Oliver Hull Sr.: All is Forgiven

Fair Harbor has a more pleasant sign, still with all the warnings. (Photo by Justin Zizes)

Justin Zizes Jr. sent us this snapshot of the new village sign that sez you can ride your bike at night as long as you have a light.


Kathy Melton sent us this picture from the 1980's. No welcome in that sign either. Kind of makes you want to stay away. I guess we really had a serious problem with people picnicing on the public walks back then.


I don't have a picture of the dock sign but I do have one from the corner of West Walk and Lighthouse. It was probably taken in 1987.
---Kathy Melton

Well, it is about time. The old rule prohibiting riding after dark was subject to arbitrary and capricious enforcement.

Anonymous sent us this:

Is this the "Welcome to Saltaire" sign on both ends of Lighthouse Prom??- if it is , what a way to be greeted. A village of no ordinances or rules-hardly!

Whatever happend to the Welcome sign to the village that listed " Men must wear tops over bathing suits" I believe put into place under Mayor Ludlow.Good trivia questions for the blogger editors- How many people served as Mayor and Trustees? Can you name the mayors? Trustees? Hugh, you might have to take a pass on this trivia-since you might know them all or have access to the source.

Rob Macadam sent along this 1960's era version of the big friendly sign. In fact, we see that it really did say "welcome." It also mentions that Any violation is punishable by fine or imprisonment or both." This is a little after the "topless bathing suits" era.

Thanks to Rob Macadam and KMAC

Today's Kismet sign is ugly, but at least it says "Welcome"

Ed note: Actually, the old Saltaire sign at the foot of the dock did not say "Men must wear tops over bathing suits." It said "topless bathing suits prohibited," and everyone knew it was directed at men since topless women would be unthinkable. The real trivia question is: According to legend, (which I am now creating) , what particular man in the village was the cause of the "Topless bathing suits prohibited " ordinance?

But the sign was huge. As you walked off the dock was this big white sign with about twenty warnings: "Fire is our biggest hazard;" "No walking on the dunes; No eating on the beach;" and prominently was the "topless bathing suits prohibited."

Signed by order of "Board Of Trustees, Village of Saltaire"

The big ominous unfriendly sign was really designed to make day trippers think that Saltaire was a private reserve, and scare them back onto the boat back to Bay Shore. Lets not rewrite history here and complain about this most recent spate of condescending signs. There has never been a tradition in Saltaire of welcoming outsiders. We would have liked to change that.

(JOH)

Can anyone find a photo of that topless bathing suits sign?

Keep all those photos coming

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Recall the story of the late, great Oliver Hull Sr., Saltaire's beloved Fire Commissioner before we had a Fire Department. That dedicated public servant was once hounded for riding his bike after dark.

Here is how Editor COSMO relates the that humiliating chapter in Hull family history:

Police Blotter

COSMO SAYS:

Recently Jim O’Hare sent me an email entitled “true story.”

It seems that sometime in the late 1950's Oliver Hull Sr. (my dad) was caught riding his bike after dark one night. That was about the most serious crime you could commit in Saltaire those days. It was a scandal almost as big as the Enron scandal. Oliver claimed that he was checking out the auxiliary firehouses (little sheds with hoses inside) that were located around the village. (He was fire commissioner). There was no fire department per se those days. He was not brought to court or anything, since they never used the court back then. They didn't have village police either. I think he was caught by Mayor Ludlow or some other village father.

Upon hearing this I told Jimmy, Hell, that's nothing. My father was fired as Fire Commissioner by Mayor Ludlow for stealing the fire truck and going bar hopping in Ocean Beach all night. Of course Mayor Ludlow had to take him back on the following year because no one else would take the job.

Ed. Note: and the sad thing for Oliver is that he would have been in compliance with today's law regulating night bike riding, since we have no doubt that ol' Oliver was lit up that fateful night in 1958.

(Cosmo's story originally posted December, 2007)