One of the great privileges of my role at Mix is that I get to meet so many interesting and amazingly talented people. For 30 or so years, I’ve known the legendary, never-going-to-retire studio designer John Storyk of Walters-Storyk Design Group (WSDG), and about six months ago, he called to tell me about “a studio up near Burlington, Vermont, that should be on the Mix cover. Come out to New York and stay with me and Beth; we can drive up there together.”

That call turned into a four-day, historical-turned-contemporary tour of the mid-Hudson Valley region—Woodstock, Bearsville, Kingston, Highland, Poughkeepsie, Rhinebeck, New Paltz, and a dozen other small towns and villages along the river on the way north to Albany—as John’s “friend from Mix.” Before Burlington, I would soon find out, there was another story worth telling.

For a lifelong fan of Dylan and The Band and Janis and Todd Rundgren and Levon, whose name is on a local Memorial Highway…well, I bought a ticket. I had no idea how deep the connection ran between John and the “Greater Woodstock Community.” But I soon found out.

Monday, July 28: Afternoon at WSDG

It’s been a long time since I flew the redeye, but sometimes when you’re flying west to east and don’t want to lose a day, it’s the only alternative. So at 10:45 Sunday night, I took off from SFO, and at 7:15, I landed at JFK. AirTrain to Jamaica Station for the LIRR to Grand Central, then a quick walk to Track 37 to catch the Metro North Hudson line.

Perfect timing. The train took off five minutes after I boarded, and two hours later, I got off in Poughkeepsie at the end of the line. I jumped in a cab (four were waiting!; that never happens in these Uber days), and 20 minutes later, I stepped out at 262 Martin, the headquarters of WSDG and the home of John Storyk and Beth Walters, co-founders of Walters-Storyk Design Group.

The house at the top of the driveway, facing the road, was designed by John and has served as WSDG headquarters for the past 35-plus years. On any given day, anywhere from 10 to 15 people are moving about, in and out of the open areas and private offices, starting at 8 a.m. Project managers, designers, interns, general manager. John, an early, early riser, is there, too, overseeing anywhere from 25 to 30 active design projects.

The walls are filled with magazine covers from across the architectural and entertainment spectrum, from facilities around the world. Drafting tables are still present. Standing workstations. Full kitchen and multiple whiteboards. It’s a busy place. While there are project leads, it seems that most everybody is working in collaboration on multiple projects, simultaneously.

Interns, by the way, are treated very well. They’re paid, they’re educated, they’re involved. And John and Beth provide a house next door for lodging, with a new one being built across the street as I write this.

Behind the WSDG headquarters, the 50-acre property opens up onto woods and tasteful, environmentally minded landscaping, leading up to the main house, which over the years has transformed from a small cottage (Beth Walters’ original home in the area) into a beautiful home, piece by piece, yet all connected as a whole. Yankees memorabilia sits alongside family memories, with books and books galore. Beautiful artwork. Fun tchotchkes. Local materials. It’s a home owned by an architect and an artist, and it’s beautiful.

I’m still awake from the redeye at this point, so we head up to the main house, drop off my bags, freshen up, and jump in the car for a 15-minute drive to Saugerties to see a special screening of a new documentary film about the life of the great, yet relatively unknown, Garland Jeffreys, called The King of In Between, at the only Dolby Atmos theater in a 50-mile radius, the Orpheum Theatre, run by the super-cool arts organization called Upstate Films.

Monday, July 28: An Evening With Upstate Films

The Atmos room at the three-screen Orpheum is named The Mark, in as a tribute to local resident and benefactor, the late Mark Braunstein, founder of Markertek. It was designed by Storyk and is the premier room in the small Upstate chain, which includes the Starr Rhinebeck, and the soon to be completed 75-seat Atmos screening room in nearby Kingston.

At 7:00 p.m., following a slice from a nearby pizzeria, we sat down for a hosted evening with the filmmaker, Jeffreys’ wife, Claire, and their daughter, Savannah. Suffice to say, it was a magical—and completely unexpected—evening. A real treasure. You can find the doc at Prime Video. You won’t be disappointed.

Much more to come tomorrow, as I head off with John to tour his stomping grounds, Woodstock and Bearsville, where his incredible career began…. Stay tuned!