In New York State there are regions, pockets and towns where the mysterious and historic coalesce into something that becomes oddly renowned. As time and generations go by, the narrative morphs into legend. An "oddspot" such as the Borscht Belt is unmatched anywhere else in the country. Its once luxurious remains are tucked into the peaks and cloves of the Catskill Mountains, in the form of hotels, lodges, spas and resort complexes that once hosted the well-to-do clientele of New York City. "Borscht", because this clientele were primarily Jewish. A Kosher meal could be found almost anywhere between Yonkers and Albany, given the heyday of over 500 of these vacation Edens of Upstate.
The woods might be remote, but the affluence was not. These places slowly fell to ruin after closing in the late 20th Century. New means of affordable transportation to further exotic (European) destinations meant that the Catskills no longer had that schmaltzy appeal. There's one location in particular that has had it's fair share of YouTube tourists since the smartphone has been in use - Grossinger's. The establishment opened as Grossinger's Terrace Hill House in 1919 and evolved and grew to become a full resort before closing in 1986. Entertaining guests such as Eddie Fisher, Jerry Lewis, and Milton Berle, the location was even the inspiration for the movie Dirty Dancing.
We visited the dilapidated ruins of Grossinger's in winter of 2018 and gathered footage of the various buildings on the entire campus. One in particular happens to be one of the older lodge buildings in Tudor style, which were first opened in the early 1900's. The lodge itself was in severe disrepair upon our exploration, and further news of Grossinger's entire demolition reached us some months later. Our video may be some of the last footage of the early resort lodge in existence, as they are all but rubble in a landfill now.
Watch our Exploration of Grossinger's Resort Lodge here:
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