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Aug. 3, 2010:
Staten Island Beer History Map View Staten Island Beer History in a larger map. |
My project for the summer of 2010 has been to pour what little I know about Staten Island's beer brewing past into an interactive historical map. I wrote an article on this topic for the S.I. Source (R.I.P.) way back in 2004 and have been looking for a way to build on that knowledge ever since, especially now that homebrewing appears to be experiencing a grass roots renaissance here on the island. Anyway, all I can say after a brief bit of research is that I'm barely scratching the surface. It's surprising, to me at least, how many stories from the so-called golden age of Staten Island brewing involved suicide, trips to the sanitarium and lengthy court battles. Maybe I'm biased by my sources (The New York Times Historical Archive is especially entertaining), but anybody who tells you life was simpler in the "olden days" either has a bad memory or didn't do their research. The Google Map format is a little bit limiting, I'll admit. If anybody knows a way to jazz up the icons so that I can more easily distinguish sites, let me know. On the plus side, however, the Google Map manager greatly facilitates collaboration. If you see anything erroneous or missing or if you would simply like to add your own information to the map, send me an email, and I will add you to the "collaborators" list. |