The Abandoned Hotels of New York’s Famed ‘Borscht Belt’ Are Going Up in Flames, and No One Knows Why

Scattered among the Catskills mountains in upstate New York are the aging relics of a bygone era — once-grand hotels and resorts that made up what is collectively known as the Borscht Belt that have since been abandoned to the elements.Now, decades after many of them were permanently shuttered, they are burning for some reason. Three of them have burned in recent months, and the New York State Police have been brought in to investigate.The dining room of the Homowack Lodge, photographed by Marisa Scheinfeld, author of The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s Jewish Vacationland, in 2015.The latest is the Homowack Lodge at Spring Glen, New York. The iconic Ulster County lodging first opened in the 1940s and hit its heyday in the 1960s. The resort’s most recent incarnation as a summer camp for Chasidic girls ended in 2009 when the state health department shut it down because of widespread mold.Last week, the first of two fires broke out at the sprawling 50-acre site, destroying part of what remained of the three-story structure. Firefighters summoned from towns across the region managed to put the first one down, but a second that started Tuesday night succeeded in destroying the complex entirely. A New York artist who has been photographing the ruined hotels for years and is working on a historical marker trail commemorating the era, Marisa Scheinfeld, says fires at the derelict structures have not been uncommon over the years. Most of them were started by vagrants squatting or individuals partying or trespassing on the properties, she says.The recent spate of fires, however, is unusual, she says. “I’m not saying it’s arson at all, but I do find it interesting that there have been two fires in one week at the Homowack,” she tells the Sun. “It’s unfortunate and sad.”The Homowack Lodge in the 1960s. Photo courtesy of Marisa Scheinfeld, author of The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s Jewish Vacationland.At its height in the 1960s, there were hundreds of hotels and resort camps in the Borscht Belt that welcomed primarily middle- and working-class Jewish vacationers from nearby New York City. The resort’s nightclubs launched the careers of dozens of the 20th century’s most notable names in standup comedy, among them Joan Rivers, Lenny Bruce, Mel Brooks, and Rodney Dangerfield.More recently, the region was a fixture of a several-episode story arc in the second season of the popular Amazon television series, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” In it, the lead character — played by Rachel Brosnahan — and her family decamp to a resort at the Catskills for an entire summer to play parlor games such as Simon Says and lounge around the pools.Before the Homowack fire, a blaze engulfed the Pines Resort Hotel at nearby South Fallsburg in mid-June. With 400 rooms on 96 acres, the Pines was among the largest of the Borscht Belt hotels and attracted such luminaries as Tito Puente, Robert Goulet, and Buddy Hackett to play at its nightclubs during its prime.The dining room of the Pines Resort Hotel, photographed by Marisa Scheinfeld, author of The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s Jewish Vacationland, in 2016.The Pines closed in 1998, and since then had become something of a haven for vagrants, vandals, and squatters. Broken shards of glass jutted from most of its windows, and the famous kidney-shaped swimming pool was drained and covered in graffiti.Prior to the Pines, what was left of one of the region’s most famous resorts, Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel, burned in August of 2022. Grossinger’s, famous as the inspiration for the 1987 film “Dirty Dancing” starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, closed in 1986 after 70 years in business.The fires have spurred locals in the region, many of whom took summer jobs at the resorts back in the day, to scramble in their efforts to preserve what remains of the region’s history. A pop-up exhibition featuring photographs and mementos from the era is up this summer at the town of Ellenville, and the first Borscht Belt Festival is scheduled for late July. The exhibition will be housed permanently from 2025 onward in an old bank building being converted for the purpose.

The Abandoned Hotels of New York’s Famed ‘Borscht Belt’ Are Going Up in Flames, and No One Knows Why

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