“East Hartsdale Avenue gets treated like a stepchild,” says Phil Benincasa Jr., who runs King-Aristocrat Dry Cleaners there with his father, Phil Sr.
“Me and my father feel the same way. The care for the town has declined since we”™ve been here (16 years). There used to be a patrolman, a street-sweeper. The maintenance of the town has slowly but surely gone downhill. The parking structure shut down a number of businesses. That pushed people out of town.”
In assessing the factors that have made East Hartsdale Avenue ”“ a vital artery in Westchester County ”“ a street in transition, Benincasa Jr. is among those merchants who think that the recession, high rents and the great flood of ”™07 are only part of the story. (See part 1 of this article online.) He is critical of the Hartsdale Public Parking District not only because he believes the construction of a parking structure behind his store played a key role in the flooding ”“ which the parking district denies ”“ but because he thinks the closure of the structure during construction, draconian regulations and inadequate street parking have turned off customers.
“When people can go to the mall, park there and not have to feed meters, that puts a damper on shopping in town,” Benincasa says.
However, Stephanie Kavourias, executive director of the parking district, says the district has to maintain a balance between flexibility ”“ a six-minute grace period, free Sundays and designated holidays ”“ with consumers”™ need for controlled parking. A 17-year resident of Hartsdale ”“ a hamlet in the town of Greenburgh ”“ Kavourias is among those who sense a change in the snug community as elusive yet powerful as the windstorms that have lately toppled trees on neighboring Fenimore and Fox Meadow roads. It is a change that can only partly be measured in dollars and square feet.
“When I came here, it was more an enmeshed neighborhood,” she says. “As the population ages out, the young people here work and shop in the city and hop in their cars.”
Or go online for goods. As Benincasa Jr. looks out onto the street, he sees an avenue shaped by the age of the Internet in which only businesses that can”™t be experienced virtually ”“ like his and Dee Francetic Hair Salon, for instance ”“ can thrive:
“You can”™t get your clothes cleaned online. You can”™t get your hair cut online.”
The virtual world may have contributed to what resident Marcia (mar SEE a) Kent describes as repetitive retail on the thoroughfare. Pharmacist Joseph Archina, owner of Hartsdale Pharmacy since 1999, agrees:
“There”™s no variety anymore. Other places someone might say, ”˜Honey, let”™s get out and walk around.”™ This has become a purpose street. I still think people want to walk into a store and interact with people. I don”™t think they just want to place an order for UPS.”
Lynda Piscitelli thinks so, too, which is why she opened an Indigo Chic Boutique on the avenue in December 2008. (She also has stores in Cold Spring and New City.) The casual elegance of the Hartsdale shop ”“ with its chandeliers, plush couches and floor-length mirrors leaning against walls ”“ invites shoppers to stay awhile.
“It would be nice to have more retail shops in town,” she says. “People could treat it as a destination.”
Certainly, the avenue”™s growing reputation as a U.N. of food should do much to turn it from Transition Street to Destination Place. (Indeed, the street appears to be busier at night and on weekends, when people tend to eat out.)
Besides Hunan Village II; Azuma Sushi; and the new Indian eatery Masala Kraft Café ”“ reflecting the contributions of Pacific Rim immigrants ”“ there are two Italian restaurants (Cassano”™s Pizza Trattoria and Frankie & Fanucci”™s Wood Oven Pizzeria); Harrys of Hartsdale, a restaurant specializing in surf and turf; a Starbucks; Juicce & Java; and Bagels & More. Frida, a Mexican restaurant, will open this summer in the spot vacated by Oporto, the former Portuguese restaurant. And there is much buzz about an expanded Enrico”™s Pastry Shop and Caffe moving to the former Hartsdale Farm”™s locale.
Owner Joe Floriano says he”™s pushing for a pre-Father”™s Day opening, though the bakery may not be ready until July 1. He says he”™s not sure what to do with his current store ”“ a few doors away ”“ whose lease won”™t be up for another year and a half.
“The cosmopolitan part of Hartsdale is something to be appreciated and embraced,” says Steven Fox, manager and wine buyer for Hartsdale Wine & Liquors, which took over the previous liquor store”™s site in 2008.
Though he has lived on the avenue since 1989, Fox is part of the new face of Hartsdale, writing a blog, “Heard It Through the Grapevine,” on the shop”™s Web site, hartsdalewine.com; marketing aggressively online; and establishing an island of specially priced wines in the store.
Other merchants are also going proactive. Archina says he spent $30,000 for a new façade, awning and windows for Hartsdale Pharmacy. Benincasa Jr. now cleans UGGs after noticing the popularity of that footwear.
More merchants will have to be willing to move ahead with the times, says Paul J. Feiner, supervisor of the town of Greenburgh. The town has received a $118,750 federal grant to update the Hartsdale Hamlet Streetscape Study and to make improvements to the business district. These will include new municipal signage, benches, trash receptacles and planters. Town officials will be meeting with merchants and residents in the next three months to discuss the upgrades, says Thomas Madden, commissioner of Greenburgh”™s Department of Community Development and Conservation.
Other amenities in the works include an enhanced Hartsdale Farmers”™ Market, held at the Metro-North Railroad station in the hamlet from June to mid November; a bocce tournament sponsored by Frankie & Fanucci”™s; more sculpture for little, triangular De Santi Park; and a continuation of the outdoor concert series.
Not everyone is convinced that these will turn East Hartsdale Avenue into more of a destination stop, but many are hopeful and willing to try. It”™s spring again, and it”™s spring on East Hartsdale Avenue, too.
“I”™m going to be an optimist,” Fox says, “and say, ”˜I”™m here to stay”™.”
“It”™s a nice neighborhood, a nice area,” says Gloria Jeng, co-owner of Hunan Village II. “People still like this avenue.”
