Staten Island Restaurant Tour, Part XXXII: Primo Pizzeria (West New Brighton)

Two slices from Primos Famous Pizzeria, about to be consumed in Corporal Thompson Park.

Once I decided to have lunch in another of the nabes lining Staten Island’s North Shore, finding a place near the area’s two parks seemed the best course. The question was how to get there. The MTA app was having an especially chaotic day and I bounced among the platforms for three bus lines before finally settling on one that left me on Forest Avenue, a goodly walk from my destination. But hey, I figured, this just gave me a chance to explore a little more, and the walk along Staten Island’s Broadway was far from arduous.

Primos Famous Pizzeria, Henderson Avenue.

Primos (no apostrophe, not that I’m complaining) is one of only two restaurants in the north end of the neighborhood — and the only one that showed up in the online map. The other somehow escaped.

That was fine. I was in the mood for a slice or two.

But before we get to the tasty slices, let’s talk about the area. West New Brighton is one of three North Shore neighborhoods with Brighton in the name (in addition to West Brighton and New Brighton). It was originally called Factoryville, after New York Dyeing and Printing, the area’s first factory. When it opened in 1819, it included Factory Pond, created from a dammed creek, like the “lakes” I saw in Clove Lakes Park. More recently the area has sprouted two parks, Corporal Thompson Park (started in 1968, completed a decade later) and Heritage Park (2012).

Factoryville. Courtesy of Hidden Waters Blog.

West New Brighton includes an area identified on Google Maps as Edwin Markham Gardens. It is a development of traditionally styled homes named after American poet, essayist, and editor Edwin Markham (1852–1940).

His original name was Charles Edward Anson Markham, but that’s a long name for a housing development.

His most famous poem is The Man with the Hoe, inspired by Jean-François Millet’s poem L’homme à la houe.

Slightly cropped and enhanced. The artist is turning in his grave.

Google calls the area Edwin Markham Gardens, though the sign outside the leasing office said just Markham Gardens. Go figure. Just out of the frame was a man standing alongside a U-Haul driven by his daughter, who was moving in. I snapped the picture to get the office sign and the daughter got her dad go run after me and ask why. When I explained, he said it was OK to use the picture, but I’ve cropped it anyway. This happened just as I was leaving the neighborhood, and eas the last of several acts of kindness that day (I’m telling the story out of order, just to keep you on your toes).

Cropped to keep the peace.

Here’s a representative sample of Markham Gardens. Though the houses betray their modernity by being identical, they are sensitive to the architectural ethos of Staten Island’s North Shore. They look like they belong here. However, they are not entirely without controversy. After World War II two public housing projects were built in the area to house workers from the shipyards. Markham Homes was razed to build Markham Gardens, while the West Brighton Houses remain, adjacent to Corporal Thompson Park. The theory that was a mixed-income low-rise development would allow higher quality of life than a low-income high-rise development.

Houses in (Edwin) Markham Gardens.

But while the former tenants of Markham Houses have been rehoused, they have not been able to return to the their old neighborhood, as they had been promised. So Markham Gardens is the product of displacement and gentrification. Some of the older homes farther down Broadway favor a different color scheme. Less uniformity offers a different vibe.

Visions in yellow on Broadway.

My day started with a chaotic choice of buses that left me farther down Broadway than intended. But the long walk north from Forest Avenue gave me a chance to see architectural highlights such as FDNY Engine 156, dating from the golden age of American civic architecture.

Engine 156.

The OMW Flaming Grill (does that stand for Oh My Word?) might have been in the running for featured restaurant, but didn’t come up in my online research. Not sure if ribs or something else dripping barbecue sauce would have worked as well for takeout in the park as the pizza did. Possibly for future exploration. The building dates from 1895, according to the rooftop legend.

OMW Flaming Grill, on Broadway.

Before grabbing my pizza, I wanted to stroll in the area’s two parks. The first is Corporal Thompson Park, named for Lawrence C. Thompson, killed in Vietnam at age 20, the first African American to give his life in that war.

