Memories of the Rhinecliff Hotel
by Frances Sandiford

When the Rhinecliff Hotel held its grand finale performance before a healthy-sized crowd on June 29 and closed its doors for the foreseeable future, it was the end of an era for many.

For Keith Mulhern, who had been a DJ, a bartender, and a regular patron, the closing of the Hotel was unthinkable. Where else would he find such an atmosphere? Where else would he be able to listen to such a variety of bands and musicians? The atmosphere of the Hotel was going to be impossible to duplicate.

A fixture on Grinell Street since about 1850, the Hotel was originally a restaurant. The location attracted a brisk business from the railroad and from the boats that landed at the Rhinecliff dock. The decor was elegant for its time, with galvanized tin ceilings, a mahogany bar, and a ninety-foot-wraparound terrace. Except for the addition of electricity, indoor plumbing, a pool table, and a jukebox, the decor remained pretty much the same for the next 150 years, though the elegance faded. In recent years the Hotel became decidedly rundown; numerous fire code violations contributed to its closing.

However, according to Mulhern and Mike Nickerson, who tended bar and arranged the music for eight years, the tumbledown appearance of the Hotel added to its appeal. Musicians and patrons alike felt that they could relax there. In addition, they could enjoy the Hotel's proximity to the Hudson River and to the railroad tracks, where they could watch the passing trains from the terrace.

Behind the prosperity of the Hotel was Ed Tybus, whom Nickerson likens to Usher in Edgar Allan Poe's story, "The Fall of the House of Usher." "Eddie and the Hotel were almost one in the same," Nickerson said. "They grew together, and when one declined, the other did too." Nickerson said that in the past five years, Tybus could no longer participate in the activities at the Hotel due to his ill health. Around the same time, the physical structure of the building really began to deteriorate.

Tybus and his parents purchased the Hotel in 1952. He was just out of the army, and he and his family were looking for a small business outside of New York City where they could relocate. For the next thirty years, they operated it as a bar and restaurant. After the elder Tybus died Eddie, his wife Ruth, and his mother Betty, handled all the details.

In 1985, by mere chance, a new life began for the Hotel. Local musician Steven Pague asked if he could rent the back room for a concert to be given by his band, Heart Rock. The event was a huge success, and soon another local musician, Chris Winham, joined Pague in giving a concert there. For the next two years, the two bands alternated, one or the other staging a concert every Friday evening.

By 1987, the idea of the Hotel as a venue for popular music had caught on. Other bands joined in, and the days on which concerts were given were extended. Copying Ed Sullivan, Eddie Tybus would introduce the groups with "I want you to welcome. . ." Eddie picked the groups who were going to play. "He liked 'danceable' rock," recalls Mike Nickerson. "He didn't pick the groups for their popularity; he picked the ones that appealed to him." Over the course of the next two decades, many of these groups had their beginnings in Rhinecliff.

There was music of all kinds. Starting with Pague, there was rock and pop. Then came folk, jazz and blues, ska and reggae, punk and heavy metal. Names of the bands included: Futu Futu, Cliff Dwellers, The Trees, Donna and the Buffalos, Dream Speak, Moe, and the Ominous Sea Pods, to name just a few. At Halloween, Pete Seeger and the Clearwater visited with a concert and a pumpkin sale. In later years there was Cajun music, and traditional Irish music on Sundays.

Reports of celebrity sighting at the Hotel are numerous. Back in the 1950s, Eugene O'Neill, Jr., son of the American playwright, used to stop by regularly from his summer place in Woodstock. Supposedly, he drove a World War II jeep and wore combat boots.

Later the Hotel served Bill Murray, Dan Rather, and Eric Roberts. Singer Natalie Merchant, who has a home in Rhinecliff, gave several concerts. Director Arthur Penn, whose daughter was a student at Bard College, used to stop by whenever he visited her. One of the most exciting visitors was jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. The Amtrak train on which he had been traveling broke down in a snowstorm. According to legend Davis came into the Hotel, called out, "Where's the music?" and joined whatever group was playing there that night.

In the meantime, Eddie Tybus went about gathering musicians to appear at the Hotel. Once when Lenny Kravitz was performing at Arrowhead Ranch in the Catskills, Eddie supposedly approached him with his card. "I'm Ed Tybus," he said, "I book bands."

On June 29 the music died. The Hotel today stands empty, its future is uncertain. Eddie and his son Anton have moved to a new home in Red Hook. According to one Rhinecliff resident, not long ago a young man called to him from a car, "Where's the Hotel? I'm playing there tonight." "Sorry, son," the local resident said. "The Hotel has closed its doors."