Calendar

Wickham Works
Love Local Maker Market

Celebrate all the joy spring brings with over 40 local artists and artisans under the blooming canopy of Lewis Park in historic downtown Warwick, NY.

Warwick Cares Mental Health and Suicide Prevention initiatives. Thought that this would be the quickest way via messenger. I hope you have noticed the signs with messages of hope and resources 988 # we have around town. We are organizing a May as Mental Health Month Awareness Event May 4th – See the flyer attached. It would be so awesome if we could have someone there on the day of – for coverage and help us publicize the event. We’re having motivational, speakers, performers, mental health organizations nationally and locally – wellness vendors, children presentations. We really want the community to get involved. In particular in helping us create messages of hope for us to print – and that they will display !

Additional Events

Tuesday, May 7, 7-8 PM – WTPW All

Team Meeting ~ Via Zoom

Saturday, May 18, 10 AM-12 PM – Mental Health Action Forum – Mental Health in a Changing World: Where do We Start in Our Community? ~ Buckbee Center, 2 Colonial Ave, Warwick

Sunday, May 19, 12:30-2 PM – Storytelling Coaching & Practice Session – Warwick Valley Community Center, 11 Hamilton Ave, Warwick

Thursday, May 30, 7-8:30 PM, followed by refreshments – Warwick Story Share ~ Buckbee Center, 2 Colonial Ave, Warwick

Sunday, June 9, 11 AM-1:30 PM – WTPW at Warwick Pride Event: Rise & Shine Celebration ~ Warwick Valley Community Center lawn, Warwick

Warwick Cares Mental Health and Suicide Prevention initiatives. Thought that this would be the quickest way via messenger. I hope you have noticed the signs with messages of hope and resources 988 # we have around town. We are organizing a May as Mental Health Month Awareness Event May 4th – See the flyer attached. It would be so awesome if we could have someone there on the day of – for coverage and help us publicize the event. We’re having motivational, speakers, performers, mental health organizations nationally and locally – wellness vendors, children presentations. We really want the community to get involved. In particular in helping us create messages of hope for us to print – and that they will display !

Additional Events

Tuesday, May 7, 7-8 PM – WTPW All

Team Meeting ~ Via Zoom

Saturday, May 18, 10 AM-12 PM – Mental Health Action Forum – Mental Health in a Changing World: Where do We Start in Our Community? ~ Buckbee Center, 2 Colonial Ave, Warwick

Sunday, May 19, 12:30-2 PM – Storytelling Coaching & Practice Session – Warwick Valley Community Center, 11 Hamilton Ave, Warwick

Thursday, May 30, 7-8:30 PM, followed by refreshments – Warwick Story Share ~ Buckbee Center, 2 Colonial Ave, Warwick

Sunday, June 9, 11 AM-1:30 PM – WTPW at Warwick Pride Event: Rise & Shine Celebration ~ Warwick Valley Community Center lawn, Warwick

Title: “It’s All About Flowers”

Title: The Songwriters Round – Songcraft and Chat

Tina Ross

Kathy Moser

Eris Ash Sullivan

A new series of great jazz artists, featured at an intimate venue at Warwick’s Corporate Park, The Last Whiskey Bar

Performances are 2-4PK

• Sat June 17: Rick Savage
• Sat: July 1: Jeff Ciampa Trio

Chronogram Magazine
March 2023

Searching for an elevated whiskey experience, or just looking to soak up speakeasy vibes? You’ll find both at The Last Whisky Bar in Warwick.

Brian Smith, Jim Samborski, Michael Forman, and Bill Iurato are part of a 10-member whiskey appreciation group that has met every Wednesday since 2016. A couple years ago, the four men realized that if they wanted to frequent the whiskey-centric bar of their dreams with the Al-Capone-meets-the-Rat-Pack atmosphere they desired, they’d have to create it themselves.

Iurato, who’s owned Peck’s Liquors in the village of Warwick for over 30 years, and Smith, who co-owns a village bar, are the only two of the quartet with liquor biz chops. Samborski is a retired NYPD detective and a consultant for a bank in Puerto Rico, and Forman is a contractor. They collaborated on the concept and just needed the brick-and-mortar space to bring it to life. Forman offered up his 900-square-foot storage shed in Wickham Woodlands, the 733-acre grounds of the former Mid-Orange Correctional Facility.

