Your perceptions aside, it is a demonstrable fact the economy of the Sullivan County Catskills began to decline as early as 1958. Catskills resorts that keep the retro vibe alive - Times Union I think I backed up your mother as an organist at a Bungalow Colony. The counselors were Harriet and Elliot Vines. I remember Sam woda. In the one I join, members often ask where they can re-create their childhood memories. Looking for respite from city life, New Yorkers would head to. But in recent years, boarded-up storefronts have been dusted off as ice-cream parlors and taco shops. Its a very gratifying business, Scott says, steering the golf cart past a CEO working from his laptop on a porch and two elderly women chatting in lawn chairs outside their bungalows. photographer. Hi Linda, What a lovely surprise to hear from you. Not far from Green Acres. He visited the Loch Sheldrake Inn, Goldbergs, and the Overlook, each of which had recently closed. He is my grandfathers grandson (father Ben and his mom was Shirley). This 21st-century revival is unfolding at places like Scribner's Catskill Lodge, a repurposed 1960s motor inn. Do you remember my grandmother,she was the main cook. https://www.townofliberty.org/about/history/, Gaslight Village: Lake George Fun Yesterday, Historian Don Rittner Launches New YouTube Series, Weegee the Famous: Paparazzo of the Nameless, Rough And Tumble: A Short History of Eye Gouging, Whitetail Deer & Spreading Invasive Species, Kesselring Atomic Power Labratory: A Short History, Adirondack Logging History: Woods Lake & Beaver River Stations, Woodsman Willard Howland and his Amazing Critters, Anxiety Over Jazz In Ireland Followed A Tragic Shipwreck. Frequented by athletes, entertainers, and wealthy businesses, this resort fittingly adopted the slogan Grossingers Has Everything for the Kind of Person Who Likes to Come to Grossingers. However, the resort today lies in ruin. Thanks much for any info you can supply. I would love to get in touch with StephanieI have a photo of the two of us all dressed up that I would love to send her. I spent summers at Wodas with my mother (and have photos from the war years when we stayed upstate to be safe) as well as working there from the 1950s until I started medical school in 1962. Would you say 1951-1953 was the rise and 1957-1960 the demise? I did find some info on them. It was a nice but relatively small place. At the property entrance, Scott Rosmarin, the third-generation proprietor, scoops me and my mom up in a golf cart to cruise through the grassy lanes. I am sure there were others, but I also found home movies of my family at a Bungalow in 1951. Some hotels I will be happy to answer all questions. Hi, Yeah Resorts World Casino replaced the Concord. She had a white rabbit. He was the lifeguard and his Mother, Edna ran the camp. Although the Sullivan County Hotel Association maintained that despite some attrition among obsolete hotels, the resort industry was in excellent shape, it was apparent that the heyday had passed. What happened in the I believe the community college is now on the grounds. I believe it was called the Liberty House. For me, this is 70 years ago. Al OMG greetings! The hotel is on the right as you drive down the beautiful road. Looking for respite from city life, New Yorkers would head to theBorscht Belt to sunbathe, swim, dance, and dine during the summer months, and the resort area soon became known as a Jewish vacationland. September 9, 2014 by John Conway 109 Comments. By the late 1960s, most of the large hotels in and around the community had been shuttered. in the 1950s. Photograph by Eric Bard, Corbis via Getty Images. Young Jews Are Bringing the Catskills Back to Life Again, Linda, thank you so much for responding to my post. Borscht Belt is an apocalyptic, said photographer Scheinfeld. It was probably in the thirties. college in south falls burg at the time. In its prime during the 1960s, the legendary Concord Hotel sat 3,000 guests in its extravagant dining and entertainment hall. Catskills Resort History: The Beginning of the End September 9, 2014 by John Conway 109 Comments Many of the 75 or so people at a recent Catskills History and Preservation Conference were shocked to hear that the Catskills ' heralded resort industry has been in decline since 1965. It was in Livingston Manor. While highly interesting, the exhibit might have I worked on summer at the Green Acres as a daycamp counselor. doors were locked and weeds started to grow as high as the windows. The evening entertainment at these resorts was out of this world, famous comedians and singers. But theres nothing left of it, or of Mishkins. do you remember furans corners candy store and luncheonette, i loved that place, and also diacos pizza in white lake. Do you remember the ballroom-dancing Belkins? The Fleischers, the hotels owners, had borrowed over $700,000 in an effort to successfully draw vacationers to their resort. 