Welcome
Nate and Sadie Friedman welcome you to The Brookside Hotel web-site. Just as they did in years past at the hotel itself, they hope that you will enjoy your visit and come back many times to enjoy some wonderful memories of the vacations and time spent at their hotel. While we hope you will get pleasure from this web-site you won’t be able to taste the food in the dining room or laugh at the entertainment in the famous “No-Name Room”.
From its beginning as a farm and guest house in the 1930s, The Brookside Hotel was linked to the history of the Catskills and of Kerhonkson. We want to make sure this history is not going to be lost as time continues to pass. We may have waited too long already, like Nate Friedman many guests are unfortunately not with us anymore, but our hope is that those of you who have memories of The Brookside from your vacations and stays, or those of you who have family stories that include The Brookside will enjoy these pages and pictures. And, those of you who may have your own stories to tell, your own memories, and your own pictures will share them with us and others as we try to reconnect The Brookside Hotel family again. Take advantage of the link to send us your stories and pictures.
On this web-site you will be able to post your memories and stories as well as let us know that you have pictures that we will be able to include them on this web-site. We look forward to hearing from you and hopefully continuing to enjoy the wonderful memories from those times.
Sadie, Barry, Richard and Suzanne all send their thanks that you have found this web-site. If you or your family ever visited the Brookside please check out some of the pictures we have been able to find that help us remember days long gone. If you have pictures from your visits to the hotel or know someone who does please send them to Richard at rbfriedman946@yahoo.com or to sadiefriedman@comcast.net” so we can include them in our history.
Sadie spends the winters in Florida in West Palm Beach and returns to New York in the late Spring until early Fall. She is keeping busy with friends, bridge, emailing old and new friends, and her family. She can still tell all of us in the family where people sat in the dining room, who they came with and what room they had….so she would love to hear from old guests and their families.
September 6, 2014:
- email Sue at Brookside123@gmail.com or call at 845-339-0002
- email Rich at friedman946@yahoo.com or call at 603-714-2311
The past months have only confirmed how much all of us depended on her guidance and advice, and how much she will be missed by all.
My brother Allen told me you had created this website,and that there were also radio broadcasts. It was wonderful to see the pictures, read the comments and remember my youth. When I read your story about the fire, I remembered being at West Point with you for the Villanova game with Mr. Joe. If you remember, I was married at the Brookside in November of 1967. Sadie was just recovering from surgery, but she made sure she was there to make sure everything was perfect, and it was. Sorry that I can”t say the same about the marriage! My kids remember visiting Grandma Bert in the Coffee Shop, and playing the pinball machine. I’ll look for some pictures and send them to you .
Warmest Regards,
Sandy
The Brookside Hotel was my family for more than a decade. First as a guest from the late ’50s and
then working in the Dining Room from 1961 – 1969. To this day the memories live, and the
people remain an important part of my life. I grew up there, in more ways than one. Nate & Sadie were
my parents when I was away from home (not that we didn’t butt heads from time to time) and the
people that I met there will always be in my heart. When I found this site (or actually when my wife did)
I was ecstatic. The memories could fill a book. I’d like to share some of the many things that still put a
smile on my face:
• Mom & Pop in the kitchen (yesterday’s bread was still good… and cut the slices thinner)
• Meeting Lew Simms for the 1st time and seeing him fall asleep in the middle of a sentence.
• Asking Lew what his middle initial on his checks stood for, and being told “nothing” I just like how it
looks!
• Larry the Handyman
• Matamorphis PA on our day off, driving go karts with no limiters & drinking 1/2 gallon thick shakes
• Big staff parties and spiked watermelons
• Petusevsky… never Mitch Petusevsky… he was always Petusevsky, or LePetus
• The summer of Barry Friedman’s wedding, and how much money he raked in because everyone
gave him a “little something extra” with their tips
• The BUNK! nothing more needs to be said
• Renting a bungalow fom the Denkensohns… and filling the fridge w/ Hostess cakes
• Playing the part of the “Phantom” one summer, with daily clues on the menu leading up to my being
unmasked on a Saturday night
• After cleaning up from dinner the day was just starting… whether it was going out for food & drinks
at the Log Cabin, or those great toasted heroes at the Casino (not to mention discovering “Zombies”,
or sneaking into the Granite, or dances in Rosedale, or driving 45 minutes to the drive-in for dawn
to dusk movies, or whatever else kept us up ’til the wee hours
• “Atomic breakfasts” – prune juice, prunes, figs, bran cereal and a glassell of tea mit a shtick lemon
• My first busboy… Jeff “Lightning” Weiner
• Mary the housekeeper
• Charlie the dishwasher
• The drunken dishwasher who challenged Nate, telling him “You’re not my Boss, God is my Boss!”
• Working before the season started, for the entire month of June in 1962… and I had no car!
• During that June there was one weekend when there was both a Bar Mitzvah and a Wedding
scheduled. On Saturday I had to serve lunch to the hotel guests, clean up and then set up tables for
both the hotel guests and the Bar Mitzvah. Then I served an early dinner to the guests, cleaned up
and immediately started to work the Bar Mitzvah. The affair ended after 2 am, but the kids were so
wild that we cleaned up until after 3. Then I first had to set up breakfast for the hotel guests who
started arriving for breakfast at 6 am. When that was done, I had to clean up, set up for the guests
lunch and the Wedding. After serving and then cleaning up the early lunch i immediately had to work
the cocktail hour and the Wedding. When it was all over I was near collapse.
