pines hotel

A tradition, and a resort, at twilight

By Evelyn Nieves

April 14, 1995 - New York Times

 

THE Pines Resort Hotel is busy, busy, busy. Chef On Ma is up to his elbows in matzoh balls. The bakers are whining for assistants. Busboys are stacking 4,000 new plates, knives, forks and spoons, which sound something like a symphony for cymbals.
Reservations for Passover have come in at a steady pace, with 700 guests expected tonight, the first of the eight-day holiday. True, this is 100 people short of a sell-out. And there was a time not too long ago when packing the place for Passover was a given. But it is nothing to fret over, all things considered.

"I'm not complaining," said Cliff Ehrlich, who knows a good booking when he sees one. He grew up at the Pines when his grandparents and parents ran it and is now a vice president, along with his brother Steve. If tradition still brings some families here when the old days are just about dead, "Great," he says.

But he quickly added that holidays and conferences can't prop up the hotel forever. In fact, he says it all the time. For the last several weeks, he's been running around New York trying to drum up support for the idea of an Oneida Indian casino at the Monticello Raceway.

It was his idea, as vice president of the Catskill Resort Association, to approach the Oneidas, who have gone from bingo games on their reservation in 1985 to opening the modest Turning Point Casino in Verona in 1993 to aiming for the grandeur of a Foxwoods, the richest casino in the country.

Mr. Ehrlich and Ray Halbritter, the Oneida Nation leader, have been joined at the hip since they announced the proposal last month. They've brought business leaders and officials from Sullivan County on bus tours to Turning Point, brought Oneidas to Sullivan County, met with every group with questions every time they've been asked. "Two meetings today," he said Thursday, checking his schedule. Since they unveiled their idea, Mr. Ehrlich said, he has had close to 100 meetings with politicians and community and business people.

NOT that he has to do much convincing in these parts. Just about everyone in Sullivan County seems to think casino gambling would be salvation. (Remember when it was actually considered bad for a community?) Shopkeepers from Roscoe to South Fallsburg display petitions on their counters for people to show their support. A huge billboard on Route 17 announces "Sullivan County Business Association Welcomes The Oneida Nation." Politicians keep talking about new jobs.

"In all my life -- I'm 35 -- I have never seen anything that has united the community for one effort," Mr. Ehrlich said.

It doesn't seem to matter that Gov. George E. Pataki said no immediately to the idea of another Indian (tax-free) casino in New York, and is wavering on the idea of legalized state-run casinos. "He told us he wanted details," Mr. Ehrlich said, adding that the plan is to present a package of information to the Governor's office on May 15.

"It's an economic project," he said. "We want it so badly because there is only so much we can do here now."

The Pines, like the few other remaining year-round Catskill resorts, is holding on for dear life. It recognizes two seasons: on and on. But the situation has been off season for years, and it is trying hard to shake the "faded Borscht Belt" image.

Bruce Siegal, the Pines manager, sounds dismayed that it isn't more popular. "We have everything!" he said. (He isn't part of the Ehrlich family, but he might as well be. At 34, he has worked at the hotel for 17 years. When he gives a tour, it's as if he owned the place.)

"Think of it as a cruise ship on land," he said. "Look at that indoor pool. It has its own complex. Look at that: miniature golf. Look, here's the ice-skating rink." And the outdoor pool, he said, with a wave of his hand, has barbecues on deck in season.

"My parents in Brooklyn go to Atlantic City for a weekend every month," he said. "They could be coming here instead."

LIKE the Concord, which bills itself as the golf and skiing resort, The Pines has tried different ways to lure new guests.

"Theme weekends," Mr. Ehrlich said. "We do a bluegrass festival. We do two Irish weekends a year. Four polka weekends. We do a country dance weekend twice a year. A ballroom dance weekend twice a year."

But none of that could compete with the ching-ching-ching of one-armed bandits. The Pines even promised tour groups free trips to Atlantic City or Las Vegas. "We'd give senior groups two free tickets to one of the casinos for every full bus," Mr. Ehrlich said. "We did that for two years!"

The Pines doesn't do it anymore, but Mr. Ehrlich is fatalistic. Passover will be lovely. The hotel is opening -- it has been closed for a few days to prepare -- looking spiffy. The guests will be greeted like long-lost relatives. It will be the way it's always been.

"I don't want it to end," he said. "But if we don't get casinos, I think this will be the last generation of the hotel. I just don't see how we can keep it up."

 

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