Town Focus: Day 4 in the Ronkonkomas

Finally, some decent weather.

I’m taking advantage of that today and heading over to Raynor Beach County Park, which was built by historic Ronkonkoma resident George Raynor and was one of the first beach pavilions along the lake.

From the 1920s through the 1940s, the Lake Ronkonkoma beach pavilions drew thousands of people from the city to Long Island on a nice day.

At that time, “Lake Ronkonkoma was like the Hamptons,” said Dale Spencer, curator of the Lake Ronkonkoma Historical Society.

Also on LI Now today, look for a profile of Bruno’s, the local bar and restaurant on Hawkins Avenue, which I was told I had to go to if working in Ronkonkoma. Bruno’s opened in 1958 and Doug Brohan, a Ronkonkoma lifer and Sachem graduate, has owned it for the past 10.

And if you missed it, yesterday I attended a community production of "The Nutcracker" at Ballet Long Island, a nonprofit dance studio in Ronkonkoma, which was put on so that senior citizen and special needs groups could be exposed to ballet.