Upstater Spring 2017 by Chronogram Media

In springtime, the old becomes new again. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gone around

comes back around, revived. So open up. And let the spring surprise you.

zakary pelaccioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new cookbook

c o c k ta i l s for spring

h u d s o n va l l e y d e s t i n at i o n w e d d i n g s

uceda

modern

At Lindal we are very proud that for over 70 years we have been producing homes that are modern in spirit and warm in nature. At the heart of the Lindal Experience lives progress and tradition, inspiration and predictability – the cutting-edge architecture is delivered through the time-honored building systems of Lindal Cedar homes and backed by a lifetime structural warranty. Lindal Cedar Homes has designed and produced over 50,000 homes, built throughout the world in every climate, on every type of terrain, and in every regulatory environment. Since the introduction of its modern design program in 2008, Lindal has been the modern systemsbuilt ‘prefab’ home of choice for our clients. We will be happy to speak with you about the services we offer, including free site evaluations and site visits, and our free Design Program.

Atlantic Custom Homes, Inc. Stop by our Classic Lindal model at: 2785 Route 9 • Cold Spring, NY 10516 888.558.2636 • 845.265.2636 Info@LindalNY.com www.HudsonValleyCedarHomes.com

SPRING 2017

upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

DESIGN - BUILD • 845-471-1047 • baxterbuilt.com

SPRING 2017

Inner Peace.

Architectural interior design and building for your residential or commercial project.

TE VE MORRI D E

I G N

stevemorrisdesigns.com | 845.417.1819 discovery . design . fabrication . construction

upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

S P R I N G FA CTO RY S A L E

50-80% OFF FACTO RY

S ECO N DS

M AY 1 3 T H 1 0 - 6 P M & M AY 1 4 T H 1 1 - 4 P M L I V E

G L A S S - B L O W I N G

D E M O N S T R A T I O N S

C A S H O N LY | 3 1 0 F I S H K I L L AV E . U N I T 1 1 , B E A C O N , N Y | W W W. N I C H E M O D E R N . C O M / U P S T A T E R - F S 2 0 1 7 SPRING 2017

upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

Welcome Back to the Catskills Welcome Back to the Catskills

Welcome Back to the Catskills! • Day Spa to • Woodnotes • The Country Stores Spacious Accommodations Grille Welcome Back the Catskills! World’s Largest Kaleidoscope • Outdoor Adventures in Nature’s Playground

Spacious Accommodations • Day Spa • Woodnotes Grille • The Country Stores World’s Largest Kaleidoscope • Outdoor Adventures in Nature’s Playground FOLLOW US

facebook.com/emersonresort

twitter.com/emersonresort

instagram/emersonresort

facebook.com/emersonresort

twitter.com/emersonresort

instagram/emersonresort SPRING 2017

TABLE of

CONTENTS

upstater SPRING 2017

46 Endless possibilities. Basilica Hudson gets set for a wedding reception.

FEATURES

food + drink

Saluting Spring

Space to Dream

58 60

Chef Zakary Pelaccio, of Fatty Crab and Fish & Game fame, publishes a new cookbook with Peter Barrett.

“What Does This Place Taste Like?”

food + drink

Al fresco cocktails with Reed Street Bottle Shop. Story by Brian PJ Cronin / Photos by Jesse Turnquist we ddi ngs

Whatever your style, the Hudson Valley offers the spaces, nature, hosts, and coordinators to create your perfect day. Story by Anne Pyburn Craig at home

Creative Catalyst

The revitalized Lace Mill in Kingston provides affordable live/workspace to a burgeoning creative collective. Story by Mary Angeles Armstrong Photos by Deborah DeGraffenreid h ealth & we lln ess

The Tick Plague

Dr. Richard Horowitz shines a light on dealing with Lyme disease—even when blood tests fail to diagnose it. Story by Wendy Kagan going native

Flipping the Equation

Alon and Melissa Koppel transform their lives and Catskill’s Main Street. Story by Kandy Harris / Photos by Jesse Turnquist

HV PORTRAITS

THIS & THAT 16

MISSION STATEMENT

John Hall

check out our team

upstate films

painting: woodland school

zoe bellot

Objectified: dogs

mario & lynn callaway

photo essay: the borscht belt

francis greenburger

LAST LOOK: trunk supporter

ON THE COVER Vintage postcard of the former resort The Pines in South Fallsburg in the 1960s, courtesy of Marisa Scheinfeld. The Pines billed itself as “A Fabulous Resort Hotel—Elevator Service, New ‘Sportsman’ Golf Course on Premises.”

Clockwise from top: Photos by Elliot Ross, Hillary Harvey, and Marisa Scheinfeld.

upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

There are good investments. And then there are good investments you can escape to every weekend. The Hoag House

$415,000

Built in 1820, 3 BR/1.5 BA eyebrow colonial. Amazing period details: Exposed hand-hewn timbers, wide-board chestnut floors, 6-over-6 hand blown glass double sash windows, wrought-iron hardware, original wood-burning brick fireplace w/ rare Dutch oven. Country kitchen with antique charm & modern amenities. Lovely screened porch & attached small barn. A warm and inviting country farmhouse on 2 lush acres in Milan.

❚ Gary DiMauro 845.757.5000 x11 19th Century Farmhouse with Antique Barn $425,000

2 BR/1.5 BA, set on half acre lot in Red Hook Village. Lovingly maintained with updates inside & out: new kitchen, hardwood floors, electric, plumbing, septic, bathroom, and roof. Pellet stove in dining/ living area. Antique barn w/ 2-car garage & 2nd floor studio/apartment.

❚ Kornelia Tamm 845.489.2000 ❚ Maxim Tamm 845.522.2176

Viewmont Farmhouse

$749,900

1860 homestead in Germantown on 13+ acres w/ 5 buildings & island pond. Main 3100 sf, 6 BR/4.5 BA farmhouse w/ open floor plan, chef’s kitchen, large dining room, family room, & sitting room/office. Renovated 3 BR/2 BA barn w/ top floor ballroom/ event space, 50’ x 60’ metal workshop w/ radiant heat, 200 amp electric service, 12,000 lb capacity lift. 3 BR/1 BA rental home included in sale.

❚ Tracy Dober 845.399.6715

Classic Union Street Townhouse

$650,000

5 BR/2.5 BA Hudson townhouse w/ spacious rooms, original details & beautiful light w/ windows on 3 sides. Moldings in the double parlor, pressed tin dining room ceiling & walls & lovely wide board floors. Large kitchen w/ breakfast area opens onto back deck & private garden.

❚ Carolyn Lawrence 518.929.6199

Splendid 1810 Colonial $550,000

Set on half acre in Red Hook Village, renovated 3000 sf, 4 BR/2.5 BA post & beam Colonial, restored w/ original details & high-end appliances, light-filled living room w/ fireplace & den. Dining room w/ fireplace, eat-in kitchen w/ radiant heat, family room w/ 3rd fireplace, radiant heat & handcrafted cabinets. Master suite w/ ensuite BA. Large porch & antique 3-car barn.

❚ Kornelia Tamm 845.489.2000 ❚ Maxim Tamm 845.522.2176

Tivoli NY • Hudson NY • Catskill NY • Rhinebeck NY

garydimauro.com SPRING 2017

.com

Photo by Pink Olive

upstater

E V E R Y D AY

Write with Love & Send with Style By Pink Olive

When Grace Kang, founder and owner of gift boutique Pink Olive, found herself increasingly returning to the beautiful Hudson Valley for getaways, the idea of a Pink Olive upstate transformed from “What if?” to “Why not?” Already at the helm of four Pink Olive boutiques in the East Village, West Village, Williamsburg, and Park Slope, Kang set in motion the plans for the fifth location: Cold Spring, where old-world charm meets modern living. upstater.com/write-love-send-style

Kitchen Cultivars Highlight the Region’s Native Produce

Trailblazing at the Foxfire Mountain House

By Kasey Tveit

By Eliza Clark

Pumpkin is one of the oldest cultivated squash varieties in the United States. One of note is the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin, an heirloom product of the Hudson Valley, which has provided culinary inspiration for centuries. Recipes from the 1800s laud the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin in particular as one of the sweetest and most versatile regional vegetables. Currently, Glynwood’s Kitchen Cultivars series features the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin and shows off the region’s agricultural history as it removes the pumpkin from the realm of the spiced latte cliché. Chef Shawn Hubbell of Amuzae, Vice President of Programs at Glynwood Sara Grady, and Angry Orchard’s Head Cider Maker Ryan Burk all emphasized the versatility and history of the pumpkin throughout the course of the event. upstater.com/valley-grown-kitchen-cultivars-series-highlightsregions-native-produce

The first time Tim and I walked into the 100-yearold dilapidated building that is now Foxfire Mountain House, we walked out again in less than five minutes. It was a wreck in need of a new roof, structural fixes, plumbing and electrical updates, and a cleaning out so massive it seemed truly beyond possible at first glance. We got in the car and drove away. But then, the way an old house sometimes will, it stayed in our imagination and started to look better as we remembered it—there was the architecturally pretty belfry on top, the 72’ long front veranda with a row of stately columns, a pond with a wooden bridge over it by the outdoor pavilion, the private cottage that opened into an open space with a cathedral ceiling. Maybe it wasn’t so bad? We went back. It was still bad…but maybe not so bad. upstater.com/trailblazing-foxfire-mountain-house

Cross-Country Skiing the Gunks

At Trail’s End: A Love Story

By Krysti Sabins

By Ara Cohen

With miles and miles and MILES (maybe I should say kilometers in this case) of groomed carriage roads, on top of additional tracks of ungroomed trails, Minnewaska State Park in the Shawangunks is perhaps my favorite spot for xc-skiing in the NY/NJ area. With its added elevation, this area holds on to snow better than its surrounding valley, making it a great locale for skatin’ through that powpow. Plus, its unique ecology and geography make it a mesmerizing place to explore! Take a look at the video for a virtual tour. upstater.com/cross-country-skiing-gunks

10 upstater

Grace Kang at Pink Olive

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

In 1964 a Latvian couple bought a small cabin up on Trail’s End Road and started to add space to it, building a home. Almost 40 years later my husband and I were looking for a weekend home in the country. We had a view of a forest of buildings on our 28th floor apartment in Manhattan, but we were looking for real trees. On a snowy day in January 2003, we drove up a country road in Kerhonkson and saw smoke coming from a chimney. That sight was the first of many, many we fell in love with. We went on to look at other homes that day but all we could think about was the magic encased within the rooms we saw at the green gabled house on Trail’s End. upstater.com/trails-end-love-story

DREAMING OF A HUDSON VALLEY LIFESTYLE?

BE. HERE. NOW

There’s no app for experience. • 39 Years of Real Estate Success • Deep knowledge of local markets • Enduring commitment to service & integrity • National & global marketing network • There is a difference in real estate companies NEW (6TH LOCATION)

RHINEBECK (845) 876-4400

KINGSTON (845) 340-1920

STONE RIDGE (845) 687-0232

WEST HURLEY (845) 679-7321

NEW PALTZ (845) 255-9400

WOODSTOCK (845) 679-0006

WestwoodRealty.com Serving the Hudson Valley & Catskill regionsS P R I N G

2017

u SUBSCRIBE

FEED YOUR OBSESSION Don’t miss an issue. Subscribe today

Purchase Reader Insurance. Sign up to receive it via mail. $25 per year for 4-issue direct delivery.

In springtime, the old becomes new again. What’s gone around

We’re all over this big city — you never know where we’ll turn up next.

12 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

comes back around, revived. So open up. And let the spring surprise you.

ZAKARY PELACCIO’S NEW COOKBOOK

32 CF OORC KS PT RAIINL GS

46 HD EUSDTSIONNA TVAI OLNL EWYE D D I N G S

SUBSCRIBE TODAY.

upstater.com

Places to Stay: Resorts, Lodges and Campgrounds. Things to Do: Shopping, Golfing, Rock Climbing, Fishing, Wine Tasting, Dining and more. To Book Your Stay in Ulster County, visit UlsterCountyAlive.com today.

