Borscht Belt Bungalows

Every year between 1920 and 1970, almost one million of New York City's Jewish population summered in the Catskills. Hundreds of thousands still do. While much has been written about grand hotels like Grossinger's and the Concord, little has appeared about the more modest bungalow colonies and kuchaleins ("cook for yourself" places) where more than 80 percent of Catskill visitors stayed.These were not glamorous places, and middle-class Jews today remember the colonies with either aversion or fondness. Irwin Richman's narrative, anecdotes, and photos recapture everything from the traffic jams leaving the city to the strategies for sneaking into the casinos of the big hotels. He brings to life the attitudes of the renters and the owners, the differences between the social activities and swimming pools advertised and what people actually received. He reminisces about the changing fashion of the guests and owners—everything that made summers memorable.The author remembers his boyhood: what it was like to spend summers outside the city, swimming in the Neversink, "noodling around," and helping with the bungalow operation, while Grandpa charged the tenants and acted as president of Congregation B'nai.

The Borscht Belt, which features essays by Stefan Kanfer and Jenna Weissman Joselit, presents Marisa Scheinfeld's photographs of abandoned sites where resorts, hotels, and bungalow colonies once boomed in the Catskill Mountain region of upstate New York.

Sullivan County, the Borscht Belt, the Catskills-all are synonyms for the greatest American Jewish resort area, the playground of about one million visitors a year during its peak from 1920 to 1970. The Sullivan County of Borscht Belt legend really consists of the eastern part of Sullivan County and a bit of southern Ulster County. Here are the large towns of Liberty, Monticello, and Ellenville and the small towns of Woodbourne, Hasbrouck, South Fallsburg, Livingston Manor, Fallsburg, Loch Sheldrake, Greenfield Park, Mountaindale, Accord, Ulster Heights, Kiamesha Lake, Kerhonkson, Swan Lake, Glen Wild, Hurleyville, Ferndale, White Sulphur Springs, Rock Hill, Parksville, Woodridge, and White Lake. In Sullivan County: Borscht Belt, you will find the lost world of the kuchaleins and bungalow colonies and the hotels, great and small. This was a world to be enjoyed, whether swimming in the Neversink River, watching unmatched entertainment, or eating the legendary Borscht Belt meals. Join us on the lawn, on the handball court, or at the Ping-Pong table. Dive into the pool. Welcome to day camp. All of this and more are here in Sullivan County: Borscht Belt.

Vividly and lovingly recreates a city kid's summer in the Catskills in the 1950s.

A rich ethnographical study, drawing on the memories of guests, staff, and entertainers, chronicles the development of the Jewish Catskill resorts, discussing their impact on both American and immigrant Jewish culture and tracing their slow decline since the 1970s. UP.

Tampa's Hyde Park was a beautifully located frontier that was not discovered until the latter part of the 19th century. Scattered tiny settlements were farmed and fished along Hillsborough Bay. The fine climate and natural resources lingered until Henry B. Plant arrived with his railroad and steamship line in 1884. Then, like magic, Hyde Park exploded into a visionary community. O.H. Platt created Hyde Park's original subdivision, and Plant opened a fanciful jewel of America's Gilded Age, the Tampa Bay Hotel. In less than 10 years, the backwater that was located along the western edge of Hillsborough Bay became Florida's first magic kingdom. As the Victorian period ended and the 20th century emerged, Hyde Park embraced the aesthetics and cultural changes of the new century. Bungalows dominated new housing in Hyde Park, providing architectural modernism for the emerging middle class. Today, Hyde Park has among the largest intact collections of Craftsman and Prairie houses in the United States.

Tales of a Catskill Mountain Plumber is a humorous telling of the great times the baby boomer generation had growing up in "The Country". This was the period of Jewish exodus from city heat to country cool-air. Ruby the Knish Man, the Hippie Rabbi, Louie Slamowitz, and Benny and the Schleps are some of the interesting characters you'll meet in the book. Included are stories about Jewish Lightning, a rare Catskill phenomenon, Mendel's Mansion, and of course the Woodstock Festival. My family worked hard in many bungalow colonies getting the water moving again after the long cold winters. One thing we always made a point of was to laugh at it all which helped us get through those exhausting times. You'll read about this in tales such as "One Strange Collection" and "Come Closer, Closer Still". At night, I donned my rock and roll persona and performed with my band in some of the major hotels like The Pines, Kutchers, The Concord, and colonies such as Clearview Country Club and Fiakloffs. The band's adventures led us to psychedelic displays, and for some the discovery of chopped liver. The book contains a plumbers instruction manual that will guide you through the glory days of the Borscht belt, but in no way will it help you to become a plumber. Also included is an easy to read schematic that translates the Yiddish words helping you to get the full essence of the stories. Throughout the book are some special tips that I'll be sharing with you. Consider these an extra bonus that will make your life just a little easier. You'll wish you had these years ago. "How We Got Here" speaks of my family's coming to the Land of Milk and Honey, and "A New Beginning" spells out the future of the Catskills. If you're a health nut, don't worry. Everything was written without artificial sweeteners, but to give it some extra flavor I added a little "gribines". (Use the schematic, remember)? The book did take about 13 years to complete, but just like a good "chulent" that cooks and cooks, getting better with time, so did the book. It's finally time to eat, so wash your hands and come to the table. Remember, you don't have to eat it all at once, but make sure if you do that the plumbing works! Enjoy "kinderla" enjoy!