The Last Whisky Bar opened last April, and it looks nothing like a storage shed anymore. A seamless, 47-foot-long, domed copper ceiling crowns the interior. Slate tiles that once graced a roof are solidly underfoot. Sunlight slants in through French doors—installed sideways to serve as windows—whose former life was spent in a Tuxedo Park home. The sinuous maple bar and wood-topped stools are etched with fractal-burned images resembling trees or lightning, which is apropos: Forman created them with (fairly dangerous) high-voltage electricity. “Michael is the artist behind all of this,” Smith says with appreciation.

The bar serves up whiskies, craft cocktails ($14 each, curated by cocktail sommelier John Contreras), wines, and beers. The cocktail list rotates throughout the year, with a couple mainstays: The Last Whisky Bar Manhattan (bourbon, sweet and dry vermouth, bitters, lemon) and the Corpse Reviver #2 (gin, Cointreau, Cocchi Americano, Absinthe, lemon), a hangover remedy whose recipe hails from the Prohibition era. A handful of barrel-aged cocktails (Old Fashioned, Manhattan) are offered, as well. They are mixed and finished in small oak barrels that sit behind the bar. Over six weeks, the cocktails take on the essence of the barrel before being served on demand.

More than 250 kinds of whiskey, rye, bourbon, and Scotch are served up at LWB. Newbies are invited to start with “Whiskey 101” ($25), a flight of four three-quarter-ounce pours that includes an Irish whiskey, rye, bourbon, and Scotch.

Patrons who know their favorites can choose from the extensive 1.5-ounce-a-pour menu ranging from Jim Beam ($9) up to Whistle Pig Double Malt Rye ($64 a pour), or partake in an experience that sets LWB apart from your neighborhood watering hole: The Bottle Keep.

For $250 per year and the cost of their bottle of choice, a patron (and up to five friends) can purchase a locker space. The bottle of top-shelf curated whiskey (up to a $350 bottle of Johnny Walker Blue and beyond) will be kept safely in the locker; when the locker owner visits, the bartender serves them from their very own bottle—either neat, on the rocks, or mixed into a cocktail—for $6 a drink.

There are three lockers with a total capacity of 148 bottles. Two lockers are tall, glass-faced, black wooden cabinets. The third is a wall-mounted set of horizontal cabinets that wrap around an alcove of seating. Some of the doors on those lockers are inlaid with glass interlaced by a diamond pattern of wire: Yes, it’s prison glass—salvaged onsite and cut to fit.

Forman and his electrician son Aiden wired LED lights throughout the lockers, and when a bartender pushes a button, the lights race all around the bottles inside before finally illuminating that particular bottle. Bottles that are in use sit on a shelf behind the bar. When the locker owner is ready to leave, their bottle is safely returned to the locker. LSB’s business is about 20 percent lockers, and the remaining 80 percent is traditional bar service.

More than 250 kinds of whiskey, rye, bourbon, and Scotch are served up at LWB. Newbies are invited to start with “Whiskey 101” ($25), a flight of four three-quarter-ounce pours that includes an Irish whiskey, rye, bourbon, and Scotch.

Patrons who know their favorites can choose from the extensive 1.5-ounce-a-pour menu ranging from Jim Beam ($9) up to Whistle Pig Double Malt Rye ($64 a pour), or partake in an experience that sets LWB apart from your neighborhood watering hole: The Bottle Keep.

For $250 per year and the cost of their bottle of choice, a patron (and up to five friends) can purchase a locker space. The bottle of top-shelf curated whiskey (up to a $350 bottle of Johnny Walker Blue and beyond) will be kept safely in the locker; when the locker owner visits, the bartender serves them from their very own bottle—either neat, on the rocks, or mixed into a cocktail—for $6 a drink.