... a world of adventure. Hudson Valley/Catskill Regions

www.alpinespaandyoga.com - 518-310-2729 SPRING 2017

Wake up your senses with our modern, vibrant Indian food. Races ThinkDIFFERENTLY Dash: $10 College to College 5K: $25 Half Marathon: $60 Full Marathon: $70 *Prices Increase April 1,2017

Finisher Medals for all races!!

#ExperienceTheWalkway #WalkwayChallengeAccepted

WALKWAYMARATHON.ORG

Find us at www.mayakaimal.com and Whole Foods Market, Gourmet Garage, Hannaford, Adams Fairacre Farms

14 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

RHINEBECK

WE’RE.HERE.NOW. Westwood joyfully announces the opening of our newest office in the heart of Rhinebeck. As the trusted source of proven Real Estate strategies for savvy buyers and sellers for over 39 years, we’re thrilled to offer our respected expertise to our friends and neighbors on the east bank of the Hudson River. For a new perspective call a Westwood professional today. 845.340.1920.

Pond and Pool!

Rhinebeck Modern

Kingston Classic

All the comforts of home! Custom built contemporary styled Colonial nestled on 8+ quiet cul-de-sac acres w/ private pond has it all- 9’ ceilings, French doors, central AC, 21’ living room, formal dining room, desirable main level ensuite MBR + 2 BRs upstairs, 3.5 baths, den or home office, wood & ceramic floors, cozy fireplace, attached 3+ car garage, deck and partially finished walk-out lower level leading to heated POOL. Super convenient to Red Hook, Rhinebeck & Taconic Parkway. HAVE IT ALL! $425,000. 845.876.4400

Superb contemporary in a landscaped & private 2.7 acre cul-de-sac setting just minutes to vibrant village center. The airy and open 10 room floor plan offers 3 or 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, chef’s gourmet kitchen with Wolf & Subzero appliances, central AC & vac, den or home office, wide board & ceramic floors, California closets, crown moldings, custom built-ins, walk-out basement & 3+ car garage. Porch, deck & patio o’look serene sylvan vista. IMPRESSIVE & SINGULAR! $679,500

Meticulously restored & renovated c. 1865 brick Greek Revival in fine Uptown location. Ultra-gracious interior with w/ abundant original detail & smart modern updates including new eat-in kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, fireplaces in LR & formal DR, ensuite MBR w/ sleek bath, 24’ family/media room, 3rd level den/office, private fenced yard with charming 2 car garage perfect for studio or guest house. MUST SEE! $600,000

WestwoodRealty.com SPRING 2017

EDITORIAL Editor

Susan Piperato susan@luminarymedia.com Art Director

Jim Maximowicz jmaximowicz@luminarymedia.com

cartoon editor

Carolita Johnson carolitajohnson@gmail.com proofreader

Barbara Ross

contributors

Wit hout w inter,

spring could neve r

l i ft u s up s o high, or make the world se e m s o

full of possibility, whateve r

Peter Aaron, Mary Angeles Armstrong, Peter Barrett, Scott Benedict, Anne Pyburn Craig, Jason Cring, Brian PJ Cronin, Deborah DeGraffenreid, Eva Deitch, Darryl Estrine, Roy Gumpel, Kandy Harris, Hillary Harvey, Annie Internicola, Wendy Kagan, Laura Levine, Rachel Loshak, Peter D. Martin, Matt Novak, Zakary Pelaccio, Gina Pasco, Pamela Pasco, Karen Pearson, Hannah Phillips, Fionn Reilly, Elliot Ross, Leander Schaerlaeckens, Marisa Scheinfeld, Nina Shengold, Jesse Turnquist, Lynn Woods

PUBLISHING FOUNDERS & publisherS

Amara Projansky & Jason Stern Chief Executive

h ards h ip s we’ve just pass ed throug h.

Amara Projansky

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Brian K. Mahoney

So open up—your w indows and doors, you r eye s and hands and hear t. L ook

chairman

David Dell Upstater is a project of Luminary Media.

ADVERTISING SALES (845) 334-8600 x106 Director of Product Development & Sales

a round you in the strange new light .

Julian Lesser julian.lesser@luminarymedia.com account executive

Ralph Jenkins rjenkins@luminarymedia.com

Breathe deeply and feel the fre sh

account executive

Anne Wygal awygal@luminarymedia.com sale s coor d i nator

Kasey Tveit ktveit@luminarymedia.com

ai r buoy your s oul. Wal k tall a s the

sale s coor d i nator

Alana Sawchuk alana@luminarymedia.com mar keti ng d i r ector

Brian Berusch brian.berusch@luminarymedia.com

earth’s hard crust l o o s e n s u n d e r f o o t . Wh at ’s gone around has come back,

ADMINISTRATIVE director of Events & special projects manager

Samantha Liotta samantha@luminarymedia.com OFFICE MANAGER

Phylicia Chartier phylicia@luminarymedia.com

and eve ry thing, even what may have s e e me d old, is new again, ready

bookkeeper

Molly Rausch accounting@luminarymedia.com

PRODUCTION Production MANAGER

Sean Hansen sean@luminarymedia.com pRoduction designers

to u n f u rl f res h promis es. Un lock, u n l atch , undo, and

let the spring

surprise you. LIVE LIKE A LOCAL

16 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

Linda Codega Marie Doyon Kerry Tinger

LUMINARY MEDIA 314 Wall Street, Kingston, NY 12401 (845) 334-8600 | fax (845) 334-8610 luminarymedia.com All contents © Luminary Media Inc. 2017 For extended coverage of the upstater lifestyle, join us at upstater.com. Founded in 2011, Upstater magazine and Upstater.com present the Hudson Valley as a state of mind, and act as a guide for visiting and living in the region. Our writers, artists, staff members, and featured personalities have hearts, mortgages, and legacies in the Hudson Valley.

CHECK OUT OUR

TEAM LOOK FOR CONTENT BETWEEN ISSUES FROM YOUR FAVORITE CONTRIBUTORS AT upstater.com.

Pamela Pasco is a freelance photographer and photo editor from Eastern Long Island. Before becoming a photographer, she was a photo editor for a New York ad agency creating integrated visual content for award-winning brands. Her work has appeared in People, Time Out New York, and Endless Vacation. A food lover and world traveler who enjoys life on the road, she can be found on Instagram @pamash.

@dbradleystonehouse

Photos: Rachel Loshak, Daryl Estrine, Turnquist Photography, Gina Pasco

Idaho native Jesse Turnquist and his wife Rebecca are raising three children in Hudson. At their studio on Warren Street, Turnquist focuses on weddings, portraits, and cinematic work that has been featured in The Knot, Well Wed, and Westchester Wedding Planner. A regular contributor to Upstater, Upstate House, and Chronogram, his work can be found at TurnquistPhotography.com.

Laura Levine is a self-taught artist whose work has been shown or is held in the permanent collections of MoMA, the National Portrait Gallery, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Museum of International Folk Art. A Brooklyn native, she lives in the Catskills and has been “head junkmonger” at Mystery Spot Antiques in Phoenicia for 16 years. Find her work online at LauraLevine.com and her shop at MysterySpotAntiques.com.

@realjohntiffany

#upstater Tag your post with

Wendy Kagan is Chronogram magazine’s health and wellness editor. The mother of two girls, she made her way upriver from Brooklyn to Cold Spring to Woodstock, where she has lived among the trees for 14 years—and thankfully has never had Lyme disease.

#upstater and you could see your photo on this page. Send us the Hudson Valley sights that make your days—and your nights.

facebook.com/upstater instagram.com/upstater upstater.com SPRING 2017

SELECTED WORKS

PA I N T I N G B Y L A U R A L E V I N E

Photo by Roy Gumpel

Laura Levine

says she was inspired to create Woodland School, a mixed-media painting on found vintage breadboard (20” x 25.6”), by an antique booklet she found at a yard sale about an early 1900s boys’ school located outside Phoenicia. Today, the 1996 painting adorns a wall of Mystery Spot Antiques, Levine’s own self-described vintage “emporium and odditorium” on Main Street in Phoenicia.

18 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

Shopping in Cold Spring

www.VisitPutnam.org SPRING 2017

OBJECTIFIED

S T O RY B Y P E T E R D . M A RT I N / I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y J A S O N C R I N G

Hello treatgiver,

this is your dog speaking. An important matter has come to my attention and it’s time that we discussed it. Nancy Paw-losi, a close friend and associate at the office (or, as you refer to it, “doggy day care”), recently returned from a fact-finding mission from “UPSTATE.” There, she says, the walks are endless, the baths are infrequent, and the open air is just on the other side of a porch door. All the rawhide is freshly cured, and spritely squirrels offer sport unmatched by their urban cousins. The belly rub quotient increases 200 percent in aggregate from friendly strangers; the numbers prove it. For too long we’ve languished while the wag-gap is at an 20 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

all-time high. Snarls Schumer hears talk of a resort called a “FARM” where they fly in ducks to chase and giant-dog friends with black-andwhite spots roam the endless fields. Some “FARMS” even smell like bacon (BACON!) all the time (ALL THE TIME?!). But I digress. As your trusted confidant, I’ve got to consider what’s best for both us. It’s not fair that those fat cats (I hate cats) upstate reap all the rewards. So let’s not deliberate. Grab your keys—I hid them under the couch—and let’s head upstate. Sincerely, U.S. Senator Bernese Sanders

Chart droppings

Breed vs. traits

Failed cross breeds

SPRING 2017

John Hall’s

“T

here are a lot of similarities between politics and rock ’n’ roll,” says John Hall, the leader of the band Orleans, the former Democratic Congressman of New York State’s 19th district (2007-11), and the author of the 2016 memoir Still the One: A Rock ’n’ Roll Journey to Congress and Back. “By the time I’d decided to run for office, I was already used to being up in front of big crowds and I’d dealt with hecklers, people throwing things, getting microphones knocked in my face by dancing drunks. Once you’ve been through that, dealing with some loud Tea Party offshoot group at a rally is no big deal.” Hall hails from Elmira in Chemung County, where his father worked at the Westinghouse plant and his mother was the first American woman to graduate from a Jesuit seminary. “One parent wanted the kids to be scientists and the other wanted them to be priests,” recalls Hall. He studied piano from age four, taught himself guitar, won three National Science Foundation summer scholarships, and enrolled in physics at the University of Notre Dame at age 16. But science couldn’t match rock ’n’ roll. Hall dropped out of college to play in Washington, DC garage bands, then moved to New York City, where he formed the band Kangaroo, which opened for the Who and the Doors and was admired by Jimi Hendrix. In New York, he also met his first wife, journalist Johanna Hall, his cowriter for the Janis Joplin track “Half Moon”; played guitar with Seals & Crofts, Bonnie Raitt, and Taj Mahal; and cut a solo album for Columbia Records. Drawn upstate by Woodstock’s music scene, the Halls bought a home in Saugerties, where Hall formed Orleans with Wells Kelly (drums, keyboards) and brothers Lance (guitar) and Larry Hoppen (bass). The quartet made two albums for ABC Records before signing with Asylum for 1975’s Let There Be Music, whose “Dance with Me” became a soft-rock smash; and 1976’s Waking and Dreaming, which yielded the Top Five anthem “Still the One.” But fame and constant touring caused stresses within the band, and in 1977 Hall left the band.

