The Long Island Hall of
Fame
By virtue of her place of birth,
the New York City suburb of Long
Island laid claim to Barbra
Streisand in 2008 and elected
her into the their Music Hall of
Fame.*
What?
 Anyone who grew up
on Long
Island will tell
you they're from either
Nassau or Suffolk county.
Growing up there myself, we
always identified the region as "New
York and Long Island."
Places like Brooklyn and
Queens are, well, part of
The City. Long Island is
not.
Who could (or would even
want to) argue the point?
Certainly not the people
of
Brooklyn. Did you ever
hear anyone from Brooklyn
say they were from Long
Island?
No. Not even Barbra.
A Brooklynite
would proudly tell you, in
no uncertain terms, that he's
from
Flatbush, or maybe
Williamsburg, or Bay
Ridge. Period.
Technically, of course,
people from Brooklyn and
Queens are from Long
Island, if only geographically. With a
seemingly unending supply
of talent from those two New
York City boroughs, The
Long Island Music Hall of
Fame agrees. And why
wouldn't they?
With apologies
to Billy Joel, Dee Snider and a
small handful of others, Long Island wouldn't
have much of a music hall
of fame
without including artists who
hailed from Brooklyn and Queens.
The Long Island Music Hall
of Fame has no exhibits you
can view to learn about
Barbra's "Long Island"
heritage. Nor is
there an official Hall of
Fame building you can
visit (although the
organization has hopes of
building one someday).
For now, just know that
the little girl from
Williamsburg Brooklyn, the
girl who probably never
went to Jones Beach, never
spent a Saturday afternoon
shopping at Roosevelt
Field and most certainly
never summered in The
Hamptons, has been claimed
by Long Island as one of
their very own.
As I said, I grew up on Long
Island. As much as I'd like to
say that Barbra and I are from
the same place, if you're from
the area, it just doesn't make
sense.
The 2008 Long Island Hall
of Fame induction
ceremonies were held at
the prestigious Garden
City Hotel in Nassau
County . And
while we're sure Barbra
was delighted and maybe a
little bit amused by the
election (after all, an
honor is an honor), she
didn't show.
Was anyone really surprised?
*Other notables in the Long Island
Hall of Fame:
(From Brooklyn) Carole
King, Neil Diamond, Pat
Benatar, Harry Chapin,
Neil Sedaka, Beverly
Sills, George Gershwin and
Arlo Guthrie.
(From Queens)
Louis Armstrong, Cyndi
Lauper, Tony Bennett
and Simon & Garfunkel.
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