Borscht Belt - Fallsburg

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Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project

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Photographed by Jerry Klinger

1. Borscht Belt - Fallsburg Marker

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Photographed by Jerry Klinger

2. Borscht Belt - Fallsburg Marker side 2

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York

Valley.

Northeast,

Mid-Atlantic,

Appalachia,

Region,

America,

Hemisphere,

World,

Anglosphere.

Netherland

Colonies.

Photographed by Jerry Klinger

3. Borscht Belt - Fallsburg Marker

Marker sited in front of flag poles overlooking the scenic view.

The Catskill region was a popular getaway for a half-century from the 1920s through the 1970s. During its heyday, an estimated 500 hotels and resorts, 50,000 bungalows, and countless rooming houses welcomed guests, predominantly Eastern European Jews...

During the first half of the 20th century, rampant antisemitism in the hospitality industry limited access of Jewish people to many vacation spots.

The Catskills

Photographed by Jerry Klinger

4. Fallsburg - Falls

was a place where working, middle and upper-middle-class Jews could escape the heat of steamy tenements (before air conditioning) and enjoy nature and the fresh air.

Not only did they find acceptance here but also a true sense of community with people who shared a common culture. Yiddish was often spoken and 95 percent of the hotel kitchens were kosher.

Narrated by Cy Plotkin whose parents bought the original Woodlawn Villa in 1920. A brief history of hotels around White Lake and Kauneonga Lake, Sullivan County, New York. Created by Sullivan County Historical Society.

The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York,40 miles (65 km) southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music" and alternatively referred to as the Woodstock

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Rock Festival, it attracted more than 460,000 attendees. Thirty-two acts performed outdoors despite overcast and sporadic rain. It was one of the largest music festivals in history and became synonymous with the counterculture of the 1960s.[

Beyond safe haven, the Borscht Belt hoteliers put on a range of music and entertainment; their most notable contribution to American culture, however, was comedy. Influential entertainers Milton Berle, Henny Youngman, Red Buttons, Joan Rivers and Jackie Mason were among the many who got their start going from hotel to hotel. Even in the later days of the resorts’ prowess, stand-up comics like Jerry Seinfeld and writers like Alan Zweibel, who started out writing jokes for Catskills comedians on paper bags at a deli in Queens before working at “Saturday Night Live,” made the circuit.

“This became a really important proving ground for them,” says Jacobs, adding that comedians were able to do multiple shows a night. Their jokes could be salty and racy and were often self-deprecating, giving audiences a chance to laugh at themselves and at the doom and gloom that always seemed to be just around the corner. Crowds could be tough, so that helped comics improve their sets; if they were doing well, the audience’s reaction showed it.