Apple Honda opens new showroom with fond tribute to company founder

Apple Honda celebrated the grand opening of its new Route 58 showroom today, with general manager Bill Fields snipping a ceremonial red ribbon to mark the occasion.

The new 5,500-square-foot showroom stands just east of the dealership’s former showroom and its service center, built in 1971 by company founder Irwin Garsten, who passed away in February at age 86.

Garsten remained deeply involved in the family business and participated in overseeing the development of the new showroom. His presence was felt at today’s ceremonies: his portrait took center stage behind the crowd of family members, employees, associates and elected officials who gathered for the ribbon-cutting inside the glass-walled showroom. A photo slideshow played on a large-screen TV, chronicling the history of the dealership, which started out on West Main Street in the late 1950s.

The crowd gathered in the showroom, like the slideshow, told some of the story of Garsten’s life: his son and general manager Fields cut the ribbon; his wife Flora and daughter-in-law Mary Beth looked on; friends and colleagues from the Rotary Club of Riverhead, Peconic Bay Medical Center, United Way of Long Island, North Fork Breast Health Coalition and North Fork Animal Welfare League — organizations Garsten supported — stood with the company’s staff members. Much of the conversation centered on sharing memories about Garsten.

“Irwin was a great teacher and mentor,” said Richard Israel, whose company Diamond Builders, built the new showroom. “He never looked only at today. He always looked to tomorrow,” Israel said. Garsten solicited him to volunteer on the board of what was then Central Suffolk Hospital, which they served on together for many years.

Former congressman George Hochbrueckner and his wife Carol Ann first got to know the Garstens back when Hochbrueckner was running for State Assembly. “Irwin was an early supporter,” Hochbrueckner said. The Hochbrueckners and Garstens got involved in United Way and the Education Foundation for Suffolk County Extension.

Garsten was proud of the structure rising just outside his office window when he sat down for an interview with RiverheadLOCAL in November. But he wasn’t keen on moving into the second-floor office of the new building. He was secretly planning to remain in the office he’d occupied since moving his dealership to Route 58 more than 40 years ago, he said with a wink and a smile. He was a people person and enjoyed being in the thick of things, on the sales floor.

Fields will now occupy that second-floor office. He led a tour of the modern new facility today, showing off the high-tech bathroom, staff breakroom, sleek offices and conference room on the second floor, located off a hallway open to the showroom floor below. Some of the furniture is yet to be delivered, but the space is functional and sales are being made. At one point the loud peal of a silver bell hushed conversation on the showroom floor.

“When the bell rings, it means a car’s been sold,” Fields’ executive assistant Linda Hulse explained.

Or just maybe, an angel’s gotten his wings.