22 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

His entry into politics soon followed. He formed Saugerties Concerned Citizens, which succeeded in getting local zoning laws rewritten to shut an illegal forest junkyard down. He also helped oppose the construction of a nuclear facility in Cementon, reuniting with Orleans for a benefit concert—and the plant’s backers relented. Next, with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, and Graham Nash, Hall cofounded MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy), and in 1979 staged the No Nukes concerts at Madison Square Garden, spawning a popular film and live album. In 1989, Hall won a seat on the Ulster County Legislature on a platform to prevent a proposed dump and incinerator in Saugerties. The site plans were scrapped. After Hall and Johanna divorced, he reformed Orleans and met his second wife, Pamela Melanie Hall, resettling in Dutchess County. In 2004, Hall, a progressive Democrat, was incensed to learn that George W. Bush’s reelection campaign was using “Still the One” as its theme song and barraged the Bush team with letters and phone calls. They dropped the song, but the GOP repeated the move for the McCain campaign in 2008. In 2005, Hall threw his “tree-hugging guitarist” hat into the ring and won the 2006 midterm Congressional election. He served two terms, helping pass the Affordable Care Act, the Veterans Disability Benefits Claims Information Modernization Act, and a bill streamlining PTSD care for vets. He lost his seat in 2010. Despite prostate cancer and an aortic aneurysm, both successfully treated, Hall continues to play solo and with Orleans. “There’ve been times when I’ve been out at the supermarket and ‘Still the One’ or ‘Dance with Me’ has come over the store speakers, and the people next to me, without even knowing it’s me on the song, just started singing along,” he says. “For me, that’s still a thrill.”—Peter Aaron rock the vote. literally.

upstater.com/john-hall-music

Photo by Fionn Reilly

John Hall musician

Opening Day May 6 huguenotstreet.org

81 Huguenot Street, New Paltz

Drs. Maureen and Jeffrey Viglielmo Biological Dentistry

The beautiful smile we create with you is the gateway to a healthy body As biological dentists, we provide safe mercury removal, biocompatible restorations and customized periodontal therapy. 56 Lucas Avenue, Kingston (845) 339-1619 drvigs.com

EAT • DRINK • STAY 20 South Front St • Hudson NY 12534 R E S E R VAT I O N S 5 1 8 . 8 2 8 .1 6 3 5

SPRING 2017

FOOD

E xcerpted F rom Project 2 5 8: M aking Dinner At Fis h & Game By ZA KA RY PELAcCI O & PETER BA R R ETT

“ What Does This Place Taste Like?”

Zakary Pelaccio’s new cookbook celebrates Fish & Game’s thoughtful, quirky approach to farm-to-table food. Text and photos by Peter Barrett

24 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

n the tails of his success with Fatty Crab, New York City’s former casual Asian-fusion restaurant chain, chef and local-food movement leader Zakary Pelaccio relocated upstate to a farm in Old Chatham with his wife and business partner, chef Jori Jayne Emde. In 2013, together with co-chef Kevin Pomplun, they founded Fish & Game restaurant in an antique blacksmith shop in Hudson. Pelaccio’s new book, Project 258: Making Dinner at Fish & Game, published by the University of Texas Press in March, offers recipes and explores foraging, fermentation, taking cues from nature, and getting to know local farmers. Zakary Pelaccio (center) talking with his kitchen team at Fish & Game in Hudson. Opposite: Freshly picked ground ivy, destined for a dish.

Our main goal [with this book] is to elucidate the processes—both intellectual and culinary—behind the food. All these methods and techniques will apply to the food that grows where you live. More importantly, the approach—engaging intimately with nature, both wild and domestic, building relationships with farmers, nurturing a wide variety of fermenting condiments—is one that applies to anyone, anywhere, who yearns to cook and eat better food. In large part, the key to cooking this way is to invert the conventional contemporary relationship between cook and ingredient. In the standard model, we say “I feel like Mexican tonight” and go buy avocados, jalapeños, cilantro, tortillas, and beans. It’s the same mindset as choosing a restaurant: our desire for particular flavors or a specific dish governs where we spend our money. Recipe-centered books presuppose a standardization of ingredients (an egg, an onion, a lamb chop) but, more insidiously, they assume that your cooking process begins with you choosing what you’ll make for dinner. When handmade food is an integral part of your lifestyle, however, the forest, farm, and pantry tell you what’s for dinner; the food chooses you and you can rejoice in your anointment as the vehicle through which the raw materials become cooked. Part of the fun is that those building blocks will not be limited to what’s perfectly mature; young sprouts or baby roots will need thinning, and other plants will have flowered or gone to seed. The Japanese Kaiseki tradition features, in addition to a given course’s main ingredient, garnishes a little before and after their seasons, celebrating a fleeting moment by saluting the days that precede and follow it, stretching time so that one meal on one day can encapsulate a larger swath of experience, flatteringly illuminated from both the past and future. This kind of food is only available to cooks attuned to the daily progress of plants and who have those plants available at different stages of growth.

SPRING 2017

But there aren’t any shortcuts to this understanding. At Fish & Game, Zak and his co-chef/partners, Jori Jayne Emde and Kevin Pomplun, while masterfully advanced in their respective culinary practices, are nonetheless fairly new to this holistic, deeply place-based cuisine. As a result, they’re all climbing the steepest slope of the learning curve together, open to experimenting in all sorts of directions, making mistakes, and steadily expanding the scope of their operation as they continue to serve splendid menus to their customers. Changing the restaurant’s menu most weeks—it works out to over 40 unique menus a year— presents a challenge, but it also reflects the reality of the region, climate, and farming, all informed by the passage of time. If you sincerely want an answer to the question “What does this place taste like?” in a climate with four seasons, then your menu must constantly shift to reflect the nature of what’s available. It’s also an excellent way to keep from getting bored in the kitchen and ensuring that your family or customers never become tired of your food. Most great cooks work intuitively, so delineating that process can be a challenge. Building that instinctive response to ingredients can be the work of many years. Rewarding years, though. Tasty years. The goal is to motivate you, to help you listen to the food you grow or buy, and urge you to meet the people you buy from so the product speaks to you with their voices. We all respond to stories.

SPRING TAKES ITS SWEET TIME ARRIVING. Although winter weather fluctuates—very cold/ not that cold, lots of snow/no snow—the land in the Hudson Valley remains largely unworkable, frozen, and unproductive. Spring, when it comes, transforms the earth from barren to verdant in short order. Columbia County springs tend to look a lot like winter until mid-April, so when it finally begins to thaw, months of planning and longing for sun and fresh produce shift quickly to production; the restaurant’s expansive plans, pent up for so long, burst forth in several directions. As the sun creeps higher in the sky and a slow-motion wave of green breaks over the landscape, the crew eagerly rides it forward, building, planting, and foraging. Because Fish & Game opened in May of 2013, that season was mostly taken up with final preparations. The following spring, though, saw Fish & Game Farm take shape. Over the course of the next 18 months, it mushroomed into a small farm: chickens, bees, rabbits, goats, and cows all joined the party, each with their own space, shelter, and requisite fencing.

Clockwise, from top left: Co-chefs Kevin Pomplun and Jori Jayne Emde prep before service; spelt spaghetti with a bantam egg, salted chili beurre monté, ramp greens, and amaranth sprouts; Pelaccio with Sue Decker of Blue Star Farm in Stuyvesant, whose greenhouses provide the restaurant with early spring vegetables; the restaurant’s chicken coop, built by the kitchen crew on an abandoned farm trailer; fermented lamb sausage, mutton loin, and endive with green tomato jam and chervil.

26 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

Greenhouse chervil and green tomato jam

Fermented lamb sausage, mutton loin, and endive

A bantam egg from homgrown chickens sits atop spelt spaghetti Foraged ramp greens and amaranth sprouts

SPRING 2017

MAY MARKS THE BEGINNING OF SERIOUS FORAGING.

Wild onions and ground ivy appear earlier, but the warm sun and regular rain bring forth a proliferation of ramps, marsh marigolds, angelica, garlic mustard, dandelions, yarrow, mint, and spruce tips, among many others. Zak and Jori’s place and Zak’s parents’ adjoining property comprise a diverse mixture of terrains: meadow, forest, stream, and wetland. Most of the land slopes fairly steeply down to the stream that wends through the valley. Zak spends each morning before service walking the fields and the woods, digging and snipping roots, stems, and leaves for the week’s menu. This daily perambulation, largely on their land, allows him to connect with the granular details of the season: what’s popping up, what’s peaking, what’s past prime. Besides the sheer pleasure of the endeavor—seasoned with occasional tedium in the form of pouring rain or poison ivy—his ongoing interaction with the wild land informs the menu by providing both rich sensory stimulation and extended quiet for thinking. All of these wild delicacies, many with unusual and slightly feral flavors, appear on the menu as soon as they arrive: marsh marigold bud “capers,” grilled ramps, wild onion broth for poaching halibut, angelica ice cream, pepperwort roots puréed into crème fraîche for anointing braised beef, and plenty of delicate leaves and flowers used as garnishes. The most elegant of these, spearshaped trout lily leaves mottled like patinated bronze, gracefully adorn prestigious dishes like halibut and spit-roasted duck. Most precious of all, elusive morels begin to appear in April, marking the beginning of a long mushroom season. u

Zakary Pelaccio picks pine needles near his home in Old Chatham. recreate some fish & Game dishes.

28 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

upstater.com/fish-and-game-favorites

Charlotteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s restaurant and catering

4258 Rt 44, Millbrook, NY 12545

w No e rv

elephant FOOD & WINE

Voted best wine bar 2016 by HV Mag

Sun. April 16th Easter Buffet

Sp a

m ite R d Sat. April 22nd Comedy Night, Dinner w 3 local Comedians e es

Sun. May 14th Motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day Buffet

(845) 677-5888

charlottesny.com

310 Wall Street, Kingston (845) 339-9310 Call after 2pm for reservations

Tues - Sat 5-10pm like us on facebook @elephantfoodandwine

SPRING 2017

Celluloid Heroes Upstate Films celebrates 45 years as the Hudson Valleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s beloved art-house cinema. By Peter Aaron Photo by Karen Pearson

From left: Steve Leiber, Becca Fundis, and DeDe Leiber at Upstate Filmsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; main screening room in Rhinebeck.

30 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

he rise of the multiplex in the mid1970s spelled doom for thousands of independently owned American movie theaters. In the early 1980s, the arrival of video rental stores further decimated their ranks. Then came Netflix’s DVD mail-rental service, and, more recently, the advent of online streaming. And yet somehow, Upstate Films, founded in Rhinebeck in 1972 by Steve and DeDe Leiber, not only remains but also thrives, and has even expanded to include a second theater in Woodstock. After moving from New York City to Rhinebeck in the early 1970s, the Leibers began missing in earnest two Gotham staples that their staid new hometown lacked: a Chinese restaurant and art-house cinema. “We didn’t know how to make Chinese food, so we decided to open a movie theater—even though we had no idea how to run one,” recalls DeDe. It was like the Mickey Rooney trope from Babes in Arms, she says: “‘Hey, let’s put on a show!’” Although neither of the Leibers had ever managed a cinema before, they both had celluloid in their blood: DeDe had studied filmmaking at NYU, and Steve had worked with noted documentary cinematographers like Don Lenzer. So they took over the shuttered 1927 Starr Theater on Market Street, which, by the end of its previous owner’s run, says DeDe, had been alternating between showing Disney features and softcore porn. Upstate Films opened in May 1972 with a screening of the Marx Brothers classic Duck Soup. Since then, the Leibers (who later divorced but remain business partners) have led the 501(c)(3)-nonprofit cinema to become the region’s leading alternative-film mecca, drawing cinephiles from well beyond the Hudson Valley. “Being member-supported makes us less dependent on government arts grants,” Steve points out, “which means we’re less restricted in terms of which films we’re able to show.” In addition to discounted tickets and premiums, Upstate members receive special perks from local businesses. Moviegoers who’ve literally grown up with Upstate Films are legion. The cinema’s associate director, Becca Fundis, for instance, is a Bard College graduate who grew up in the area and began working at the theater in 1999. “My parents dragged me to see so many movies at Upstate—even though it turned out

Becca Fundis, associate director “Trust, There Will Be Blood, In the Mood for Love, The Graduate, and Once Upon a Time in the West. But it’s really hard to keep Simple Men or Boogie Nights or Safe or Velvet Goldmine or Vivre Sa Vie or Roger & Me or Perfume Nightmare or Cannibal Tours or so many others from the list!”