943 S Orem Blvd, Orem, UT 84058. The New Roxy had closed in mid-August that summer, the latest in a long list of casualties among the medium-sized hotels in the Catskills, hotels accommodating 200 to 700 guests, Bigart noted. Long-gone Catskill resorts may be noted with historical markers My grandfather was Izzy Woda and my mother was Sylvia. The pool was a center of family summers at Tony Leones resort in New Yorks Catskills, circa 1960. How a zoo break-in changed the life of an owl called Flaco, Naked mole rats are fertile until they die, study finds. I always thought that the golden age of the Catskills was the 1950s 60s and 70s. 1. out of money. It was Heaven!! Photographs by ERIC BARD, CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES. You can write to her there. A mans world? This was probably around 1954. Bruce Chadwick lectures on history and film at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Hey Craig how are you? For Lease $8.75/SF/YR. So nice to hear from someone else that stayed at Lake Plaza. By the late 2010s, their predictions had proved right: New hotels, restaurants, and shops had sprung up in the mountains. the museum of New Yorks Yeshiva University, in the heart of Who can ever forget the Borscht A nightclub and a restaurant are featured at this smoke-free motel. 100 Old Catskills Hotels ideas | catskill hotel, catskills, catskill resorts Old Catskills Hotels 106 Pins 8w R Collection by Bobby Similar ideas popular now Abandoned Places Hotel Catskill Hotel Sales Agent Family Of Four Catskills Conjunctions Concord Hotels How To Apply Catskill Resorts Playgrounds Ghost Towns Offbeat Adventure Awaits I remember the dog house with the beagles that would chase you adjacent to the main house. Its sad that the era came to an official end after the closing of kuthshers country club in 2014. cemetery. Some keep hoping for an area renaissance. burned down. Youll find her there on Facebook. You see a were the birthplace and later the homestead of such talented comics Is a revival in the works? mountains and you see this exhibit, get out the Kleenex. Hi my grandparents met at the New Roxy in the early 1940s as my mother was born in 1945. pool. So far, the answer had always been no. I was a rock musician and I struggled with a Fake Book to play lots of songs I didnt know. Hi Dan, funny story! Does anyone remember the Spring Lake hotel in Liberty New York. If you want more details (albeit biased and incomplete my comments) there is a book by Maria Scheinfeld The Borscht Belt with 3 pounds of nostalgia, a lot of accuracy as far as it goes, but leaves out some of the minutiae and perspective (again my thoughts). graffiti and, in general, made a colossal mess of a long ago Do you know what ever happened to the property? Since it opened in 2016, Scribner's has come to epitomize the Catskills of the . I know I was there as a much younger child because there are photos of me and my mother by the pool. She was my first crush. is ruins, just like European ruins of long ago. There is another picture of Heres a look at 10 abandoned resorts fromThe Borscht Belt: Grossingers Catskills Resort Hotels claim to fame is an inspiration for the setting of the 1987 filmDirty Dancing,whose fictional locale Kellermans was based ona former resort. I however stayed in the biz and went to Cornell Hotel School and headed to restaurants in NYC. Hi Joan, Im afraid I dont remember your dad, but Im sure that if my mother was alive, she would. It was sold off to the Grossinger family in the mid 1940s from what I can recall being told. New Yorkers hungry for mountain air, good food and the American way of leisure came to the mountains by the thousands, and by the 1950s a Half-million people each year inhabited the "summer world" of bungalow colonies, summer camps and small hotels. Concord Resort Hotel - Wikipedia The place had a day camp for the guests children. Just wondering if either one of you is related to the Wexler family from Liberty. I had a wonderful summer learning to play golf and remember the owner of the hotel would challenge any one to play golf and he would only use one club. My mother ran the dance studio at Youngs gap for one summer probably the early 50s. Big Hand Cafe, St. George. Our unit has Turkish kilim rugs and a slate-tiled bathroom. I spent the next 5 years at the Paramount. Thanks Walter. Abandoned hotel buildings The Concord hotel, 2005 Kutcher's hotel, 2015 Grossinger's resort, 2015 The Granit resort, 2015 As of the 2010s, the region is a summer home for many Orthodox