Main-ly News

JUST OPENED, at 325 Main St, Catskill: Sonny’s Place, the former Tony’s Luncheonette, which was Rick Saparata’s luncheonette until a couple of months ago. The new boss, Sonny Ward of Cairo, is a veteran of food service and explosives (would that information be a cue for jokes about belching?). There’s continuity of fare, with cook Lisa Meade being back at “my second home.” Open from 6 to 3 on weekdays, 7 to 2 on Saturdays.

ALSO just opened on Catskill’s Main Street (#418) is Unforgiven, a tattoo parlor operated by Tony Deamer. In the words of a Daily Mail reporter, Mr Deamer’s walls “are covered with exceedingly unique masterpieces” while his own body abounds with “profound and vociferous” figures.

MOVING from one Main Street location (#302) to another (#327), around the end of August, is Catskill’s chamber of commerce (aka Heart of Catskill Association, aka HOCA). The new spot, rented from Susan Lalor (=Mrs Judge Daniel L.) is treble the size of the present one, rented from Mark Cooper. It formerly housed the Hilscher law practice, which now is ensconced gloriously in the restored old county courthouse.

NOT MOVING out and away, says publisher Roger Coleman, is GreeneLand’s one daily newspaper. Mr Coleman disconfirms rather assured gossip to the effect that a single trans-Hudson newspaper, The Daily Star, will emerge from eradication of the Catskill operation.

SOON TO OPEN on Main Street are Hood & Co. (household furnishings); N & S plumbing supplies; Retriever Roasters (fresh-roasted coffee and tidbits including, we hope, fresh sourdough bread); and an art show called “Sea Graves.” The latter, composed of pictures by Francis Hines, will open Saturday (7/29) at Gallery 384 (=384 Main St, Catskill; 947-6730). According to curator David Griffin, the pictures explore “the cyclical nature of experience” whereby “the ephemeral and the eternal find a necessary balance.” More immediately, they are “elegiac and ethereal” depictions of the “fluidity and fragility of life forms” that are deposited on the beach by incoming waves on the Mexican Pacific Coast. www.gallery384.com; e-mail is gallery384@aol.com.

ALSO IN PROSPECT for Main Street, in addition to two more art galleries, is—possibly, perhaps, maybe—a wine bar. If the latter eventuates, it would be brought to us by the GreeneLand ladies (“Catskill+Co, for the discriminating nature lover”) who already confect yummy Trail Truffles.

SPEAKING OF CONFECTIONS, GreeneLand writer Paul Smart recently served to Ulster Publishing Group readers (six weeklies) a bit of discourse suggesting (under the headline “SoHo on the Hudson?” in The Woodstock Times) that “Catskill is turning into the arts destination that Beacon almost became.” Hard to swallow.

NOT SO SWEET is the court action of accountant Alexander Varga against Main Street neighbors. He accuses the Bell’s Café people, and optometrist Damon Pouyat, and the owners of the building that houses H & R Block, of making a mess in the alley that he owns behind their buildings. It’s a 20-foot strip to which they have rights of ingress and egress, but in which, he claims, they illegally keep putting garbage cans and stuff, thereby exceeding their rights, to his detriment. He asks the State Supreme Court here to enjoin them from committing those offenses and to pay his litigation costs. But there are some problems with this legal action. One is that the complaint, nominally drawn up by attorney Joseph Stanzione, is a literary and hence a procedural atrocity. A defendant is mis-named; an allegation terminates in mid-sentence (“…other than ingress and egress to their respaective”); preceding owners are said to “have and continue to [mis-]use” the alley; and so on. Another problem has to do with matters of fact. Regarding all the cited defendants, Mr Varga claims that they have indeed done the dirty deeds, they have received “repeated requests” to desist, and they have not desisted. Baloney. (Full Disclosure Time: Seeing Greene is intimately connected to one of the defendants).

MEANWHILE, way out west in the incipient Catskill Commons, Lori Berkowitz is transforming Joey’s Pizza into a full-bore restaurant, Pomodoro’s Italian Eatery. 943-4446.

FARTHER NORTH, on Route 9W, what most recently was Marty Dibble’s Auto Mall is now a refurbished, 1950s-style car sales outlet. Although it’s called Sawyer Motors, it’s run by Macy Siracusano, who’s the daughter of Larry Siracusano, who runs Sawyer [sic.] Chevrolet here and is the brother of Bob Siracusano, who runs the Sawyer [sic.] Daimler/Chrysler dealership in Saugerties. The new Sawyers is worth a visit just for the décor.

NOT EXPANDING, on the other hand, is Lacy Ford (&Mercury&Lincoln&Subaru) of Catskill. A nearly-done deal with Hudson’s city government, in which Lacy would take over the defunct Schroeder Chevrolet/Cadillac premises at 40 Green St, went sour.

IN ATHENS, the former Gerard’s restaurant at the corner of Washington and Second Streets has just been reopened as Cameo’s, run by Jeff Yungandreas and Josh Lackie (telephone 934-2375). According to a Daily Mail story (7/21), Mr Lackie will draw on 11 years’ experience at Anthony’s in Leeds; and he’s 24 years old.

ALSO IN PROSPECT for Athens (remotely?) is the boon of becoming headquarters of the stylish year-old magazine Inside/OUT, presently published in New Paltz. A veteran of magazine publishing may take on the project, if he decides that his image as an alpha male would not be imperiled.

YOUTH SOCCER was richly served last Sunday thanks to a benefit golf tournament. What with a full field of 136 players (paying $75 each to play and ride and eat and collect prizes), and with a plentitude of sponsors, mustered by Kiwanians and by insurance agent Frank Porto as a memorial to the late Albert Natarnicola, the event at Catskill Golf Club yielded a net return of about $6000.

COMING EVENTS. For a canvass of coming GreeneLand attractions, check the Calendar in the GreeneLand chamber of commerce’s website: www.greenecounty-chamber.com . Mentioned there are the opening of the Youth Fair (Angelo Canna Park in Cairo, from 9 a.m. Thursday); classical music in Windham and in Round Top; pop music at Dutchmen’s Landing (Thursday night); closing performances, at the Historic Catskill Point warehouse, Friday and Saturday nights, of “Our Town”; and more. (Sorely needed: a comprehensive GreeneLand calendar that includes public meetings, movie offerings and night club acts to the present selection. Good project for the new Chamber manager, along with updating the whole web site.)