• I remember helping Richie and Nate build the Sauna
• Toby Lovinger was my first waiter as a busboy in the main dining room
• I remember the monkey that was one waiter’s pet. When the monkey got loose it climbed a tree by
the Isadore building. Toby Lovinger climbed after it and caught Poison Sumac… and for the 1st time
I became a waiter
• Toby Lovinger really taught me how to drive after I finally got my driver’s license. He was a great
teacher, except when I did something wrong and he’d smack me on the side of my head
• The time that Nate overheard me complaining about the Staff food, and told me that if I didn’t like it
he’d pay me the 33¢ per meal and I wouldn’t be allowed to eat at the Hotel. Being stubborn I told him
okay I’d take the 33¢. The stalemate lasted nearly a week
• I remember “Edelman’s Chute”. Mike Edelman would come out of our road and hit 44/55 at 70 mph+.
He said that if anyone was coming… he could beat them.
• I remember the 1st Thanksgiving at Mama LaFera’s. Vinnie gave me some advanced warning, but
nothing prepared me for it. First there were his 3 “very large” aunts sitting on the porch. When Vinnie
bent over to kiss them they nearly pulled his cheeks off. Then we went inside and the food orgy
started. I ate and ate and ate some more. Finally, after 3 plates of homemade manicotti I told Vinnie
that I was stuffed. He got this panic look on his face and told me not to let his Mother hear me
because she was getting ready to serve dinner… Turkeys, hams, roast beefs and more than 20 side
dishes! OMG! The best was Vinnie giving me lessons on how to eat an artichoke.
• At 15 years of age I started working in the Children’s Dining Room with Lew Sims as my waiter.
• I remember that Richie’s long time busboy Alan had to take some time off, and I was finishing my 2nd
year as Children’s Dining Room busboy (that was embarrassing). Rich was in a bind, so he had Sadie
replace me in the Children’s Dining Room and make me Richie’s busboy. I was really nervous
because I didn’t want him to think I was lousy at the job. Then to add to the scenario, a few of his
tables got company for the weekend, plus some of his old customers came for the weekend and
Sadie insisted on seating them there. We ended up with 53 people for the weekend. Richie was
swamped, so I took the initiative to help him above and beyond bussing the tables. At the end of the
weekend he was so thankful and so happy with the job I did that I never worked in the Children’s
Dining Room again.
• Could somebody tell me why they always made the announcement that “Dinner (Lunch) is now
being served in the Main Dining Room”? Was there another Dining Room that I never knew about?
• I remember all the horseplay in the bunk (much of which I choose not to recount). One day Barry
and a few older guys decided to harrass us. Whoever was in there with me decided to barricade the
door. Undaunted, Barry began to throw things over the wall separating us. At some point someone
threw some Vitalis liquid over the wall… big mistake. The alcohol in the Vitalis got into Barry’s eyes,
and he went nuts. He broke down the door and I thought he was going to kill us all
• I remember having to pay our last week’s paycheck (all $2 or so of it) back to Nate for broken dishes.
A few of the guys were pissed off, so they waited until no one was around and threw dozens of dishes
off the back porch into the lake.
• In 1966 a family friend took me to the auto auctions in the South Bronx to buy a used car. I really
wanted something hot, maybe a convertible. But at an auction you have no choice… it’s just what’s
there on that day. I ended up with a 1963 Ford Galaxie 4 door. Not exactly a babe magnet. Mike Stohl
was looking for a car and I fixed him up with the mechanic who got me into the auction. So what does
he end up with? A 1963 Ford Galaxie CONVERTIBLE!
• The money was great though. In 1968 I worked the summer, weekends and holidays at the
Brookside. I was just starting out as a teacher, and my take home pay was under $5000 for the year.
I bought myself a brand new 1969 Corvette for $5300 (a lot for a car back then), because I made
almost twice as much as a waiter as I did teaching.
• Speaking of cars, I remember the entry level Ford Falcon was advertised for $1700 or so back then.
I’ll never forget that Lew Sim’s father bought both he and his brother the basic Falcon. When Lew
told his Dad that the car didn’t even have a radio, his Dad told him that he didn’t need a radio
because he had one in the house.
• I remember seeing Lew, Toby, Rich and denk get married
Sorry to ramble, and I probably could go on and on but the memories and the people will be there
forever. Believe it or not, I still have a bunch of old menus, a few of those plastic “viewfinder” pictures,
and an official scorebook from our softball team.
I’d love to stay in touch with people. Don’t hesitate to get my e-mail. To quote my fraternity motto:
FRIENDSHIP BINDS ETERNAL.
Warmest regards,
Mitch
I tried sending you an email at the address Richie gave me but I don’t know if you ever received it. Please email me at jbogartz@comcast.net….If this is published I invite all voices from the past to chime in and contact me. We were all very fortunate to have so much fun with such good people with memories that were burned into our brains that forever will bring smiles to our faces.