Corporal Thompson Park, with two athletic fields and a track.

Corporal Thompson was a graduate of nearby PS 18, which caught my eye with an insignia featuring the Verrazzano (not the nearby Bayonne) Bridge.

PS 18.

Corporal Thompson Park includes an athletic field where a soccer game was in progress. An enterprising lady and her daughter were on their way into the park to set up a folding table and sell refreshments to thirsty players. She offered me some, but I declined, with lunch not far off.

Entrepreneur heading to work.

The ball wandered my way and threatened to get lost in the bushes. I kicked it most of the way back, leaving it in the middle of the jogging track — I didn’t want to complicate the game. A kid came and got it. After the game, a parent came up and said hi. Another friendly gesture from the people of West New Brighton.

That’s the ball in the middle of the track.

There was also a baseball field where a few guys were tossing a ball around.

Not enough for a full game but enough for a practice.

Where Broadway terminated in Richmond Terrace, the street that runs along the north end of the island, I ran across Caddell Dry Dock and Repair Co., featuring an impressive crane, looming at right. The gate was open, but having recently been thrown out of the Donjon salvage yard in Rossville, I decided not to press my luck.

I’d see more of the crane later.

A winding section of Richmond Terrace…

...round the bend...

…led to Heritage Park. Here the emphasis is not on athletics but just strolling, hanging out, and enjoying views of Kill Van Kull, the waterway between the island’s North Shore and New Jersey.

Entrance to Heritage Park.

A Parks Dept. crew of about a dozen men (and one woman) was out with power tools maintaining the park, so it wasn’t exactly quiet, and I had to dodge plumes of dust kicked up by the tools. My bad (timing). Most of them escaped my camera except for one guy at work by the entrance.

It’s less scenic than the park itself, which is gorgeous.

Though you might take the winding stone path across the park, I preferred to make a circuit of its periphery on the wide asphalt path, some of which you see at right.

Winding path or circular path — your choice.

The Parks Dept. site says Heritage Park offers access to the waterfront. It would be more accurate to say it offers views of the waterfront — with the shore fenced off, you can’t get up close. This is more access than you’d get along much of Richmond Terrace, much of which is walled off by businesses. Yet it has historical resonance as a former Native American trail and Revolutionary War battleground. The redcoats have been shown the door and now it is bucolic and peaceful.

Sliver of Kill Van Kull.

A little of the Bayonne Bridge is on display.

Bayonne Bridge, across Kill Van Kull, in Heritage Park.

The bridge and I go way back. I made friends with it a few weeks ago when I restaurant-toured Port Richmond. It said hi.

What it actually said was — you again.

But what is this object anchored in the Kill? It is orange, like a Staten Island Ferry, and has “Staten” in the familiar font. Does the DOT store unused ferries on the docks east of Heritage Park? Or is this the ferry named John F. Kennedy, purchased by SNL comedians Colin Jost and Pete Davidson to become a floating nightclub?

Where you see Staten, can Island be far behind?

If that’s the case, this 300-foot vessel was in service from 1965 to 2001. When retired it was the oldest boat in the fleet. Following the $34 million renovation it will host two restaurants, multiple bars, an outdoor event space, and a hotel, turning it into a 60,000 square foot party boat.

Though the paint is faded.

I sent the picture to a source, who asked if the boat was at the edge of Caddell Shipyard, so evidently the answer is yes. The Staten Island Restaurant Tour wishes SI native sons Davidson and Jost and architect Ron Castellano success with their party boat, despite the rueful jokes the comics been making at their own expense. It’s a fun and imaginative idea and I hope it floats. As of March 2024, when The Hollywood Reporter covered the project, it was still on.

Mystery ferry.

Having toured the parks, I backtracked to Primos. The Sicilian slices are cut not in squares but in wedges. Here they are with a couple of buffalo-chicken slices. Becoming hard of hearing in my old age, I thought the counter guy said bubble slices and asked him to explain, thus accidentally ordering one.

