Borscht Belt - History

History

Borscht Belt hotels, bungalow colonies, summer camps, and קאָך-אַליינס kuchaleyns (a Yiddish name for self-catered boarding houses, literally, "cook-alones") were frequented by middle and working class Jewish New Yorkers, mostly Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants and their children and grandchildren, particularly in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Because of this, the area was also nicknamed the Jewish Alps and "Solomon County" (a modification of Sullivan County), by many people who visited there. Well-known resorts of the area included Brickman's, Brown's, The Concord, Friar Tuck Inn, Gibber's, Gilbert's, Grossinger's, Granit, the Heiden Hotel, Irvington, Kutsher's Hotel and Country Club, Lansman's, the Nevele, The Laurels Hotel and Country Club, The Pines Resort, Raleigh, Stevensville, the Tamarack Lodge, Stiers, and the Windsor.

Two of the larger hotels in High View (just north of Bloomingburg) were Shawanga Lodge and the Overlook. One of the high points of Shawanga Lodge's existence came in 1959, when it was the site of a conference of scientists researching laser beams. The conference marked the start of serious research into lasers. The hotel burned to the ground in 1973. Lasers played no role in the fire.

The Overlook still remains in a different form, no longer functioning as it was in its heyday. The Overlook had entertainment and summer lodging for many years through the late 1960s and was operated by the Schrier family. It included a main building and about 50 other bungalows, plus a five-unit cottage just across the street.

Some of these hotels originated from farms that were established by immigrant Jews in the early part of the 20th century.

Despite the upgrade of old travel routes such as the original New York State Route 17 (superseded by an express highway of the same name, now in the midst of an upgrade to Interstate 86), the area declined as a travel destination. What was left was a veritable museum of abandoned or decaying travel-related businesses from the Borscht Belt's heyday. The post-World War II decline of the area coincided with the increase of air travel. When families could go to more far-off destinations such as Hawaii, the Caribbean, and even Europe for the same cost as going to the Catskills, the new destinations began to win out.

As early as 1965, declines at many Catskills resorts were evident, as the older, smaller Borscht Belt hotels such as Youngs Gap and the Ambassador rapidly lost patronage and closed by the end of the 1960s, and the 1970s took a toll on more sophisticated establishments such as the Flagler and The Laurels. The 1980s onward were no kinder to the area, Grossinger's being the largest casualty; it closed in 1985 or 1986, and the property (except the country club, still active) was abruptly abandoned by new owners midway through a demolition and rebuilding of the old resort. Any benefit gained by Grossinger's largest historic rival (and the largest of all the Borscht Belt resorts), the Concord, would be ephemeral, as the latter filed for bankruptcy in 1997 and closed a year later.

In 1987, New York's mayor Ed Koch proposed buying the Gibber Hotel in Kiamesha Lake to house the homeless. The idea was opposed by local officials. The hotel instead became a religious school, like many old hotels in the Catskills.