“The Borscht Belt” in Sullivan and Ulster County’s in upstate New York was the summer playground destination for vacationing Jews to escape the heat of the city when air conditioning did not exist till 50 years later. It catered primarily to poor and middle class mainly immigrant Jews starting around the late 1800’s, early 1900’s ending around the late 1990’s when the industry collapsed and ended its’ premier place in vacation history for the mainly Jewish populations and in the end people from all over the world as a leading destination.
In the early 1900’s some hotels advertised and would say no Jews or Hebrews in their ads. Hence Jews had to look elsewhere for vacationing away from the hot New York City summers.
In the beginning It became a popular destination for trout fishing, cool summer fresh air, lake swimming, great homemade food, a place where Jews were welcome and a cheap getaway for a week or two or even the whole summer. But it evolved over decades into a premier destination for vacations.
To get to “The Borscht Belt” families would go to Weehawken New Jersey and take the train (NY Ontario and Western Railroad aka the O & W Rail Line) up to Roscoe, Liberty, and Fallsburg NY. The hotels would pick their guests up at the train station and transport them to and from the hotel. Bus service evolved as well as when cars came into play. These became the primary means of transport to “The Borscht Belt”.
Guests from the city would travel to the Catskills and would stay and live with strangers who knew nothing about the hotel hospitality business, providing food or activities for NYC summer strangers. But they learned and many over decades evolved into epic luxurious resorts. It became a high end family vacation destination featuring top name entertainers and shows. It was a breeding ground for fresh new talent.
For example Jerry Lewis whose real name was Joseph Levitch started in “The Borscht Belt”
His parents Danny and Rachel were vaudevillians who hosted and performed in the summers at the Browns Hotel where little Jerry learned his craft. Jerry as a little kid was planted in the audience in the first row by his very talented parents. His parents would say to the audience would anyone like to volunteer and join us on stage and Jerry would raise his hand and join his parents. No one but a few guests knew it was a setup that he was on stage with his parents.
It was often called “The Borscht Belt” simply because at lunch in every hotel dining room borscht a cold beet soup was on every hotel menu along with many other choices of soups. As hotels became bigger and more successful the menus became extensive with too many choices and you could eat as much as you wanted and people did.
What is borscht? Borscht is primarily a beet soup of various recipes’ popular with Ashkenazi Jews from Poland, Russia the Ukraine, other Eastern European countries and other countries in other parts of Europe. Hence the name “The Borscht belt”. Jewish legend says there is a red line made from borscht on the highways leading to these resorts in Ulster and Sullivan County taking these families to summer heaven away from the sweltering oppressive heat and humidity that was New York in the summer time before the advent of air conditioning.
In the early days of driving you traveled from New York City in a car without air-conditioning because there was none. The primary routes were # 17, # 52, # 209 and any combination then later the Palisades Parkway came in 1952 and the NY Thruway came around 1956.
But before these new highways were built, it was a slow hot brutal trip with lots of traffic and people hanging their heads out the window to get some moving air. Others were fanning themselves. Often the trip took anywhere from 4 hours to 6 hours depending on the traffic. When the New York Thruway was finished in August 1956 life changed dramatically and the travelling time was cut down to 2-2.5 hours and air conditioning was becoming popular in homes and cars.
The hotel industry in the Catskills started in part by anglers who went trout fishing because the area had a great reputation for this. In other cases people who were trying to make a living on the lower east side of Manhattan and other neighborhoods some selling their goods and services from push carts or small store fronts in the city and were not doing well or wanted to try something different decided to start a rooming house, or would buy and rent out rooms in a small farm house they had purchased and advertise to come to the mountains for a cool vacation, fresh air and get away from the bustling city life. It evolved and became popular. Guests would stay in bungalows, family homes, rooming houses and small hotels created by entrepreneurial families. Some would provide food and in others you would be able to use the kitchen and cook your own food. It was called a “Kuchalein” which in Yiddish means to cook for yourself or to cook alone.
When people asked where you are going for vacation you would say we are going to “The Yiddish Alps”, or “The Catskills”, or “The Mountains”, or “The Jewish Alps” and many affectionately called it “The Borscht Belt”.
