Photo by Cottonbro Studio.
Millions of hours of fun and relaxation. Heaping helpings of comfort foods that have since become American standards. Gales of joyous laughter that still echo today. It’s impossible to overstate the goodness that the Borscht Belt, right here in the Catskills, brought to the rest of the world. And with a splendid museum and a blast of a matching summer festival in Ellenville, descendants and admirers of that seminal era have made sure the Borscht Belt’s Golden Age gets a resounding encore.
It’s impossible to overstate the goodness that the Borscht Belt, right here in the Catskills, brought to the rest of the world.
Amid the rampant antisemitism of the early 20th century and the horrors of World War II, New York’s Jewish community built the Borscht Belt—a place where the welcome was warm and the food familiar, where you could laze by the pool, dress to the nines for the nightclub, breathe deep, and relax. The culture was smart, scrappy and a touch subversive.
It came bearing bagels and chocolate rugelach, stuck around to bring us stand-up comedy, and taught the world one reason why marginalizing anyone is the worst kind of foolishness: That person you think is beneath you may well be having way more fun than you are.
Well over a thousand lodging destinations made up the constellation of Jewish summer retreats, from family boarding houses and lively bungalow colonies to grand resorts like Grossinger’s and Kutsher’s.
“It wasn’t just the Jewish community that carved out niches in the Catskills,” Andrew Jacobs, president of the Borscht Belt Museum board of directors, points out. “There were resorts started by the Italians, the Irish, the Germans. There was the Peg Leg Bates Country Club and the Utopia Lodge welcoming African Americans, and Casa Susanna, a retreat for crossdressing men. That was all Catskills.”
Well over a thousand lodging destinations made up the constellation of Jewish summer retreats, from family boarding houses and lively bungalow colonies to grand resorts like Grossinger’s and Kutsher’s, employing legions of teenagers in first jobs and offering city folk fresh summer air. Mothers and kids would spend summers up here, welcoming Papa for the weekend to soak up the sunshine and partake of the glam nightclub and comedy scene.
Those places have been shuttered for decades now, with a new generation of Catskills hospitality coming into its own as a delightful smorgasbord with treats for every palate. Meanwhile, the cultural resonance of the Borscht Belt—there’s a meme on social media right now about the parenting choices in Dirty Dancing—isn’t going anywhere. Every person enjoying a stand-up routine or an all-inclusive vacation spot can thank the innovators of the Borscht Belt for those pleasures.
The Borscht Belt Museum offers all of us the chance to see the Catskills-based revolution in American fun up close and in immersive fashion. Housed in an elegant former bank that was once one of a tiny handful willing to lend to Jewish business folk, it’s the only place on Earth where you can step back in time into a Kutsher’s hotel room or a bungalow kitchen. There are loads of Borscht Belt artifacts, and even the story of their collecting has a deliciously outsider vibe. Allen Frishman, a retired plumber who served as building inspector for the town of Fallsburg in the years when the resorts were changing hands and being demolished, had an eye for resonant memorabilia. “His parents and grandparents ran a bungalow colony, and he’s very much a mountain guy,” Jacobs says. “He had to go and condemn these buildings, and he would pick up and save little bits and pieces. So his collection is at the heart of what we’re doing—it’s been a big inspiration.”
The bank building was most definitely a handyman special, and Jacobs says each step of the renovation—slated to be completed this year—has added layers of possibility. “Meanwhile, we are most definitely up and running, going like gangbusters even,” he says.
Along with the exhibits, the museum provides a steady stream of educational and cultural programming, partnering with the Shadowland Stages for film and comedy fests, hosting thought-provoking evenings of lectures and discussion, welcoming families for interactive adventures and workshops, and compiling an oral history project that will add yet more vivid content to the extensive archives.
The Borscht Belt Fest, happening this July 26 and 27 for the third time, brings thousands to the streets of this pretty little mountain village for fun, food, and a whole lot of laughs. “We had 80 volunteers come out and around 8,000 visitors. We had 30 different shows,” Jacobs says of the 2024 bash. “Comedy, cabaret, talks, panels, a Dirty Dancing outdoor singalong screening. There was just so much joy.”
The museum is hands-on and “so interactive that it gets downright raucous in the best way,” Jacobs says. “People come in and hang out and talk. We have this table where you can sit and write letters, you can talk to the docents and hear amazing stories—it’s a very social vibe, and it comes with a friendly little wink, you know. Some of the mid-century modern of it is very garish, very much of that moment, and we elevate that and people are absolutely loving it.”
Come and see for yourself. Check out what Jacobs calls the “Borscht Belt 101” video to refresh yourself on the history, feast your eyes on the giant gefilte fish triptych, look through a vintage View-Master at scenes from a vanished time, and be part of the ongoing evolution of this monument to the power of community, comfort food, and the snappy comeback.
borscht belt museum
90 Canal Street, Ellenville
845-879-3561
borschtbeltmuseum.org