Jewish families. Hi, Ellen. These resorts were a popular vacation spot for New York City Jews . Her sister is Stephanie. I even had a promotional deck of playing cards with Bob and Doris on the back. Probably around the early forties. Nostalgia for the old Catskills is so strong that multiple Facebook groups exist for former visitors to reminisce. A scene from The Golden Era of the Catskills. He also teaches writing at New Jersey City University. minority. A series of fires and building demolitions left the grand history of Fleischmanns to be largely documented by postcards, photographs and the fond memories of those who had experienced this period of good fortune. The spirit of these old-school Catskills resorts is alive and well at the 1960s-era Catskill Mountain Lodge, despite new ownership. Little America, Salt Lake City. You will be disappointed), but one place is frequently mentioned as a holdout of the free-spirited summers of the 1950s: Rosmarins Cottages. Good thing! On the Upswing Nobody Asked Me, But No. 217, Hotel History: Catskill Mountain Resort Please feel free to email me ASAP so i can get it to who it belongs!! Its missing the chaos, the freedom, and the comfort of seeing the same families year after year. Yes, my family owned it. Its really nice to be in touch with you, Joan. Not long after, in the 1970s, the Borscht Belt itself began to decline. first photos, especially one of the rundown lobby of The Pines, with . Scheinfeld spent her childhood accompanying her grandfather to card games at the once glamorous Concord Resort Hotel, by thenthe 1980salready past its prime. I was 13 in 1969, and I do remember the reveille bugle calls for camp, lol ? Home-grown Borscht Belt entertainment provided America with a rich supply of comedians, musicians and performers. the late 1980s, it was on life support and by the mid-1990s in the The Bob-Ed bungalow colony, which later became Camp Camelot the girls camp next to Camp Weelock and then was bought by the firemen, still exists. There are several If you look for Allison on FB, Im sure youll find reference to her sister Stephanie. The people who bought the hotel reopened it as Bills Vegetarian Manor. And they struggled for several years and then sold the property to a lawyer from Wurtsboro who restored it as his estate. That was when millions of Americans stayed at the hundreds of bungalow colonies and hotels in the area. My father had been in another line of business propane, sold out and then helped the Blumbergs convert The New Roxy into Green Acres after the original Green Acres in Lake Huntington burned down from a lightning strike. There were only 12 bungalows as I remember it. Many cite the existence of dozens of hotels in the 1970s as proof that it couldnt possibly be so. I have heard stories about Loch Sheldrake and the area and believe that my great-grandfather Jacob Silverman is buried in a Jewish cemetery in Napanoch or Warburg. The director was ken tewell. Also Zieglers, which I think was also replaced by the airport, but on the Mongaup Valley side, was owned by my great-great aunt Clara Feld Ziegler. chaise lounge sitting in the middle of a long ago closed pool patio Launch Slideshow 11 PHOTOS Dotted across Sullivan. My mother had a family friend, an older woman named May Zuckerman who owned a large beautiful home outside Wurtsboro on old Rte 17 toward Masten Lake near the cutoff road to Yankee Lake. Does anyone have any information on a hotel name: New Alpine House in the Catskill Mountains, East Durham, Greene co; N.Y in around the 1930s. Mr. Chadwick can be reached at bchadwick@njcu.edu. She got into all My whole life, people were talking about how the Catskills are going to come back, says photographer Marisa Scheinfeld. might have been easy to obtain old home movies of what the resorts Nothing replaced the ones that have decomposed, either. With a pool, dance floor, and lounge there was much to do here during the heyday of the Catskills. I spent my entire childhood summers there (age 3 17) and I can remember it as if it was yesterday. The cabaret at the In the early 60s we used to visit my maternal grandparents each summer when they stayed in the Edgewood House, a large boarding house in Parksville. A luxury stay in a bright orange room. When school let out, they would pack a car with bedding, kitchenware, and clothes and move to the Catskills until Labor Day. My grandfather was a singer there and my grandmother was the niece of the owner Fox or Fuchs family. I know the mighty atom once made this hotel . izzy loved fishing, and brought his medallion taxi cab upstate. was started. My brother had his Bar Mitzvah at the Youngs Gap in 1965. Stagedoor Manor is located at what used to be the Hotel Karmel, and is on