The Pines Hotel -- This is vhere zee photos dwell

This picture and the next are of the Heiden Hotel, which was featured in the movie Sweet Lorraine. The movie shared many similarities with the actual history of the hotel, if I understand correctly. It's basically the story of the hotel's decline, and the owner is forced to decide whether to hold on to the long time family business so that her granddaughter can take it over, or to sell to land developers. It's a pretty interesting movie and if you like this site, then you would probably appreciate the movie. Freddy Roman is in it, as a matter of fact, and his character will throw you back to the times when these hotels were open and the entertainers walked around and, well, entertained. You can click that link above to buy it on Amazon.com, it's only $7.99 + s/h, but it's worth it since you probably won't be able to find it at your local Blockbuster if you're interested in seeing it.

Although the building has been boarded up for quite some time, it looks as if the building is pretty well preserved. The lawn on the property is also still cut every now and then, so someone still cares about this place.

The struggling economy of South Fallsburg was very unmerciful to local merchants, as this picture and the next show.

Main roads littered with garbage and empty storefronts convey a great deal of information about the horrible commercial collapse that occurred in this region.

The last time I was in town, this store was covered in fluorescent colored paper flyers. If you go today, odds are good that it won't look like that anymore, and it'll look totally different from both my picture and my description. This store is actually on Route 42, which more or less is South Fallsburg's main street. Pretty sad to see that property can go for such a long time undeveloped, even on a main through road with a fair amount of traffic.

I always thought that this was a particularly weird piece of graffiti. For those that are uneducated in the way of de facto ethnic segregation, this area is now dominated by orthodox jews and blacks. This graffiti is actually more of an elegy than a shoutout. Supposedly it says something about an end of something? Translations that I've received have varied. The best translation (and explanation) that I've recieved goes like this:

"In your segment on the town, there is a picture which shows hebrew lettering on a wall. This wall is on Route 42 between Kiamesha Lake and Monticello. It represents a tribute to a very well known Rabbi who lived many many years ago in a town in Russia. Millions of Chasidim travel to his grave each year because they believe that if they pray at his grave, they will be rewarded with good health, long life, and prosperity. His name was Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (a city in the Soviet Union). Superstition says that tributes to him begin with abbreviations of his name and that is what is printed on the wall. It is 'Nach Nachma Nachman May-Uman'. The last word 'May-Uman' means 'from Uman' and it is where he is buried."

Although not in South Fallsburg, this artifact used to stand on Rt. 42 in Kiamesha by the Leisure Time water plant. I never knew what it went to, but I'm sure that it was a very lovely place judging by the sign. If you have information about this, I'd really love to hear it.

Two observations -- this thing is rusty as fuck, and the tree is completely overgrowing it. This sign has probably been off for at least 20 years. It's amazing that it's GONE NOW. Little things always seem to disappear when you're not around, which is why I actively encourage taking LOTS of pictures and sharing them with the world so that they can compare their pictures to yours and hopefully learn something about what's happened to something that otherwise, we'd have no information about.

And of course, right down the street is the good ol' Raleigh. I went to the Raleigh once, although we didn't stay, we saw Joy Beyheart (sp?). I remember it was a good show, and the hotel looked like a much nicer place than The Pines. The Raleigh is still open and anyone interested can visit their website which is located at http://www.catskill.net/raleigh.