catskill hotels 1960s

You shudder when you see some of the What no one realized, though, was that So nice to hear from someone else that stayed at Lake Plaza. I visit the grounds frequently and still remember fond memories of the Bourbins and Rubensteins, especially Jeff Rubenstein. 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. middle of it, amid a floor full of junk. Thanks Evan Barnett, Does anyone know the address of the holiday hotel in loch sheldrake ny ? You see a Micky Woolf and his cousin, Sammy Woolf, my grandfather sang there. We lived in Alley Pond Park on Kingsbury Avenue. Smaller resorts the bulk of Sullivan Countys 538 hotels during that golden era began to close down. graffiti and, in general, made a colossal mess of a long ago I was born in 58 and have amazing early childhood memories of the place and our bungalow. I have a giant box of family photos that I am planning on going through with my sisters when this pandemic lets us get together. Were they the same Rosenbergs that owned the Ulster Lake House. Our band, The Shape of Thyngs, played up there in 66 and 67. Jay Colton 215 205-3200 cell and jlc6624jlc@gmail.com. Required fields are marked *. if ny had the helmet law then, ronnie would still be alive. 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. izzy loved fishing, and brought his medallion taxi cab upstate. The Makowsky Family will always have a special place in my heart. In the summer of 60, Hitchcocks Psycho debuted in a theater in Liberty and the whole group of adults went. formed colonies there. Grossingers soon flourished into a grand destination so large it had its own airstrip and zip code, with arenas for tennis, ice skating, and skiing (it was the first resort to use artificial snow in 1952). The area In 1967, the Youngs Gap in Parksville, once one of the countys largest and most innovative hotels, closed, and by 1968 the Times was reporting that a number of smaller hotels, unable to keep pace with the large establishments and their newer, plush accommodations, had begun taking in campers. Looking for respite from city life, New Yorkers would head to. Eco-friendly burial alternatives, explained. 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. exhibit, open through April, is a walk through entertainment history. 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. i took my friends to discos during woodstock in 1969, and they loved it. There are two pictures of abandoned post cards, hotel tee-shirts, nightclub programs and restaurant Its a loop thats west of Mettachonts Rd and south of Boodle Hole Rd and Im wondering if this is it. There was talk initially that they were going to take campers there. Blissful escapes to the mountains of New York became the stuff of legend in many Jewish families. I always thought that the golden age of the Catskills was the 1950s 60s and 70s. hotels were in Ulster or Sullivan Counties). photographer. Launch Slideshow 11 PHOTOS Dotted across Sullivan. It included a main building and about 50 other bungalows, plus a five-unit cottage. Reporter Homer Bigart outlined the phenomenon in a September 5, 1966 article with a Loch Sheldrake dateline, entitled Keeping Up With the Grossingers Strains Many Catskills Hotels, using the occasion of the Labor Day weekend traditionally one of the busiest of the year for Sullivan County resorts to visit a number that had closed down or seemed on the verge of doing so. I heard it was on Ulster Heights Road, Ellenville? and their vacationers looked like when the Borscht Belt was at its The lodge boasted its own bowling alley and an indoor. the museum of New Yorks Yeshiva University, in the heart of pictures of the ruins. At Grossingerswhich had its own airstrip and is said to have inspired the movie Dirty Dancingthe grand ballroom was littered with old menus, and a glass-enclosed indoor pool was marked with graffiti. I am just hoping to find photos of it, or any information that can point me in the right direction, Thanks! I have been metal detecting the site that was once the Youngs Gap in Parksville Ny, and i found a WW2 Good Conduct Medal up by the old ski lift area and it is engraved on the back with the name Frank Spector I have been looking everywhere trying to find him or the family so i could return this precious piece of family history! and hotel basketball team all-star. A National Geographic team has made the first ascent of the remote Mount Michael, looking for a lava lake in the volcanos crater. Ive talked to Hi John my family owned the Youngs gap hotel did u know my great grandma Anne holder and my great aunt& uncle Dotty & Frank Spector? Dinner was a dressy affair. My experience up in the Catskills started in 1965 And has continued to last. He was the lifeguard and his Mother, Edna ran the camp. Unfortunately, I dont live in NY but do make trips to visit a childhood friend who lives in New Jersey. My mother, Muriel Leibowitz, managed the hotel until my grandfather sold it in, I believe, 1966. Please email me at mnewmark@plllp.com. My mom and dad were Sylvia and max Biller and my grandparents max and Helen Gottesman. Eddie Cantor, Eddie Fischer and Duke Ellington. What Scribners takes from the old is a sense of community: It has a weekend schedule packed with yoga, garden walks, tie-dye classes, and movie screenings. of the Borscht Belt as the culmination of a long history. These skeletons may have the answer, Scientists are making advancements in birth controlfor men, Blood cleaning? My mother does not remember who owned the hotel in the family. I was born in 58 and have amazing early childhood memories of the place and our bungalow. The movie Dirty Dancing Do you remember the layout of the property. I remember the candy store with Gus and Girdy and their collie. 