what is still known as Karmel Road. Hi Richard. Hi Linda this is Jeff Biller and my whole family including my brother Leslie Biller and sister Barbara Biller spent many summers at the lake Plaza and remember you and Stevie your parents and grandparents . Most were in Sullivan county and Ulster county. Plymouth Rock Oh, I did my best daydreaming there! My parents met at the Commodore in 1944(I think) where my mother was a singer and my fathers uncle owned the hotel. It included a main building and about 50 other bungalows, plus a five-unit cottage. My dad is gone, and my sister is five years younger and doesnt remember much either. But by the time I moved to New York, in 2011, the glory of the Jewish Alps had long faded. My grandfather, who ran a hosiery store in the Bronx, would visit on the weekends. Do you know the exact location? Of course, the resort industry was so big and there were so many hotels and so many visitors, it took a few years for anyone to notice. I had forgotten I had written this last year. Dec. 4, 2015. pictures of the ruins. At the time of the sale, the Fleischers were in debt to their laundry for $28,000, their butcher for $26,000, and their grocer for $11,000. Now that Im a senior myself I wish the Concord or Browns or Grossingers was still around. I remember your mom and her brother Ralph. Belt, the Catskill mountain hotel night clubs that were famous Happy to respond to any questions or any comments, but as I indicated dueling memories are difficult at this point. That night, as his son roasts pots of popcorn in the fire, Josh Farley, then co-owner, describes touring the property in 2014. From everything I have read and heard over the years, it was an innovative resort, and one of the best managed of all the Catskills resorts. When I was a little kid my parents and I would go to the Concord or Browns Resort, they liked Browns because the owners, Charles and Lillian Brown, were related to Jerry Lewis. She went from affluent to financially challenged. I was born in 58 and have amazing early childhood memories of the place and our bungalow. Also trying to find the Belkins, who used to be the dance team at the hotel. Rosmarins sits at the foothills of the Catskills, just 50 miles north of Times Square. I do remember the taxi and the proud owner of the medallion (cleaning and washing under the trees to the left of the driveway but near the roadway. I was hoping Stephanie might remember me and could fill in some of the blanks. There may have been more hotels before 1965 but overall the amount of vacationers stayed high and strong through the 70s. My mom remembers tadpoles swimming in the creek, costume parties, and women tanning by the pool with metallic reflectors. Spending a weekend, or if you could afford it, an entire week or more at a Catskill hotel was heaven. Thanks!! On a July summers night sitting on the floor of this large barn structure that had a small black and white tv sitting on a high portable AV cart so all could get a glimpse of this historic moment. The Borscht Belt Resort, located in the Catskills in New York, was once a major vacation destination from the 1920s to the 1960s. nirvana, a fantasy off route 17 two hours from the New York City, Starlite Motel. Does anyone know who the owner was in the 1940s? Theres been one major update, he points out: Rosmarins doesnt do the singer and the comic anymore. These days its food trucks and concerts. After dinner it was a ritual to walk along the road. Thank you. The nightclubs and nearly all of the resorts closed, the Ironically, I went to junior high with their daughter Allison but never made the connection. There are other empty pools with their windows gone and We went every Monday to Middletown or Monticello for groceries. The Borscht Belt resorts reached their peak in the 1950s and 60s, accommodating up to 150,000 guests a year. 10 Abandoned Resorts from The Borscht Belt, America's Jewish By the end of the forties, May was in debt not sure if she didnt know how to handle it but I tend to think that as the war ended the economics of going to the Catskills was changing and she had taken out loans for those improvements to the property. And then you walk into the It was said That the Catskills was hotter than putting present day las.vegas and Atlantic city together. There was talk initially that they were going to take campers there. Would be nice. This project was created using the CERES: Exhibit Toolkit with help from the Digital Scholarship Group at the Northeastern University Library. Some larger resorts, such as the Waldemere in Livingston Manor and the Flagler in Fallsburg, had filed for bankruptcy protection. There were still millions being spent on expansions as late as 1955, but certainly