On display in the showcase next to the Library’s reference desk are shoes by famed shoe designer Beth Levine of Patchogue,
Shoe designer Beth (Katz) Levine spent her early years on her family’s cattle and dairy farm in Holtsville. The Katz family later lived on West Avenue in the 1920’s and 1930’s and Beth graduated from Patchogue-Medford High School.
In 1949, Beth and her husband Herbert opened a shoe business and factory in New York City. Women’s black or brown platform shoes were worn during the World War II. The young Levines responded with their “Femme Fatale” shoe with a V-cut closed toe and a narrow ankle strap produced in a variety of colors considered vulgar at the time. The “Femme Fatale” was a huge hit and their first bestselling shoe. It is still on display on shoehero.com but the production has ceased.