Steve leiber, co-founder “Harlan County, USA; The Thin Blue Line, Casablanca, Rushmore, and most anything by Preston Sturges, Howard Hawks, Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Louis Malle, Alfred Hitchcock, and Francois Truffaut.”

some of them weren’t age-appropriate,” she says with a laugh. “But coming here as a kid is what made me really fall in love with movies.” In 2010 the operation added the former Tinker Street Cinema in Woodstock as its second location. Smaller than its Rhinebeck counterpart, the Woodstock site, which was originally a church, hosted a performance by Jimi Hendrix in 1969; it now offers two film showings per day and occasionally hosts local bands.“Part of our mission is to not just show movies that are big, although we do show some of those as well,” Steve explains. “Film should be a window on the world, which is why we show a lot of foreign films.” Among the many high points throughout Upstate Films’ lifetime, he cites a pre-screen-adaptation theatrical performance of My Dinner with André as well as visits from screenwriters like Howard Koch (Casablanca) and Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia) and directors including Jim Jarmusch, Julie Taymor, Leon Gast, Jonathan Demme, and John Sayles. Besides their consummate programming sense, which includes indie, foreign, cult, documentary, and classic films, to what

DeDe Leiber, co-founder “I really like screwball comedies like Bringing Up Baby, It Happened One Night, and His Girl Friday, and films by Bergman, Truffaut, Fellini, Jean Renoir, and Akira Kurosawa—it’s hard for me to choose just one from each of those fellows.”

do Upstate Films’ operators attribute their prosperity? “There’s still a sense of magic that you only get from seeing a movie in a theater on a big screen,” says Steve. “People seem to have this inherent, hardwired attraction to the whole experience of it. The medium of film itself has been around for more than 100 years, and before that, people went to see magic-lantern shows for the same reason.” Fundis agrees. “People’s viewing habits are definitely changing, with all the ways they have of accessing movies now,” she says. “But even with all that, people still need to get out of the house or get away from their computers for a while. I think that’s a really big part of why they come here to see movies.” At press time, the Upstate Films crew was planning special events to celebrate its 45year milestone. “We’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers these 45 years,” says Steve. “While it’s fun to look in the rearview mirror and honor our past, we also look forward to doing a series of special events to keep us focused on what’s new and exciting in film and in the future of Upstate Films. So stay tuned!” u

impress your friends with some local film trivia. upstater.com/filmed-in-the-hudson-valley

SPRING 2017

DRINK

S T O R Y B Y B rian P J C ronin | P H O T O S B Y J esse T urn q uist

Saluting Spring D

owntown Coxsackie may essentially be only one block, but it’s a perfect block, with a row of colorful, sun-dappled brick buildings running down toward a wide expanse of parkland that buffers one of the Hudson River’s most intimate stretches. Within the past year, the street has welcomed a new coffee shop, a quirky general store, and the Reed Street Bottle Shop, which Susan Baldaserini and Shai Kessler opened in July. After buying a house in nearby New Baltimore two years ago, the couple began traveling upstate on weekends from Brooklyn, hoping to move full-time to the Hudson Valley and start a business someday, but they weren’t sure what kind of business they wanted to start. “Then we realized that we were driving our wine up from Brooklyn every weekend because we couldn’t find a good place to buy wine in Greene County,” recalls Baldaserini. “The wheels started turning.” Kessler had been working as a chef in Manhattan at restaurants like Hearth and Dovetail, trading late-night cooking lessons for cocktail lessons with the bartenders at the end of his shifts. Once the couple got the idea for the store, he gave up working over a stove for a job behind the counter of a wine shop in the city. “We needed to learn more about wine besides what we like and what we don’t like,” says Baldaserini. “But he also made a ton of great connections with reps that don’t have accounts up here. So we’re able to bring wines up here that you don’t see in the other local shops. People say, ‘I’ve never seen half of these labels,’ and that’s our goal.” The couple has tasted every single thing they sell in the store, and their newfound knowledge and esoteric selection make Reed Street Bottle Shop a destination for those looking for hard-to-find gems, or anyone who wants to geek out with the couple about local whiskies smoked with tea leaves or the burgeoning New York State hard cider scene. But the shop is also refreshingly accessible and unpretentious—equally welcoming to people who just want something to go with pork chops and don’t want to spend more than 10 bucks. “We’ve found that our customers are open to finding something new,” says Kessler. “They trust us.” While Coxsackie’s micro downtown remains a local secret, Reed Street Bottle Shop won’t be on the downlow for long. So to celebrate this spring, Upstater asked Baldaserini and Kessler to share their favorite seasonal cocktails—the ones they’ll drink in honor of the days getting longer, the earth turning greener, and the Hudson beckoning shoppers to come take a closer look. u

32 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

Seasonal cocktail recipes from Reed Street Bottle Shop

Reed Street Bottle Shop founders Susan Baldaserini and Shai Kessler. Above: Kessler puts the finishing touches on a Mint Julep.

M e z ca l ol d - fa s h i one d “In the shop, we refer to Mezcal as ‘tequila’s surly older brother,’” says Kessler. “The smoky and savory notes in the spirit make for a fantastic substitution to some traditional cocktails.” 1 brown sugar cube 4 dashes lime bitters 2 oz. Mezcal Lime twist Muddle the sugar cube and bitters with one bar spoon of water at the bottom of a chilled rocks glass. Add Mezcal. Stir. Add one large ice cube (or three or four smaller cubes). Stir until chilled and properly diluted, about 30 seconds. Garnish with lime twist on the side of the cube.

Smoky Spirit

Tom Collins “We love this old classic because it’s so simple and so refreshing. The base [lemon juice, simple syrup, and seltzer water] is neutral enough that you can have a lot of fun experimenting with different gins to really influence the overall flavor of the cocktail,” advises Kessler. 1 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice 3/4 oz. simple syrup 2 oz. gin 2 oz. seltzer Lemon wedge In a cocktail shaker, combine gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup. Fill with ice and shake vigorously. Strain the mix into an ice-filled Tom Collins glass. Top with seltzer, garnish with lemon wedge.

Old Is New Again SPRING 2017

Off to the Races

Mint Julep “Another refreshing springtime classic,” offers Kessler. “With this one, it’s really worth taking the effort to mind the details, using cracked ice, bruising the mint as your garnish. These little steps are what help take this cocktail from good to great.”

34 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

A handful of mint leaves 1 oz. simple syrup 3 oz. bourbon Additional mint sprig for garnish Gently muddle the mint leaves in a cocktail glass by pressing the leaves against its bottom (metal is ideal, but a rocks glass will work). Don’t overmuddle: you only need to release the mint’s oils. Add simple syrup. Fill the glass with crushed ice. Add bourbon. Stir gently until frost forms on the side of the glass. Add more ice if needed and garnish with another sprig of mint. (For the garnish, while holding the stems in one hand, gently whack the the mint into the palm of your other hand. This “bruises” the leaves, releasing the aromatic oils—a critical part of the julep experience.)

Americano the Beautiful

B i g - Bat c h

Americanos “There’s some gray area as to whether this recipe is a spinoff of the Americano [Campari, vermouth, and seltzer water] or the Negroni Sbagliato [Campari, vermouth, and Prosecco],” Kessler admits. “We use the proportions from the Americano but the ingredients from

the Negroni Sbagliato. The point we’re driving home here is that these are fun and easy to make by the pitcher, as opposed to an individual cocktail. In the warm weather months, we show up to any dinner party, BBQ, or brunch with a half-gallon mason jar of this pre-made, easy-drinking cocktail.” 8 oz. Campari 8 oz. sweet vermouth 1 bottle of dry Prosecco Orange wheel slices from one orange Fill a large glass pitcher or half-gallon mason jar twothirds of the way with ice. Add Campari, vermouth, and Prosecco. Add orange slices. Stir gently to combine. When serving, be sure that some ice from the pitcher makes its way into each glass.

visit five more places in up-and-coming coxsackie: upstater.com/discovering-coxsackie

SPRING 2017

Zoe Bellot Printmaker

“I

really love words,” says artist Zoe Bellot. A native Parisian who was drawn to the US while studying American literature at the Sorbonne, she has made art objects incorporating language since childhood. But not until spending a year in New York City doing research for a Ph.D. did she decide to drop out of academia and become a full-time artist. So in 2007, when she was 25, Bellot enrolled on scholarship in a threeyear program in painting and drawing at the National Academy School, located across Fifth Avenue from the Guggenheim Museum. Simultaneously, she also began assembling kinetic music boxes containing miniature worlds, using old suitcases and other materials she found in Dumpsters; she taught herself how to automate the music boxes by learning how to build an electrical circuit on the Internet. But even as Bellot’s creativity blossomed, life was tough, with the rent on her Harlem apartment consuming half of her $1,000-a-month budget. “There were days I had to be resourceful and eat pasta with olive oil,” she recalls. She was too poor to afford to buy the plates to learn printing; instead, she dismantled her bookshelf, using the wood to carve the blocks for a book piece called Lettres. Each page is printed with the portrait and initials of one of 26 authors whose names were derived from her books strewn across her floor. But the need to be resourceful was a blessing. “I did my first woodcuts out of necessity, but it’s a medium I really love,” she says. “It’s very direct, and there’s something sculptural about the carving.” Today, Bellot divides her time between the very same apartment in Harlem and a rental house and studio garage in Hudson. She says the need to be resourceful was a blessing. “I did my first woodcuts out of necessity, but it’s a medium I really love,” she says. “It’s very direct, and there’s something sculptural about the carving.”

36 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

Photo by Scott Benedict

In Bird, the first in Zoe Bellot’s “Bon Voyage” series—a title suggesting artifacts associated with memory, adventure, and departures—a clay bird poised on a branch inside a battered record-player case twirls around when you turn on a switch; hit the second switch, and Marvin Gaye’s “How Sweet It Is” plays. The interior walls of the case are painted to resemble a skyscape seen through rows of windows, and a 45 on the imaginary turntable is stationary. As an homage to Edgar Allen Poe’s poem “The Raven,” the piece is rife with irony and pop dissonance, even as the worn wooden case, complete with lid, suggests the passage of time and invites portability—baggage bringing spiritual solace on the journey of life.

Sailor, which is an homage to Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, consists of a bearded figurine wearing a cap and holding a bucket and a stick sitting on a miniature mattress inside a leather hatbox lined with midnight-blue fabric, and adorned with a series of round mirrors and a piece of burlap resembling flotsam, or possibly a fisherman’s net. The piece suggests not so much a nautical milieu as a child’s dream of it. The sailor’s stick lights up as he spins on the mattress to the tune of the Pointer Sisters’ synth-driven, New Wave R&B hit “I’m So Excited.”