As hotels became bigger, better and more successful they offered lots of food to compete with other hotels. You could eat to your hearts content. You had so many selections in each category on the menu and could order one, two, or three of each item. You had a choice of 5 juices, 2 types of melons, fruit cocktails, 4 soups(including matzoh ball soup, 6 appetizers, 4 types of bread, 8 main dishes, 10 types of drinks,5 deserts and each table had olives, pickles, fresh coleslaw made daily, and celery on it. Water was served to everyone without asking for it. There were lemons and other appropriate condiments. The food was fresh, tasty and the service was excellent. After each meal moms and dads would take food back to the room just in case or something to “nosh” on for the trip back home to the 5 boros.
You tipped the waiter at the end of each week you stayed. In the 1950s-60’s you gave $5 a week to the waiter and the busboy got $3 a week. Some waiters (usually teenagers going to college and working in the summers to pay for their education) served 50-60 people each day 3 meals a day. That’s 180 entrees plus other things daily. No one complained. They were grateful to make that kind of money at such a young age. That’s if you were in a good hotel that had lots of guests.
The waiter made $300 a week and the busboy made $180 a week. Not bad for those times but long hours and hard work. Up at 6 am to get ready to serve breakfast, reset the tables for lunch and lunch was from 12 noon till 2 pm; you clean up and set up for dinner which was from 6 pm till 8 pm and you again cleaned up and set up again for breakfast.
You usually finished at 10 pm in the dining room and went to shower and then catch the late show or work in the coffee shop after the show serving late night ice cream sundaes or the usual fare like bagels and drinks. Or you and the guys headed down the road to some bar for fried shrimp and beer.
On the weekends you would try and sneak into the Concord Hotel in Kiamesha Lake NY or Grossingers in Liberty NY and catch Tom Jones or Jackie Mason performing amongst so many other great talents. If Jerry Lewis (Jerome Levitch} was performing at the Browns Hotel you would try and sneak in there. They worked hard and played hard. Most of these kids were in or went on to college and became Doctors, lawyers, and other professionals and later had families of their own and went to “The Borscht Belt” as guests. They went full circle.
The hotel staff got free clean shity rooms they shared with others but they either didn’t care or didn’t know any better; they were happy to be out of the city and working. They ate the same great food that was served to the guests and were allowed to use the facilities and see the shows.
They also had opportunities to have flings with the guests some of whom were single and most guests who were married. The husbands worked in the city during the week and came up on the weekends to be with the wife and kids. So when the cats away the mice did play. The hotel owners encouraged the young men to dance with single unattached girls so the girls would have a good time.
Many performers got their start and gained experience entertaining in “The Borscht Belt” later to become famous and some were already famous.
Milton Berle, Jerry Seinfeld, Barbra Streisand, Mel Brooks, Don Rickles, Henny Youngman, Joan Rivers, Woody Allen, Jackie Mason, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Carl Reiner father of Rob Reiner, Joey Bishop, Tony Bennett, Danny Kaye, Rodney Dangerfield, Abbott and Costello, Billy Crystal, Jerry Stiller, Marx Brothers, Gene Wilder, Dean Martin, Judy Garland, Eddie Fisher, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Richard Pryor, Sammy Davis Jr and the list goes on and on.
Some of the more famous hotels were The Concord, Grossingers, The Nevele, Kutchers, Browns, The Raleigh, Tamarack, The Stevensville, Shawanga Lodge, The Pines, The Homowack, Steiner’s Resort, The Paramount, The Granit , The Laurels Hotel and Country Club, The Flagler , The Eldorado and too many to mention.
At its peak the number of resorts varied but it is estimated there were 800 + Hotels of all sizes and amenities, 2500 bungalow colonies, 1,000 rooming houses, and 21 golf courses. It became the destination place to the world and later on 20-30 percent of the guests were non-Jews.
There were a variety of reasons the Borscht belt hotel resorts and bungalow colony’s declined beginning in the late 1950’s early 1960’s and the final demise around 1996.
Sunrise Manor Hotel
Once a year my parents took my sister and I to “The Borscht Belt” to an obscure unknown hotel called the Sunrise Manor in Ellenville NY the first two weeks of August when my father Henry got his annual vacation.
