A Taste of East Asia

July 26th, 2010

Karl Kimm has been running Kimm’s Gifts at 316 Wall Street since 1975. The items in the capacious store windows might look a tad dusty, as if they’ve been there several decades, but don’t be fooled: Kimm’s is solidly up to date, earning a following for its superior selection of Asian foods. On the shelves in the back, you’ll find sushi rice, five brands of soy sauce (“some are sweeter than others,” notes Kimm), jars of ginger, fermented bean curd, tins of roasted eel and mackerel in fish sauce, fried fish paste, bean, dumpling, and Peking Kung-Pao sauces, rice vinegar, fresh chili paste, bags of dried shitake mushrooms, dried seaweed, Korean kimchee, Japanese vermicelli, plum sauce, sesame candy, and boxes of green and black teas. The prices are reasonable–$1.49 for a jar of white pepper powder, $2.88 for six and a half ounce tin of anchovies.

Kimm’s also sells rice cookers—premium and affordable, take your pick—wooden bowls, tea caddies, bamboo steamers, tea and sake sets, and wonderfully painted chopsticks, of course. Rummage around some more, and you’ll come up with other treasures, gifts from Asia that preclude taking a trip: kimonos ($20 each), flat cloth rubber-sold shoes, gorgeous blue glazed bowls from Japan and China, in all kinds of patterns; paper hanging light shades; bamboo place mats; aromatic oils and soaps; incense; and origami. Kimm, who was born in Korea, said he wished Wall Street traffic went both ways, or headed west instead of east, and the taxes were lower (he owns the building). He’s too busy stocking items and taking change to say much more, but I’ll definitely be back to pick up some duck sauce and ginseng tea.

If you like your East Asian food already prepared, you have a choice of five Chinese restaurants located along the corridor, bracketed, like book ends by Kyoto Sushi on Washington Avenue and Golden Ginza Japanese Restaurant, on lower Broadway, in the Rondout (both serve sushi, teriyaki, and other Japanese specialties). Everyone has their favorite for Chinese take-out, but sometimes it’s hard to decide where to order your sesame beef, bean curd with oyster sauce, and pork chow fun, it’s all so good and unbelievably affordable. For example, at No. 1 House, located at 598 Broadway, the lunch selections start at $3.25 (and that’s not for something ultra basic such as fried rice, but, say, chicken with garlic sauce). The plentiful portion is enough for two days, which means it’s much cheaper to order out than cook at home. The Chinese restaurants are also convenient: the earliest closing hour is 10 pm, and Sunshine Chinese Restaurant, located at 364 Broadway, near the hospital, is open until 11:30 on weekends.

Eng’s Chinese Restaurant, located at 726 Broadway, is a Kingston institution and as much as a sit-down place, with its dimly lit dining room, lined with comfy booths. When Jimmy Eng opened it in 1927, it was Kingston’s first Chinese restaurant. Today Eng’s owned by Tom and Faye Sit, having been in business since 1927. The restaurant expanded and moved to its current location in 1978. General Tsao’s chicken and Cantonese steak are among head chef Hong Chan’s more requested specialties, and the prices have remained very reasonable, with lunch starting at $4.50 and the all you can eat buffet, offered Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 5 to 9 pm and Sunday from 4 to 8 pm, for $9.50.

The other two places are Wing Shui, at 53 North Front and Hong Fu, at 694 Broadway. Wing Shui has an extensive selection of Szechuan specialties, including Kun Pao Shrimp with peanuts, fresh pork with scallion, Hunan Bean Curd, and Sesame Tofu. Wing Shui also has a separate dining room.

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Tour Boats Abound in Kingston’s Waterfront

July 20th, 2010

There’s lots to do in Kingston, and many of the activities right now are centered along the waterfront. From early May to the end of October, Kingston has several tour boats that take people out on sightseeing cruises or can be chartered. The largest is the 300-passenger Rip Van Winkle, owned by Hudson River Cruises, followed by the 80-passenger Teal, owned by North River Cruises. Blue Dolphin Cruises’ 1962 Hatteras cruiser and Hudson Sailing’s trimaran sailboat are both available for private charters, for groups up to six.