There are three lockers with a total capacity of 148 bottles. Two lockers are tall, glass-faced, black wooden cabinets. The third is a wall-mounted set of horizontal cabinets that wrap around an alcove of seating. Some of the doors on those lockers are inlaid with glass interlaced by a diamond pattern of wire: Yes, it’s prison glass—salvaged onsite and cut to fit.

Forman and his electrician son Aiden wired LED lights throughout the lockers, and when a bartender pushes a button, the lights race all around the bottles inside before finally illuminating that particular bottle. Bottles that are in use sit on a shelf behind the bar. When the locker owner is ready to leave, their bottle is safely returned to the locker. LSB’s business is about 20 percent lockers, and the remaining 80 percent is traditional bar service.

The locker idea is reminiscent of those at the Flatiron Room whiskey lounge in Manhattan, without the $1,000 annual fees, “We wanted to do something like that here, so everyone can enjoy a high-end atmosphere without the higher price tag,” Forman says. The lockers are popular—of the 148 spots offered this year, only 15 were left as of March 16.

Greg and Christina Stanton are the proud owners of Locker No. 1. “We heard through friends about The Last Whisky Bar and its locker program, and we love it,” says Greg, twirling his wedding ring made from a bottle of Maker’s Mark. Weekly visitors to LWB, the Stantons recently surpassed a bottle threshold set by the bar; in gratitude, the bar’s partners gifted them with a bottle of 15-year Pappy Van Winkle.

Samborski points out that a sense of ownership in the bar has evolved among locker patrons, resulting in a friendliness reminiscent of the ’80s TV show “Cheers.” Not that you could watch a rerun, or any show actually, at LWB, because there are no TVs. “We’re all about conversation; you won’t see people staring at their phones here, either,” says Samborski. “All too often, people are too busy looking at a sporting event or down at their phones. We think of this place as a relief valve for the week.”

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There’s plenty to see here without media interrupting the vibe. Two beautiful glass pendants hang over the bar, and a library ladder reaches the topmost mahogany bar shelves. A stained-glass pendant light from Samborski’s first home illuminates the lounge area. Another stained-glass chandelier—from Forman’s parents’ home—hangs next to the wall-mounted liquor locker. A deeply carved door with a thick coat of red paint marks the bar’s ADA-approved bathroom. It, and the sidelights on either side, came from a house Forman had renovated. If that bathroom is in use, patrons are welcome to enter the c.1970s phone booth to their left: Behind the bifold door is a petite but fully equipped bathroom.

The rest of the decor leans heavily toward the smoke-and-leather aesthetic of speakeasy days. Patrons can lounge on the Chesterfield couch in front of an electric fireplace, or curl up on a leather easy chair painted with a portrait of Paddy Van Winkle himself by local artist Kristy Rosen.

There’s live music every week from Thursday to Sunday. Indoors, the bands set up in the lounge area. When the temps warm up outside, the live music finds its way outside. To create a backdrop for the stage, Forman moved two boulders in the backyard and, between them, installed a red gate originally from the prison itself. You’ll hear Frank Sinatra and others Big Band favorites over the indoor and outdoor speakers when live music isn’t playing.

Music isn’t the only programming in the works. Whiskey-appreciation classes on the docket for the near future. “We’re all about educating our customers,” says Smith. “We’re not experts, but we’re all learning, and we invite people to learn with us.” The staff, too, becomes well-schooled in whiskey as they work.

The Last Whisky Bar is open Thursday through Sunday. But on select Mondays and Tuesdays, the bar opens as a speakeasy: Tipped off by LWB’s social media, followers are invited to knock on an inconspicuous gray steel door. Just like in the days of Al Capone, the “Closed” sign will slide open and the patron is asked for the password shared on LWB’s social that day. Their first speakeasy night was December 5—the 89th anniversary of the end of Prohibition—and the password was “Volstead,” the name of the act that began those dark days in 1933. Along with those flexible hours comes a caveat, however. “We will never be open on Wednesdays,” Smith says, as those are reserved for the OG whiskey appreciation nights.

Forman’s sister Dawn and her husband Max Mack run Griddle Me This, serving up gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches and other delicacies from a camper and outdoor setup outside LWB. Griddle Me This’s schedule nearly mirrors that of the bar, making it a perfect stop for those late-night eats when most kitchens have closed.