But we were just kids and to us it was the best vacation ever. My father traveled on the road and sold woman’s coats and suits for his cousins the Hiller Brothers who manufactured everything in the woman’s line. My mother was a house wife. Since my mom and dad had limited resources for any leisure activities like eating out, movies and even Good Humor truck ice cream we all looked forward to 2 weeks in the cool mountain air at the Sunrise Manor. And we did not have a car or money so no day trips to the beach, Bronx Zoo, Coney Island, Palisade Amusement Park, Bear Mountain, never went shopping except for bare necessities, when we had to travel we took buses, subways and sometimes we would walk to the subway. But as kids what did we know until we got older. So going to “The Mountains” was a big deal for all of us including mom and dad.
After the end of the school year in June my sister and I would look forward to August when we would go to the ” The Borscht Belt ” Until then we spend most of our time doing nothing and sat in front of the house or play “scully” “Johnny ride a pony” catch fire fly’s at night, stick ball, hop scotch, stoop ball, hide and seek, pick up sticks etc. Most of our friends were at day camp, summer camp, at local NY bungalows at Rockaway Beach, visiting relatives and friends out of New York or taking road trips. We had no air conditioning and did not go to day camp or summer camp so the trip in August was something we all looked forward to. Those were the longest 4 weeks after school until we went away in August
Sunrise Manor Hotel was owned and operated by the Dyckman and Kramer families. It was a lovely clean low end hotel up the mountain on steep turning roads called Ulster Heights Road aka Pond Road right next to Pond Lake just outside of Ellenville NY .
Great food as much as you want, nice families, every day and night something to do, swimming in the lake and boating, and later they got a pool, day camp, hikes down Ulster Heights road into the woods to the water fall, Simon says, bingo, mahjong for the woman and pinochle for the men, fishing, looking for salamanders after the rain, evenings snack time in the children’s dining room, pin ball machines a nickel a game and the regular sports activities.
The biggest entertainer at the theater that I can remember was Sam Levenson a well known NY comedian. That was the Saturday night show. The rest of the week there was movie night, square dancing night, amateur night. dance and dance lessons night etc. Those 2 weeks in August went by fast and then back to the hot city. We did not have air conditioning and slept in our parents’ bedroom on the floor with a new fan cooling all of us off. Not really.
The Borscht Belt” started to disappear slowly. There were many factors. It all began with the Introduction of air conditioning in homes and cars. Mostly Jews went to the Catskills to escape the summer heat and humidity. Then ship cruising became popular and affordable, jet travel started in the late 1950’s with the introduction of the Boeing 707 around 1958 as Jews would take off to see the world. The Disney theme parks became another destination.
The arrival of gambling close to New York City took business away when gambling came to Atlantic City, New Jersey and travel to Las Vegas became affordable and popular. The proposals for gambling in New York never made it through the legislature which hurt the hotels and bungalow colonies in Ulster and Sullivan County and contributed to its demise.
A place where you were warmly welcomed, a place to get away with your family for a reasonable price, where old lives continued and new lives began under romantic skies of “The Borscht Belt”.
It was a wonderful place to vacation especially during the hot humid summers and many places at the beginning of the 20th century did not accept Jews so it was off to the mountains to enjoy the cool night air, the delicious, fresh and unlimited food, the incredible entertainment, plenty of romance, the fresh mountain air, the comfortable evenings, and the mountain scenery was not to be missed. Unfortunately “The Borscht Belt” era became a beautiful memory and a piece of Jewish American history.
in upstate New York was the summer playground destination for vacationing Jews to escape the heat of the city when air conditioning did not exist till 50 years later. It catered primarily to poor and middle class mainly immigrant Jews starting around the late 1800’s, early 1900’s ending around the late 1990’s when the industry collapsed and ended its’ premier place in vacation history for the mainly Jewish populations and in the end people from all over the world as a leading destination.
In the beginning It became a popular destination for trout fishing, cool summer fresh air, lake swimming, great homemade food, a place where Jews were welcome and a cheap getaway for a week or two or even the whole summer. But it evolved over decades into a premier destination for vacations.
To get to “The Borscht Belt” families would go to Weehawken New Jersey and take the train (NY Ontario and Western Railroad aka the O & W Rail Line) up to Roscoe, Liberty, and Fallsburg NY. The hotels would pick their guests up at the train station and transport them to and from the hotel. Bus service evolved as well as when cars came into play. These became the primary means of transport to “The Borscht Belt”.