The Rip Van Winkle goes out twice a day six days a week for three-hour narrated tours to the Vanderbilt estate, in Hyde Park, and back. When it isn’t being chartered, the Teal takes one-and-a-half hour tours of the Hudson during the weekend. Both boats do weekend evening music cruises, featuring a live band or DJ. The boats of all four companies are available for charter to celebrate a special birthday, anniversary or other event, or to impress a client or reward staff if you’re a business. Some of the companies also partner with local restaurants, which either rent out the boat or cater the food.

Sandy Henne, owner of Hudson River Cruises, has been in the Rondout for 30 years, before there was even a dock. “We tied up to a guard rail at the end of the parking lot,” she said. She purchased the 300-passenger Rip Van Winkle cruise boat in 1986. In July and August it goes out on scheduled tours twice a day six days a week, in addition to a Friday evening cruise with live bands. The company also schedules four murder mystery cruises over the summer, and the boat is available for private charters.

Last week the passengers included people from the Netherlands and Australia. On one music cruise, an Australian Aborigine—he was a friend of a band member—played his didgeridoo during intermission. Henne operates a second boat, the Lark, a launch that’s taking people Thursdays through Sundays to the Rondout Lighthouse for tours (a docent from the Hudson River Maritime Museum, which manages the lighthouse, is onboard). Although she hasn’t done much marketing, the tours are picking up.

Henne also hopes to be operating service on the Lark between Kingston and Rhinecliff soon. She’s waiting to get approval from Rhinecliff two officials. On August 6 there’s a big event with Obama for which she hopes to be transporting dignitaries across the river.

The cross-river service would be mostly geared to tourists. In general, she said the Rondout could use more focus, to maximize its potential. “The new walkway is helping a lot. If you build it, they’ll come,” she said. Parking, however, remains a problem. On a weekend, “between the Teal and our boat and everybody at the restaurants, there’s no place to park. We tell people to come early.”

Teal and Blue DolphinThe Teal, which is owned by Joe Thomas—he and partner John DeForest own parent company North River Charters –does mostly charters, for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, Sweet Sixteen parties, and the like. Businesses also charter the boat, although the economic downturn has led to a falloff in company picnics. The 80-passenger vessel also does sightseeing tours on weekends when it isn’t being chartered and evening music cruises; call 750-6024 for times. The boat has a full bar and serves snacks on the public cruises.

Thomas, who’s owned the boat for five years and worked on it for eight—it’s been docked at the Rondout since 1993—said the walkway has brought a lot more foot traffic to the area (although on the downside, there have also been more incidences of vandalism). Local restaurants such as The Steelhouse and Ship to Shore also on occasion rent out the boat, catering all the food, selling tickets, and conveying customers from their establishment to the boat, benefiting both businesses. “I’d love for the businesses to know we’re down here,” said Thomas. “The restaurant trips are going very well.” One of the biggest challenges is the limited season. “It’s just a matter of bringing more people down there and maximizing those couple of months,” he said.

Scott Herrington, owner of Blue Dolphin Charters, takes up to six people out on the Hudson for private trips on his antique, 34-foot Hatteras Sports Cruiser. It has a small cabin with a galley and a head (toilet), and the boat has been chartered for a special birthday or anniversary celebration. It’s also popular with sightseeing tourists and even book authors. The longest trip was eight hours—down to New York City—though Herrington has taken the boat on his own as far as Montauk and Massachusetts. Sometime a family will bring along fishing rods, though Herrington doesn’t do official fishing trips anymore. Meals can be catered from a local restaurant.

Herrington also charters to businesses, for example an insurance company that’s rewarding a client or staff. “We do lots of trips with the Maple Ridge Bruderhof,” he said.

