Background
Tiber, Elliot was born on April 15, 1935 in New York City. Son of Jack and Sonia Tiber.
Tiber, Elliot was born on April 15, 1935 in New York City. Son of Jack and Sonia Tiber.
Tiber attended Brooklyn College and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Hunter College. He was in the Master of Fine Arts program at Pratt Institute.
Tiber"s 2007 memoir, written with Tom Monte, was adapted as a movie of the same name by Ang Lee. The film opened in the United States in August 2009. Tiber is portrayed by Demetri Martin, best known for his stand-up comedy.
His family moved to White Lake in Bethel in 1955 where they acquired a rooming house that they expanded into a motel, called the El Monaco Motel, at the intersection of New York Route 17B and New York Route 55 near the southeast shore of White Lake.
In his book, Tiber says he was present at the Stonewall Riots on June 28, 1969, and that he had a part in bringing the Woodstock Festival to Bethel, New New York According to, Tiber read that Wallkill, Orange County, New York had on July 15, 1969 pulled the plug on the planned Woodstock Festival at the Mills Industrial Park northeast of Middletown, New New York
Tiber says in the book that he had a permit for the White Lake Music and Arts Festival, a planned chamber music event at his motel. He contacted Michael Language and pitched the idea of having the festival on 15 acres (61,000 m2) along the edge of White Lake by the motel.
According to, when Language said the motel property was too small, he introduced the producers to dairy farmer Max Yasgur, and helped facilitate the deal.
Language, however, says that Tiber referred him to a local real estate salesman, and that the salesman drove Language, without Tiber, to Yasgur"s farm. Sam Yasgur, son of Max Yasgur, agrees with Language"s version, and says that his mother, who is still alive, says Max did not know Tiber. Artie Kornfeld, a Woodstock organizer, has said he found out about Yasgur’s farm from his own sources.
Tiber left Bethel shortly after Woodstock and soon moved to Los Angeles, where he became a movie set designer.
The motel became an Italian restaurant and was torn down in 2004. lieutenant is now marked by a clock tower welcoming people to White Lake.
He taught creative writing at New School University, fine art at Hunter College, and art design history at the New York Institute of Technology.
( Palm Trees on the Hudson is the hilarious prequel to El...)
Member Writers Guild of America, Dramatists Guild, Authors League, Society Authors SACD, Paris, France, SABAM, Brussels, Belgium.