By Ayala Ben-Yehuda
The sundial outside the Bayside Long Island Rail Road station, built as a memorial to the former publisher of the Bayside Times, has been stolen, said Bayside Historical Society Executive Director Geraldine Spinella.
The sundial was put up by the society in the late 1980s to honor Christine Allison, who owned the Bayside Times from 1960 to 1989, the year it was purchased by current publisher Steven Blank.
Spinella said she noticed the absence of the bronze sundial, which had been sitting on a red granite pedestal on a concrete mall on 41st Avenue, on April 19 while giving a tour of the area to a friend.
Though it was unclear exactly when the sundial was taken, Spinella said she last saw it in early March. The sundial’s arm had been removed by vandals years ago, and when she called the railroad to see if the sundial had been removed to replace the missing arm, she was told that it had not.
“Why do people steal public monuments?” she wondered, expressing surprise that no one in either the railroad station or surrounding pubs had noticed the sundial, which was over a foot in diameter, being removed. The pedestal remained in place Monday with some cigarette butts put out on its top.
“Don’t you think you would notice somebody prying a piece of heavy bronze off of it?” Spinella asked.
An archivist from the historical society was trying to determine the exact date the sundial went up and what its value was so that a reward for its return could be offered, Spinella said.
The bronze face was inscribed with the statement “the sun shines for all” with some sun rays around it as well as “Bayside Historical Society” at its bottom.
“The membership of the Bayside Historical Society is profoundly disheartened at the theft of the Allison mall sundial near the site of the Bayside railroad station,” the society’s board said in a statement. “We work very hard to maintain the integrity and history of Bayside and would like the sundial returned.”
A plaque for the Civil War memorial at Dermody Square on 216th Street and 48th Avenue was stolen two years ago, Spinella said.
“There is somebody out there that has a thing for bronze, I guess,” she said.
Reach reporter Ayala Ben-Yehuda by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
