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Copyright © 2007 Andre R. Aragon, All Rights Reserved
| Andre Rafael Photography & Digital Design
Rick's Club American was originally built in 1895 by a group of German immigrants and was called The Paradise Inn. It served as a summer resort and fishing retreat. The hotel rented boats and sold bait for fishing across the street at Congers Lake, then famous for large mouth bass. When Freddy Caramatti bought the hotel in 1948, it became the Congers Hotel. In 1958, the reservoir was being built in New City. Sixty Cherokee Indian workers made the hotel their home. More "Spirits" were sold at the tavern than anywhere else in Rockland County. The Colett family bought the hotel in1981. Renovations took over one year. Only the walls and ceilings are original. They were sandblasted to remove the ten-plus coats of paint, leaving the bare yellow pine wainscot. The "back-bar" was here but painted brown, including the mirrors! Amazingly, it was a free promotion piece for selling Ruppert Beer. The "front-bar" is from the Old Homestead Restaurant in New York City. It was stripped, sanded, and bleached to its present condition. Rick's Club American, named from the movie Casablanca, opened to the public in 1982, looking almost as it does today. In 1985, we lost a portion of the restaurant to a fire and the smaller back room was added in 1987. The Jungle Room and new entrance were built in 1995. A lot of attention was devoted to maintaining the same "feel" that exists in the main room. We want you to enjoy Rick's as much as we do.
http://ricksclubamerican.com/ http://www.andrerafael.com 
Shortcut to this page: http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/wwp_rss/go/n3595
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