Wallace Sife captures an era in this famous art colony's history, from beatniks to hippies, from the 1940s through the mid 60s. That includes local gatherings that led directly to the Woodstock Festival of 1969, the "big bang" that echoed around the world as the largest gathering for peace or music, ever. "Tales from the Sea Horse" is a thrilling, coming of age, autobiographical memoir prefaced by a beautifully encapsulated history of the town.
Nathan Koenig, President of the Woodstock Museum
In 1946, when he was a teenager Wallace Sife's family bought a half-finished house near Zena, just outside of Woodstock. It was there that he first learned the rudiments of building and wiring houses. His brother used to drive him into town, to the Sea Horse, where he met "bohemians," artists and "wannabes" of all kinds - and for the next few years he went through his "rites of passage" into manhood. He also bicycled 6 miles into town, but upon turning 17 he received his driver's license, and bought his first car - a Model T Ford. Surprisingly, it was the only one in town, and everyone knew it and him.
The house in Zena was his family's summer home, and he also spent the rest of each year frequenting many of the old hangouts of artists and aspiring young musicians, in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. Most of the friends he made there also used to go up to Woodstock and the Sea Horse in the summers. They referred to the town as "Greenwich Village with lots of land and trees."
A few years later he was drafted and shipped to Korea as a combat infantryman, where he was wounded and then sent back to the line. After being discharged, he returned to his beloved Woodstock and Sea Horse with a different perspective on things. All the tales and accounts related here are factual, except for some name changes. The Sea Horse was funky, and a few of the regulars there were a bit "far out," but he loved it all - as this book now so clearly demonstrates. In 1963 he and his brother built the Sled Hill Cafe which led a brief but colorful existence.
