Savoring the memories of the Red Apple Rest

Tuxedo Park Historical Society looks to create a permanent collection about the once important oasis halfway between Flatbush and Monticello, By Jeffrey Page Southfields - The Thruway was clogged with Woodstock Festival traffic a day in August 40 years ago, forcing officials to close the highway. So for one day in 1969 Route 17 was again the road to the Catskills. And if 17 was a main highway, the Red Apple Rest in Southfields was again an important oasis halfway between Flatbush and Monticello. It was jammed. Thousands of local folks as well as people using Route 17 to get to Woodstock and elsewhere upstate needed cold drinks, hot dogs, ice cream cones. Or a bathroom. Paula Anderson DeMuria was working one of the outside counters at the Red Apple, trying to keep orders straight in her mind. “The customers were five, six deep and all shouting at once,” she says. That Summer of Love was one of five summers during high school and college when DeMuria worked at the storied Red Apple. The restaurant drew fewer patrons than in the past but Fridays and weekends still were crowded. Though never like this. “They wanted everything on the menu and they wanted it right now,” DeMuria says. “There I am. I’m 16 years old, the chick serving the hot dogs, taking money, ringing it up, making change, and all the time they’re yelling new orders at me.” For a moment she looked past the throng and realized that the guy in back causing some heads to turn, ignoring the food lines and heading purposefully toward the men’s room, was Richie Havens who was on his way to Woodstock to perform. This was opening day of the festival, which was held on a dairy farm in the Town of Bethel. A band called Sweetwater was supposed to kick things off, but reportedly got stuck in traffic someplace. As a result, Richie Havens would become an enduring figure in the popular culture as the accidental opening act whose set included “Handsome Johnny,” his anti-war, anti-racism anthem. When he returned from the men’s room, Havens joined the food line. DeMuria doesn’t remember what he ordered, but recalls his wearing a ring on every finger. Paula DeMuria’s story was read at the recent “Memories of the Red Apple Rest” program presented by the Tuxedo Historical Society. The organization is assembling a permanent Red Apple collection and asking people to donate pictures and memorabilia. A Russian immigrant, Reuben Freed, opened the Red Apple Rest - naming it for Red Appel, one of his employees - in 1931 with a $2,000 loan from a Tuxedo bank. Freed and his family operated the place for the next 54 years. The “memories” meeting was dominated by the reminiscences of people from Tuxedo and nearby towns who worked at the restaurant. It’s anyone’s guess how many Apple alumni there are. Even as the importance of Route 17 waned after the Thruway was built, the crowds - though diminished - continued to show up for a meal along the way. The Red Apple remained popular even for a few years after Freed’s family sold it to Peter Kourakos in 1985. The Red Apple lost its sheen and eventually fell into disrepair. Today it’s like a floating hulk: The white walls are discolored; the familiar apple on the roof looks more like a rusted apple than a red one, and some of the windows are boarded up. Two signs announce “For Sale or Lease.” A third declares “Shirts and Shoes Required.” But the Red Apple had its day and everybody wanted a piece of it. The restaurant appeared on postcards, pennants, drinking glasses, ashtrays and other souvenir items. But some people wanted more. “There was another apple, inside at the bar, about 18 inches in diameter,” said Roger O’Dell, who worked at the Red Apple during the fifties. “I saw a guy reach over and grab it and make his way out the door to his bus. I yelled to Herby what was going on. We chased that guy right to his bus and Herby got the apple back.” Herby was Reuben Freed’s son. Every story about summer jobs at the Red Apple revealed a special fondness for Reuben Freed, who died 29 years ago. “He was such a kind man,” O’Dell said. “If you were supposed to start work at 6 in the morning, you could be sure that Mr. Freed would be there as well.” In fact, Freed, always in a suit and tie, used to sit at a table reading the newspaper, but when the crowds surged in, he would be on his feet touring the dining room, clearing dirty dishes, wiping down a messy table and escorting diners to empty tables. If you worked at the Red Apple Rest, you did not rest. Reuben Freed didn’t, so why should you? Freed worked the summer kids hard but was a good boss. DeMuria recalls getting 85 cents an hour with no deductions for her two rest breaks and two meal breaks. This at a time when similar jobs at Thruway rest areas paid about 60 cents, she said. Another benefit of working at the Red Apple was free meals. “He was just so kind to us,” DeMuria says. John Bishko, another former Apple man, said the secret of the restaurant’s success was the fact that food preparation was done on site, by staff, and that as a result the quality was higher than at chain restaurants. “We didn’t buy French fries, we made our own. By that I mean we peeled the potatoes. We cut them. We blanched them and then we cooked them in the oil. We served the real thing,” Bishko said. It was the same with hamburgers. Bishko said Freed ordered beef that was ground and formed into patties right at the restaurant. By the 1980s, Route 17 was a pleasant country road, but no longer an important highway. The Thruway was the way to get upstate. The Red Apple’s clientele had shrunk. It closed in 2006. The end came in early 2007 when Tuxedo officials condemned the building. Nowadays the Red Apple’s carcass remains on its original site in Southfields adorned by those two hopeful signs trying to attract a buyer or a renter. One idea for rebirth of the restaurant came from Jake Ehrenreich, writer and star of “A Jew Grows in Brooklyn.” He suggested to the crowd the Red Apple be made into a museum to preserve memories of this rest stop, which was so important to generations of tourists on their way to the Catskills. The Red Apple collection Tuxedo Historical Society is assembling a permanent Red Apple collection and asking people to donate pictures and memorabilia. If you have any such material and would like to offer it to the society, contact Deborah Harmon, the executive director, at 845-351-2625. www.tuxedohistoricalsociety.org/redapplerest/