Phil Mannino’s spouse, Marie, certain might mild up a room.
All through their 58 years collectively earlier than Marie died in 2020 at age 79, the couple loved antiquing in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Maine. Amongst different trinkets, their treasure chest swelled with elegant Tiffany lamps.
Lengthy Island diners who bear in mind any of the practically two dozen eating places Mannino ran all through his profession, together with O’Malley’s of Southold, might recall decor boasting these and different stained glass fixtures.
“She had a really feel for putting issues, she had nice style,” Mannino mentioned. “She was a giant consider all my eating places truly.”
Final 12 months, Mannino began a brand new chapter. He closed up the sales space he and his spouse opened in Bear in mind Yesteryears Antiques and Jewellery in Oakdale in 2019 and partnered together with his cousin Steve Gill, a fellow vintage fanatic, to open Laurel Antiques in November.
For the 84-year-old, this new store is a return to regular in additional methods than one.
“I had my very own companies for thus lengthy, I simply had the itch to get again and do it the way in which I needed to do it,” he mentioned. “I had nothing to do, I used to be sitting round the home going loopy. It will get me off the bed within the morning so it labored out good.”
Reminiscences not on the market
The shop is split into two sections. The entrance boasts Mannino’s choices, the again options Gill’s.
Mannino shows collectible figurines and different novelties upon vintage furnishings. Such heartfelt scenes are damaged up with extra humorous paraphernalia, resembling a drunken monkey.
Instantly past the entrance door, he positioned a peach tree-like Tiffany lamp, as his spouse would have.
Within the corridor between his and Gill’s rooms, Mannino positioned a few of his wares on the market atop a priceless piece, with which he can by no means half.
“This can be a desk that was in my home for 50 years,” he mentioned. “My youngsters grew up consuming at this desk so we determined by no means to promote it.”
Additionally not on the market — though individuals would like to take him dwelling — is Albert, Mannino’s 2-year-old basset hound. Above the furry pal’s blanketed pen hangs a shelf boasting a framed photograph of him and Mannino, surrounded by basset hound collectible figurines.
“Clients introduced these in,” Mannino mentioned of the various mini Alberts. “Once they noticed Albert all of them fell in love with him and my clients — many from Oakdale — introduced them in. I couldn’t promote them clearly so I figured I’d give Albert a nook and we’d make a celeb out of him.”
Amish paradise
Past the hallway, Gill’s room boasts practically a dozen items of furnishings he procured from a woodworker in Lancaster, Pa.
“His father and uncle took down barns for a residing within the Lancaster space,” Gill defined. “When he and his brother got here of age, they began making furnishings from the reclaimed barn wooden.”
For Gill, 63, of Patchogue, Laurel Antiques is the pure development of a passion changed into a second gig. When he’s not working as an auditor at Brookhaven Nationwide Laboratory, he sells antiques, together with extra Amish-made furnishings, at Bartique Village in Moriches.
“We nonetheless attempting to fill it up, get the lay of the land and determine what individuals need,” Gill mentioned of the brand new location. “However antiques are scorching proper now.”
Laurel Antiques is situated at 1195B Franklinville Highway Laurel, NY 11948. The shop is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment.
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