It's Halloween, so that means lots of fun for the residents of Staten Island. One location on Staten Island that's going all out for the holiday is the Overspray/NYC Arts Cypher, which has transformed into a haunted house. Members of the staff were interviewed by NY1 News. 

NYC Arts Cypher’s office building may like it normally does from the outside but as soon as you walk through the doors there is a surprise around every corner. “I love Halloween and I love doing this. I love scaring people,” said volunteer Shoshanna Blumberg. Blumberg is one of several volunteers at the non-profit’s haunted house on Broad Street. The event has been held for 5 years. It’s so exciting because people are really passionate about halloween and its so easy to get

It's been a great time to live on Staten Island, if you're a burger lover that is. Within the last month, both Sonic Drive-In and Smashburger have opened locations on Staten Island. 

Sonic Drive-In, is easily the more well known of the two. Sonic is known for it's use of carhops on roller skates, the company annually hosts a competition to determine the top skating carhop in its system. Staten Island's new Sonic location can be found at 148 Page Ave, Staten Island, NY 10309. Find them on Google maps, here. 

Smashburger is less well known, but a little more high end. Their menu features chicken sandwich versions of most of their burgers, as well as veggie burgers and salads. Staten Island's new Smashburger location can be found at 4318

Did you know that Staten Island has a pair of man made islands off the coast of Midland Beach? If you don't frequent the boardwalk, you may not have noticed them. Hoffman Island and Swinburne Island were created by the US Government in the early 1900s. After their creation, they were used as a quarantine station, housing immigrants found to have been carrying contagious diseases when they landed at Ellis Island.

You can learn more about these interesting islands on Wikipedia, here.

Filmmaker, Athur Siegel, is a Staten Islander with a penchant for sharing his visions of the past. Once Upon A Time in Staten Island is a film produced by Siegel,  The video above, is a trailer for the film which combines still photos of Staten Island between the years of 1940 and 1963. Towards the end of the clip, there's a series of then and now shots, comparing the Staten Island of yesteryear to the Staten Island we all know today.

Apparently in the 1940's there was a ski-jump at the site of Clove Lakes Park. That must have been fun. Below, read an excerpt from Siegel's website, where the documentarian describes his film:

Following the curious summertime adventures of a typical 12-year old of 1951, this unique 59-minute film evokes