In 1908 Carmello de Benedictus, an Italian Immigrant settled in Catskill where he met and married Margaret Laurelli. They began their family and raised nine children on Water Street in the Village. Carmello was a brick maker working at the Catskill Brick Yard.
In those days brick workers were paid by the piece, the more you produced, the more money you made. Carmello, being a strapping young man began handling and throwing two bricks at a time and his co-workers nicknamed him "Double". In a tragic accident he died at the yard in a rock fall. The year was 1935.
Salvatore, the eldest son assumed the role of bread winner and decided to use this large Italian family in a restaurant and bar business. He purchased the building around the corner from their home at 29 Church Street and began what was to become a landmark fine dining establishment.
Looking for a name for this new venture Sal recalled his father's nickname and he named the business "DOUBLES" to honor his dad.
After more than 15 years running the business he tired of the work and sold it to his brother-in-law, Frank Luvera, who kept the named and continued to use Sal's sisters in the restaurant for the next 20 years. Frank's son John inherited the business which he ran until his death in 1980 when it finally closed.
Over the years 29 Church Street went through many transformations.Like a Phoenix rising; in 2006 we decided to keep the tradition alive, this memory lives on in the space you now sit. In Carmello's memory as the matriarch of the family. "Doubles" lives on as, DOUBLES II. |