True to their collaborative nature, the four owners cycled through a few names before settling on Last Whisky Bar, which is a reference to the Doors’ classic “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar).” They added ‘last’ because, well, according to Samborski, “this is the last whiskey bar you’ll ever need.”

Wickham Works
Love Local Maker Market

Celebrate all the joy spring brings with over 40 local artists and artisans under the blooming canopy of Lewis Park in historic downtown Warwick, NY.

Title: “It’s All About Flowers”

Title: The Songwriters Round – Songcraft and Chat

Tina Ross

Kathy Moser

Eris Ash Sullivan

Warwick Cares Mental Health and Suicide Prevention initiatives. Thought that this would be the quickest way via messenger. I hope you have noticed the signs with messages of hope and resources 988 # we have around town. We are organizing a May as Mental Health Month Awareness Event May 4th – See the flyer attached. It would be so awesome if we could have someone there on the day of – for coverage and help us publicize the event. We’re having motivational, speakers, performers, mental health organizations nationally and locally – wellness vendors, children presentations. We really want the community to get involved. In particular in helping us create messages of hope for us to print – and that they will display !

Additional Events

Tuesday, May 7, 7-8 PM – WTPW All

Team Meeting ~ Via Zoom

Saturday, May 18, 10 AM-12 PM – Mental Health Action Forum – Mental Health in a Changing World: Where do We Start in Our Community? ~ Buckbee Center, 2 Colonial Ave, Warwick

Sunday, May 19, 12:30-2 PM – Storytelling Coaching & Practice Session – Warwick Valley Community Center, 11 Hamilton Ave, Warwick

Thursday, May 30, 7-8:30 PM, followed by refreshments – Warwick Story Share ~ Buckbee Center, 2 Colonial Ave, Warwick

Sunday, June 9, 11 AM-1:30 PM – WTPW at Warwick Pride Event: Rise & Shine Celebration ~ Warwick Valley Community Center lawn, Warwick

https://warwickinfo5553.live-website.com/recommends/lamp-post-inn/

the Writers Group meets every Wednesday in the Library;’s Board Room. Bring in 6 copies of up to four pages, typed and double-spaced, to be critiqued by fellow writers in a friendly, constructive manner. All forms of prose accepted (NO poetry please). this is a non-instruct0inal program for adults; new members always welcomed!

The Warwick Valley Chorale is pleased to announce three upcoming performances of its 83rd annual spring concerts. Led by conductor Ron DeFesi and accompanied by Gail Johnson, this season’s repertoire will provide a program of selections that includes Joseph Haydn’s “Mass in Time of War” (Paukenmesse), music from George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” and many more.

The concerts will be presented at the Goshen Christian Reformed Church (2440 Rt. 17A, Goshen) on Friday, May 10 at 7 p.m.; Grace Episcopal Church (58 North St., Middletown) on Friday, May 17 at 7 p.m.; and at St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church (75 Sanfordville Rd., Warwick) on Sunday, May 19 at 2 p.m. Admission is free; donations will be accepted.

For more information, visit warwickvalleychorale.org and the Warwick Valley Chorale Facebook page.

Admission is free; donations will be accepted. For further information, visit WarwickValleyChorale.org and the Warwick Valley Chorale Facebook page.

Come Out for a day of celebration as we practice thanks for the abundance of the earth. . There will be metaphysical craft vendors, psychic readers, herbal and magical workshops and classes, music, food, and fun! being its second year our community has had time to expand on this nature filled day of activities. There will be a Maypole blessing and dance during the event with a ritual celebration at 3:00 pm. Dress in your spring best–Renaissance-styled garb encouraged–and be ready for an amazing day of spring magic! if interested in vending for this event please contact  Admin@MyLightClub.com

Title: “It’s All About Flowers”

Title: The Songwriters Round – Songcraft and Chat

Tina Ross

Kathy Moser

Eris Ash Sullivan

DUBCO acres Mothers Day Market.

