As the Town of Fallsburg’s building inspector, Allen Frishman witnessed the bulldozing of countless dilapidated hotels and bungalow colonies that dot the Catskill Mountains.
But realizing he knew the last vestiges of the Borscht Belt era, Frishman salvaged signs, phone booths, porcelain tables, chairs, tchotchkes and ephemera from places like The Pines, the Raleigh Hotel and The Aladdin.
“There’s so much left over from the heyday,” Frishman said recently. “Families just left their property.”
![Vintage photo of the former Kutsher's Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills.](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2023/04/26/PWES/32509d02-ef76-4928-b72d-031fe80b1218-KUTSHERS_OUTDOOR_POOL.jpg?width=660&height=419&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Frishman, who chronicled his findings in his book “Tales of a Catskill Mountain Plumber,” stored the mementos in a pair of sheds behind his Mountain Dale home.
“This is a very important piece of Americana that will be lost unless we provide a safe haven for the objects and the stories and the photographs,” Frishman, 72, said.
His collection will soon head to a new museum in the village of Ellenville in Ulster County that will celebrate the period from about the 1920s to the early 1970s when summers brought thousands of Jewish vacationers to the Catskills. After a dozen years and several false starts, plans for a Borscht Belt Museum have been announced, with inaugural events taking place — when? – this summer.
Thank you, Mrs. Maisel
The museum acquired a 1928 neo-Georgian building in Ellenville that once housed the Home National Bank, which itself played a role in the heyday of the Borscht Belt. Home National was one of the few banks willing to finance Jewish hoteliers and bungalow colony owners, according to the museum’s founders.
![Allen Frishman's collection of memorabilia from the Catskills will be featured at the Borscht Belt Museum.](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2023/04/26/PWES/750c806d-e0de-4a32-988b-3e53e51061a2-Allen_Frishman.jpg?width=300&height=400&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
A popup exhibit featuring artifacts from Frishman’s collection and other items will begin in the museum’s main hall on July 1 and run through the fall, offering a taste of what’s planned for a full opening. for two years. On July 29, the first Borscht Belt Fest will take place at several locations in Ellenville.
The festival “puts Ellenville and the Catskills back on the cultural map,” said Andrew Jacobs of Wawarsing, co-president of the museum’s board of trustees.
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The nonprofit group is riding the wave of interest in the region’s history.
“It’s a real zeitgeist moment,” said Jacobs, 57. “I think for many, many years there’s been this sense of sadness, of loss, associated with the Borscht Belt era, and the feeling I think what you’re seeing now is an appreciation and interest in this period. Yes, it was fueled by ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,’ but there was also an increasing interest in mid-century modern design and culture.”
Millions have shared the ‘indelible’ experience in the Catskills
The museum project took on a sense of urgency for a coming-of-age generation of Jews who found respite in “the mountains” at a time when they were not welcome elsewhere, Jacobs added.
![A rendering of the future Borscht Belt Museum.](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2023/04/26/PWES/94500ba8-e624-401b-bfd9-c86e2107c063-Exterior_rendering.jpg?width=660&height=440&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
The list of museum advisory board members includes Fran Drescher, Harvey Fierstein, Judd Hirsch, Robert Klein and Richard Lewis — a fitting cast for a place where some of the country’s top comedians got their start.
The group bought the building for $468,000 from Somerset Properties, which is developing the property that once turned The Nevele — one of the region’s iconic hotels — into a luxury resort and housing.
When completed for an anticipated spring 2025 opening, the museum plans to feature archival film and audio, lecture and film series, interpretive materials for educators, interactive activities and workshops.
The board raised more than $250,000 of the project’s $5 million budget, which includes design, renovation and operating costs, Jacobs said. Most of the funds so far have come from foundation grants and individual donors.
He is optimistic about private and public support for the museum, which he sees as an economic driver for Ellenville — a village where an influx of new residents and businesses is creating a sense of optimism.
“There are arguably millions of people who have had very, very indelible experiences in the Catskills,” Jacobs said.
Marking the history of the Borscht Belt
The museum is not the only project celebrating the region’s past glory this year.
![A newsletter of the former Concord Resort Hotel in the Catskills.](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2023/04/26/PWES/0784881f-c43e-4e16-b5b0-75d9576ac55f-concord_news.jpg?width=300&height=450&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
The first of nine dedications of Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project will take place this spring and summer.
The first marker will be unveiled at 4:30 pm May 25 at the Ethelbert B. Crawford Library in Monticello, according to Marisa Scheinfeld, a photographer and author who grew up in the Catskills and now lives in Katonah.
Afterwards, the documentary “Welcome to Kutsher’s” will be screened, followed by a Q&A with directors Ian Rosenberg and Caroline Laskow.
Two more marker dedications will take place in August in the towns of Mountain Dale and Swan Lake with additional markers to begin this fall at Resorts World Catskills in Monticello and in Fallsburg.
Mountains of memories
The Borscht Belt Museum is celebrating its new home at 90 Canal St. in Ellenville with two events in July.
- A popup exhibit of its memorabilia collection starting July 1.
- The first Borscht Belt Fest, a July 29 celebration featuring a street fair with food vendors; panel discussions; and stand-up comedy performances at Shadowland Stages in Ellenville.
Information: Visit borschtbeltmuseum.org or send an email to info@borschtbeltmuseum.org
Robert Brum is a freelance journalist who writes about the Hudson Valley. Contact him and read his work atrobertbrum.com.