|
The El
Monaco Motel and Resort was an ever changing kind of place.
It was the home of one of the world's first Underground Theaters.
It was promised to be "The Last Motel From Hell, and its Summer Barn
Theater offered Chekhov. But in
1969, this motel, situated on the corner of 17B and Rt.55 in White Lake, NY
became control center, the base camp, the "White House” of the new
Woodstock nation.
Elliot
Tiber provided his “famous” permit necessary to hold the Woodstock Festival.
He played a large part in securing the land from Max Yasgur for the
event, and he owned a motel - the El Monaco. It was here where an impromptu press conference announced the Woodstock Festival, and in a matter of weeks Tiber's notorious El Monaco Motel
provided
the headquarters and housing for the Woodstock Festival promoters and crew, and
many of those involved with the event, including Michael Lang, Artie Kornfeld,
Canned Heat and Arlo Guthrie, to name a few.
At long
last, the impoverished and desperate motel had grown to great significance.
For those day in 1969, Elliot Tiber and his El Monaco transformed into
“Woodstock Central”, and played a very important key role in one of the
greatest events of the 20th Century.
They will forever remain sealed within the chronicles of Woodstock
history
Soon
after the festival, Elliot Tiber sold the motel and headed to Europe, and the El
Monaco continued as a motel and restaurant until 2004.
It was recently demolished through a partial intentional burning to make
way for a marketplace. A clock tower
now sits on that corner welcoming visitors as they enter Bethel.
|

The
El Monaco Motel - 2002 |

Courtesy:
Grimace from Vernville |
|

A
clock now stands at "The Corner" of the lot where the El
Monaco stood. Demolished
in 2007, this is where the arrangements were made for the fabled
1969 Woodstock Festival and now the subject of the movie
"Taking Woodstock". Corner of West Shore Road and Rt 17B
in Bethel, NY. |
|