After graduating in 2011, she began teaching French at a private school in Tribeca, where she created a blog called Word of the Day, posting a daily word, along with its definition, an illustration, a sentence using it in context, and an audio link. Counted among Bellot’s influences are her grandmother, who kept a journal with funny words, and writers whose style tends toward “straightforwardness, simplicity, and economy,” she says, including Emily Dickinson, Cormac McCarthy, Ernest Hemingway, J. M. Coetzee, and Jim Harrison. But it’s the structure of language itself, along with puzzles, games, and puns, that mostly informs Bellot’s art. “I use grammar in my work,” she says, “though you don’t have to know that to appreciate it.” The structure of the box containing her book-poem, 3 East 3rd, for instance, forms a kind of syntax, she says. The piece, which was inspired by a New York City hostel with tiny rooms, consists of a triangular box fitted with numerous rectangular blocks printed with fragments of overheard conversation that can be multitudinously arranged. “There’s always a system that determines which form the word takes.” Bellot says she’s found that in discovering “the English version of myself,” she can “stop looking for equivalents of my personality in French.” Instead, she says, she likes to use her English version “as a free card. You can be more yourself [in a new language] than back home, because you discover different parts of yourself.” Bellot began traveling from Harlem to Hudson in 2012. These days, she and her boyfriend, architect Scott Benedict, head upstate most weekends and

throughout the summer to her garage studio, where she makes woodcut and stencil prints from a press that was originally designed for printing linens. Last fall, she served as artist-in-residence at the Hudson Opera House, where she is still working on turning two abandoned pianos into an artwork. While one side of each instrument will be converted into a bar, the other will display a series of shadow boxes whose content relates to Offenbach’s opera Tales of Hoffman and the history of the Opera House, including its multiple former uses as well as famous visitors. Bellot plans to finish the work this spring. Another current project is Horoscope, a website page that features a new pairing of a word and artwork every two weeks. The results are both cryptic and contradictory. “Voyage,” for instance, is accompanied by a painted wooden box in which the outline of a map of Manhattan is filled with red shapes fashioned out of cardboard. A blue wooden car is positioned on the yellow ground, and the digital photograph is captioned “Parler anglais? Infinitif. Parlez francais, definitif.” Bellot’s dream project is still in the planning stages: constructing an amusement park themed around language. “I want to create a sensation, to do some performance art that’s of the moment, to give people an experience,” she says, noting that she’s searching for a piece of land. The first ride would be a train related to punctuation, to be called “Comma, or Coma.” “It would be motorized and made out of found objects,” she says. “It would be scary, giving people a good dose of adrenaline—an alternative to drugs.”—Lynn Woods

See Zoe Bellot’s new project, Horoscope: upstater.com/zoebellot

SPRING 2017

PHOTO ESSAY

P h otos by M arisa S c h einfeld

A postcard from The Waldemere, which once stood on Shandelee Lake in Livingston Manor.

since, like many other Jewish families, hers vacationed there. The “Borscht Belt,” or “Jewish Alps,” was a hotspot for seasonal entertainment, pleasure, and leisure. The area experienced a golden age from the 1930s into the ’60s, but the resorts have been abandoned now for decades. Nature has taken over. Rust and decay have eaten away at buildings and structures where families once flocked for card games, dining, and ice-skating. Scheinfeld’s photos in The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s Jewish Vacationland (Cornell University Press, 2016) contrast the present, overgrown spaces to the once carefully maintained and thriving vacation scenes. “Ruins

38 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

can be metaphors for things that survived, persisted, and persevered despite the fact that everything around them is falling and crashing,” Scheinfeld says, “Some people might consider them dead, but I see them as active and vital, a powerful force.” A stark beauty occupies the snowfilled remains of what was once an indoor pool brimming with bodies. Kodachrome summers are replaced with a permanent monochromatic winter, and scraggily trees grow where plastic lounge chairs once perched. And yet, along with patches of moss and mold and weeds and peeling paint, a quiet but resilient grandeur abounds throughout these empty spaces.—Hannah Phillips

Postcard: Steingart Associates Inc.

Marisa Scheinfeld grew up in the western Catskills,

Outdoor Pool Laurelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hotel and Country Club on Sackett Lake, Monticello

Ski Chalet Nevele Grande Hotel, Ellenville

SPRING 2017

PARAMOUNT HOTEL Parksville

Bowling Alley Homowack Lodge, Spring Glen

40 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

Indoor Pool Grossingerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Catskill Resort and Hotel, Liberty

PALMS COUNTRY CLUB South Fallsburg

SPRING 2017

Outdoor Pool Nevele Grande Hotel, Ellenville

42 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

Go back in time with vintage photos: upstater.com/visions-of-old-catskill-resorts

SPRING 2017

Photo by Hillary Harvey

Lynn & Mario callaway founders, Ollie & Otto

he genesis of the new all-natural skincare company Ollie & Otto, which opened in Glenford last September, occurred 13 years ago in the rice aisle of a grocery store in Athens, Georgia. That’s where Lynn and Mario Callaway were high school friends. After losing touch, they ran into each other again while attending different colleges. They vaguely recognized each other, but neither of them said anything. Later, Lynn tracked down Mario’s phone number from a mutual friend, and they started talking again—and falling in love. While spending a year together in the AmeriCorps (a domestic version of the Peace Corps) in Syracuse, stationed at a community development credit union (Lynn) and a community health center (Mario), the couple got married and founded an urban agriculture nonprofit organization, creating an urban garden. Meanwhile, they began making their own deodorants, creams, soaps, and skin balms—all “natural by design,” says Lynn. “We weren’t really finding what we were looking for in the store. It’s really hard to find products that have minimal ingredients—maybe five to eight ingredients, at most, that people can actually identify.” They perfected their own organic, fair-trade products by using standard recipes and figuring out which “questionable ingredients” they could remove, says the fashionably dressed Lynn. After four years of experimenting, they were happy with their creations. By that point, a natural path toward opening a business had emerged. Friends and family were using so much of the Callaways’ products that they couldn’t keep up. Ollie & Otto not only sells handmade Castile soaps, deodorants, and Shea butter creams online but is also in talks with several Hudson Valley shops for shelf space. The couple also plans to expand into facial-care products, but, says Mario, “They have to pass the Mario-and-Lynn test first.” Ollie & Otto is named for Lynn’s great-grandfather (Ollie) and grandfather (Otto), who both took an abiding pride in making things by hand. “There are so many products that are loaded with chemicals, and a lot of these chemicals are known carcinogens,” Mario says. “People still continue to use them, and companies still continue to pump them out. We knew from the beginning, these have to be natural products that would also be impactful and just as effective as their chemical-

laden counterparts. We’re trying to bring awareness to the fact that you can definitely take good care of yourself using natural products.” The company also has a social and environmental mission. The Callaways have partnered with clean-water nonprofit Generosity.org, and part of their proceeds help fund water projects around the world. Ollie & Otto is based near the Ashokan Reservoir. “There’s just something about the serenity and the peacefulness that allows us to unwind and unplug and think our processes through,” Lynn explains. The magnificently bearded Mario chimes in: “It’s a wonderful place to ideate and come up with new products and just sort of step away from things and think about what our products set out to do to and the purpose behind why we do it in the way that we do it.” The two tend to speak in harmony. “I think we’ve struck a good balance with how to separate business from our own personal discussions,” Mario says. Then Lynn adds: “Our thing is that you don’t take it personally. Business is business. And things outside of that, we don’t want to bring into our business.” Communication is key to Ollie & Otto’s products too, and its website explains exactly what every obscure-sounding ingredient is. “That was very important to us, really being transparent,” Lynn says. “We wanted to put ourselves in our customers’ position.”—Leander Schaerlaeckens

recreate ollie & Otto’s beauty routine: upstater.com/local-beauty

44 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

GLENNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SHEDS Custom-built Firewood Sheds

Graceful & Robust CONCEPT to COMPLETION DESIGN to CONSTRUCTION RESIDENTIAL and COMMERCIAL

Interior Design | Kitchens Baths | Additions & Decks Finished Basements Saunas, Steamrooms & Outside Showers Cabinetry | Countertops Sinks & Faucets Hardware & Lighting Flooring | Tile Carpets Fabrics & Wall Coverings

FREE INSTALLATIONS Each shed is built on-site to suite your landscape Visit the website to see our full line of firewood sheds

86-88 Mill Hill Road, Woodstock, NY EvolvedInteriors.com 845.679.9979

GLENNSSHEDS.COM 845.328.0447

Y O U R B R A N D , I L L U M I N AT E D . L U M I N A R Y M E D I A . C O M DIGITAL STRATEGY. WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT. BRAND DEVELOPMENT. GRAPHIC AND WEB DESIGN. CONTENT MARKETING. EVENT PRODUCTION. BUSINESS STRATEGY.

SPRING 2017

weddings

story B y A nne pyburn craig

Hudson Valley Wedding Venues

Guests line up for the bar during a wedding celebration at the Basilica Hudson.

46 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

Kamp Weddings

A newlywed couple basks in the glow of sunset at Mount Tremper Arts.

A Hudson Valley wedding can be many things, from utterly chill to every luxe frill. Amid our

James Autery

mountains and waters and architectural gems, hosts and coordinators who are in love with love will help you tailor the unforgettable day of your dreams. Reach out to any of these folks and discover the expert hospitality you need to make it happen.

Playful

Bespoke

The Bear Mountain Inn complex in Bear Mountain State Park offers a selection of four venues ranging from the Bear Mountain Inn, which can handle 230, to the intimate Cliff House for groups of 40 to 60. Ample lodging, an on-site spa, and park amenities—there’s a lake for skating or boating and a zoo of rescue animals—make this an activity-rich spot for the Big Weekend. “Some people love the Appalachian Ballroom, or the Overlook Lodge, which has stunning river views,” says Catering Director Mina Park. “Or the merry-go-round; it’s in an enclosed pavilion that can accommodate 60 to 100 guests, and the package includes an attendant who’ll keep the ride going all night. It takes the concept of ‘party’ to a whole new level.”

How about vows in a mountain meadow followed by drinks in the library lounge with two-story skylight, circular fireplace, and billiards? Scribner’s Catskill Lodge in Hunter is a classic mountain hideaway updated to cozy contemporary while preserving the starlit-nights-around-the-fire vibe. There are 38 guest rooms and suites, a locally inspired restaurant that seats up to 65, and over 20 acres of mountainside to play on. “People have ideas in mind and we help make them happen,” says owner Marc Chodok. “We offer a feeling of being somewhere ‘away’ and different, but with luscious creature comforts. We have venues for all styles; we’re putting down slate in the meadow, so people can enjoy it in high heels.”

visitbearmountain.com

scribnerslodge.com

SPRING 2017

48 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

An al fresco wedding table setting at Mount Tremper Arts.

Kamp Weddings

A couple dances their first dance at the RoundHouse in Beacon.

Red Anchor Photo

Elario Photography

Newlyweds stroll in one of the many gardens at Mohonk Mountain House.

A summertime wedding party at Owl’s Hoot Barn in Coxsackie.

Circular The RoundHouse in Beacon is a painstakingly restored streamside factory complex. Share vows and cocktails outdoors by the waterfall or indoors in the modern/industrial/ rustic main room, with its floor-to-ceiling windows. There are 41 guest rooms, including a penthouse suite with private deck. “You could create an awesome weekend just on our property, and then there are all the attractions of Beacon,” says General Manager Katie Guerra. “We’re often told our food is the best a person has ever tasted at a wedding, and our staff are incredible pros who care about every detail.”

roundhousebeacon.com

Mohonk Mountain House, your Victorian castle come to comfy life. Room for the whole family, a cornucopia of venues, full-service spa, fun for everyone from rock climbers to porch sitters. There are packages at four different per-guest price points. “Guests can exchange vows in Mohonk’s awardwinning gardens, or enjoy cocktails and hors d’oeuvres on the Parlor Porch overlooking magnificent Lake Mohonk,” says Wedding Coordinator Christina Latvatalo, “then continue the celebration with dining and dancing in one of our many reception venues offering a more casual setting, such as our outdoor pavilion, or a more formal atmosphere in our indoor West Dining Room.”

mohonk.com

Sparkling Elegant without being stuffy, the Diamond Mills prides itself on a “SoHo in Saugerties” feel, with 30 boutique-style guest rooms, seating for up to 400 in the Grand Ballroom, and an on-site coordinator to make your worries disappear. “If you can dream it we can produce it—we go above and beyond,” says Emily Glass, Diamond Mills’ coordinator. “One huge ‘wow’ factor is being right over the Esopus Creek. We’ve got a state-of-the-art Grand Ballroom, the Tavern—two floors and multiple rooms you can configure any way you want—and the Saugerties Steamboat Company, a renovated marina with the original brick and exposed beams and a giant fireplace.”

diamondmillshotel.com

Artful Mount Tremper Arts offers everything from full-service coordination of your weekend to a beautiful canvas onto which to paint your own colors. Facilities include on-site lodging for 16, two kitchens, air-conditioned post-and-beam studio, and two fields—one with gardens and fire pit, another with a spectacular mountain view. “It’s got that casual feel, yet it dresses up really nicely,” says coordinator Megan Byrne. “I find our studio magical—the architecture and acoustics are amazing. We’ve got mountain hiking, the Esopus right across the street, air-conditioning and wheelchair access. It’s a beautiful, versatile campus, with a lot of possibilities to fit your budget.”