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. 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. This is exactly how it was., You can ask anyone that grew up going to a bungalow colony, Scott says. 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. Mine are so vague. But by the time I moved to New York, in 2011, the glory of the Jewish Alps had long faded. If you ever vacationed in the The Concord Resort Hotel (pronounced KAHN-cord, (/ k k r d /)) was a resort in the Borscht Belt of the Catskills, known for its large resort industry in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.Located in Kiamesha Lake, New York, United States, the Concord was the largest resort in the region and was also one of the last to finally close in 1998, long after the others closed. By the late 1980s, it. It was one of my first memories as a kid. vacationers from the old days. Today, I believe the Edgewood House is a church camp, the store is part of a ghost town and the railroad is no more. I dont know what made me check this tonight, but I am so glad I did. Its NOT rosemond hotel. Trying to keep up with the prosperous giants like Grossingers and the Concord, they have gone heavily into debt for Olympic swimming pools, indoors and outdoors, ornate lobbies and glittering nightclubs, Bigart wrote. My father didnt love the 24/7 demands of the hotel biz and sold out to the Blumbergs to return to the fuel business. Are you and he related? 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. I was very young at the time. Your email address will not be published. Do you remember my grandmother,she was the main cook. hi leslie, this is mitch getting back to you. I did find some info on them. The humor that came out of this circuit, known as the Borscht Belt, became instantly recognizable: Ladies and gentlemen, you cant please everyone. How that all came about is a mystery to me. . Scheinfeld is spectacular. Now that Im a senior myself I wish the Concord or Browns or Grossingers was still around. is ruins, just like European ruins of long ago. I am told they operated from Mountain Dale, New York. Hi Richard. One is of the stage at The President Hotel, with We also lived in Windsor Park when I was about 5. I just saw your postings. Those were the days! doors were locked and weeds started to grow as high as the windows. the Borscht Belt and tug at your emotions. 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From the 1920s through the '60s, hundreds of thousands of American Jews flocked to the great hotels, bungalow . The grounds are lush, with clusters of Adirondack chairs, a communal firepit, and long picnic tables. I however stayed in the biz and went to Cornell Hotel School and headed to restaurants in NYC. midtown Manhattan at 15 W. 16th Street. From the 1920s to the late 1960s, the Catskill Mountains were the tourist destination for tens of thousands of New Yorkers, primarily Jews, seeking an escape from the clatter and chaos of city. Many establishments had already invested capital they didnt have in trying to keep up with the larger hotels in the increasingly competitive Catskills tourism market. their fabulous nightclubs, began to die when the jet airplane started Hi, Yeah Resorts World Casino replaced the Concord. Im told that a new world class hotel is currently being built where the concord used to be. Absolutely. Was a school for special needs kids last time I heard Our family and extended uncles, aunts, and cousins stayed at Shustons Resort. She always had a job as staff entertainer-Mistress of Ceremoniessocial director for the summers at various hotels. Summers at the areas bungalow colonies meant sleeping in tiny cottages and spending the days in a pool or lake and the clubhouse. Gone were the glamorous, fun-loving vacationing crowds of former seasons. It seems they became quite famous. Photographer Marisa Scheinfelds book The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of Americas Jewish Vacationland,takes a look at the remains of the Borscht Belt. 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. Your memory is correct across the lake from the dock was a small dam and there was a path beside that dam leading down to a wonderful stream. Very similar story! Borscht, a beet-based soup popular with Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants, was a colloquialism for "Jewish". This 21st-century revival is unfolding at places like Scribner's Catskill Lodge, a repurposed 1960s motor inn. centers, orthodox Jewish colonies and drug rehab centers. Please email me at osaintilien55@gmail.com I would gratefully appreciate it. And somewhere there is an Sunday article with Ma Holder and my mother playing the part of her secretary. They then eloped as her parents forbade her to marry a singer! 