Herrington also owns the Kingston City Marina. “I believe very strongly in the waterfront,” he said. “We have tried to work with the city to build a park that’s for everyone. People are now coming in much greater numbers.” He’s made improvements to the marina and collectively advertises and markets the area with other businesses. “It’s a very cooperative business group.”

Dan Feldman, owner of Hudson Sailing, does charters on his racing 28-foot trimara, a three-hulled sailing boat that can accommodate up to six passengers. The standard trip is three hours, and clients often enjoy a swim and picnic on the cruise. Because the boat is so light, it can sail even in the slightest breeze. If the weather is bad, he’ll reschedule a trip.

Many of his customers are celebrating a special event, and many are people from the city up for the weekend. He’s listed in a couple of travel guides but many people find him simply by Googling “sailing on the Hudson.” A couple of times he’s picked up people from New York City arriving by train from the dock in Rhinecliff.

Word of mouth is helping spurring his business, which is growing, despite the fact Feldman does little advertising.  “Someone who leads a stressful life comes up from city, has a drink, eats, relaxes on the trampoline and goes to sleep. They’re in heaven,” he said. “People have told me it’s like a mini vacation. All you hear is the wind and waves. A family came out this season and e-mailed me to thank me. They said the kids said it was the best thing they did as a family.”

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Why The King’s Inn Matters

July 13th, 2010

One look at the King’s Inn and a reasonable person asks, “Does no one care what this neighborhood looks like?” It turns out a lot of people care.  The 20 architects who have volunteered for the Business Alliance of Kingston’s July 16 design charrette have formed 10 teams, comprising local residents and business owners and a slew of newfangled green building professionals, a number of whom received their training at our own leading green-tech institution, SUNY Ulster. Some of the professionals are local, some are not, but you don’t need to be from Kingston to recognize the S.O.S signal the King’s Inn is sending out.

Will we find the answer to this blight over bagels, coffee, sketch pads and easels? Not sure, but when The Business Alliance conducted five focus groups this spring – tapping the wisdom of more than 100 residents, building owners, restaurateurs, artists and business owners – we heard over and again that “someone should do something, NOW.”  When we pressed for specifics, we heard that Kingstonians want to embrace their evolving image as friendly to the arts, and as an incubator for a re-purposed economy fueled by solar and green tech companies. Anything to encourage more artists and other professionals to move here would be a good thing, they said. Artists certainly include creative people like the Digital Corridor advocates and the cluster of New Media people bustling around in 721 Media Center in the Ellenbogens’ lovely space. They’re here already, we just need to encourage and improve the environment that drew them here so that others will follow.

We’ve been told it’s premature to host a design charrette when there’s no developer in sight. We can’t dress up the King’s Inn when potential investors come looking; it looks awful. What we can do is demonstrate the tremendous human capital that’s invested in Kingston, even if our real estate hasn’t caught up yet. Developers need to see market potential for an investment, and on Friday we’re going to illustrate that we’re here, we welcome others here, and we want this place to work again. We recognize the serious financial strain the city is under, but more drug stores and dollar stores are not the answer; let’s look at some new, fresh ideas for what could work.

Pat Courtney Strong
President, Business Alliance of Kingston

http://www.businessallianceofkingston.org/8.html

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Kingston, Tattooed

July 12th, 2010

Once the province of sailors and ladies of the night, tattoos have gone mainstream. Yet there’s still something edgy about this inked-skin art and the piercings that often accompany it. Kingston’s four tattoo parlors comprise a kind of alternative community, one that’s mostly youth oriented, has its own kind of lingo and affixes its customized, often personalized message-art anywhere but on the customer’s sleeve. The attractive, clean premises of these businesses, whose ambience is a combination of hair saloon and 1960s head shop, is a testament to the success and hard work of the owners, who represent a unique mix of enterprise and outré creativity. Indeed, last Friday each was busy, graciously agreeing to answer some questions while working with their powered needles over the body of a customer

A tattoo the size of a silver dollar starts at $50. Most of the owners apprenticed with a tattoo artist to learn their craft, and all offer a free consultation and a preliminary drawing if it’s customized, as opposed to “flash” (taken from one of the “flats”—books of tattoo designs). By state law, clients have to be over age 18 (piercings are legal for those under 18 with a parent’s permission), but other than that requirement, anything goes.