mounttremperarts.org

Jesse Turnquist

Regal

Barn Weddings a primer If you’re thinking rustic barn, there are things to be aware of going in. “Many people seem to think that a barn wedding would be less expensive than a traditional wedding in a fully equipped banquet hall. In reality, the opposite is true,” says Kerri Corrigan, owner of Owl’s Hoot Barn in Coxsackie. “Generally, the barn is rented and everything else needs to come in.” You’ll want to make sure you’re dealing with a barn owner who’s got everything in order. “Fire codes, zoning, event insurance, liquor license,” says Mary Beth Boruta, ticking off a few of the logistics she handles running Germantown-based Apple Barn Weddings. “Do your homework, and don’t go into it blindly. Get some advice from a coordinator who can help you find a venue that will be a good fit.” The Hudson Valley area is peppered with barn owners who go above and beyond to tailor their massive beams, rural charms, and vintage collectibles to your needs. “We only host 12 weddings a year,” says Richard Rozzi, manager of the Crested Hen on the Rondout Creek in High Falls. “So you have a whole week to customize our restored 1790 barn, and we have a lot of cool stuff—farm tables, antique pews, vintage unmatched tableware—that you’re welcome to use.” The farmer-hosts at Liberty Farms in Ghent will custom-grow organic produce and chickens for your caterer. It’s undeniable that renovated barns done right offer a flexibility that no banquet hall can match. “Our goal is for our clients to be inspired by our space,” says Corrigan. “It’s also key that it feels like it’s their own place. Relax. We’re here to help if you need us—have your joy.” u

Apple Barn Farm Applebarnfarm.com

Owl’s Hoot Barn Owlshootbarn.com

Crested Hen Farms Crestedhenfarms.com

The Barn at Liberty Farms Thebarnatlibertyfarms.com S PRING 2 0 1 7

Elliot Ross

Filmmaker Smriti Keshari and video journalist Matthew Danzico celebate their wedding at Basilica Hudson in November 2016.

Rockin’ Basilica Hudson, an 1880s waterfront factory reimagined with solar power and vast creativity, works closely with the walkable little city’s many boutique inns, hotels, and B&Bs. It’s got 7,000 square feet of indoor space to play with and a topnotch sound system. “We’re off the beaten path and steps from Amtrak,” says rentals coordinator Parker Shipp. “We like to give people the entire weekend to do what they want—the Basilica has no curfew. One couple installed a solar system of planets from the 20-foot rafters in the Main Hall and rode into the reception on a horse. Another couple is planning a music festival wedding.”

basilicahudson.org.com

Looking for wedding planning advice? upstater.com/wedding-tips

50 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

choose from 750 different

molding

profiles

Sizes under ½” to over 12” wide. When it comes to wood choices, we can provide our customers with just about any wood they desire. Domestic woods: our local pine or poplar, Walnut or Cherry or Red/White Oak. Imported woods: African Mahogany or Sapele Mahogany – too many to list, options include knotty or clear/stain grade. We can match any that our customers bring in from crowns to siding profiles. When it comes to volume, we offer small runs for DIY to huge runs for contractors. We also produce our knives in-house which speeds up lead times and helps to keep our customers’ cost down.

Ghent wood products

(518) 828-5684 • 1262 Rte 66, Ghent, NY www.ghentwoodproducts.com

Country Home The perfect driveway for your

Introducing The Barn at Apple Greens Golf Course. Celebrate your special day in our lovingly restored barn offering the feel of rustic elegance. Mother Nature provides the breathtaking, unobstructed views of the Catskill Mountains. We provide the serenity and natural backdrop of our gorgeous golf course, as well as on-site catering and beverage service. Contact us today for a tour and consultation. 161 SOUTH ST, HIGHLAND | 845-883-5500 | WWW.APPLEGREENS.COM

Serving the Hudson Valley

The look and feel of crushed stone, without the upkeep. Call today for a complimentary consultation.

chronogram.com A CREATIVE LOVE AFFAIR in print and online

Residential & Commercial DRIvEwAYS | PARkINg LOTS | TENNIS COURTS | PRIvATE ROADS

Classic Asphalt Paving • Decorative Finish Options

518.479.1400

bRoweasphalt.Com

ATTENTION TO DETAIL • SUPERIOR QUALITY • CRAFTSMANSHIP • CUSTOMER CARE • FUNCTION

SPRING 2017

Philanthropist/founder, Art Omi Center

“C

hildhood didn’t suit me,” Francis Greenburger declares in his memoir Risk Game: Self-Portrait of an Entrepreneur, written with New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Paley (BenBella Books, 2016). A precocious adolescent, Greenburger lost his virginity at age 11, started making financial deals at his father’s literary agency at 12, and moved in with an older girlfriend at 15, dropping out of Stuyvesant High School to pursue business interests. If Risk Game reads like a Hollywood thriller, so does Greenburger’s resume. As CEO of investment and development company Time Equities, he began renting out properties while still in his teens, acquired numerous buildings, made a fortune in co-op conversions, and gambled big on 50 West Street, a 64-story skyscraper near the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. He also chairs his late father’s literary agency, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, which represents such powerhouse clients as Dan Brown and Nelson Demille. Plus, he’s founded two Hudson Valley nonprofits: OMI International Arts Center, an artists’ retreat and sculpture park in Ghent and the Greenburger Center for Social and Criminal Justice. The leading man of this blockbuster memoir divides his time between Lower Manhattan and Columbia County. He speaks to Upstater by phone from the Fifth Avenue office of Time Equities, with a bird’s-eye view of Greenwich Village and the Hudson River, art by Sol LeWitt and Jon Isherwood, and a tree “that’s been here for 30 years.” Upstater’s interview with Greenburger, as it happens, took place on Inauguration Day. The 45th POTUS appears in the pages of Risk Game, offering crocodile-tear sympathies at a charity dinner after tabloid headlines trumpeted “CO-OP KING BANKRUPT!” But the book makes Greenburger’s Democratic leanings crystal clear: He’s photographed twice with Hillary Clinton, and Senator Cory Booker contributes a book-jacket blurb. In response to a question about the incoming administration, Greenburger heaves a deep sigh, followed by a call to arms for the “complacent” progressive movement. “The constituency around progressive ideals in all areas has been fired up,” he says. “We have to deepen our commitment, organize our principles, and express ourselves in all areas of political identity: by protesting, by campaigning for appropriate candidates, and, of course, by voting.” Though writing memoir was a new venture for Greenburger, he says, “I had this incredibly wonderful co-writer. It was every bit a collaboration.” Paley, he says, encouraged him to tell his stories unedited, to “let it all out, then look at it and decide what belongs.” This freedom makes for an unusually intimate look at the dynamics of success and failure in business, as well as personal highs and lows, including the drowning death of Greenburger’s firstborn son and his late wife’s battle with cancer. The Greenburger Center for Social and Criminal Justice grew out of another son’s spiraling mental health and behavior issues and eventual arrest for arson. Visiting his son Morgan in jail was eye-opening, says Greenburger, and he vowed to create alternatives to incarcerating the mentally ill. So how does Greenburger answer a stranger’s question, “What do you do?” Depending on the context, he says, he starts with his businesses or his nonprofit ventures, but ultimately, he admits, “I don’t think there is a short answer.” He pauses a moment, then adds, “Fundamentally, I’m all about human engagement.” Now that’s a good risk. —Nina Shengold

Read an excerpt from francis greenburger’s book: upstater.com/risk-game

52 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

Photo by Pamela Pasco

Francis Greenburger

NOW ACCEPTING QUALITY CONSIGNMENTS FOR FUTURE AUCTION - FROM ONE ITEM TO AN ENTIRE ESTATE.

GEORGE

COLE

Auc tioneers

TO BUY...TO SELL...

or just for the fun of it.    .

R � � � � � � � � � � • A � � � � � �� C�� • I�� S��/L�� E�� L�� A � � � � � � � � � • F� � � R � � � ��

Unique Wood for Unique Homes

(845) 758-9114 NOW ACCEPTING QUALITY CONSIGNMENTS FOR THE FUTURE AUCTION. FROM ONE ITEM TO AN ENTIRE ESTATE

G W. C  R B. M Auctioneers & Appraisers of George W. Cole Auctions Inc., Member of NYSAA & NAA•N. Broadway (Rte. 9, next to CVS Drug Store), Red Hook, NY • 845-758-9114 FIND UPCOMING EVENTS AT WWW . GEORGECOLEAUCTIONS . COM

Berkshire Products

Sheffield, MA 413-229-7919 BerkshireProducts.com

T HE R EGION ’ S P REMIER D ESIGN R ESOURCE

Quatrefoil Inc. | Building+Renovations | www.quatrefoil.us

FOR

OVER 40 Y EARS !

WOOL

C A R

I N G

Good for you... good for the Earth!

FLOORING•CARPETING•BLINDS•SHADES Huge Staatsburg-on-Hudson Showroom Worth the Drive from Anywhere

845 889 4747 • FosterFlooring.com

SPRING 2017

at home

story B y M ary A ngeles A rmstrong | P h otos by debora h de G raffenreid

Collaborative catalyst Rupco’s lace mill IN KINGSTON

rom the Lost Generation to Andy Warhol’s Factory, from the painters of La Belle Epoque to the Beats, history shows that when a few artists have the space and opportunity to inspire and collaborate they will have an outsize effect on the community around them. Whatever the types of makers involved, small creative collectives can be powerful catalysts for social evolution and technological innovation. RUPCO’s Lace Mill project in Kingston was designed to create just this kind of synergy. Once the US Lace Curtain Mill, the 1903 factory had been employed as a warehouse over the past decade and fallen into general disrepair. In 2013, RUPCO bought the 70,000-square-foot brick building and began creatively repurposing the space into 55 rental units of artist housing and multiple shared community spaces, all of varying size, shape, and detail. After a year and a half of occupancy, the Lace Mill is growing into a dynamic center of creative combustion. It’s a place where painting, music, the literary arts, and technology all overlap and commingle—spurring the residents within and the surrounding neighborhood to new creative heights.

The Collaborative Edge

“We called ourselves the three-legged stool.” Scott Dutton, the project’s lead architect, says of the partnership he formed with RUPCO director Chuck Snyder and the project’s construction manager, Keith P. Libolt of Affordable Housing Concepts. “We were a team—a triangle—with a fixed amount of money and time. Every week we met, went over the budget, and adjusted with the changes. Over the 15 months of construction it was a constant collaboration. But the project was richer because of it.” As the buildings were being constructed, RUPCO began accepting applications from potential residents (they received five times the

54 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

amount of applications as the spaces available). Like other RUPCO projects, income was part of the qualifying criteria, but they also assembled a panel of local artists to interview applicants. “We asked applicants to demonstrate a commitment to their work,” says RUPCO VP of Community Development Guy Kempe. Next, the panel asked applicants: “What kind of contribution do you want to make to the Lace Mill community?” RUPCO didn’t rule out any medium, welcoming everyone from craftspeople to poets to media artists to sculptors and jewelers to apply. “We tried to be expansive,” Kempe explains. “It was all part of our strategy to create a vital artists’ community.” The final residents were selected by lottery and assigned apartments randomly. Leases are reviewed every year, but there is no end date or proscription to the arts represented. The RUPCO team secured grants and received tax credits to preserve the historical nature of the property. The also had the building listed with local and state historical registers. The goal was not only to protect the building’s original architecture but also to honor its rich history by incorporating many of the original factory details into the current design. Those juxtaposed needs—between history and the day to day—added challenges but also resonance to the project. “On one hand,” says Kempe, “we understood that what we were assembling was going to be a living, breathing, changing, dynamic thing; at the same time we also have an obligation to preserve and protect this building.” After a year and a half, Kempe is seeing the positive results of their careful planning and hard work. “The artists that live here arrived with the expectation of making an investment to the community,” he notes. Dutton sees a historical through-line. “I love how the building connects the present to the past: The original workers were people who made art—they made intricate lace fabrics. They were craftspeople. Now, the place is full of makers again.”

