Long Island in the 1990s

March 12, 1993: Several people help dig out a car that was snowed in just off North Wantagh Avenue in Bethpage.

March 15, 1993: Bob Olenuk, the sexton at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Northport, chops ice with an ax to clear the walk in front of one of the church's buildings.

March 12, 1993: A motorist cleans his windshield on Route 112 and County Road 83 in Coram.

March 14, 1993: LILCO lineman John Keegans works on one of the seven downed poles on Hospital Road in Patchogue.

March 12, 1993: Colleen Murphy of West Islip is helped by her limo driver on the way to her wedding to James Tapia at St. Joseph's Church in Babylon.

March 14, 1993: Joan and Ernest Schultz work to make a path in the middle of Sheep Lane in Lattingtown.

Shops along Main Street in East Hampton's downtown area are shown in this August 1990 photo.

More than 5,000 angry and frustrated construction workers, most of them jobless, marched from Mitchel Field to county offices in Mineola on Oct. 2, 1991, to dramatize how their trade has been impacted by recession and red tape. Protesters were upset that some nonunion workers were on the job building the National Health Laboratories headquarters in Mineola and that the project's general contractor was Medical Construction Group, Inc., a company based in Nashville, Tenn.

Jack Mowbray of Bay Shore gets his hair cut by Sal Cannizzo on Dec. 30, 1995. Cannizzo had been cutting hair for 60 years.

Partygoers head for the beach at Jones Beach, in preparation for Greek Fest, an African-American fraternity/sorority event held on June 29, 1996.

Music teacher Judy Greenberg, right, line dances with Roslyn residents Freipa Kraus, front, and Lillian Zyr during the Gold Card Jamboree at Roslyn High School on May 15, 1996. The annual event was held by the Roslyn school district to thank Roslyn's senior citizens for their support of the schools.

Eugene Sougstad of Clifton, New Jersey, escorts his bride, Heather, of Long Beach, across the sand on May 25, 1996. The couple were married at Jones Beach and later had their reception at the restaurant there.

Ryan McNaughton, a senior from Centereach High School, finishes up his leg of the Manhattan to Montauk Relay Run in front of the Hampton Bays firehouse on Sept. 8, 1996.

Radio shock jock Howard Stern poses with his parents, Ben and Rae Stern, at their home in Rockville Centre on Sept. 23, 1993.

Bay Shore resident Loukia George had the second of two "cat crossing" signs placed near her home, as seen in this Aug. 18, 1992, photo. Loukia was well known for feeding stray cats and had installed a skylighted kitty condo, complete with electric blankets and room for 29 felines, in front of her Victorian home.

On March 12, 1993, during a snowstorm, Colleen Murphy of West Islip is helped by her limo driver on the way to her wedding to James Tapia at St. Joseph's Church in Babylon.

Firefighters stand on a mound as the Sunrise fire burns in Westhampton on Aug. 25, 1995. The devastating fire scorched 6,800 acres.

The movie "Practical Magic" plays on one of the three movie screens at the Westbury Drive-In on Oct. 24, 1998.

The Rev. Billy Graham displays a booklet he published that was made available to all those who attended his crusade at the Nassau Coliseum on Sept. 20, 1990.

The Dalai Lama, right, speaks Sept. 17, 1990 at Stoller Hall at SUNY Stony Brook, where he was given an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Steven Schaffer and Robert Johnson work the phones at the Nassau County Medical Center control center in East Meadow on March 28, 1994.

Two girls run from Dracula at Mineola's Hampton Street School Halloween party in 1991.

Nick Mazza of Floral Park, then 9, holds up "Beavis and Butt-Head" masks on Oct. 14, 1993. For Halloween, he selected the Butt-Head mask for his costume.

In 1992, Tony Freeman, then age 2, got his face painted at the Make-A-Wish Foundation Metro New York's Halloween Party in Oyster Bay.

Jalisa Feaster, then 4, of Wyandanch, dressed up as a princess for Halloween 1998.

Venkat Subbarao, a software developer for CA, works in the lab with Al Novissimo, vice president of research and development at the company, on June 17, 1993.

Entenmann's driver Steve Bohacik closes the door of the box truck he takes on his regular run to Boston on May 29, 1991.

Aerial view of the Roosevelt Raceway Flea Market on Aug. 7, 1994.

On July 9, 1990, Gary Mellis, a part time resident of Fire Island, re-enacts the activities that had recently gotten him arrested in Ocean Beach. Mellis illegally docked his inflatable Cadillac, played his boom box without earplugs and openly drank his soda in public.

Doug Corwin, owner of Crescent Duck Farm in Aquebogue, feeds some of his ducks on June 17, 1992.

