Borscht Belt
By Janel Bladow on Wednesday, Jul. 9, 2014 - 3:21 pm
For a few days in July, the legendary Borscht Belt musical comedian and Ziegfeld Follies superstar Fanny Brice returns to the Catskills -- at least in spirit.
Actress and singer Patricia Dell stars in the upcoming one-woman show “One Night With Fanny... Read more
By Lissa Harris on Thursday, Mar. 13, 2014 - 11:31 am
An artist's rendering of the Adelaar in winter. Source: AdelaarNY.com.
Developers unveiled plans today for a massive 1,700-acre casino and resort on the grounds of the Concord resort in Monticello. Backers of the $750 million project are betting on... Read more
By Lissa Harris on Monday, Apr. 9, 2012 - 10:54 am
Above: Video of fire at the Tamarack Lodge from the Times Herald-Record.
Wildfire raged across the property of the former Tamarack Lodge on Route 52 in Greenfield Park over the weekend, destroying dozens of buildings and calling hundreds of firefighters... Read more
By Julia Reischel on Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2011 - 2:14 pm
Oh, who am I kidding? I love Dirty Dancing, that glorious 1987 dance-romance flick set in the fading glory of the 1960s Catskills, as much as anybody.
News broke yesterday that Kenny Ortega, the man responsible for High School Musical, has been tapped to... Read more
By Julia Reischel on Wednesday, Jun. 29, 2011 - 9:06 am
Photo by Flickr user Danielle Tsi.
The fate of borscht, the purple beet-based soup, seems inextricably tied to the fate of the Catskills. Both the soup and the region had their glory days in the 1950s, when the term "Borscht Belt" sounded glamorous,... Read more
By Julia Reischel on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011 - 9:03 am
Above: A photo of one of the many scenes of the abandoned Grossinger's resort.
The first time Jonathan Haeber heard of Grossinger's, he was reading Maus, the acclaimed graphic novel about the Holocaust by Art Spiegelman. Part of the story is set at the... Read more
By Julia Reischel on Tuesday, Jul. 6, 2010 - 1:55 pm
July marks the start of two months of a Jewish population boom across the Catskills, and what better way to celebrate that with a little sentimental storytelling? Ronald Pies at The Jewish Magazine tells a fable of two warring brothers set in the old... Read more
By Lissa Harris on Monday, Jul. 5, 2010 - 10:52 am
With the last Kutsher on the verge of retirement, the resort that inspired "Dirty Dancing" was poised to follow its Borscht Belt brethren into a long twilight of decrepitude. But in a lucky break for the 103-year-old hotel, caterer Mickey Montal and... Read more