House speeds down Main St

One might imagine that the speed limit for a house is zero mph. In that case, the old 9 Liberty hit top speeds for a house as crews began to move it at 2 a.m. this morning for a journey of a few hundred yards that took four hours.

An end of the year jaunt down Main Street Middletown

It's boxing day and the malls and outlets are filled with people returning gifts, cashing in gift cards and looking for the post-holiday bargains.

Much of downtown Middletown was quiet, but there was progress afoot on the section of Main Street North of Washington.

At O'Rourke's, I found Brian himself standing amidst the workers who are pushing to have the interior finished by January 15. Long after the fire which decimated the popular eatery, and vintage diner, it appears as if the restaurant will rise again from the ashes.

"I had Christmas tea in here yesterday," Brian said. "It was the best feeling in the world."

The new O'Rourkes won't be much bigger, but new refrigerators and freezers will open work space, and a redesigned counter will improve workflow.

"They say the inside will be done on the 15th, but it will be a while longer before I have my flatware in, and my purveyors lined up," Brian admitted. "And they don't want me to do a soft opening."

A little further South on the corner of Liberty and Main, workers from Nicholas Brothers from Hopewell Junction, NY were placing a beam beneath the historic building at 9 Liberty which will be moved onto a lot on Rapallo Ave.

Joe Nicholas explained that his family have been in the house moving business for three generations. The two huge steel beams under the house will be joined by perpendicular beams before the house is raised. A small addition on the back of the house will be razed.

"And we've got to take down the chimneys, or they'll topple in the move," Joe explained.

Finally, a "moving sale" banner caught my eye, and struck me with a sense of dread, until I read it completely to find out that Middletown Framing will only be moving across the street into a new storefront location.

Sebby gets his dander up

That settles it for me, I'm not casting a vote in the upcoming charade of a mayoral election in Middletown.

After a lengthy presentation and public hearing, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to allow the construction of a new Rite Aid on the corner of Main and Union Streets.

There was some public support, and support from the business community, but several individual residents stood up and argued against the drive-thru window in the rear of the building which requires changing the grade level of the back parking lot. Construction of that window then requires a tall retaining wall running nearly the entire length of Union Street. Residents also noted that allowing the exception for the drive-thru downtown opens the door for other businesses to request the same kind of accommodations.

Mayor Sebastian Giuliano spoke passionately in favor of a project he obviously endorses. His right as mayor and resident. But at the end of public comment, he asked the commission's indulgence to speak again. Obviously agitated at the arguments made by residents against the wall, the parking lot and the drive-thru, he made an intimidating argument to the commission basically telling them that a denial of the special request would likely end up in court with a judgment against the city.

I think the mayor went overboard. His argument had been made earlier, and the objections that the citizens raised were legitimate. After the public spoke, it was up to the commission to make a decision without a reprise scolding from the noticeably upset mayor.

Jelly Pies a Specialty

When Lucy was working with Alderhouse, they rehabbed an artist's coop on the North end of Main Street. When interior renovations were underway, it was clear that the building at 650 Main Street was originally two buildings, later skillfully connected. One big piece of evidence was an internal wall, located under plaster and true-dimension 2x4's.

This brick, internal wall, was obviously once an external wall, with a large, hand-painted sign for E. Millers Bakery (though the "b" in bakery was missing), and it advertised "Jelly Pies A Specialty" (though the "je" of jelly was missing). I mentioned to Lucy that this wall would make a unique and wonderful patio for our downtown yard, if it could be dismantled intact.

As always, I have ideas, and Lucy puts them into action. She assembled friends and family (Mike, Betsy, Ted, Nick, Maggie, Sher, Jenny, Jane, Russ, Mike) and on a sunny Saturday, each brick was numbered carefully, transported to my back yard, stacked into a three foot pile, and covered with a blue tarp, where they sat for five years).

Until three weeks ago, when the yard was finally in shape to build the patio. After unwrapping the stack, I found that several bricks had disintegrated, others were covered with moss, and several of the coded numbers on the bricks had faded completely. I spent a day arranging the bricks to see if I could re-assemble the sign.


Convinced that the sign was intact, with a few missing bricks, I coated them with a preservative. Then I spent most of Saturday and Sunday building the patio. By six on Sunday I was exhausted, and due to exhaustion, had to stop after hitting my finger with a rubber mallet for a second time. A few rows remain to be firmly set, but the unique patio is in place.


The most exciting discovery was the sign painter's signature, E. J. Pryor, which appeared after being coated with preservative. I hope that he would have appreciated my appreciation of his handiwork.