Just Kids

Aaron Lockhart (far left), Daniel Cardenas, and Chelsea Culpepper in Culpepper’s apartment, looking down from her mezzanine bedroom. Both their personal and collaborative works tend to spill from one genre to another. Currently, the three are collaborating on a show about birthday parties. “People tend to ask, ‘What do you do?’ And they want to hear ‘Well, I’m a painter, I’m a sculptor,’” says Lockhart. Cardenas agrees. “That’s how they understand art,” he says. “But life isn’t that way, and neither is art; it’s a mixed bag with its ups and downs.” Culpepper adds: “Play is the key and that’s what we’ve been exploring—not taking things so seriously.”

Inside the complex, each apartment is a collaboration between the building’s history and potential. This distinctive interior design has been a boon to Chelsea Culpepper, Aaron Lockhart, and Daniel Cardenas, all of whom have apartments in the building. “Basically we make sculptures together, as well as drawings and paintings,” says Culpepper, “and videos— our work is a melting pot.” All three of them have jobs in the surrounding arts district, and convene most evenings to collaborate on projects. Culpepper’s first-floor, corner apartment, where the lofted living room abounds with light and the concrete floors allow them to “make a mess,” is currently their favorite work space. Culpepper and Lockhart originally met at the University of Alabama, where both received BFAs. After a brief stint in the city, they found Kingston. That’s where they met Cardenas, who had just received a BFA from SUNY Purchase. The three hit it off right away. “We were all on the same page as far as art goes,” says Lockhart. Before the Lace Mill, the three shared a house in the Kingston Rondout where they often found themselves preparing elaborate birthday celebrations for one another as well as bon voyage and welcome-back parties. Then, explains Cardenas,”we started collaborating and gave ourselves permission to play.” When they heard the Lace Mill was opening its doors, all three applied, and were delighted to be accepted and win spaces. Now, they happily continue their collaboration within its walls. Most recently they’ve developed a series of shows exploring the idea of the artist community and playing with and within the Lace Mill’s shared spaces. “All the exhibition spaces are so different,” says Lockhart. “We can play in a way that isn’t possible with a white-wall gallery space.” The first show was held in an outdoor exhibition space last summer. The second show—a comic riff on workout videos— was held in the boiler room gallery space. The third show in their series, revisiting the birthday party theme, will be held in the second-floor mezzanine gallery space in February. The Lace Mill community has further inspired both their personal and collaborative work. “We get a whole new perspective—kids, adults, and other disciplines,” says Culpepper. Lockhart agrees. “Watching other residents make shows, seeing them succeed, is inspiring and motivating,” he says.

SPRING 2017

Creative Repurpose

“In the building I’m known as the mad scientist of art,” Felix Olivieri says as he shows me around his lofted “maker space.” Vintage video game consoles, recycled computer parts, old televisions, and antique radios line the walls of his living room, waiting to be carefully dissected and then repurposed into one of his creations. “There’s a whole lost art to recycling old toys and electronics. You can make costumes, lamps, and even furniture,” he says. A staircase climbs out alongside the twostory windows leading to two bedrooms and a bath. “It’s a New York loft-style apartment without the New York price tag.” The New York City native shares a two-bedroom apartment with his preschool-age son. It’s on a first-floor wing of the building—an area with other families and an easy sharing of space and playthings. He appreciates the camaraderie of the other families as well as the artists in the building. “It’s like ‘Seinfeld,’” he explains. “People knock all the time to borrow supplies, or just let themselves in. We have a Kramer. I’m Jerry. We have a George—but George is a woman.” Olivieri has had a robust career in the arts. He started out making props for the theater, has made a documentary of Hudson Valley UFO sightings, and operated a café and maker space in the Rondout. Now he combines teaching with tech and the arts, leading workshops at the Center for Creative Education and the Rondout Neighborhood Center. He has two 3-D printers and hopes to soon employ them in a full-fledged Kingston Maker space. Olivieri’s most recent creative work has involved turning old furniture into arcade games. In June, Olivieri’s show “The Penny Arcade: Featurette,” displaying his handmade video games and marquee signs, will be exhibited in the Lace Mill mezzanine gallery space.

56 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

From left: Felix Olivieri’s “maker” art includes recycling old furniture and other items, which he sometimes converts into video game consoles (and teaches others how to do the same); Olivieri made the café sign on his living room wall from recycled cardboard and Christmas lights. “I have a thing for old technology; I go hunting for pieces with actual sensors, tiny speakers—things like that—then I use parts for my artwork,” he explains. “You want to bling out your bike? I can teach you to do that.”

Enlightened Spaces

“I’ve been waiting for this all of my life, to be in a community of working artists. I got right into it,” Lynette Hughes tells me. We are sitting in her studio apartment, which faces east over the train tracks and has wood floors from the original mill. A row of windows lights up the white walls like a gallery, illuminating her four-by-five-foot abstract oil paintings, in various stages of contemplation and completion. “Every day I pinch myself,” she says, referring to her current home at the Lace Mill. “There are so many talented people. You feel a bond; we are doing something that’s vital.” Hughes grew up in Europe, where her father was in charge of the USO and hired tutors to teach her about the local art. “I had an incredible education,” she says, “but I never saw modern art until I came back to the States. Then my perspective changed and I fell in love with Picasso.” After returning home Hughes sold her art, ran a gallery, worked in human services, and taught women’s workshops in art and journal writing. She also taught art to the developmentally disabled in Ellenville.

Lynette Hughes, her dog, and one of her abstract oil paintings in her second-floor studio apartment. “My whole life has been built on art in one way or another,” she says. “Now my artwork is about taking a stand.”

Her most recent creative work explores how domestic violence and abuse—both personal and institutional— infiltrates the minds of victims and their families. “It’s a long process of waking up,” she says, “through one’s work and art.” It’s a problem that seems epidemic to her. “So many people go through domestic violence of some kind, not just families but within their communities.” Hughes has two works from her current series on display in the boiler room gallery space, and is planning a larger show of her work in May. Hughes moved into the Lace Mill five months ago. “What I love about this apartment,” she says, pointing to the four large windows, “is that it’s all light. Every morning I get to wake up and see the sunrise. It’s so beautiful to wake up and see the clouds breaking up along the horizon.”

A community space on the first floor of the building’s west wing.

The Right Side of the Tracks

The RUPCO team designed the Lace Mill to be an anchor for the Kingston’s recently launched Midtown Arts District, the mixed commercial and residential neighborhood along the rail line and Broadway. As the neglected factories and warehouses are slowly being revitalized with new business and residents, the surrounding neighborhood is beginning to flourish, building on the longstanding success of businesses like R&F Handmade Paints, Bailey Pottery, and American Made Monster Studio. Rather than displacing the existing community, RUPCO’s plan was always to usher in a graceful, natural transition that benefits new and longtime residents alike. As the project moves forward, they will continue to develop strategies that preserve and enhance the surrounding neighborhoods. “Our goal was to demonstrate that this neighborhood in Midtown was of value and a high-quality place for people to live,” says Guy Kempe. “We’ve shown it can be done.” u Check out lace mill artists’ works at upstater.com/loving-lace-mill

SPRING 2017

HEALTH

S T O R Y B Y W endy K agan | I L L U S T R A T I O N B Y A nnie I nternicola

Actual size

The Tick PlaguE

Dr. Richard Horowitz shines a light on dealing with Lyme disease— even when blood tests fail to diagnose it.

r. Richard Horowitz never planned to specialize in tick-borne diseases, but when patient after patient came to him for help, you might say the subject bit him. The Hyde Park–based MD is the Hudson Valley’s go-to expert on Lyme disease, with a voice that resonates far beyond our upstate enclaves. His new book, How Can I Get Better? An Action Plan for Treating Resistant Lyme and Chronic Disease (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2017), offers a timely update of his similarly titled Why Can’t I Get Better? Solving the Mystery of Chronic Lyme, published in 2013. It’s chockfull of the latest research, including a simplified map to getting better (seven steps or “rules,” instead of 16), as well as the Horowitz MSIDS Questionnaire (HMQ) to help people determine their odds of having Lyme when blood tests fail to catch the diagnosis. While the ticks were safely sleeping in midwinter, I connected with Horowitz for a little Lyme 101.

For a regular Joe hiking in the woods, what are the chances of getting Lyme or another tick-borne disease? About 70 percent of the ticks in the Hudson Valley at this point contain Lyme and various co-infections like erlichiosis and babesia. We have one of the highest Lyme-endemic areas in the entire United States. So the risks are high. Also, most people have heard from their doctors that the tick has to be [embedded in your skin] for 36 to 48 hours to transmit the organism, but the scientific studies have shown that’s not the case. In animal models, it can be six hours or less. My patients have told me that the tick has been on them for just a couple of hours, and they’ve gotten it. Other tick-borne diseases are transmitted even faster than Lyme. The powassan virus, which is in approximately 5 percent to 6 percent of the ticks in the Hudson Valley, can be transmitted within 15 minutes of a tick bite.

What do city-cum-country folk need to know about Lyme disease? I think the most important thing to realize is that Lyme disease is the No. 1 spreading vector-borne epidemic in the United States. It’s also the great imitator: It causes chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and autoimmunetype illness. Since the blood tests for Lyme are unreliable, people have to be careful if they develop any type of a chronic fatiguing musculoskeletal illness—if they’re achy, if they have muscle and joint pain, sleep disorders, and memory or concentration problems. These things might not mean that all of a sudden you’re just getting older. It could mean that you’ve been bitten by a tick.

If we diagnose Lyme early enough, can we nip it in the bud before it becomes chronic? If you get it early, yes, it’s curative in about 75 percent to 80 percent of cases. The problem is that half the people don’t get a bull’s-eye rash, and if you don’t catch it within the first month or so, it can go on to a chronic illness. If you have symptoms like headache, stiff neck, light and sound sensitivity, memory and concentration problems, or dizziness, these symptoms imply that the bacteria has invaded your central nervous system. If you have tingling, numbness, or burning at the extremities, it implies that the bacteria has invaded your peripheral nervous system. In those cases, 30 days of antibiotics are not going to cure it.

You have a very holistic approach, looking not just at Lyme but at other factors that might be keeping people sick. It’s true. After seeing over 12,000 chronically ill people, I tried figuring out why these people are ill, and it turns out it wasn’t just one thing. It related to whether your diet was off and you’re eating allergic foods. Or you weren’t getting enough sleep. Or you had environmental toxins like mold or heavy metals. All these things can drive inflammation in the body, causing fatigue, headaches, memory problems, mood swings, sleep disorders. It turns out that it’s complex, but it’s not so complex that you can’t figure it out. You want to make sure that you’re looking for all the overlapping causes of what would keep you ill. So I created this book as a road map for people with chronic illnesses. You can share it with your doctor and work through it to get better. With Lyme on the loose, how can we enjoy the Hudson Valley’s outdoor wonderland? The prevention aspect is very important. If you’re going outdoors, wear light-colored clothing that’s sprayed with Permethrin, which you can get at most hardware stores. It will repel ticks for several weeks. Or you can use lemon eucalyptus oil combined with either Picaridin or IR3535, which is made by Avon and is in their Skin So Soft product. These products have been proven safe, and they’re very good to repel both ticks and mosquitoes. I also recommend keeping a tick-removal device on your keychain. Any last words for tick-plagued upstaters? If you are sick, don’t give up. You can use this multifactorial model to get to the bottom of it and find some answers. u

take an upstater’s advice on how to stay safe at upstater.com/keep-ticks-off

58 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

“Alternative”

size

SPRING 2017

GOING NATIVE

S T O R Y B Y K A N D Y H A R R I S / P H O T O s B Y J esse T urn q uist

From left: Liam Singer and Laura Davidson, founders of Catskill’s new HiLo Café, with landlords and artists Alon and Melissa Koppel. Both couples live in apartments above the café in the Main Street storefront that the Koppels have renovated.

