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Fire Island Pavilion: Latest News! by Steve Weinstein
EDGE Editor-In-ChiefThursday Jan 18, 2007 The Pavilion, the Fire Island Pines disco that was erected in 1980 and torn down last summer, continues to rise. Work is progressing even during the winter. According to Walter Boss, who is overseeing the construction project, up to 15 workers are commuting each day from the mainland. On Jan. 2, it was possible to see workers raising a large series of beams for the ceiling.
Eric von Kuersteiner has been commuting to the site as well. The owner of the Pavilion, along with Cielo (the former Botel) and the Blue Whale restaurant (a.k.a. the Yacht Club) has vowed that the club will be open by next season. Maybe have been skeptical that he will be able to keep that timetable. Fire Island is notoriously difficult as a place to build anything. The work crew and all of the materials must be shipped in. And work has to stop in inclement weather.
Fortunately for von Kuersteiner, the winter (up until mid-January) has been exceptionally mild, which has provided optimal working conditions of temperatures reaching as high as the low 70s. The "footprint" of the Pavilion will basically be the same, although it the south side fronting Fire Island Boulevard (formerly the office of Bob Howard Real Estate) will extend all the way to the boulevard line. Rumors are rampant that von Kuersteiner plans an upscale food store on the site, with Citarella, the swanky Upper West Side seafood-and-condiment emporium, reportedly getting the franchise.
EDGE Editor-in-Chief Steve Weinstein has been a regular correspondent for the International Herald Tribune, the Advocate, the Village Voice and Out. He has been covering the AIDS crisis since the early ’80s, when he began his career. He is the author of "The Q Guide to Fire Island" (Alyson, 2007).
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