Guests from the city would travel to the Catskills and would stay and live with strangers who knew nothing about the hotel hospitality business, providing food or activities for NYC summer strangers. But they learned and many over decades evolved into epic luxurious resorts.
It became a Mecca for high end family oriented shows and entertainment and a breeding ground for new talent like Jerry Lewis whose real name was Joseph Levitch.
His parents were vaudevillians and hosted and performed in the summers at the Browns Hotel where little Jerry learned his craft. Jerry as a little kid was planted in the audience in the first row by his very talented parents. His parents would say to the audience would anyone like to volunteer and join us on stage and Jerry would raise his hand and join his parents. No one but a few guests knew it was a setup that he was on stage with his parents.
It was often called “The Borscht Belt” simply because at lunch in every hotel dining room borscht a cold beet soup was on every hotel menu along with many other choices of soups. As hotels became bigger and more successful the menus became extensive with too many choices and you could eat as much as you wanted and people did.
What is borscht? Borscht is primarily a beet soup of various recipes’ popular with Ashkenazi Jews from Poland, Russia the Ukraine, other Eastern European countries and other countries in other parts of Europe. Hence the name “The Borscht belt”. Jewish legend says there is a red line made from borscht on the highways leading to these resorts in Ulster and Sullivan County taking these families to summer heaven away from the sweltering oppressive heat and humidity that was New York in the summer time before the advent of air conditioning.
In the early 1900’s some hotels advertised and would say no Jews or Hebrews in their ads. Hence Jews had to look elsewhere for vacationing away from the hot New York City summers.
In the early days of driving you traveled from New York City in a car without air-conditioning because there was none. The primary routes were # 17, # 52, # 209 and any combination then later the Palisades Parkway came in 1952 and the NY Thruway came around 1956.
But before these new highways were built, it was a slow hot brutal trip with lots of traffic and people hanging their heads out the window to get some moving air. Others were fanning themselves. Often the trip took anywhere from 4 hours to 6 hours depending on the traffic. When the New York Thruway was finished in August 1956 life changed dramatically and the travelling time was cut down to 2-2.5 hours and air conditioning was becoming popular in homes and cars.
The hotel industry in the Catskills started in part by anglers who went trout fishing because the area had a great reputation for this. In other cases people who were trying to make a living on the lower east side of Manhattan and other neigborhoods some selling their goods and services from push carts or small store fronts in the city and were not doing well or wanted to try somehthing different decided to start a rooming house, or would buy and rent out rooms in a small farm house they had purchased and advertise to come to the mountains for a cool vacation,fresh air and get away from the bustling city life. It evolved and became popular. Guests would stay in bungalows, family homes, rooming houses and small hotels created by entrepreneurial families.Some would provide food and in others you would be able to use the kitchen and cook your own food. It was called a “Kuchalein” which in Yiddish means to cook for yourself or to cook alone.
When people asked where are you going for vacation you would say we are going to “The Yiddish Alps”, or “The Catskills”, or “The Mountains”, or “The Jewish Alps” and many affectionately called it “The Borscht Belt”.
As hotels became bigger, better and more successful they offered lots of food to compete with other hotels. You could eat to your hearts content.You had so many selections in each category on the menu and could order one, two, or three of each item. You had a choice of 5 juices, 2 types of melons, fruit cocktails, 4 soups(including matzoh ball soup, 6 appetizers, 4 types of bread, 8 main dishes, 10 types of drinks,5 deserts and each table had olives, pickles, fresh coleslaw made daily, and celery on it. Water was served to everyone without asking for it. There were lemons and other appropriate condiments. The food was fresh, tasty and the service was excellent. After each meal moms and dads would take food back to the room just in case or something to “nosh” on for the trip back home to the 5 boros..
You tipped the waiter at the end of each week you stayed. In the 1950s-60’s you gave $5 a week to the waiter and the busboy got $3 a week. Some waiters (usually teenagers going to college and working in the summers to pay for their education) served 50-60 people each day 3 meals a day. That’s 180 entrees plus other things daily. No one complained. They were grateful to make that kind of money at such a young age. That’s if you were in a good hotel that had lots of guests.
