury Drive-In on Brush Hollow Road in Westbury, on Nov. 14, 1991, was around at the time residents were objecting to plans for a multiplex cinema complex to occupy the site. Those objections helped delay the drive-in's closing until its final season in 1998. Today, a BJ's Wholesale Club store and the United Artists Westbury 12 stand in its place. Here, moviegoers watch the Keanu Reeves thriller "Chain Reaction" at the Westbury Drive-in on Aug. 3, 1996.

Rocky Point Drive-in

The Rocky Point Drive-In, pictured Nov. 23, 1977, during its idle winter months, on Route 25.

Melville's 110 Drive-in

Melville's 110 Drive-In, pictured on Oct. 19, 1969.

The Crazy Donkey Bar and Grill (Farmingdale)

The Crazy Donkey Bar and Grill in Farmingdale, one of the Long Island music scene's best-known concert venues for years, shut down in September 2011, stunning employees and fans alike. A broad range of bands and styles, but most notably LI's own Taking Back Sunday and Brand New, played here.

Teens hang outside the Crazy Donkey in Farmingdale on a Teen Night at the club, July 21, 2011.