Copyright Staten Island Advance
Editor’s note: A version of this story was originally published in 2020. It has been updated by Sydney Maldonado. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Old-time Staten Islanders will recall the former Tavern on the Green, the restaurant to see and be seen, which operated from about 1938 to 1976. Tavern on the Green was located at 2566 Hylan Blvd. in New Dorp, and was destroyed in a massive fire in 1977. The Coppotelli Family, synonymous with restaurants and catering halls on Staten Island, operated Tavern on the Green for some 26 years, and sold it in 1974. Many loyal regulars claim it was never quite the same, and that its glory days were behind it after it changed hands. In its heyday, Tavern on the Green was Staten Island’s best known gathering place, the site of political dinners and lunches, affairs for community and charitable organizations, and countless family and social events. Celebrities from the worlds of government, sports and show business had occasion to drop in. That included three presidents, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and George Bush, and movie stars such as Loretta Young, Joan Crawford and Betty Hutton. Orson Bean was a frequent visitor. It’s the place Bobby Thomson chose to have dinner Oct. 3, 1951, after having hit “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World” earlier in the day. Thomson dined with his Curtis High School baseball coach, Harry O’Brien, and Hal Squier, the sports editor of the Advance. Robert Kennedy also dined at the Tavern during his successful campaign for senator of New York. According to former Advance food editor Mike Azzara in an old Advance article, Cardinal Francis Spellman also visited the Tavern many times. The site was also used as emergency headquarters by city, state and federal authorities on several occasions. One occasion was the December 1960 crash between two airliners over New Dorp, and another was the April 1963 brush fires that ravaged the South Shore. The Tavern was eventually sold to a company made up of Greek-American restaurateurs who never enjoyed the success of the original owners. The company went into arrears on its mortgages and taxes, and the Coppotelli family reacquired it in 1977. About a month later, in February 1977, it was destroyed by fire. Scroll below for glimpses into the social gatherings held in the now iconic Tavern on the Green. 1966 1967 1969 1970 1971 1973 1974 1976 1977
