“My name is Michael Lonergan; everyone calls me Mikie or Irish Mike. I grew up in County Tipperary in Ireland. I was schooled in Cahir…So, I graduated school, and uh, I did college for a year. I did physical therapy, sports therapy, massage for a year in Cork. I did that for a year…and I uh, I went to my uncle out in Oceanside, New York…I worked for him. He does wood flooring: private business; he does like houses and all. I did that, and at the time he was moving out of Oceanside, so I had to come; I had to figure out, ‘where do I go from there?’ So, I had an uncle out in Rockaway. I was here for two weeks. Loved the place. That was it. That was in 2018. I was 20.” I met Mikie at Connolly’s last week.
Lonergan only lived here full-time for four years but has a history with the place. “I have a lot of family in Rockaway–on my dad’s side. His nanny had a house in the 120s; I’m not sure where. So, my dad grew up between Ireland and New York. So, my mother: my grandmother grew up in Broad Channel. My mother and my father met in Rockaway. At a house party. I have a lot of family around that I don’t know. I’m still meeting–or I met them when I was younger, but yeah, I have a strong family connection in Rockaway,” he explained. Mikie’s grandfather came over from Ireland in the 1950s and would soon meet his wife and together raise six kids.
After his initial stint here, Mikie returned to Ireland, but not for long. “I went back and tried to go again to college back home in Ireland, but it didn’t work out… didn’t go well, I didn’t like it too much…It’s funny ‘cause like, I’d seen the opportunity I’d had in New York, so I came back to New York. I spent a bit more time over here in 2019, uh, start of June, and I left Thanksgiving that time around, and then COVID hit. During COVID, I spent probably three years back in Ireland. Yeah, like two, three years. I was working construction, and I was building a school in my hometown, Cahir. It was–it was–it kept me busy. I was dingle crazy. It was dang COVID,” Lonergan said.
“I have my dad and my mother back home and my eldest sister; she was here with me. And then uh, by the time–2022, my sister and I–I moved here; she came over, she lasted like maybe a year, less than a year maybe. She couldn’t get a steady job. I worked doing cement for three and a half years, and then recently I got into a [construction workers] union; that was my goal. My goal all along was to get into a union. I got in, I started the job in March, I got my union book in May, and I skipped a whole apprenticeship. I don’t know, they liked how I worked, I guess. It’s been very good. A lot of opportunities have come to me so far; I get a lot of overtime, which is good.” Mikie beamed as he shared his recent employment milestone. He said he finds his work fulfilling. “It’s physical, and I have heavy hands, not really the finesse to finish…anything. I’m more of a blunt force guy. I like picking up things and putting them down. And I’m pretty good at it.”
I asked if he sees himself going back to Ireland or if he’s here to stay. Lonergan says he wants to wait and see, especially as his career grows. “Right now, I mean the union–I’m on a high-rise at Hudson Yards, it’s going on 74 floors. That’s a piece–so like that’s–I have a piece. I can always say like, I’m part of the New York skyline. I’ve been here four years, and every time I’m in the city, I’m always looking up. Like my whole life, as I had been in the country and like this space feels now–it’s pretty sick. Pretty sick. Like you hear, New York is like tough, but no, that’s not how it is, like it’s sick what you’re doing; you’re living in the greatest city in the world.”
Mikie truly fell head over heels for Rockaway. “The people. The social people and the being allowed to be a part of what’s going on. For example, you can go up to like anyone; could be from anywhere, it’s–they go to the beach, and they hang out, and like you just have a chat with someone. You can meet someone from Ireland, or you can meet someone from Asia or somewhere in South America. I found out the coolest thing is just like the diverse people, who you meet. Just like educating yourself about people and learning about life. I love learning. I love learning about just…life. I guess I have a little passion. My whole thing was like I can’t come here and not be social. I mean, when I first got here, I talked to as many people as I could–many acquaintances or friends,” Lonergan said. “I don’t want to take anything too seriously because nothing is that serious.”
I challenged the statement, asking what is “that serious?” Mikie’s response was perfect: “How you present yourself in the world. If you–you can’t go around acting like an a**hole and expecting someone to be into it. You treat people how you want to be treated. And I guess that was a big part of where I am now. I didn’t just like– I didn’t get here keeping to myself–I put myself out there to other people, and like, by doing that it really helped me. By helping other people I’d say, like, helping them move or inviting them for a drink, etcetera. There’s a whole list of how to be social or help people or just be around, involve yourself around town. Yeah.”
“I feel like I was born to serve in a way. And I’m okay with that, because like maybe someday when I’ll be like in charge of something, or someday I’ll have a child, and I’ll teach them how to be–like how to present themselves in the world. Someday like, I would like to show them my way and my reason and my way of living. You know, to get respect, you need to earn respect. That’s my process right now; I’m giving respect to earn it. Like I’ve done a lot of that; I’ve got a lot of credibility in the last couple months just how I’ve been putting myself out there, always been saying yes and not turning down anything…just like I’m always presenting myself…I feel like it’s difficult, but it’s very natural.
“When I was younger–the way I grew up–I trained greyhounds when I was younger. My dad, like, put it as a form of work. My grandfather–my grandfather was a big part of my childhood. They both showed me the benefits–the fruits of your labor. I learned how to be controlled through them, like the consequences of not being there on time, doing the job right. I could talk about my grandfather all day,” Lonergan said. “He was a huge part–he was like a third parent to me.”
I asked what he learned from his grandfather. “Patience,” he said without hesitation. “Patience. If you’ve got patience, you can do anything; you can do anything; you can do it right. Try not to rush into anything. Try not to be irrational. Think about things before you act.”
