By Larry Gordon
Two innovative, creative, and hardworking young men showed up about 15 years ago in the Five Towns, where some of their family members reside. These young guys had curly blonde hair, a pickup truck, a dog, and several assistants, and they were moving from home to home, erecting sukkahs all over town.
I wasn’t in on any of the brainstorming meetings, but Steven and Jonathan Litton must have looked at the sukkahs they were putting up on people’s porches and in their backyards and thought that there has to be a better way, a better and more improved look, and that’s exactly what they came up with—The Litton Sukkah.
I have a gray Litton sukkah standing in my driveway when I’m in town for Sukkos, and people who walk down our block, whether they live here or are visiting, always stop to look. Their comments are usually a variation of: “Now that’s a really beautiful sukkah.”
And they are right. The Litton Sukkah that we have in our driveway these days is stately, neat, and just plain handsome. And the few times that I watched the Litton crew put it together was like watching a fully choreographed performance with all the parts jumping into place with ease.
This year, several of my kids who are now homeowners also have Litton Sukkahs, and they commented to me that the sukkah is like a stylish addition to their homes.
The Litton boys, whom I have gotten to know well over the last many years, are taking what was just a sukkah business and growing it in an assortment of different directions. Today, in addition to manufacturing and building sukkahs for hundreds of homes in the tri-state area they are also called on to erect sukkahs for large shuls and even on the rooftop of buildings, serving a large number of occupants or people who might work in the neighborhood.
Here’s another observation about Litton sukkahs. It used to be that a fundamental activity before Sukkos was decorating the sukkah. Certainly that is something for the children to busy themselves with prior to the chag. But looking around the interior of a Litton Sukkah I marvel at how good-looking it is on its own, with the smooth schach roof and their signature lighting, which makes heavy decorating unnecessary—unless you prefer some decorations here and there, or if your kids really have nothing to do on erev yom tov.
I’ve seen the Litton Sukkah on back porches and sometimes I think it might be a good idea to leave the sukkah up all year as an extension of a kitchen or a dining room.
In fact, during the height of the COVID pandemic, the Littons became the champions of outdoor dining facilities at quite a number of restaurants here in New York as well as in other parts of the country. Their great-looking, quickly erected edifices saved many eateries. With an opaque solid roof slapped on top and several heaters strategically placed in the new room, there it was—outdoor dining permitted by COVID regulations.
For our family, finding someone competent to put up our old sukkah was always a laborious and annoying task. That was, however, until Steven and Jonathan showed up, and the only way to describe it is that they made it easy to have a sukkah. In fact, you don’t have to be home; they’ll just show up and put the sukkah up and make sure that it has all the necessary appointments, and you’re ready for your first meal on the first night of the chag.
I know that Sukkos is about two weeks away, but if you are not sure what you are doing or are going to be home for the first time and want a beautiful and comfortable sukkah, call the Littons. They work around the clock, six days a week.
I think I mentioned here that last year I was falling asleep around midnight when the motion detector in front of our house made some noise. I went to look outside and there was our sukkah on its way up.
So although yom tov is close, it’s not too late. Call the Littons at 516-610-6610.
Shanah Tovah and Chag Sameach.
