by Eric Schoen-This too is Yonkers
Every couple of years, I make a trek to the place where growing up we spent the last week in August through Labor Day, the Catskill Mountains. You know, the place made famous in Dirty Dancing. The Concord, Grossingers, The Raleigh, our favorite the Hotel Brickman among the hundreds of hotels right off Route 17 or the Quikway as it was so often called.
So a buy one night, get one night midweek deal for $99 plus tax at the newest of the new hotels, The Alder right next to Resorts World casino (you know I love a good deal) put me in a Catskills state of mind.
I would have the opportunity to see the new hotels and the millions of dollars they put into Resorts World Casino. Maybe Gamble a dollar or two, gambling not my favorite recreational activity. This year marks the 50th Anniversary of Woodstock, a gigantic music fest that featured some of the top musicians and artists from throughout the world. I could visit The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts,an amphitheater, performing arts center and museum located at the site of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair located in Bethel, New York.
I wanted to go up to the Catskills several weeks before the official weekend celebrating Woodstock so I could enjoy the area without the crowds that would be arriving August 16-19, the dates for the official celebration. By the way if you are reading this column prior to the festivities, don’t even think of going up there unless you have a ticket for one of the concerts or other events as you will not be let into the area and be turned away to most likely sit in traffic for hours trying to head home.
I don’t think they are going to let people sleep in tents or sleeping bags on Max Yasgur’s Farm, the site where Woodstock took place 50 years ago and now home to Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. People 50 years ago slept in anything and with anyone they could and were covered with mud as it rained during Woodstock. Those baby boomers are now used to going on Priceline and bidding for a 4 star hotel!
I began my trek on a Wednesday morning making a pit stop at the service area in Sloatsburg, Ramapo whatever you want to call it. This rest area with food and facilities has been there for years. It’s before I would get on Route 17, the magic 2 lane carpet ride that whisks you to the Catskillls. Whisk you except on Friday afternoons and Sunday afternoons, times when most people would be heading to or going home from the hotels, motels, bungalows, cook-a-lanes (a bungalow with a kitchen to make your meals) and other places people would stay.
Back in the day when we would drive up 17, hotels had gigantic billboards announcing their facilities (indoor pool, outdoor pool, golf course, etc.) and the big name entertainment they had on weekends. Attached to the signs were smaller signs that said CASINOS MEAN JOBS.
Now just a few signs announcing activities and day and sleep away camps and religious camps dot Route 17. And the occasional sign selling cellular telephone services or appliances.
Yes, close to 50 years ago the area was hoping for casinos to draw the crowds from New York City, Westchester, Rockland basically the surrounding area to these big hotels. Now in 2019 (actually 2018) casino gambling is officially in the Catskills. The gigantic resorts are closed, many victim to fire and vandalism. But the dream of many hoteliers for years has finally arrived in the the Catskills Mountains. albeit a little late.
Some blame former Governor Mario Cuomo for stalling gambling in the Catskills. He did not like gambling. Unfortunately now the Catskills has major competition from New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland basically all the states that surround New York. And the bright lights of Las Vegas.
In previous years when I visited the area it was dark and dreary with not much construction going on. I remember seeing a beautiful main drag in Monticello with brand new storefronts sitting empty. The big business in the Catskills was prisons and jails. Who would want to holiday in a community surrounded by jails and halfway houses for those on drugs or the mentally ill.
I am happy to report that in my tour of my old stomping grounds (South Fallsburg, Monticello, Loch Sheldrake, Liberty, Ellenville, etc.) you see new housing and condos being built. Walmart has arrived, and lots of fast food restaurants and chains so you can eat to your hearts content. Wineries are plentiful.
I toured Bethel Woods Center for the Arts (Gordon Lightfoot who was scheduled to play 2 sold-out concerts had taken ill and rescheduled for the fall) and saw the magnificent displays they had with pictures of the artists who performed at Woodstock, their instruments, contracts, everything that went into the once in a lifetime music and art event.
After my tour I wanted to relax with a bottle of water and sit overlooking the grounds of Max Yasgur’s farm and just think about what it must have been like with thousands of people, some covered in mud watching the top musicians of the day entertain them. I was alone on the deck and absorbed the beautiful mountains, green pastures, an oasis of serenity in a world with so much going on.
I thought about the glorious days of the Catskill mountains, the big hotels with top entertainment, the food (glorious plates of lox and bagels and mini pastries fresh out of the oven) compared with the simpleness of me sitting there with my bottle of water. I don’t even think hotels offered plastic bottles of water when I was growing up.
Starbucks has replaced the big silver pots of coffee the waiter would pour. People would order postum and prunes and prune juice. I loved a massage given by an old time masseur who would make you feel like new for $20. That’s been replaced by a spa menu for men and woman costing hundreds of dollars. The outdoor pool, now it’s a fancy water park with rides and everything today’s generation wants.
Art lessons have been replaced by lessons on how to play the various table games. The smoke filled card rooms dad and mom enjoyed have been replaced by gambling tables and slot machines. I was impressed that they had trivia contests at night, all electronic with panini makers, knife sets and beverage coolers emblazoned with the hotel name as prizes.
Most of the big, old hotels have been knocked down, replaced with wellness centers and spas and ashrams. In fact the hotel we stayed at, the Brickman Hotel is one of the only hotels standing. It’s now a high class ashram or place for meditation. Whereas the Brickman was so welcoming, if the Ashram that replaced it sees someone who doesn’t belong their you will sadly be escorted off the grounds.
The current exhibit on Woodstock will be up through the fall months. I highly recommend a visit to see it and the beautiful Catskill mountains. Visit the Resorts World Catskills Casino. And to paraphrase the song from the movie Dirty Dancing, ‘Have the Time of Your Life!’
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericyonkers. Listen to Eric Schoen and Dan Murphy on the Westchester Rising Radio Show Thursday’s from 10-11 a.m. On WVOX 1460 AM, go to WVOX.com and click the arrow to listen to the live stream or download the WVOX app from the App Store free of charge.