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 So interesting! From what I saw there, her sister Stephanies married name is Stephanie Abrams. made the resort immortal. She eventujally sold the mansion and hotel buildings and kept a lot of the unimproved property down the hill next to and behind the hotel area. Her sister is Stephanie. I did It was a success. There was an article once along time ago of my grandmother but I cant find it anywhere . life in a lengthy series of poignant pictures by photographer Marisa my sister cheryl lives in west homestead, ny. ceiling and hills of insulation covering the floor. One night he made me sing Getting to Know You with him. She had a white rabbit. I remember it was on a lake and I think the hotel was the end of that particular road, but not sure. One of her favorite photographs in it shows a green fern pushing through the cracked concrete of a long-abandoned pool. You will be disappointed), but one place is frequently mentioned as a holdout of the free-spirited summers of the 1950s: Rosmarins Cottages. some weaknesses. I believe the Rosenberg family owned both as well as the laurel hotel & country club. My brother had his Bar Mitzvah at the Youngs Gap in 1965. menus. Legions of young men and women used the Catskills as a springboard to successful careers and marriages. There were only 12 bungalows as I remember it. Hi Neil, I was just looking checking my DNA on Ancestry and remembered seeing a Ben Feller listed as a 2/3rd cousin. If you have photos can you please send them to at eryan@me.com. If my memory serves me well, there was a small grave plot of the Baker Family adjacent to the main house along Mettacahonts Rd. over the New York metropolitan area, less than 100 miles away on It was wonderful-anyone remember that Hotel? Twenty minutes farther is one-block Mountain Dale, among the many tiny hamlets getting an unexpected rebirth. One of Earth's loneliest volcanoes holds an extraordinary secret. I will be happy to answer all questions. Prosper Manor, and restore her financial condition. Thanks Walter. I remember the daughter was called Freddy. Do you have a sister named Sherry? Please feel free to be in touch. Its indoor swimming pool, which has transformed into a lush greenhouse over the years, is a destination for adventurers. Yes, my family owned it. My mom used to take us to visit Sam and Pearl and Myrna and Laura. The main building is clearly an old hotel. It was a couple-three miles to Masten Lake. The group gathering room for classes and shows wss called the Casino- I guess due to card games or bingo. My father perfomed (sang) every now and then on stage. Is a revival in the works? 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. How did this mountain lion reach an uninhabited island? That doesnt mean that all the hotels were impacted equally, some continued to grow well into the 1970s and even a few beyond that, but by the mid-1970s, as many as 500 hotels had already closed down since the heyday in the mid-1950s. My Great Grandparents owned a hotel in Liberty next to the Grossinger familys original hotel in the early 1900s. If I was in Parksville I wouldnt even begin to know where to look for it. Maybe if there was a man speaking Yiddish behind the counter.. My grandfather was Izzy Woda and my mother was Sylvia. 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. Could you possibly e-mail me the address and a phone or email of the now establishments. programs. Photographs by ERIC BARD, CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES. All the women wore their cardigans with mink collars. I believe it was called the Liberty House. Meanwhile, at the Catskills large hotels, entertainment was paramount. Theres been one major update, he points out: Rosmarins doesnt do the singer and the comic anymore. These days its food trucks and concerts. wild, colorful graffiti decorating the walls and the barren concrete Do you know where I can find any info pictures amount of suites and units? I know Frank would love to get in touch with her. I was intrigued by the Liberty House comment as I have a faint recollection of it from the Liberty history archives please take a look at the following site for picture: https://www.townofliberty.org/about/history/, Does anyone remember the holiday hotel in loch Sheldrake. Hi John. We usually take a trip to the Catskills for a couple of days when I visit. My mom gapes at the stage, with its hand-painted backdrop of a sunrise over the White Mountains. She added a small building with a little stage at one end for theatricals and it was called the Casino for all the card playing. I came across this post while searching information on the historic The Overlook Hotel and Overlook Bungalow Colony in High View NY. Do you remember my grandmother, she was the main cook. We went to Wodas with my grandparents (Zaldin) and some of their extended family (Schneider, Robinson, Groupsmith (?)). Most were in Sullivan county and Ulster county. Jay. I know I was there as a much younger child because there are photos of me and my mother by the pool. probably could never have done the exhibit. So she kept a small cottage and a stone ice house and the big barn. It was mostly a Greek hotel and was thriving during those years. such as Sammy Davis Jr., Plymouth Rock Oh, I did my best daydreaming there! Lodge. It was the best times ever., My mom nods. the night clubs, tramped around the pools, covered the walls with 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. 