City Island is better known as a place to eat crab legs and lobster, but a historic building there has found a new identity as a vintage toy store. NY1's Roger Clark reports:
It's the type of place to find a Star Wars action figure, a handful of Super Balls, or a pack of baseball cards from the 1980s.
"Our job is to sort of sell stuff and make people happy, is basically what we try to do every day," says Dan Treiber, co-owner of 239 Play.
239 Play is named for its address on City Island Ave. Treiber, who ran an independent record label, and his wife Reina Brill, a sculptor, opened the store last year. It's an extension of their popular booth at the Brooklyn Flea Market, which initially sold actual items from the attic of the house he grew up in on City Island.
"They were like, 'What's the name of your business?' And we were like, 'Dan's Parent's House.' And we looked at each other and said, 'Ha, ha, ha, ha.'"
But after nine years, their flea market business has expanded into this more-than-150-year-old building. It once housed a market, a boat propellor shop and most recently a marine supply store in this former fishing community.
Treiber says the building likely would have been demolished if the couple didn't purchase it.
"I love City Island. I'm born and raised here. There should be things here. There should be old things here. And so in essence we bought the building and rescued the building. And then we had to figure out how to run a store," he said.
At some stores selling vintage and collectibles, there are signs that say, 'Don't touch anything.' But at 239 Play it's the opposite.
"I want people to touch things, I want people to pick stuff up," Treiber said.
Treiber and Brill hope other businesses will follow suit and set up shop nearby, one of the city's small-town-like neighborhoods.
"Where else can you be where you have a beach at the end of the block and I can walk three blocks to my store. You should come do that too," Treiber said.
Visitors should not be surprised to find items they once played with as children -- perhaps making a trip to this outpost on City Island a trip back to a more carefree existence as a kid.