by 1958 there were indications that a decline had begun. tableau and they are big. and hotel basketball team all-star. We missed Judy Garland by one week-but saw Milton Berle, Alan King, Tony Martin and Cod Charisse, Steve and Eydie, and so many more. Please feel free to be in touch. According to old records, the owners names listed in the advertising were Moskowitz, Orber and Kornfeld. Likely given our ages and incomplete memories I am not going to give my version or what I remember about Wodas and the various family members. I wanted to do this exhibit to show that the whole area today I had my Bar Mitzvah at Sam and Shirley Shrilowitzs New Normandie Hotel down the Street from Browns in 1964- Anyone remember that Hotel? In my memories, my grandmothers sisters husband was related to Sam Woda. if ny had the helmet law then, ronnie would still be alive. People have looted I think I may try to get in touch with Stefanie through Allisons facebook page. Unfortunately, I wish I could remember more about our vacations there. Today her book, The Borscht Belt, is omnipresent on coffee tables at well-appointed hotels and rentals across the Catskills. He died of a sudden heart attack in 1933 or so. trips to the Catskills in the old days. Hi John. Her family forbid her to marry a singer so they eloped. Hi Neil, I just googled something else and this site came up. Summers in the Catskills came to a halt when my grandmother, Sabina, was diagnosed with cancer. How did this mountain lion reach an uninhabited island? Was a school for special needs kids last time I heard Our family and extended uncles, aunts, and cousins stayed at Shustons Resort. I guess we are cousins. To Linda Amar small world to me knowledge I know of no Flamenbaums with your names have come across several kindreds happy to say hellow my Father married into the Catskills by marrying a Woda from Swan Lake. My brother went to Woodstock, he was 6 years older than I. My father hated being with his in-law for the week but my brothers and I, ages 9 to 14, enjoyed the surrounding woods where we loved to turn over rocks to see creepy things and pick up little red efts, which you could almost call cute. Oh, that one! Thanks for listening to me blather on. 5207 Route 32, Catskill, NY, 12414. If you could supply the name of the road, I will definitely take that drive next time Im there! Abe Rosenthal, manager of the Waldemere, specifically blamed the hotels financial problems on the new fireproof building costing $2 million built after a fire three years before had killed three guests. Photo: The New Roxy Hotel was one of several Sullivan County resorts that closed during the 1966 season, signaling an end to the regions Golden Age of Torusim. decayed. The plaques will feature navy lettering against a tan . I recall going with my parents and sisters for Rosh Hashanah one year. Thanks. Anyone know where the Woodbine Hotel was located, exactly? Read more stories about the Catskills here. and is there any write up on the place available? That's not unusual. hi leslie, my name is mitch sirotta and i have fond memories of uncle izzy and aunt minnie at wodas. What a great time I had up there. People lost interest in the Borscht Belt for a number of reasons, but the decline was due in large part to the boom in the airline industry, as the possibility of exotic getaways lessened visitors desire to return to the Catskills for vacation. You must remember their parents, Bob and Doris Belkin, who taught ballroom dancing. Is anyone familiar with the Lake Plaza Hotel in Parksville. I just saw your postings. My Great Grandparents owned a hotel in Liberty next to the Grossinger familys original hotel in the early 1900s. What if we could clean them out? The Overlook had entertainment and summer lodging through the late 1960s and was operated by the Schrier family. Some sold to Im sure the building is long gone. Jay Colton 215 205-3200 cell and jlc6624jlc@gmail.com. Were they the same Rosenbergs that owned the Ulster Lake House. Be well and safe. my brother and i both worked the summer of 1965 at the hotel. This stylish re-do of a 1960s roadside motel opened in June, and the vintage vibes and proximity to some of the best trails in the Catskills have made it a must-visit . Oh, if you ever get there again, the name of the road is Cooley Road. The For smart, informal living, Windsor Hotel, So. I know that the era of oid is gone but Im hoping that the Catskills will still be a popular vacation choice for many people for years to come! County officials became aware of the trend at least as early as 1962 by which time the so-called Kennedy slide had caused a nationwide credit crunch and economic downturn so the area wasnt alone. I have a terrific picture of your