Editor’s note: A version of this story was originally published in 2020. It has been updated by Sydney Maldonado.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Old-time Staten Islanders will recall the former Tavern on the Green, the restaurant to see and be seen, which operated from about 1938 to 1976.

Tavern on the Green was located at 2566 Hylan Blvd. in New Dorp, and was destroyed in a massive fire in 1977.

The Coppotelli Family, synonymous with restaurants and catering halls on Staten Island, operated Tavern on the Green for some 26 years, and sold it in 1974.

Many loyal regulars claim it was never quite the same, and that its glory days were behind it after it changed hands.

In its heyday, Tavern on the Green was Staten Island’s best known gathering place, the site of political dinners and lunches,

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