Ten years later … an answer to who was Jerry from Coxsackie

Ten years ago, as I was driving on the New York State Thruway on my way from New York City to Albany, I saw what looked like an old barn along the side of the road. The barn had the word “Jerry’s” on the roof. I eventually pulled over, drove back along Route 81, found the building, and took pictures of it. Then, being the person that I am … I blogged about it.

So who was Jerry in Coxsackie?

I received plenty of blog comments about the barn and its history. But over time, it just became another blog post in a long line of blog posts.

Until last week.

Last week, someone contacted me through the blog and filled me in with all the backstory and information on the barn in Coxsackie with the “Jerry’s” sign on it.

I’ll let her tell you the story as well.

“Dear Chuck,

“I just stumbled upon your blog post “So who was Jerry in Coxsackie?”, and I wanted to reach out to you with some info. “Jerry” was my grandfather’s uncle, but his real name wasn’t Jerry, it was Remigio Zavattoni. He was born in Coli, Italy in 1880, and arrived in the United States in 1904. During his first few years in NYC, he tended bar and worked as a waiter. As he spent more time in the states, he chose to use the first name James instead of Remigo, and his last name became Zavatone instead of Zavattoni. Whether it was due to wanting to sound more American, or lacking the English skills, I’ve seen this happen with a few of my other Italian ancestors as well. Somewhere along the way, James Zavatone and his family found themselves upstate where they owned and operated Jerry’s Climax Hotel. There’s advertisements in the newspaper archives mentioning “James R. Jerry” as proprietor. Again, not sure his exact reasoning with the name, but his son Michael’s middle name was Jerry (he passed away in 1995), and his son and hotel partner, Charles, sometimes used Jerry as an alias (he was a victim of homicide in 1936 in Queens). One ad from a 1936 edition of the Albany Times-Union reads:

“JERRY’S CLIMAX HOTEL. Location. Route 81. Between Coxsackie and Climax. Follow the crowd. Dine and dance every nite. BIGGEST and BEST place in the “Catskills.” First class drinks. Italian and American food our specialty. Music by “Don Hoag” and his 8 piece orchestra. Come once and you’re come again! We please particular people. No cover charge, no minimum.”

“I saw a comment on your blog that mentioned the hotel losing their liquor license, and that did appear to happen in 1945 for two reasons – they were serving alcohol during unauthorized hours, and charged James with “knowingly having employed in connection with his business a person convicted of vagrancy.” There’s a Zavatone plot in Riverside Cemetery in Coxsackie where James (Remigio) was buried in 1949. His wife also rests there, along with most of his children. It was a lot of fun to see your blog post and share it with my family!

“Sincerely, Amy Di Salvo Jackman.”

And thank you Amy Di Salvo Jackman for filling us all in on the history of a little building along the New York State Thruway … a building that seems to have held so many stories in the past … and now tells a full story in the present.