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Memories of The Catskills: The Making of a Hotel

Author: Alvin L. Lesser

Foreword:
John Conway, Sullivan County Historian

234 pages, 6 x 9, Perfect bound

Line illustrations /
More than 110 b&w photographs

ISBN:
978-0-9860034-0-0
$16.50 trade paperback

ISBN:
978-0-9860034-1-7
$9.95 eBook

Publication date:
January 10, 2013

Published by:
GSL Galactic Publishing

Promotion:
Kate Bandos,
KSB Promotions

Distributed by: Ingram

 

 

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction

About the Author

Acknowledgment

My Birth (1922)

Building of the Property (1923)

“The Catskills”

Purchase and Building of Property (1923)

Fresh Air (1923)

Joseph Lesser (1923)

Sarah Lesser (1923)

Gloria Katz (1924)

It’s a “Hotel” (1923)

Main House (1923)

Bungalow (1923)

White Sulphur Springs (1923)

Katz’s Bakery

Office (1923)

Traveling from New York City (1923)

Bowery (1924)

Handymen—First Memories (1924)

1st and 2nd Cooks (1924)

The Dining Room and Guest Quarters (1927)

Materials and Supplies (1927)

Plumbers (1927)

Purchase Agreement

The Battle of Bunker Hill

Lonesome (1925)

Burning Crosses (1923)

Memories of The Catskills

Sam Heller (1928)

The Midway School (1928)

Discipline

Took (1928)

Fishing & Hunting

Foul Waters (1928) 46

The Midway Hill

Improvements in General

The Depression Years (1929)

Entertainment in the Dining Room (1927-1933)

Singer’s Restaurant (1930-1963)

Sabloff’s (1923-1963)

Lobby Ventilation Disaster (1930)

Heat (1930)

Mrs Lawless (1930)

Mendel (1931)

Christmas (1931)

Casino (1933)

Casino and Concession (1933)

The Casino Band (1933)

Band Auditions (1933)

Casino Social Directors (1933)

Casino New Stage (1936)

Casino Comedians

Bronx and Brooklyn (1932)

Lake (1932)

The Bergmans (1935)

The Haunted House (1933-1963)

The Marilyn House (1933)

Expansion of Dining Room & Lobby (1934)

Hector (1934)

Irving Cohen (1935)

Concord Hotel (1936)

Brooklyn and the Bronx (1933)

The Making of a Hotel

Dudweiler

Driving (1934)

My Bar Mitzvah (1935)

Brooklyn Jewish Center

The Alsyn (1935)

The Kitchen (1937)

Duties of a Headwaiter

Kitchen—Jack Burns

Passover (1938)

Bed Lugging (1938)

Oh Well (1938)

Jupiter Agency (1938)

Waiters (1938)

Goldstein Farm

The Case of the Missing Pillowcase

The Ranch House (1939)

Arty Landsman (1939)

Meeting Evelyn (1940)

Athletic Directors (1940)

Swan Lake (1940)

Grossinger’s Hotel (1941)

Swimming Pool (1942)

Millie (1942)

Sister (1943)

Army (1943-1945)

The Day Camp (1946)

Day Camp Handball Courts and Horses (1946)

Tennis & Volleyball

Baseball Field (1947)

Discharge

Marriage

Kitchen and Dining Room Enlargement (1948)

Barn Demolished (1949)

Quonset Huts (1949)

Memories of The Catskills

Norman Margolies (1950)

Driveway (1950)

Fight (1950)

The Beautiful Miles (1953)

Telephone Call (1954)

The Final Renovations (1956)

The Sheldon House (1959)

A Guest’s Typical Day

David Auerbach (1957)

The Event of the Century (1961)

Weeping Willows (1962)

Lightning Strikes

An Era Ends

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Appendix A

Additional Pictures

Appendix B

The “Great Patent” and Other Deeds

The “Great Patent”

Chain of Deeds

State Route 52

Midway Road

Appendix C

Additional Resources

Appendix D

White Sulphur Springs Hotels

Appendix E

Borscht Belt Actors & Performers

Endnotes


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