🌲🏘️🌳 History Stories Stories from 11 Clover Lane

Stories from 11 Clover Lane

by Gene Razzerti, from The Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter

My family moved from an apartment in Flushing, Queens, to 11 Clover Lane, Roslyn Heights, and we were among the first ‘settlers.’ That means (1) we were among the first to plant the trees which took over the neighborhood; (2) we tack-hammered the first brass numbers on the front doors; and (3) we domesticated the ‘Wild Cadillac.’ My grandfather built a barbecue in the back yard, which was not easy in those days. We finished the attic and made it a playroom.

Hardly a day went by that we didn’t see ‘Old Man Levitt’ driving around like a Patroon. Then came the knife-sharpener and the Good Humor man.

In 1956 the Gimbels purchased the house. When the elder Mr. Gimbel referred to himself not as a ‘printer’ but as a ‘lithographer,’ you could have heard a pin drop. I’m surprised nobody said: “You go to your church, and I’ll go to mine.

My parents had a Cadillac. The Gimbels had, I think, a Duesenberg.  Cool car, whatever it was.

My family threw a welcoming party for the Gimbels. It looked like an out-take from ‘Ozzie and Harriet.’ After Roslyn Heights my family moved to Red Ground Road in Old Westbury, and we lived there until 1966.

I saw what happened to the Roslyn Country Club when I was there for my class’s 61st-year reunion in October. Too bad about that.


by Gail Gimbel

I do not recall any BBQ.  I very much remember the attic, as it always scared me. I probably have the documentation on when the attic crawl space was converted to a bedroom for Roger and a photography studio/darkroom for my dad, as photography was one of his hobby’s.

My family had multiple Caddy’s and Lincoln’s, and dad always picked high colors that weren’t even generally available and had to be signed off on with the dealer upon ordering. Sometimes the purple body and Duesenberg white-walled tires looked a bit… pimpish! 

The enormous $2.5m and up homes have taken away most of the beautiful trees; the landscape is quite different now

The RCC is non-existent as a community pool club. Someplace in my old paperwork I have the original brochure with my parents and I at the baby pool! 

Great memories of a very great neighborhood.

Here’s an old photograph taken on the driveway of my house, 11 Clover Lane, Roslyn Heights. ‘The Gang’ is standing on a make-believe boat!

Amy Hershcopf (Levine) (1972) is at the bottom left
Older sister Shelley Hershcopf (1968) is standing behind her
Gail Gimbel (1973) is in the front middle, in the white jacket
Robert Siegelman (1972) is just behind and to Gail’s right
Roger Gimbel (1969) , wearing a hat, is right behind Robert
Peter Siegelman (1969) is in the back row, middle, with light-colored hair
The tall guy, back-right is Rik Sherry (1968) from Dogleg Lane

For Our Neighborhood