Meet me in parksville!
Sunday, October 5, 3:00 pm
Live music celebrating the Borscht Belt and beyond at New Memories/Conflux Gallery Art Collective in collab with Parksville Art Center.
Local wine and cider served; themed food available for purchase from Double Up.
Special Screening of the 1950 film Catskill Honeymoon.
PALACE HOUSE, PARKSVILLE
By Larry Simmons
The Palace House was a popular Hotel & Resort, from 1920 thru the mid- 1940s. It was located in Parksville, New York, a stone’s throw from Liberty. The hotel and farm play an integral part of the Simmons Family, in its overall history. All of the Simmons’ either visit(ed) there, or for some – worked there.
People came from all over, primarily from New York City and New Jersey. Originally the Catskills was a place known for its fresh air and relaxing lifestyle as people got away from the hustle and bustle and unbreathable air of the city and ghettos. (i.e., The Lower East Side on NYC).
People returned to the Palace House, year after year. Many a “moniker” was placed on the Palace House, such as: “The House that grew with Love”,and “The House that Satisfies”. Do not forget, my favorite – “It’s the Place to Be”.
My Grandfather, George Simmons, was the proprietor. His wife, my Grandmother, Ruth Augusta Levitt Simmons, was the “chief cook and bottle washer”. My father, Jack Simmons, waited on plenty of tables for dinner. Along with being Chief Bellman, he was all around go-fer. The families’ double duties of farmer and hotel operator, made for interesting times in the then “World Renowned” Catskill Mountains of Sullivan County, New York.
George and my dad worked the farm, arising early, usually 4 AM, or earlier, to milk the cows – first by hand, then as time went on – then got automated milking machines, and then do the farm chores. They milked the cows twice a day – at least 20, however I cannot find an exact amount. Among the few farm hands beside George and Jack were George’s brother Jerry Simmons, and my father’s cousin on his mother’s side, Jack Levitt. The Milk was delivered to the local “Dairy Lea” Creamery in Liberty, a short drive away.
Gus made breakfast for the guests as well as the farm hands. Jerry Simmons’s wife, Bessie at one point helped Gus cook. There is a freehand drawing which my father Jack did in 2009, which shows, there were lots of activities at the Palace House. Activities included farm tasks, as well as recreational activities.
The summers were filled with relatives and other patrons from New York and New Jersey. I have over 300 pictures from the Palace house, ranging in years from 1920s to the mid- 1940s. I have a couple of videos as well. Some of the patrons include members of the Simmons family, and on George’s wife’s side – Gus – The Levitt’s. My mother and her family (The Ginsberg’s) patronized the Palace House in the early 1940s, and that is when my dad met my mom. (He carried her bags to her room, and the rest is history).
As time went on and the Palace House got more and more popular, and they added on to the main building. They eventually had 35 rooms, and hot and cold running water. With the additions, the Palace House accommodated up to 100 guests. They hired more people to help Gus do the cooking and chores. We know in addition to Gus cooking, other relatives notably her sister-in-law, Gussie Levitt, cooked as well. We also know that at one-point Bessie Simmons help cook. One Picture I have of the Palace House notes that a cook was “Mrs. Margolin”.
A lot was going on there. “The Casino” – the entertainment venue, (nomenclature for that period) located across the street from the hotel, was always packed at night with dancing and music, thanks to “Blackie and the Band”.
During the days on the vast lawns, there were tons of activities...handball, softball, basketball, other games, just sitting around and “kibitzing”, and playing cards…. This was the relaxing life of the Great Catskills during the 1920s thru the 1940s.
Around the mid – to late 1940s, George sold the Palace House and as I noted earlier went partners in The Garden Resort, a property located in nearby Ferndale. George partnered with Sarah Kushner, then a person named Blumstein. I cannot find any information on either of his partners. I literally have 3 pictures of the Garden Resort. I do not why there are not more. Perhaps at this point my father left the farm, and moved to Paterson and joined my mother’s family textile business, and perhaps they were not visiting there that much? If anyone has any information about the Garden Resort, please contact the Marker Project. I know for a short time when George originally bought the Garden Resort, my father, Jack still worked the farm.
The Palace House & Their Famous Stone Pillars
A Word About Pillars
Seemingly a trademark of many a hotel and farm entrances was the presence of Stone Pillars. The pillars were the welcoming agent and acted as the main entrance walkway, or designator to the Hotel’s main entrance driveway.
You can see them frequently in Palace House pictures. The pillars at the Palace House, of which two still stand today (See Picture 1) were typical rectangular pillars covered with large rocks. My grandfather George Simmons and my father Jack built the ones at the Palace House. You can see round lights with the words “Palace House” on them. Sadly, the lights bulbs have not survived the years. Take a look at the postcard from the Garden Resort. The main entrance has pillars, as does the entrance to the Casino.
As you travel through the Catskills, you will still see many pillars still standing, even though the structures that were at the end of the walkway that led to them no longer stand. The pillars act as a reminder, similarly to the lonely handball court walls, as “headstones” to the fallen hotels and farms of the Catskills. Handball courts were also a major part of the Catskill hotel scene.
A distinct feature about the Palace House was their famous stone pillars. One of the rites of staying at the Palace House was to have your picture taken by the pillars. Examples from the previous page include:
1. Pillars (Still standing in 2019)
2. Helen Ginsberg (later Simmons)
3. Sam & Mary Rosenthal
4. Harriet Simmons
5. Harriet Simmons
6. Jack Simmons
The Teck, Schreiber & Blumenthal History in Parksville
By Neil Blumenthal
I view my childhood in Parksville, NY as being the “Wonder Years” as they were filled with a warm, caring, and welcoming sense of community, the camaraderie of my summertime friends and the many adventures that we shared.