One of these ended up inside me.

What I actually wanted, in addition to the Sicilian, was a basic New York slice from this no-frills cheese pie straight out of the oven.

Mmmm, cheese.

Though this chicken alfredo slice looked good too.

Mmmm, chicken alfredo.

A lady having lunch with her daughter at one of the two tables saved my bacon by spotting the error and calling my attention to it. Tragedy averted (though I would have eaten the buffalo slice anyway). This was the day’s first act of friendliness. I thanked her with a ginger ale, then backtracked to Corporal Thompson Park, where I laid out the goods on a bench.

Overlooking the soccer game.

The two slices were ready for their closeup.

Slices in the sun.

They were fresh and good and they didn’t last long.

I’ll spare you the empty-plate shot.

I disposed of the pizza packaging in a trash basket and stopped at the park’s restroom on the way out. NYC is short of public bathrooms but SI parks seem better supplied than most, a boon to the bladder-conscious senior about to embark on an unpredictable bus trip. The guy who had just finished cleaning the place cautioned me to watch my step as the floors were wet. As a newly minted senior, I’m always amazed when people address me respectfully. It’s not what I’m used to. Was this professional courtesy or another act of kindness?

I prefer to think the latter.

The final leg of my back-and-forth perambulations up and down Staten Island’s Broadway took me to the Richmond Terrace bus, where the Caddell crane thoughtfully folded itself into a twofer shot with the bus stop sign. The bus I’d expected to come in three minutes rolled by with an OUT OF SERVICE sign, but the one the app said to expect eleven minutes later came in three. An end to a lovely, if unpredictable, day. It left me filled with good pizza, good cheer, and a fervent wish that the State of New York would properly fund the MTA.

S40 bus stop, Edwin Markham Gardens / West Brighton.

Previously on the Staten Island Restaurant Tour:

Part I: Angelina’s (Tottenville)

Part II: Fina’s Farmhouse (Arthur Kill)

Part III: Laila (Richmond Valley)

Part IV: Il Forno (Pleasant Plains)

Part V: Breaking Bread (Prince’s Bay)

Part VI: Woodrow Diner (Huguenot)

Part VII: Il Sogno (Annadale)

Part VIII: Riva (Eltingville)

Part IX: Marina Cafe (Great Kills)

Part X: Do Eat (Bay Terrace)

Part XI: Canlon’s (Oakwood Heights)

Part XII: Prince Tea House (New Dorp)

Part XIII: Inca’s Peruvian Grille (Grant City)

Part XIV: Colonnade Diner (Jefferson Avenue)

Part XV: Baci (Dongan Hills)

Part XVI: Chinar on the Island (Old Town)

Part XVII: Cinco de Mayo (Grasmere)

Part XVIII: Phil-Am Kusina (Clifton)

Part XIX: Lakruwana (Stapleton)

Part XX: Pier 76 (Tompkinsville)

Part XXI: Chang Noi Thai (St. George)

Part XXII: Mike’s Unicorn Diner (Bulls Head)

Part XXIII: Melt Shop (New Springville)

Part XXIV: Da Noi (Travis)

Part XXV: Big Nose Kate’s Saloon (Rossville)

Part XXVI: The Manor (Manor Heights)

Part XXVII: Luk & Bart Homemade Food (Mariners Harbor)\

Part XXVIII: Rinconcito Paisa (Graniteville)

Part XXIX: New Dinette (Port Richmond)

Part XXX: The Stone House (Clove Lakes Park)

Part XXXI: Hitto Ramen (Castleton Corners)

If you’re enjoying the Staten Island Restaurant Tour, please follow my blog by clicking follow next to my name at the top. Then subscribe to get emails on new episodes. You can also subscribe to the SIRT channel on YouTube. For offline reading, the first 21 episodes of the SIRT are available as an ebook. See you soon!