We caught up with Naftali this week and gosh, if we weren’t nostalgic for pre-pandemic life before (okay, we were), we most certainly are even more so now. He shares his favorite ways to spend time in our little city, with the added benefit of an outside perspective from having lived in Manhattan for many years.
Speaking of nostalgia, Naftali just so happened to own Red Fox Books along with his wife Susan in the early 2000s, and hearing his stories made us wish we were strolling through the bookstore on Ridge Street again!
Tell us about yourself!
My name is Naftali Rottenstreich and for the last ten years I’ve been a professor of English at SUNY Adirondack. My wife, Susan Fox, and I have called Glens Falls home since 2006, when we moved up from New York City to open Red Fox Books. In addition to ourselves, our home consists of three “spirited” (read: impish) felines: Lucy, Gretel, and Pip.
I also serve on the boards of the Glens Falls Symphony and the SUNY Adirondack Foundation and, for ten years, was a member of the Crandall Public Library Board. This is one of the fundamental ways life in Glens Falls differs from life in New York CIty―there are so many opportunities to have a direct and meaningful impact on one’s community.
On Life In and Around Glens Falls
By 2006, my wife and I had been long ready to leave NYC. To me, the City had become unrecognizable. Susan, who’s originally from Colorado, wanted to return to a setting close to nature. Several months before we made the move, a friend left Manhattan and settled in Washington County. We’d visit her regularly and fell in love with the region. In time, we learned that Glens Falls was eager for a bookstore (this was in the early days of the City’s revitalization), and we saw this as our opportunity for a new life. We leapt at that opportunity. Red Fox Books opened in October 2006 and remained in business until October 2011.
We were both fortunate enough to find work after our store closed. Susan was hired by SUNY Empire State College in Saratoga, and I was hired as an English professor and remedial specialist at SUNY Adirondack. As much as I loved running a bookstore, the great joy in my life is helping students, who often face incredible economic and social obstacles, discover their potential and cheering them on as they advance toward their life’s dream.
While our decision to shutter the bookstore was a difficult one, the most significant chapter of my life would have gone unwritten (puns not intended) had Red Fox not closed.
Shortly after we moved to Glens Falls, we bought a house on Orville Street. Like many of the homes in the 4th Ward, it was probably built by a factory worker. In fact, the beams in the basement bear the marks of what was once a local mill.
After a day of research at the County offices in Lake George, I was able to trace the house back to 1860. We’ve also learned that the house has been owned by a number of interesting people, including a chauffeur for the Pruyn family.
We love the house (which we have affectionately nicknamed “Little Orville”) but it is never not a fixer-upper. It is, however, ideally located for walking. Downtown, Crandall Park, the farmer’s market―all are in easy proximity.
Some Glens Falls Favorites
I may have the benefit of the outsider’s perspective, but I do hope Glens Falls natives recognize how fortunate they are: a world-class museum in the Hyde, a great orchestra in the Glens Falls Symphony; a tremendous community resource in the Crandall Library. But beyond these institutions, there are the immediate opportunities (and obligations) to engage in civic life. When you live in a city of nine million people, it’s very hard to feel that you can make a difference to the welfare of your community. In Glens Falls, there are countless ways to make such a difference.
A Perfect Glens Falls Day
It’s hard to see through the haze of the pandemic (now in its tenth month), but what I recollect with fondness is eating sushi at the bar at Siam Thai Sushi; decompressing with colleagues at Fenimore’s; grading papers at Spot or before a fireplace at the Crandall Library; hanging out at the Hyde on a winter’s afternoon; sitting in the audience of a Glens Falls Symphony performance. Even working out at the Y now feels nostalgic.
Because I am an avid walker, my ideal day also includes a walk through Crandall Park and around the various neighborhoods that make up our city. Thankfully, this is something that Covid has left untouched.
On the Past
We were fortunate to have the bookstore when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released in July 2007. The publisher had imposed a very strict lay-down date policy. So, while we had had dozens of sealed boxes in stock for days, we could not release the books until midnight of July 21st. What did we do? We held a midnight release party! Kids (old and young) came dressed as their favorite Harry Potter characters. To play the role of Dumbledore, I dusted off my doctoral regalia. Cooper’s Cave Ale House concocted a Harry Potter-themed soda. There was an owl and Harry Potter trivia, contests and prizes. At midnight, LeRoy Akins, the mayor at the time, cut the seal on the first box of books and the kids immediately set to reading. There was an element of real magic that night, one that I like to think anticipated the energy that was to come in the city.
On the Future
One thing that I DO miss about New York City is the food. I would love to see an Indian restaurant in Glens Falls. I also love movies, and it would be great to have an art-house downtown.