In 1919, Abraham and Necha Teck, my great-grandparents, purchased a one-acre property at the intersection of the Cooley Road and Tanzman Road in Parksville,. The property included a two-story house, a cottage, and a garage that would house Abraham’s Model T ice cream truck. Their motivation for acquiring this property was to move their granddaughter (my mother), Esther, born that same year, out of New York City to protect her from the Spanish Flu epidemic.
Although the precise date is unclear, Abraham and Necha began operating a kuchelein (boarding house) on their property. This placed them in friendly competition with the Gasthalter family, who operated a boarding house directly across the road, an establishment that would later become the Paramount Hotel.
The relationship between the Tecks and Gasthalters was amicable until one day, late in the 1930s or early 1940s, a dispute arose between Sam Schreiber, my grandfather and Sam Gasthalter, the owner of the Paramount Hotel. As a result, Sam Gasthalter banned my grandfather, my grandmother, and their descendants from the hotel property forever, a ban reportedly written into his Will. Despite this, Sandra and Fred Gasthalter, Sam’s daughter and son, were very friendly to my family and would give my mother, father, my brother and me rides if they saw us walking up the hill coming home from town, always stopping to let us out of the car at the crossroads to avoid their father’s notice.
Abraham’s enterprising spirit extended beyond the kuchelein; he sold ice cream from his Model T truck throughout the area. As legend has it, Abe operated a still and along with the ice cream he sold moonshine from his truck. As told to me by a local old-timer, on at least one occasion, when Abraham received word that revenue agents were in the area, he dismantled the still and hid the parts along the bank of the Little Beaverkill stream which was down the hill, across the Cooley Rd behind the property.
The original two-story house burned down during the winter of 1940, leaving only the cottage, the attached garage, and the chicken coop. Both Abraham and Necha passed away in the mid-1940s, and their three daughters, Tessie, Rose, and Minerva, inherited the property. Tessie inherited the garage, which was converted into a bungalow, while Rose and Minerva jointly owned the cottage. Over the years, many renovations and expansions were completed. By the time I sold the property to the Paramount Hotel in 1984, the bungalow featured two bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room, and an eat-in kitchen, while the cottage owned by my grandmother’s sisters included two bedrooms, two baths, a spacious kitchen, living room, and both enclosed and open porches.
I spent every summer of my adolescence and most of my teen years at the family bungalow. As a child, Parksville was a very vibrant small town with a lot of traffic and people who shopped at the stores and shops on Main Street. I remember occasionally going to the very crowded train station on Friday evenings to greet my dad who took the train, (nicknamed the Bull Express) along with many other men who were coming up for the weekend, eager to be with their wives and families. The train was powered by a steam locomotive with smoke billowing out of the chimney all of the way from the city to Parksville. Because of this, my dad always smelled like smoke when he got off the train.
Although we were not allowed to use the Paramount Hotel’s facilities, my brother and I were welcome at several other hotels and bungalow colonies in Parksville, including Nat Tanzman’s Tanzville Hotel, Louie Tanzman’s bungalow colony, Ben Tanzman’s Ideal Hotel, Sol and May Gasthalter’s bungalow colony, and Weinstein’s bungalow colony. This allowed us to make friends, play ball, go swimming, and enjoy other activities offered at these hotels and bungalow colonies. We took immense joy in exploring the surrounding woods & fields and fishing the lakes and streams in and around Parksville.
Abe Teck’s name was well respected and fondly remembered by many older people who lived in the town. When they found out that I was his great grandchild, I was immediately accepted as a local. Some of the towns people that I fondly remember were Dan Frosty, the owner of Frosty’s Fountain and Toy Store, Mr. Freid, the owner of Freid’s Hardware and Grain Store, , Lew Sisselman who owned the Gulf gas station, Russ Fiddle, who owned Russ’s Tavern, Jack Fiddle who was the Post Master, Jerry Itzkowitz who along with his wife Lil, owned Jerry & Lil’s, the Bauman & Litwak families, who owned the Bauman House, Abe Weinstein, who owned Weinstein’s Bungalow Colony, Mr. Schwartz, who owned Schwartz’s Butcher Shop, Mr. & Mrs. Litwin, who owned the Pharmacy and Toy Store, Sam Novisuski and Al Rosin who were the village Constables when I was growing up.
Old friends of the family included Ira & Emma Wolf, Wesley Shaw, Floyd & Harriet Shaw.
In 1967, at seventeen, I began working as a waiter at Klein’s Hillside. The following summers, I worked at the Aladdin in Woodburne in 1968, the Esther Manor in Monticello in 1969, and Chester’s in Woodbourne during parts of 1970 and the entire summer of 1971.
Midway between the summer of 1970, my mother received a call from Fred Gasthalter, expressing his wish to formally end the longstanding ban now that both his father and my grandfather had passed away. He invited our family to use and enjoy the hotel’s facilities and offered me a job as a bellhop for the remainder of the summer. I accepted, working there for the balance of the summer, the High Holidays, and Passover the following spring.
In 1977, I purchased my great-aunt Min and Rose’s share of the property. My wife and I continued to spend our weekends, many of which hosting friends, from May through October until 1984, at which point I sold the property to Fred Gasthalter. In 1980, my brother Warren purchased a 100-acre farm in Jeffersonville and has lived there year-round since 1983. Our family has had a continuous presence in Sullivan County for over one hundred years. Unfortunately, the structures that were the family’s summer home no longer exist, the property is overgrown and is no longer recognizable.
Parksville will always hold a special place in my heart and mind. The memories of all of the wonderful summers spent there with my parents, grandparents, friends, and locals will never be forgotten.
