Borscht Belt - Hurleyville

Borscht Belt - Hurleyville. . "I was there in the glory days of the Catskills and the audiences were tough and demanding. They really sharpened your act. It was do or die. No Borscht Belt, No Mel Brooks." , - Mel Brooks, During Sullivan County's Silver Age (1890-1915), Hurleyville was home to nine farmhouses that welcomed summer boarders. In the time of Sullivan County's Golden Age, (1940-1965), also known as the Borscht Belt era, Hurleyville had about 32 hotels and 20 bungalow colonies. , The Columbia Hotel, built in 1891, was the largest hotel in Hurleyville, located on a hillside overlooking the town. The Columbia was the oldest operating hotel in the country when it closed in 1969. Other hotels were the Butler Lodge, Grandview, Majestic, Kramers, and the Morningside. American comedian, director and producer Mel Brooks began his career at Butler Lodge as a teenager in the summer of 1941., -Side 2 -, From the 1920s through the early 1970s, the Borscht Belt was the preeminent summer resort destination for hundreds of thousands of predominantly east coast American Jews. The exclusion of the Jewish community from existing establishments in the 1920s drove Jewish entrepreneurs to create over 500 resorts, 50,000 bungalows and 1,000 rooming houses in Sullivan County and parts of Ulster County. The Borscht Belt provided a sense of community for working and vacationing Jews. The era exerted a strong influence on American culture, particularly in the realm of entertainment, music, and sports. Some of the most well-known and influential people of the 20th century worked and vacationed in the areas. Beginning around 1960, the Borscht Belt began a gradual demise due to many factors including the growth of suburbia, inexpensive airfare, and generational changes.