Michael Francis, whose shop, Ink, Inc., has been a fixture at 327 Wall Street for the past 14 years, is a master tattoo artist,  judging from the complex imagery that covered the arm of client Greg Burhans, which included a portrait of his three-year-old son, his footprints at birth, depictions of a lotus and other “birth” flowers, a sinuous, waterfall-like landscape and several Japanese characters signifying family protection. Francis, who was working on Burhans’ other arm with his needle (“it’s dark and organic,” he said of the tattoo), has been a tattoo artist for 27 years. His air-conditioned, silver-colored shop has hundreds of flats laid out in books and provocative art—including skulls, crosses, and a reproduction of a detail from Michaelangelo–on the walls.

The most challenging body part is the rib or side. The client’s “pain threshold is challenging,” Francis said. “I have a heart.” He’s happy with his location Uptown: “I love the people, the shops, the relationships I built up with everybody. It’s changed for the better.” He is assisted by apprentice David Matthews and is open from 11 to 9 Monday through Saturday and Sunday by appointment.

Down in the Rondout, Paul O’Donnell, owner of The Body Shop, at 25 Broadway, was busy working on Bonnie Snyder, etching a dark swirl of flowers below her right collar bone. O’Donnell, a native of England who said he’d wanted to be a tattoo artist from the age of 10, having admired the decorated arms of his sailor-uncle, originally was a staff artist at the location and bought out the owner (who was Francis; the two remain close friends) five years ago. “Black and gray is my thing,” said O’Donnell, noting he prefers to do his own customized designs. “Anything big and scary I like.”

“I get to meet all kinds of awesome people,” he added. “I live in the dream. I love my job.” Business is mostly word of mouth, and in this unregulated industry O’Donnell cautions people to avoid “kitchen magicians” and get their tattoos in a proper shop. He also advises people to make sure the tattoo artist uses a new needle, which is taken out of a package and disposed of afterwards, so as to avoid harmful infections. The Body Shop is open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday from one to 9 pm and on Sunday from one to six.

Brian Smith, owner of Body Graffix Tattoo, has been tattooing for 20 years, opening his job at 354 Broadway in 2006. One of his most expensive tattoos was a full back, which cost $3,500 and took months. Like his colleagues, he prefers customized work. His shop is elegant, with its pale wood floor, track lighting, hand-crafted cabinet–displaying cans of after-care spray– and high tin ceiling. Smith has an employee and an apprentice. He’s open Monday through Saturday from 12 to 8.

A little farther up Broadway, across from the high school, is Metamorphosis, located in a brick Gothic house. Tania Trowbridge, who owns the business with her husband Jorian, bought the building in 1997, after renting space in the Rondout. One room is dedicated to the sale of piercing jewelry, displayed under two glass counters, while the other three are occupied by tattooing stations. Trowbridge said she always loved to paint and draw and became a tattoo apprentice after she realized it offered her way to make a living off her art.

Working with her husband and Ed Dempsey, an independent contractor, she said that lettering and phrases are popular, along with rib tattoos. Most customers are in their early twenties, although people in their sixties have also gotten tattoos. She said the Midtown location has better parking than in the Rondout, and “it seems to be busier.” Metamorphosis is open Monday through Friday, from 1 to 9, on Saturday from 12 to 9 and Sunday from 12 to 5.

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Kingston Nuts and Bolts

July 5th, 2010

Looking for a computer part, wiring device, plumbing joint, low VOC paint, or pottery kiln? If you’re wiring, replumbing, or redecorating your house or business, you’ll find everything you need in Kingston. Artists can also find specialty supplies here, be it handmade paints–encaustic, oil, or oil stick—at R&F Handmade Paints or everything they need to set up a potter’s studio, from the wheel and electric kiln to ceramic supplies, at Bailey Pottery. Both companies, which are located next to each other on Ten Broeck Avenue, are nationally known.

