From the archives: Could love be around the corner?

This story was originally published in Newsday on February 14, 2000)

In Mattituck, at least, love is a two-way street, where strangers drunk on romantic ambience whisper "love is in the air" and sometimes mean it.

"It's our sign," explained Donna Hamilton. "It sort of creates a mood."

The sign says Love Lane. There, Hamilton and her husband do well selling primrose and cyclamens at their shop, Mattituck Florist and Garden, and the chocolatier a few doors down doesn't do too badly either. Sadly, Love Lane is a short street, but at least it's there, clearly marked.

Elsewhere on Long Island, finding the streets of love can be bewildering, their paths elusive, tortuous, grown over and posted with foreboding signs - " Danger High Voltage," "Dead End," and, predictably, "No Dumping" - mysterious to all but those who inhabit them.

Try, for example, finding Lovers Lane in Lawrence. Maps are useless. Perhaps the most definitive, Hagstrom's, shows it to be the final block of Chauncey Lane, a street canopied by arching tree branches, verdant in summer, with plenty of "No Parking" signs to suggest a storied past. But residents are conflicted.

Local lore has it that Raymond Chauncey, a Wall Street investor and the street's namesake, built a house there for his mistress, hence the designation Lovers Lane. But Janice Ward, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1956, said that Lovers Lane was Meadow Drive. And Jon Posner, who lives in the alleged lovers' house, said that Lovers Lane doesn't exist anymore.

"It was just a dirt road back in the 1920s," he said, pointing to land now divided among eight houses. "It's pretty quiet back here now."

Finding Valentine Drive is not much easier. There's always the chance of taking a wrong turn on Independence, and Court House Road is just around the corner. Still, the tiny street with only three houses is located in Lake Success. And that has boded well for Juliana Palmieri, who lives there. She and her husband have been married 30 years.

"You overlook the little things to work on the marriage and to make it work," said Palmieri, who answered her door Saturday wearing a red blazer. "It's worth it. It's very satisfying."

In Roslyn, Valentine Lane is a circle, accessible only from East Broadway, a one-way street. There are five houses on it, and yesterday morning, most everyone was indisposed. Steve Kirschman was available, however, and felt qualified to offer his view that Valentine's Day is not just for lovers.

"It's for people who love each other," he said. "When you express it, other people see it and feel it and respond. It's as simple as that."

Asked whether love is a two-way street, a dead end, or a nonexistent path through the woods in Lawrence, Kirschman said: "Love is a cul-de-sac that you go around and around and never get off."

It is less dizzying in Glen Cove. There, Valentine Street is rather broad, straight and unusually long compared with other roads bearing similar names. According to Donna and Bob Marino, who live there and celebrate their 20th anniversary this year, the street was among the first in Glen Cove.

The couple fly a banner out front with two hearts stitched on it. They moved from East Avenue 16 years ago and have since grown a bit weary of the inevitable commentary that follows when they give their address. "It's a nice street to live on," said Donna Marino. "Let's put it that way."

For a while, Nancy Holmberg was oblivious to what the goddess of geography tossed her way. Among streets named Cherry, Apple and Maple, she and her husband of 11 years, William, lived on Lovers Lane in Medford and didn't even realize it.

"The street signs always get stolen," she said, adding that when she found out, "I kind of laughed."

Mitchell Freedman contributed to this story.