Retiring Islanders coach Al Arbour, center front, enjoys a laugh with his players, both current and former, as they pose for a group photo in Westbury on June 1, 1994.

With the historic old "Third House" at Montauk in the background, Richard T. Johnson, chairman of an ad hoc committee to fight a proposed restaurant in the historic house, walks across the sprawling lawn on May 15, 1990.

Bruce Springsteen, middle, performs at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale on Nov. 9, 1992. Pictured with Bruce are Shane Fontayne and Crystal Taliefero.

On Dec. 17, 1992, Eleanor Lingo places a wreath on a grave in the cemetery next to the First Presbyterian Church in Southold. The stone, engraved, "Bloom, Negro woman, died 1810," belonged to a deaf and mute slave girl who had been abandoned on the beach by British marauders in 1808; Bloom later lived with the Mulford family until her death and burial. Lingo, who first spotted the grave when she was in high school, had been making a pilgrimage there for 38 years to honor the girl's memory.

John Gatto and Maureen Dougherty of Farmingdale stock up on popcorn and soda at the concession stand at Commack Cinemas on April 25, 1994.

David Belis of East Meadow High School chats with Viola Kaden, left, and Betty McCarthy after serving them a meal at a Thanksgiving dinner for senior citizens hosted by the East Meadow Kiwanis Club and East Meadow High School's Key Club on Nov. 18, 1990.

Juanita Oquendo and her friend Matilda Capoti enjoy a turkey dinner at the Central Presbyterian Church in Huntington on Nov. 28, 1991.

In Old Brookville, Youngs Farm worker Noreen Bergesen carries a customer's Thanksgiving pies from a flatbed truck where they were being stored in November 1990.

Jim Cody, INN coordinator Mary Brennan and Diane Otten, INN's soup kitchen director, organize food for a Thanksgiving meal at the Interfaith Nutritional Center in Hempstead on Nov. 27, 1991.

Jeff Liebowitz and Mary Lou Campanella attempt to salvage a turkey they had brought on the ferry to Ocean Beach on Fire Island for a Thanksgiving celebration in Seaview that had been partially eaten by a dog on board on Nov. 25, 1993.

Jim Specht of Patchogue, left, and the Rev. Jean Dix of East Moriches prepare turkeys to serve to migrant farm workers at Riverhead Middle School on Nov. 23, 1993.

Ray Marsar catches air on his skateboard in a Sayville shopping center surrounded by his friends Jay Beazley, Kevin Olmsted and Tom Welte, on May 29, 1991.

Jessica Alexander and Tia Harewood, both 7, of Deer Park's Brownie Troop 1274 plant flags on the graves of veterans on May 28, 1994, at Long Island National Cemetery. With the girls is troop leader Carrie Alexander.

Kids play in the sand at Bar Beach in Roslyn on June 26, 1990. They are, from left, Kerry Durkin, 9, Jessica Teisch, 9, Stephen Teisch, 8, and Timothy Durkin, 5, all of Garden City Park.

The wing of the last F-14 Tomcat assembled by Grumman is wrapped at the wing assembly plant in Bethpage on Feb. 5, 1992. It was later delivered to Calverton for aircraft assembly.

Nassau police arrest 17-year-old Amy Fisher three days after she shot Mary Jo Buttafuoco, the wife of her lover, Joey Buttafuoco, at the couple's Massapequa home on May 19, 1992. Fisher was sentenced to 5 to 15 years that December and was released from prison in 1999 after serving 7 years.

A view of the 521-acre Bridgehampton Race Circuit on June 16, 1992, the day it was sold at auction for $3.7 million.

Shoppers cross Main Street at Ocean Avenue in Patchogue on July 21, 1992.

David Bullard, program coordinator for Wyandanch Youth Services Inc., jokes with several teen counselors at the summer day camp run by the organization at Wyandanch Park on July 13, 1992.

Ocean Beach on Fire Island is filled with sunbathers on Aug. 1, 1992.

Steven and Eva Stark show some of the troll dolls manufactured by their company, EFS Marketing Associates in Farmingdale, on Aug. 6, 1992. Trolls had been wildly popular for almost a decade.

Lifestyle expert Martha Stewart poses with baskets of herbs and spices grown in the backyard of her East Hampton home on Aug. 8, 1992.

An aerial view of Dune Road on Westhampton shows the effects of erosion on Dec. 14, 1992. A nor'easter had brought record high tides and hurricane-force winds across the region two days earlier.

Musician Billy Joel is interviewed by Newsday on Aug. 10, 1993.

Students at SUNY Stony Brook use the computer lab in the Melville Library building to access the internet on Nov. 29, 1993.