grandfather Moe with my mother and father Sylvia and Ben Bartels at the Gap. centers, orthodox Jewish colonies and drug rehab centers. A walk through the Hotel history. You may remember it, but here's a refresher. For anyone else reading I was up there from the 40s thru the 60s on a regular basis worked as childrens waiter, busboy and waiter from 1955-1962. PS. She has We stayed in one of the outer buildings that time instead of the big main house. Is anyone familiar with my great-grandmother Pauline Wertmans Sunny Hill Farm (bungalows), in Swan Lake/Bethel, where the Sullivan County Airport is now? hotels were in Ulster or Sullivan Counties). Ben was contacted but never responded. I miss it terribly Craig dobelle. The Community We stayed there in the mid fifties. midtown Manhattan at 15 W. 16th Street. probably could never have done the exhibit. Resort Worlds Catskill in Monticello, on the site of the former Concord Hotel. We suspect that Richard Feynman, the Princeton physicist, was not the only Nobel Prize winner to bus tables in the Catskills. When I was a bit older your father (if he still had the bar concession) was nice enough to serve without asking for ID (remember a long time ago and he knew of me from my Mothers family) the degrees of contact get closer. such as Sammy Davis Jr., Linda. The photographs make an evocative My grandparents, Joe and Ruth Flamenbaum owned the Lake Plaza Hotel in Parksville. 7 Best Hotels in the Catskills and Hudson Valley - Leisure My current choice is the new villa Roma. Today, I believe the Edgewood House is a church camp, the store is part of a ghost town and the railroad is no more. Scheinfeld is spectacular. been snatched way by someone. Louis Cohens Orchard Colony (in the last years of its life-it was run down), Bob-Eds (The Rubinstein Family were wonderful people. It was a couple-three miles to Masten Lake. My father perfomed (sang) every now and then on stage. my mother mickey rothstein was lena rothsteins daughter. It was wonderful-anyone remember that Hotel? It was at Camp Weelock that I watched the Apollo 11 mans first mans landing on the moon. The White Lake Mansion House was built in 1848 and was one of the first profitable hotels in the Borscht Belt region. My family had great times there. I am just hoping to find photos of it, or any information that can point me in the right direction, Thanks! So she kept a small cottage and a stone ice house and the big barn. Scheinfeld says. Catskills Resort History: The Beginning of the End peak. Catskills memorabilia more postcards, ticket stubs, sports Does this remind you of your childhood? I ask my mom. It was old at the time. At its peak, the Borscht Belt a beloved epithet that encapsulates 538 hotels and 50,000 bungalow colonies situated in Sullivan and Ulster counties was the pre-eminent destination for tens of thousands of predominately East Coast American Jews. I am looking for information on the original New Roxy pictures, any info on the family that owned the hotel before the move to Loch Sheldrake. I remember going to Wodas Hotel as a child with my grandparents. Thank you, My grandparents operated the office the lake house on Briggs Highway in the 50s. My great-grandmother Goldie Snitovsky also operated an ice-house Parksville. that was the last summer for woods hotel. Greene and Freddie Roman. Hotels and Bungalows - The Catskills Institute My family also vacationed at the Lake Plaza in 59 and 60. The exhibit at the Yeshiva Museum has The Olympic hotel was our destination in the summers of 74 76. Not according to biology or history. She came to this country with her brother Sam Woda. I am 67 and would love to make the trip up by car from Florida at the first sign of Spring, I would appreciate it more than I can tell you. Required fields are marked *. The Homowack Lodge in Spring Glen, New York was another resort that thrived in the heyday of the Borscht Belt from the 1920s to the 1960s. Photographer Marisa Scheinfeld documents the ruins of abandoned Catskills resorts. I have family photos that show the buildings, and I confirmed that was the place many years ago by comparing to a photo that was once on line, however, i can no longer find anything about the history of the place. My maternal grandfather was a professional singer as well in the Catskills and sang at the New Roxy. The Pines Hotel in South Fallsburg, New York was built in 1933 and was a popular destination for those who enjoyed winter sports, as it had its own ice skating rink and was a favorite spot for. It was then reincarnated as the Green Acres Hotel for a short time, and that was purchased by New Hope in the early 1970s. Please contact for anything. of the abandoned hotels because she is a local resident and knows a