New Holbrook Hotel

New Holbrook Hotel is the last of several small hotels built during Lakewood's resort era in the late 19th century. It provided economical lodging for people who could not afford the luxury hotels, and hired help from larger hotels also stayed there. Rooms on the two upper floors, reached by open balconies typical of lakeside architecture, may also have housed employees of nearby large hotels as well as visitors to the area. When the need for hotel facilities disappeared in the early 20th century, the upstairs rooms were converted into apartments, which remain there today. Over the years, the first floor was occupied by a wide variety of small businesses, including a barber shop, pool room, sport shop, Niagara Mohawk offices, a plumber, a dry cleaner, a dog groomer, fabric and yarn shops, and George Barone's drug store with its soda fountain. A picture shows the front of Lakewood Drug Store with an Italian marble fountain and stools, and a set of booths where customers and high school students were served flavored Cokes, phosphates, sodas, and sundaes. The store stood at the front southwest corner. Looking west down Altaway were Ogilvies Garage and a brick building housing Paul Sorgs horses; the elaborate stables burned in 1910, but all the horses were saved.

Lakewood, New York · United States