The old diner at Beacon’s Depot Square.
By Mary McTamaney
The sun is shining on an icy winter day and, but for the resurgence of the COVID virus, it would be a great day to go out and meet a friend. One of my neighbors said she yearns for lunch-break trip across the river as Newburghers once did when ferries ran all day. Often, folks would take their bagged lunch, walk aboard the ferryboat, settle into a window seat and watch the amazing Hudson River scenery go by for seven minutes in each direction. Even on cold winter days, they would step outside on the forward deck for a few minutes to enjoy the crisp air and clear light of Newburgh Bay and listen to the growl and crack of the ice breaking against the ferry’s steel hull. The Hudson never disappointed delivering a lesson on time and tides.
If a lunchbreak traveler didn’t bring a sandwich to work, there were choices to grab something quick on either shore. Beacon and Newburgh had “ferry diners” at their shores where commuters could buy a cup of coffee and something quick to eat. The two riverfront diners were the source of hundreds of commuter breakfasts every morning. Those diners also served as waiting rooms for the ferryboats and for local bus lines as well. Inside each one, winter passengers huddled around big steam radiators in weather like we are currently having, drying off their gloves as they sipped a hot beverage.
Newburgh’s Ferry Restaurant at 50 Front Street filled the shore between Second and Third Street surrounded by a large parking lot for quick drop-offs and pick-ups. It was a simple brick one-story with large windows to watch for the buses coming to the west door. Out the east side, was a view to the constant path of the ferries crossing on their diagonal route over to Beacon. In the late 1940’s the Newburgh Chamber of Commerce had an office in this terminal as well. For that era, it was a perfect hub for promoting the city and its businesses and services.
Over in Beacon, the waterfront diner was much smaller and looked like many early train-car diners – just a simple long and narrow structure sided and roofed in metal with windows above each seating booth. Hundreds of these cozy old-fashioned diner cars dotted the mid-twentieth century landscapes and offered hot coffee and a quick meal.
James Panagides isn’t pouring coffee for commuters any more over at Depot Square in Beacon and William Arkolakas, who managed the busy Newburgh Ferry Restaurant, is also long departed. A walk or drive down to watch the ice snap and crackle on the river these days is a more solitary adventure. Yet, the smell of fresh coffee might just travel on the winds of time, if you linger a moment by “the old stands” some winter morning and listen for the bells and horns that once announced arrivals and departures along our shore.