Eltingville, Staten Island

Eltingville is the name of a neighborhood on Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City, USA. It is on the island's South Shore, immediately to the south of Great Kills and north of Annadale. The main commercial area of Eltingville extends down Richmond Avenue, with offshoots heading north on Amboy Road and Hylan Boulevard.

History
Originally called South Side, and later Seaside, the neighborhood owes its present name to a prominent family by the name of Elting which settled there in the late 19th century. It was the southern terminus of the Staten Island Railway until 1860, when the line was extended to Tottenville. The community's main business district sprang up around the railroad station, which is located a short distance west of the intersection of Amboy Road and Richmond Avenue. It is probably with the neighborhoods of Eltingville and Great Kills in mind that New York Telephone named a telephone exchange "Honeywood" in the 1920s; this exchange, which also served Annadale and Huguenot, was retired from service in 1959, but a local business establishment &mdash; Honeywood Liquors on Hylan Boulevard &mdash; remained for decades as a reminder of the exchange's existence. When HOneywood 6 and nearby TOttenville 8, with operators connecting all calls, converted to dial service the combined exchanges became YUkon 4.

Beginning in the mid-1960s, Eltingville, like many other Staten Island neighborhoods, was the scene of massive new home construction, replacing the farmland that had heretofore predominated. This caused logistical problems, chiefly a lack of sewer lines, which then needed to be built. As a result, local traffic frequently had to be detoured from many main thoroughfares, including a large section of Hylan Boulevard in the early 1990s.

Like most of the South Shore of Staten Island, Eltingville has a large Italian-American population with many Italian-owned businesses, including Giovanni's Ristorante, John Vincent Scalia Funeral Home, Portobello Cafe, DeMonte's Salumeria, Sure Electrical Contracting, Carlo's Fish Market, DeRosa & Sons Pastosa Ravioli, and a large number of pizzerias. The offices of State Senator Andrew Lanza and New York City Councilman Vincent Ignizio are also located on Richmond Avenue in the neighborhood. There is a smaller number of Irish-Americans as well as a growing population of Russians and other ethnic groups.

For many years, the Eltingville train station had an Optimo cigar store situated adjacent to the steps leading up to the platform. The chain of Optimo cigar stores was once an iconic sight around the five boroughs of New York City. The Optimo store has been gone from the Eltingville station since the 1990s, allegedly due to a fire. Although two fluted, Greek-style columns from the store remain on the site, as a reminder of the store.

Education
The area is home to many schools, including P.S. 42 and P.S. 55, both of which send students to I.S. 7 for middle school.

Notable residents

 * Actor Steven Seagal once lived in Eltingville.
 * Fashion model Patti Hansen, an Eltingville native, is best known for having married Rolling Stones Guitarist Keith Richards.