Abandoned New York
"The Red Apple Rest was a cafeteria-style restaurant along New York State Route 17, in the Southfield section of the Tuxedo, New York. The Red Apple Rest was a stopping point for many families headed to the Catskill Mountains region of upstate New York. Before the New York State Thruway was built, the travel time from New York City to the Catskill Mountains could be four or five hours. The Red Apple Rest, located almost halfway, became a major roadside stop. The restaurant was opened in May 1931 by Rueben Freed, whose clothing business went bust in the stock market crash. The Red Apple Rest boomed in business during the 1940s and 1950s. The Thruway, which was built in 1953, was not the reason for its demise, but the casinos built around the area. The Red Apple Rest closed in 2006 for no apparent reason but a sign on the wall that mentioning a vacation and graduation. The Red Apple Rest was condemned on January 23, 2007 for roof damage. Now, locked and lonely, the Red Apple Rest is the ruins of a New York long-dying, if not dead - The New York City that summered in the Catskills."I can recall my friends and I riding our bicycles to this spot, having a huge meal like a stack of their pancakes, then turning around and riding home. It made for a good Saturday.
When we got older and could drive we also visited for those same stacks of pancakes and coffee.
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Interesting nostalgic read -- thanks. (Though it was more the "old 17" system, I think, than the lack of the Thruway that made the drive a long one. Man, those switchbacks on old 17A gave me white knuckles!)
ReplyDeleteBecause the Thruway bypassed the Red Apple Rest, they put up a big sign on the Quickway (new 17) just before the junction with the Thruway. It was an enormous arrow, pointing to the left, that said "Red Apple: Keep Right!"