The waiter made $300 a week and the busboy made $180 a week. Not bad for those times but long hours and hard work. Up at 6 am to get ready to serve breakfast, reset the tables for lunch and lunch was from 12 noon till 2 pm; you clean up and set up for dinner which was from 6 pm till 8 pm and you again cleaned up and set up again for breakfast.
You usually finished at 10 pm in the dining room and went to shower and then catch the late show or work in the coffee shop after the show serving late night ice cream sundaes or the usual fare like bagels and drinks. Or you and the guys headed down the road to some bar for fried shrimp and beer.
On the weekends you would try and sneak into the Concord Hotel in Kiamesha Lake NY or Grossingers in Liberty NY and catch Tom Jones or Jackie Mason performing amongst so many other great talents. If Jerry Lewis(Jerome Levitch} was performing at the Browns Hotel you would try and sneak in there. They worked hard and played hard. Most of these kids were in or went on to college and became Doctors, lawyers, and other professionals and later had families of their own and went to “The Borscht Belt” as guests. They went full circle.
The hotel staff got free clean shity rooms they shared with others but they either didn’t care or didn’t know any better; they were happy to be out of the city and working. They ate the same great food that was served to the guests and were allowed to use the facilities and see the shows.
They also had opportunities to have flings with the guests some of whom were single and most guests who were married. The husbands worked in the city during the week and came up on the weekends to be with the wife and kids. So when the cats away the mice did play. The hotel owners encouraged the young men to dance with single unattached girls so the girls would have a good time.
Many performers got their start and gained experience entertaining in “The Borscht Belt” later to become famous and some were already famous.
Milton Berle, Jerry Seinfeld, Barbra Streisand, Mel Brooks, Don Rickles, Henny Youngman, Joan Rivers, Woody Allen, Jackie Mason, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Carl Reiner father of Rob Reiner, Joey Bishop, Tony Bennett , Danny Kaye, Rodney Dangerfield, Abbott and Costello, Billy Crystal, Jerry Stiller, Marx Brothers, Gene Wilder, Dean Martin, Judy Garland, Eddie Fisher, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Richard Pryor, Sammy Davis Jr and the list goes on and on.
Some of the more famous hotels were The Concord, Grossingers, The Nevele, Kutchers, Browns, The Raleigh, Tamarack, The Stevensville, Shawanga Lodge, The Pines, The Homowack, Steiner’s Resort, The Paramount, The Granit , The Laurels Hotel and Country Club, The Flagler , The Eldorado and too many to mention.
At its peak the number of resorts varied but it is estimated there were 800 + Hotels of all sizes and amenities, 2500 bungalow colonies, 1,000 rooming houses, and 21 golf courses. It became the destination place to the world and later on 20-30 percent of the guests were non-Jews.
There were a variety of reasons the Borscht belt hotel resorts and bungalow colony’s declined beginning in the late 1950’s early 1960’s and the final demise around 1996.
It all began with the Introduction of air conditioning in homes and cars. Mostly Jews went to the Catskills to escape the summer heat and humidity. Then ship cruising became popular and affordable, jet travel started in the late 1950’s with the introduction of the Boeing 707 around 1958 as Jews would take off to see the world.
The arrival of gambling close to New York City took business away when gambling came to Atlantic City, New Jersey and travel to Las Vegas became affordable and popular. The proposals for gambling in New York never made it through the legislature which hurt the hotels and bungalow colonies in Ulster and Sullivan County and contributed to its demise.
A place where you were warmly welcomed, a place to get away with your family for a reasonable price, where old lives continued and new lives began under romantic skies of “The Borscht Belt”.
It was a wonderful place to vacation especially during the hot humid summers as many places at the beginning of the 20th century did not accept Jews so it was off to the mountains to enjoy the cool night air, the abundance of the delicious, fresh and unlimited food, the incredible entertainment, plenty of romance, the fresh mountain air, the cool comfortable evenings, and the scenery were not to be missed.”The Borscht Belt” era became a beautiful memory and a piece of Jewish American history.
Thank you for sharing a story!
It’s fascinating how the Borscht Belt became such a pivotal space for Jewish families when so many other vacation spots were off-limits to them. The sense of community must’ve been so unique. It’s sad, though, that it declined due to broader economic and cultural shifts.
Yes it was a beautiful time and now just a passing memory .