Students from Brentwood High School remove debris from an area behind a home on Stein Drive as part of an Earth Day program on April 24, 1993.

Long Island Rail Road shooter Colin Ferguson appears in a Mineola courtroom on Jan. 7, 1994, exactly one month after he killed six passengers and wounded 19 others as the train pulled into the Merillon Avenue station in Garden City. He would later be sentenced to serve six consecutive life sentences.

A boy rides the gyroscope during the My Town Festival on Main Street in Huntington Village on Oct. 2, 1994.

Denise Bonomo, left, brought a small TV set to work so that she and her co-workers at the Omni building in Uniondale could watch the verdict in the O.J. Simpson murder trial on Oct. 3, 1995. There were mixed emotions in the group upon hearing that Simpson was acquitted of all charges.

Dorothy Bell, 85, talks about Halloween to students from St. Peter's-by-the-Sea School in Bay Shore who were visiting the Bells Garden Center in West Islip on Oct. 22, 1995. Bell is a former teacher with the West Islip school district.

Corey Pavin, winner of the 1995 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, holds the victory trophy aloft on June 18, 1995.

Kids enjoy a spin on a chair swing ride at a fair sponsored by St. John the Baptist High School in West Islip on May 5, 1996.

Pnina and Shmuel Klaver of Brooklyn hold their quintuplets -- two boys and three girls -- at Schneider Children's Hospital in New Hyde Park, after the last baby, left, is released from the hospital on May 10, 1996. The five children, born 13 weeks prematurely in February, have two older siblings.

Gov. George Pataki shakes hands with students from William S. Covert Elementary School in Rockville Centre on June 6, 1996. Pataki was at Sagamore Hill in Oyster Bay to speak about a new environmental bond issue.

A Coast Guard cutter searches among the debris from doomed TWA Flight 800 in the waters off East Moriches on July 18, 1996. The airplane and all 230 aboard went down 12 minutes after takeoff from Kennedy Airport en route to Paris on July 17, 1996. There were no survivors.

Singer-actress Debbie Gibson prepares to leave for a national tour of "Funny Girl" on Sept. 19, 1996. Gibson, who was raised in Merrick, stars as Fanny Brice, a role originated by Barbra Streisand on Broadway. The national tour was set to kick off on Oct. 1, 1996.

On Dec. 31, 1996, Joe Lorintz of Jericho holds the letter that his wife Marissa received from Mattel after she complained that their daughter, Rachel, 6, had her hair "eaten" by her Cabbage Patch Snacktime Kids doll. The dolls were supposed to munch on plastic food, but after a number of similar consumer complaints, the company stopped making the doll and offered refunds.

Kirver Collado, 5, waves a flag during the first Dominican Republic parade in Freeport on Aug. 9, 1998.

In the late 1990s there was widespread concern that computers would crash once the year 2000 hit, since most systems were not originally programmed with the 21st century in mind. Nassau County Legis. John Canning, seen here in his office on Dec. 14, 1998, sponsored two measures to get the county to prepare its computers against the "Y2K" problem. On his monitor is a countdown to the year 2000.

Jessie Riley, a customer at Luis Miguel Salon and Spa in Amityville, sports a new "Meg Ryan" hairstyle on Jan. 21, 1999. The hairstyle became very popular on Long Island after Ryan appeared in the film "You've Got Mail."

Linda Abrams of Huntington Station with her daughters Madeleine and Gabrielle at Collectors Kingdom in Huntington Station on May 17, 1999. The children had just begun collecting Pokémon Cards.

Pokémon expert John Blackburn, from the "Wizards of the Coast" trading card company, instructs two eager players at Roosevelt Field in Garden City on July 31, 1999, during the Pokémon National Tour. Thousands of kids showed up at the event, including Matthew Baker, 11, of Bethpage, and Matthew Johnson, 11, of Garden City.

Nine-year-old Ricky Cooke Jr. practices his drive at Colonial Springs Golf Course in Wyandanch on Sept. 2, 1999. Ricky was one of many African-American kids inspired to play golf by Tiger Woods.

J.K. Rowling, author of the popular "Harry Potter" series, autographs a book for one of the many fans who waited hours to see her at the Book Revue in Huntington on Oct. 14, 1999.

Rosemarie Caputo of Long Beach, Joan Gerardi of Ronkonkoma and Evy Rae of Hauppauge compete in a "Big Hair" contest on July 14, 1991. Rae won the contest, which was held at the L.I. Exchange Nightclub at the Huntington Hilton on July 14, 1991.

Rosemarie Caputo, of Long Beach, gets made up with "big hair" by hairdressers Charlene Markus and Al Littman for a contest on July 14, 1991, at the L.I. Exchange Nightclub at the Huntington Hilton.