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. 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. Dec. 4, 2015. Scotts grandfather bought Rosmarins in 1941; when other colonies closed, his father absorbed their clientele. The Catskills were once a potent and affordable draw for Jews seeking to escape the suffocating heat, grating work conditions and anti-Semitism. I recall going with my parents and sisters for Rosh Hashanah one year. Both my brother and I have been living in Israel for the last 35-40 years. Do you know what ever happened to the property? a second later, their eyes light up and they tell me stories of their Stagedoor Manor is located at what used to be the Hotel Karmel, and is on what is still known as Karmel Road. During my time I can remember Waxmans Overlook Loch Sheldrake, The President Swan Lake, The AmbassadorThe NationalThe Commodore S Fallsburg, The Paramount Parksville, The Heiden, The Valley View Kenoza Lake. Everybody talks about that one. This was probably around 1954. That was when millions of Americans stayed at the hundreds of bungalow colonies and hotels in the area. It was Mike Rubinstein that taught me how to swim. I do remember the name Moe Senate. Grossinger's, a sprawling resort with over 35 buildings, popular with boxing champions of the time, even had its own post office and airstrip. Hope World Resorts Catskills can thrive!! She hired my mother to be her assistant manager and they made it work. We stayed there in the mid fifties. Please share more memories. were the birthplace and later the homestead of such talented comics I am sure there were others, but I also found home movies of my family at a Bungalow in 1951. By the 1950s, more than a million people were spending their summers in bungalow colonies, hotels, and summer camps in the Catskill Mountains and surrounding areas, which came to be known as the "Borscht Belt" or "Jewish Alps." But just several decades later, those resorts had all but disappeared. These resorts were a popular vacation spot for New York City Jews . trips to the Catskills in the old days. Catskills Historical Resorts & Hotels Resorts & Lodges 84 places to stay Vacation Rentals 2 places to stay Round Top (3) Windham (2) Woodstock (1) Tannersville (1) Kerhonkson (1) Hunter (1) Callicoon (1) Catskill (1) Fleischmanns (1) Greenville (1) Andes (1) Show All Cities All Resort Types Meetings Reunions Wedding All-Inclusive Beach Family Golf Unfortunately, all my relatives with knowledge are no longer alive. Does anyone know who the owner was in the 1940s? Be well and safe. Thanks. turned over couches and chairs, with drape rods falling from the Noted also in this book is the resort areas importance within American Jewish history. Summer 2020 was like the old days, he says, completely booked, with shouts of Marco! Polo! echoing from the lake. It was probably in the thirties. These institutions shaped American Jewish culture, enabling Jews to become more American while at the same time introducing the American public to immigrant Jewish culture. After a soft opening earlier this spring, the Starlite Motel officially opened on June 1 in Kerhonkson, a short distance from Catskill favorites like Minnewaska State Park, Mohonk Preserve, and Sam's Point.Built in the 1960s, the motel was a roadside mainstay for decades, but in sore need of an update when fashion industry vet Alix Umen and artist Adriana Farmiga purchased it in 2018. Hope all is well and you had nice memories of them my grand father Moe Senate and grandma Harriet Senate. This 21st-century revival is unfolding at places like Scribners Catskill Lodge, a repurposed 1960s motor inn. An outside photographer Its a few years old so not sure if it is still active. The Catskills is a place nestled almost permanently in the popular imagination. section to this sad after section. it, as if someone had just made a call. It had many bungalows for camp activities an upper ball field and a lake for fishing. !953 was the year the NY Times reported there were 538 hotels, 1,000 rooming houses and 50,000 bungalows in the S.C. Catskills. Across the road was the luncheonette. Madame Architect Celebrates Womens History Month with 400 Interviews, First Look: The Perelman Performing Arts Venue at the World Trade Center, 5 Best Public Art Installations In NYC March 2023, The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of Americas Jewish Vacationland, How a Dancer and Singer Helped Save Radio City from Demolition, Explore Powerful Contemporary Art at NYCs Heller Museum.