Some of these nuts and bolts businesses have deep roots in the city’s history, harking back to the day when Kingston was a manufacturing center. Industrial supply company Fowler & Keith, located in a four-story building at 104 Smith Street, started out down in the Rondout in the early 1900s. Besides plumbing and power tools, the store, which is owned by real estate developer Steve Aaron, still stocks an array of historic hardware.

Ulster Electric Supply Co., located at 9-15 Cornell—it also has an Ulster Lighting showroom at 572 Broadway, plus a location in Poughkeepsie—also started out in the Rondout and has been in business over 50 years, according to president and owner Barry Gruberg. Gruberg’s grandfather was the first licensed electrician in Kingston, and the supply company was started by his son—Gruberg’s father–in the back of a pick up.

Ulster Electric wholesales anything you can think related of to lighting—pipe, wire, wiring devices, commercial lighting. “We have 25,000 electrical supply products,” said Gruberg. The company sells to municipalities, hospitals, schools and other large entities in the commercial market. It delivers up to a radius of 70 miles and also has customers in Manhattan.

Gruberg said its retail store on Broadway has developed a niche in high-end lighting, offering a free layout service. “We can send our lighting retail specialist to your home, do the layout for free, and collaborate with the builder or architect,” said Gruberg. He said the company has had to lay off workers due to the economic downturn. “We’re surviving. We’re profitable, and are hanging in there, hoping for some upturn,” he said.

Herzog’s True Value Home Center, located at Kingston Plaza, is a fourth generation company owned by brothers Bradley and Todd Jordan. It has 100 local employees, with annual sales more than $20 million. The store has successfully competed against the big box stores by expanding: it became affiliated with True Value Company, a member owned co-op that gives it more buying power, in 1995 and added a state-of-the-art Kitchen and Bath Design Center, with free design consultations, in 2006. It acquired a paint supply company in Albany and has locations in Poughkeepsie and Wappinger’s.

Besides hardware, paint, lumber, plumbing and other supplies, Herzog’s has a garden center as well as a service center for power equipment. Its green products are particularly popular, according to Julie Jordan, marketing and advertising director. “Especially with the government rebates, there’s a lot of demand for green products in all departments,” she said. Herzog’s sells organic soils, fertilizers, and composters; Benjamin Moore eco-paints, which have low or no VOCs; energy efficient windows, doors, lighting, and insulation; and energy efficient a/c, heaters, humidifiers, and fans.

Herzog’s celebrated its centenary last year. Founder Matthew Herzog opened the first store on Wall Street, and his son Robert greatly expanded the company, developing a flourishing wholesale business in the 1940s. Robert developed the Kingston Plaza shopping center in the early 1960s, with Herzog’s relocating to the plaza in a new building in 1971.

Tim at P&T Surplus

P & T Surplus, located at 190 Abeel Street, started out in 1968, buying mainframe computers from IBM, each one delivered in fire tractor trailer loads, according to Tim Smythe, who has owned the business with his father since 1997. The company still breaks down machines, selling high-tech parts online to the semiconductor industry in Europe and Asia, as well as in the U.S., which Smythe said is about a quarter of its business.

At the other end of the spectrum, it sells surplus hardware and exotic metals, such as copper, brass, aluminum and stainless steel, locally, numbering among its clients many artists, including Judy Pfaff, whose large-scale assemblages gained her international fame. The art departments at Bard and SUNY-New Paltz regularly visit P & T with their students, said Smythe. For seven years straight, the company hosted an annual art show consisting of works crafted from its supplies, and Smythe said the store is planning another show this fall.

P& T is the place for that “hard to find metal angle or widget part, which is not standard,” said Smythe. The store also sells new items, including hardware, gloves, rope, hand tools, and tarps. It has three employees and a truck on hand to pick up business surplus, which has become harder to find: “It’s become more competitive,” said Smythe. “Scrap metal has caught on a lot, and now businesses sell their excess inventory on line.”

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