Make it  a mothers day for the books!! Join us this Saturday at 1 PM. for our Mothers Day Market. Don’t miss phenomenal shopping, pizza, vibes, and Live Music by the Shane Scarazinni Duo starting at 3 PM!

On Saturday, May 11, 2024, Greenwood Lake’s reputation as a destination training ground for many of the top professional boxers like Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Rocky Marciano, Rocky Graziano, and Floyd Patterson in the early 1940’s, will be celebrated at the Greenwood Lake Middle School, where the Floyd Patterson Boxing Club, together with USA Boxing, will present a match of 10 bouts, from 4-6:30PM.

Each of the 10 bouts will be three rounds each, from pee-wee categories (8 years old) to masters (over 40). The pee-wee rounds last 1.5 min each; masters are 2 min each, featuring both men and women boxers, at all age groups.

During the PBS program, The American Experience, the series portrayed what won Joe Louis’s “white America’s acceptance was not his mild personality and good behavior, but his dramatic matchups with German champion Max Schmeling who, to many, represented the Nazi Party. Louis would become the symbol of American freedom over Nazi totalitarianism. Many whites still wished to see Louis defeated by a white boxer, but in 1938, when Louis knocked out the German, the celebration wasn’t confined to black America alone. For the first time, Blacks and whites, even in the deep South, had rooted with all their hearts for the same guy.” Many thought that Louis’s victory would teach Hitler a lesson.

Louis was one of many top American boxers who would train in Greenwood Lake. Starting in 1939 Joe Murchio operated a boxing camp at Greenwood Lake that attracted lots of interest from the locals, who would seek out autographs, signatures, and photos of the famous boxers, and they added to the community life of the Village. An early article in the Warwick Advertiser reported that Louis had moved to quarters at the Tom Draak property and begun training with Jack Blackburn at the nearby Murchio camp.

In September of 1941 Louis hauled Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Bronner of New York from deep water off Sunken Island. Louis and friends, according the Advertiser, “were guests of Police Justice Harry Sudman and were taking a spin about the lake in Justice Sudman’s speedboat. The group stopped near a rowboat from which Chubby Blackburn and John Roxbaugh, executlves of the Joe Louis camp, were fishing.” The bow of the boat in which Sudman and Louis were riding, however, had obscured a nearby canoe that contained the Bronner couple and when they swerved to avoid a collision, the wake swamped the canoe, throwing both Mr. and Mrs. Bronner into the water. Sudman brought his boat quickly to the side of Mr. Bronner and his wife, and Joe Louis quickly lifted each body into the Sudman boat, unharmed, but very wet.” After their recovery, the Bronners returned to New York where, in relating the details of her experience, Mrs. Bronner remarked that Louis had plucked her out of the water as though she were a featherweight.

Eventually, the Murchio camp was sold to Eddie McDonald and renamed “The Long Pond.” The Warwick Valley Dispatch in the 1940s carried stories of Sugar Ray Robinson’s exhibition matches in Greenwood Lake. Robinson, the welterweight, had never been KO’d, but many of his opponents had tasted the floor of the ring including Fritzie Zivic, Maxie Shapiro, Ruben Shank Joe Curcio, and several others. On December 9, 1956 the Steve Allen show televised Sugar Ray Robinson from Greenwood Lake, now a middleweight champion, going through a sparring session at Long Pond Training Camp, in preparation for his upcoming title bout against Gene Fulmer. “Long Pond has been the training quarters of such famous names of the boxing world as Joe Louis, Rocky Graziano, Ricky Marciano, Paddy Demarco,” stated the Dispatch, as well as the then new world heavy weight champion, Floyd Patterson, who maintained permanent quarters at Long Pond.

The building, The Long Pond Inn, however, burned down in the 1971. But Greenwood Lake’s reputation as a famous boxing training ground continued. Tickets for the upcoming match on May 11 will be available soon at GWLCentennial.org. The Saturday afternoon event will offer VIP ringside seating, food and beverages, bleacher seating for fans young and old, and sponsorship packages for businesses wishing to participate in the historic occasion.

Photo credit: New York Public Library: Sugar Ray Robinson and his trainer George Gainford, at the Greenwood Lake Training Camp 1950