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Palm Trees on the Hudson
A True Story of the Mob, Judy Garland, and Interior DecoratingElliot
By Elliot Tiber
Published by Square One
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
*** IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award WINNER (AUDIOBOOK - Nonfiction category) ***
Palm Trees on the Hudson is the hilarious prequel to Elliot Tiber’s bestseller Taking Woodstock. Before Elliot found financial success by bringing Woodstock Ventures to his upstate motel, he was one of Manhattan’s leading interior designers. Then Elliot’s career came to a halt due to a floating society party, Judy Garland, and the Mob.
In April 1968, Elliot was hired to throw an elegant dinner party aboard a luxury yacht on the Hudson River. Included on the guest list were New York’s rich and famous—politicians, financiers, and even Elliot’s icon, Judy Garland. The big night arrived. But when a fight broke out, resulting in the destruction of everything including rented palms, Elliot’s event turned into financial disaster. Things couldn’t get any worse—or so it seemed until the Mob paid a visit.
By turns comic and tragic, Palm Trees on the Hudson is the take-no-prisoners memoir that gives readers a more intimate look at the man who went on to fight back at Stonewall and who helped give birth to the Woodstock Nation.
Palm Trees on the Hudson is the hilarious prequel to Elliot Tiber’s bestseller Taking Woodstock. Before Elliot found financial success by bringing Woodstock Ventures to his upstate motel, he was one of Manhattan’s leading interior designers. Then Elliot’s career came to a halt due to a floating society party, Judy Garland, and the Mob.
In April 1968, Elliot was hired to throw an elegant dinner party aboard a luxury yacht on the Hudson River. Included on the guest list were New York’s rich and famous—politicians, financiers, and even Elliot’s icon, Judy Garland. The big night arrived. But when a fight broke out, resulting in the destruction of everything including rented palms, Elliot’s event turned into financial disaster. Things couldn’t get any worse—or so it seemed until the Mob paid a visit.
By turns comic and tragic, Palm Trees on the Hudson is the take-no-prisoners memoir that gives readers a more intimate look at the man who went on to fight back at Stonewall and who helped give birth to the Woodstock Nation.
Product Details
- Publisher: Square One (June 18, 2012)
- Length: 192 pages
- ISBN13: 9780757053511
Raves and Reviews
"Tiber's rollicking prequel to Taking Woodstock has all of the prime ingredients of a madcap literary comic sendup with an enterprising, hapless narrator taking on chic Gotham city with mixed results . . . Tiber balances belly laughs and sincere emotion as he recounts how his infamous birthday party aboard a Hudson River Day Line steamboat went sour, a revealing talk with his beloved Garland during the mayhem, and the antigay sentiment in New York City that led to the 1969 riot at the Stonewall."
– Publishers Weekly
"A young man's coming-of-age amid the glitzy backdrop of mid-20th century New York . . . a humorous tale."
– Kirkus Reviews
"Palm Trees on the Hudson flows so lyrically it should come as no surprise to learn that Elliot Tiber has also written and produced musical comedies . . . This is a story that talks about the alienation gay people experience in youth, and the issues many of us go through with our families in terms of acceptance."
– South Florida Gay News
"Exceptionally well-written . . . [a] rags-to-riches-and-back-again riveter."
– BookPleasures.com
"Thought-provoking, fun, meaningful, educational, and historical . . . supremely fantastic writing."
– Feathered Quill Book Reviews
"[Carries] the weight of social history. Among a dwindling number of first-person accounts recalling urban-American life before the great liberation movements found their voice. Tiber has a way with a tale . . . a surprising read for all."
– Ray Mark Rinaldi, The Denver Post
"[A] whopper of an anecdote—one that most surely has earned [Tiber] rapt attention, shocked laughter, and thunderous applause at many a dinner party table during these last 30 years. That Tiber is himself quite a character is a given. He is the genuine item, the real deal."
– Vinton Rafe McCabe, The New York Journal of Books
"[A] hidden gem . . . Tiber, who once dabbled in stand-up comedy, tells a good story, and his recollections of Manhattan society and being gay in the 1960s are priceless . . . [Palm Trees on the Hudsonis] very much worth the look. Once you start this book, you'll have a dickens of a time putting it down."
– The Bookworm Sez (nationally syndicated review columnist)
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