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"Remember in '63 and '64 when Civil Rights protesters chained themselves to the booths and closed them? Traffic backed all the way to Siberia," one comment said on the group's page.
One person called it a "landmark" saying it evoked "memories of better days," while another said the structure was "a total eyesore and obsolete."
"The pencil is landmark enough," said a comment, using the nickname locals use, referring to the brick and limestone Jones Beach Water Tower visible to beachgoers from miles away.
A few recounted the first in the classic crime family franchise films.
"Sonny wished there were no toll booths," said a comment, referring to the notorious toll booth scene where Sonny Corleone was murdered by assassins of the Barzini family in "The Godfather".
The same person even posted a picture of Corleone's "death car," the Lincoln Continental Sonny was shot in.
"That scene was shot at the western end of Ocean Parkway I believe," still another person posted.
Work is underway on $3.9 million project to create a more welcoming approach to Jones Beach said the April 26 announcement by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
The project involves taking down the abandoned toll plaza on Meadowbrook Parkway and building a monumental gateway sign to welcome visitors to Jones Beach State Park.
Use of the eight-lane toll plaza and brick office building, built in 1953, was discontinued in 2017.
The project will eliminate the derelict structures at the park gateway and help improve traffic flow. Temporary lanes will be constructed to divert traffic around the plaza while the work is underway in early June.
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