Flipping the Equation A creative couple transforms their lives—and Main Street—in Catskill.

or more than a decade, graphic designer and photographer Alon Koppel and his artist wife, Melissa, traveled back and forth from their studio in Manhattan’s Flatiron District to rental houses in Columbia County, attempting to balance the city’s bustle with weekend doses of quiet.

Then, one day, Koppel had an epiphany: “Our bigger clients never came to our office,” he says. “We always went to them.” So he moved his business north, initially to Red Hook in Dutchess County, and later to Catskill in January 2016. “Because of the nature of our work which we can do remotely, we began to slowly extend our stay until finally the equation got flipped, and we were spending more time here.” Born in Israel, Koppel studied photography at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. In 1999, he moved to Manhattan, where he met and married Melissa. Koppel ran a graphic design agency, Fusion Lab, from the Flatiron for 10 years. Then, in 2008, the Koppels rented a 19th-century former chocolate factory in Red Hook and began working there, while fixing up a wooden Victorian house nearby. But the old house’s antiquated heating system and lack of insulation made it very cold. The downturn in the economy made major renovations impossible, so the Koppels put the house on the market and searched for another. “We craved the solid feeling of living in brick buildings heated with radiators from our days in the city, so we began to look at places that could offer that,” Koppel says. Plus, they wanted to

“spend more quality time doing what we love: photography and art.” But Hudson proved too pricey. “[We] ended up walking around Catskill with a friend,” he says. “That’s when I spotted a for-sale-byowner sign on a lovely brick building on Main Street.” The 1890s building includes a 1,700-square-foot store on the ground floor with two separate rooms, which the couple use as studios, and opens onto a backyard that’s being converted into a courtyard and parking spaces. Above the store are two floor-through apartments. The Koppels live on the top floor. “We have a lovely view of the Catskill Creek on one side and Main Street on the other,” says Koppel. Renovations have included gutting the apartment’s kitchen and bathroom, rerouted the plumbing, moved doors, removed old carpeting and plywood to unmask wooden floors and fitted two large formerly bricked-over windows with custom-made French casement windows. The Koppels have rented the second-floor to Liam and Laura Singer, who moved upstate from Queens and recently opened the HiLo Café, a combination café bar, gallery, and event space, in the storefront. Catskill has reshaped the Koppels’ lives. Koppel’s works are displayed on the website NotLikeHere, and he practices Aikido at a nearby studio. He says he feels at home with Catskill’s funky, creative vibe, which is being reinvigorated thanks to an influx of new organizations, including the American Dance Institute and the Catskill Mill, an artisan collective founded by Etsy mastermind Rob Kalin. “My wife and I honed what we needed in our lives and found what we were looking for in Catskill,” Koppel says. “We continue to make great connections here. We don’t miss living in the city at all, but if we ever need a quick city fix, it’s only a lovely two-hour train ride away.” u Get to know the downtown catskill lifestyle: upstater.com/peek-inside

60 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

CATSKILL SNAPSHOTS

REAL ESTATE

Catskill in bloom

Catskill OFFERS AFFORDABLE HOMES AND A RESURGING DOWNTOWN.

Catskill’s Rip Van Winkle Monument

Shopping on Main Street

Downtown Catskill

Vaudeville-era Community Theatre

Purrfect Tails Pet Store

eal estate agent Natasha Witka has lived in Catskill her entire life, giving her a longtime front-row seat to the ebbs and flows of the Greene County village on the Hudson River. So when she says Catskill is blooming, it’s time to sit up and take notice. In the last two years, Catskill, which has a population of about 4,000, has seen “major upswing shifts” in both commercial and residential real estate, says Witka, a broker with Century 21 New West Properties. Catskill’s current influx of creative types and investors is increasing its popularity, she says. According to Realtor.com, the median home real estate price in the town of Catskill is $155,000, or about $.88 per square foot. Meanwhile, the city of Hudson, across the river and north in Columbia County, has a median listing price of $297,000. Catskill, says Witka, has been experiencing “an overflow from Columbia County, which has cultivated a competitive marketplace, hence, limiting inventory.” In other words, folks priced out of Hudson have discovered Catskill. So, too, has the New York Times, which, last November, referred to Catskill as “a new mecca for artisans.” Witka isn’t surprised by this assessment. “Our geographical location is not only picturesque,” she says, noting Catskill’s easy access to nearby attractions like the Hudson River and Kaaterskill Falls as well as mass transportation outlets such as the New York State Thruway and Hudson Amtrak. While home buyers are looking for fulltime and second homes in Catskill in almost equal measure, investors are also scooping up commercial properties. Loopnet.com currently lists two dozen commercial and mixed-use properties in the town of Catskill, ranging in listing price from $2.5 million for a 10,000-square-foot strip mall to $149,000 for a 1,700-square-foot retail/restaurant space. Catskill has something to offer everyone, says Witka. “Those who have discovered this hidden gem are making revitalizing strides through the stimulation of purchasing real estate and honing in on their talents,” she says. Their “opening restaurants, cafés, tea and coffee shops, health and wellness services, antique and art galleries, and performing arts venues as well as residences” is “creating a destination that is unlike any other.” —Kandy Harris SPRING 2017

ON • THE• MARKET BROUGHT TO YOU

POSTS

BY UPSTATER.COM Find new On-the-Market posts every day at upstater.com. B y K a n d y H arris

t Upstater.com, we cross the line between “love” and “obsessed with” when it comes to real estate—so our On-theMarket posts go live every day. We scour the Internet and drive the streets to bring you the best-of-the-best houses on the market (although “best-of-the-best” is, of course, subjective). Our content runs the gamut, from “Five-Figure Fridays” (great homes under $99,000) to “More Than a Mill.” We also cover handyman specials, easy fixer-uppers, turnkey-move-in-ready homes, weekend escapes, country cottages, and grand estates.

Small Cottage, Big on Warmth

15 Acres and a Pool

200 County Route 14, Greenport

21 Corkscrew Road, Barryville

Beach & Bartolo Realtors, Inc.

McKean Real Estate, Inc.

$84,500

$254,900

Beds: 2 Baths: 1 Square feet: 1,243 Lot size: .41 acres Taxes: $2,350

BEDS: 3 BATHS: 1 SQUARE FEET: 1,200 LOT SIZE: 15.31 ACRES TAXES: $4,965

Looking for a compact weekend property, first home, or to downsize? In any case, this wooden cottage in rural Columbia County warrants a closer look. Highlights of this cozy domicile include wood floors, butcher-block countertops in the kitchen, built-in shelves, and a mudroom entryway to help keep the common areas clean and tidy. Prospective buyers should note, however, that its low price is due in part to its uncompleted master suite, so prepare to roll up your sleeves and do a little work. But between the five-figure listing price and the low taxes, this property is still a bargain. The cottage is less than 10 minutes from the New York State Thruway in Catskill and under five minutes from Columbia-Greene Community College, the Hudson Amtrak station, and Warren Street in the heart of Hudson’s commercial district, which bursts at the seams with restaurants, art galleries, and enough antique/home furnishing shops to keep this cottage in fine design.

Looking for a pool to go with your house? It doesn’t have to cost a fortune. You just need to know where to look. We’ve unearthed a beauty in the hamlet of Barryville in western Sullivan County on the Delaware River, on the New York/Pennsylvania border. Barryville is an idyllic little spot in the western Catskills that’s largely undiscovered; however, the area gets a healthy influx of visitors during the summertime, thanks to good food, places to shop, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, and access to outdoor recreation—all set against a picturesque backdrop. Situated on a spacious plot of land five minutes from Barryville, the turn-of-thecentury house comes with lots of perks, like a screened-in porch, wood floors, wood stove, dining room, and stainless steel kitchen appliances, an old chicken coop begging to be turned into a studio, fenced-in garden beds, an orchard (you know you’ve always wanted one!), and a 24-foot-diameter above-ground pool surrounded by a deck. Get away from it all right in your own backyard.

62 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

A 17-Year Restoration…and It Shows! 707 Albany Post Road, Gardiner Willow Real Estate

$1,850,000 BEDS: 4 BATHS: 3 FULL, 2 HALF SQUARE FEET: 6,490 LOT SIZE: 54 ACRES TAXES: $24,664 This gasp-worthy restoration in Gardiner was completed by an artist and a veterinarian who spent two decades bringing this 1854 Center Hall Colonial back to its original glory … and then some. The results are awesome, including stacked crown moldings, pressed-tin ceilings, pocket doors, stained glass, plank flooring, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a cadre of fireplaces. Modern amenities are central A/C, a Sub-Zero fridge and modern appliances in the kitchen, spa-like bath fixtures, and an efficient heating system. Topping it off is a walk-up attic flooded with light, set up as a home studio. The 54-acre lot also has a pond, carriage house, shed, and stylish guest cottage. Originally called Guilford Bower Farm, the homestead was established in 1706 by the son of one of New Paltz’s original founders. Gardiner is situated along the Wallkill River in southern Ulster County, 10 minutes from New Paltz, 30 minutes from Poughkeepsie’s Metro-North station, and two hours from New York City. R E A L E STA T E S E C TION

GEOMETRIC GEM

Contemporary Home Celebrates Space 58 Rymph Road, Lagrangeville Houlihan Lawrence

$640,000 BEDS: 5 BATHS: 3 FULL, 2 HALF SQUARE FEET: 4,338 LOT SIZE: 5.11 ACRES TAXES: $16,111 This Dutchess County gem is in a woodsy spot on a big lot. Its crown jewel is an in-ground salt pool (remoted controlled!) that’s big enough for a pool party and inviting enough for a daily lap. The 1971 contemporary house is fit for a big family, with an open floor plan punctuated with hexagonal doorways and flooded with light thanks to the living room’s wall of glass. A stone fireplace is its warming heart. Fun fact: This home is secretly hexagonal! Check out the floor plan in the listing. Also note the wrap-around porch, completely encircling the house. Nice! The lower level is a family/entertaining room with fireplace and wet bar. The interior also includes hardwood floors, stainless steel kitchen appliances, a main floor master suite, and central A/C. The property’s terrain is park-like with stone walls and a seasonal stream, located minutes from the Taconic Parkway, 20 minutes from Poughkeepsie’s Metro-North station, and 90 minutes from New York City.

R E A L E STA T E S E C TION

SPRING 2017

PAULA REDMOND REAL EST AT E INC OR POR AT ED

• • • NORTH EAST

$1,750,000

Catskill Mountain Views PINE PLAINS

$895,000

Duxbury House Circa 1790

TOWN OF CLINTON

$379,000

STANFORDVILLE

Private Modern Colonial MILLBROOK

$1,187,000

$778,000

Tucked Into The Woods ANCRAM

Historic Circa 1750 Home

$1,095,000

Far Reaching Mountain Views

Millbrook 845.677.0505 · Rhinebeck 845.876.6676

paularedmond.com

Hudson Valle y

ne w york Cit y

Ha mptons

ConneCtiCut

ne w Jerse y

WINDY HILL – 45 ACRES PRIVATE MAGICAL RETREAT

CONVERTED 19TH CENTURY CARRIAGE HOUSE

RARE BRICK TOWNHOUSE CIRCA 1842

COPAKE, NEW YORK | WEB#15608023 4 BR, 3 BATH | $2,600,000

HUDSON, NY | WEB#16044937 2 BR, 2.5 BATHS | $894,000

HUDSON, NY | WEB#15282349 3 BR, 4 BATHS | $755,000

NANCY FELCETTO 212.381.6554 | ROBIN HOROWITZ 917.348.4866

halstead.com Halstead Hudson Valley, LLC All information is from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, prior sale or withdrawal without notice. No representation is made as to the accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footages are approximate and all information should be confirmed by customer. All rights to content, photographs and graphics reserved to Broker.

64 upstater

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

R E A L E STA T E S E C TION