Ghosts of the Catskills: Inside 2 Closed Legendary Resorts

they were the getaways from the city in the 50s and 60s known worldwide New York's Catskills resorts better known as the borscht belt it was in its day a major tourist destination and added tens of millions of dollars to the region's economy every year legendary comics played here a teenage Wilt Chamberlain practiced here and in the summer tens of thousands of New Yorkers left the sweltering city behind for Mountainair recreation and adventure it meant everything I mean we were all about tourism we were be tourism destination in New York State in the Northeast for four generations it was a time and memory brought to a new generation through a now classic movie that was set here nobody puts Baby in a corner the resort in dirty dancing was a composite stitched together from the memories of the more than two dozen best-known Catskills resorts resorts that today are all gone it decimated our Main streets what you see here today is indicative of most of our Main streets here in Sullivan among the best known resorts was Grossinger's which closed in 1986 this is what remains of Grossinger's today unused for almost 30 years I was given an exclusive look inside what remains and a look into the past it looks like a disaster scene the amazing thing is that almost 30 years after Grossinger's closed there are still pieces of hotel everywhere from the the trays where the waiters used to place the lunch orders here in the luncheonette to the chairs that they used I mean it doesn't look anything like it used to but this is still Grossinger's there are so many reminders here of what Grossinger is once was they are little peeks into the past the bright red of the building where visitors would rent ice skates the Art Deco lights of the indoor pool even the beauty salon now in need of some beautifying itself okay this looks like brush or blush and I don't know what this is some sort of balm this is these are hair pins the boxes labeled invisible hair pins little rusty but looks like they would still be usable perhaps the most haunting remains of Grossinger's ghosts the once beautiful indoor pool enclosed in glass covered by its majestic wood ceiling it has survived but not well the pool now covered in graffiti leaks allowing the room to act as an unwelcome terrarium it could stand as a symbol for today's Catskills you know looking at the indoor pool here at Grossinger's it's a personal connection for me my family stayed here in 1985 we were here for a family reunion I swam in this pool obviously didn't look anything like it does now some of the room does but the pool itself completely different and it it actually hurts a little bit to see the way that it's fallen into disrepair as the memories come flooding back of much happier days for Grossinger's you had this monstrous industry that went on for again generations and what happened was air-conditioning became accessible to everybody you could throw an air-conditioner in your window so you didn't have to run away from the city to get away from the heat in the late 80s new owners began to renovate if the economy turned and even this new Grossinger's never reopened this was the grand lobby at the main entrance during an attempt to refurbish Grossinger's in the late 1980s this would have been what people saw when they first walked through the door to check in now this part of the hotel never opened the economy wouldn't allow for it but a quick look around gives you an idea of what this space could have been and what it might be again someday the hotels that held on to the end never made the transition into the new tourism way of doing things a spa that kind of thing but what I will tell you is back 50 years ago the hotel your's really recognized that things were going to change the things have changed and that's why they started the quest for the casinos Grossinger's is not a potential casino site but it is connected to the Concorde casino bid developers save Concord becomes a casino Grossinger's will be reborn and live again and it's not the only borscht belt legend hoping for a second life there's so much to do we go to a thing and it's up to you I could never this is today at the Nevel II unseen since it closed in 2009 we also got an exclusive look around here its signature round high-rise now popped with broken windows and that ski lodge fireplace now looks like this sitting here today it's not difficult to see the future that the folks at the nevela are hoping for out the window of the chalet the ski slope as people would come skiing in behind me a roaring winter fire and the ice rink filled with skaters and then often the distance behind that the casino and the hotel bringing people back to this part of Ulster County and bringing tourism back to the Catskills the proposed resort would be the same size as in evalee the original level II so you know the infrastructure can accommodate it there's no environmental issues you have the natural the second thing is you have the natural backdrop of the Shang gum Ridge the Neville II is also hoping for a rebirth and is one of the region's nine proposed casino sites at a casino and developers say they can reopen the Neville II and help the nearby town of Ellenville thrive again for the first time in decades I think that you'll see a bustling community again with some support businesses and again I think that the hotel the spa or whatever you would like to call it would employee working a working-class crowd that's going to spend their money here and they're talking about a total of about 1,800 employees and we have the housing stock for it and the infrastructures here so I think it'll be a bustling community again and there is reason for hope in the Catskills and he said the casino law was written with the Catskills in mind and they point to Governor Cuomo who said this just a few miles from both resorts the day after the casino ballot proposal passed we had the Concord we had coaches we have in evalee we just need something to be an engine to turn that switch again and it's casinos but the governor's words will not dictate were the one or two casinos for the Catskills and Hudson Valley region will go this formula will that seventy percent focus on economic activity could easily lead to one or both new casinos in Orange County closer to New York City than the Asian Catskills and closer to all the people and tourists a more southerly Casino could attract and if even one casino is put there it wipes us out I mean how do you expect how could we expect somebody to pass through Orange County and drive another 50 minutes to come here if there's one there so I mean that makes no sense of course the state Gaming Facility Location Board gave New Hope to chairman Samuelson and other supporters of casinos in Sullivan County by approving the application of the Mon train casino in the town of Thompson and by not placing any casinos in Orange County but the story isn't all good news the Neva Lee was passed over by the location board and will likely remain closed indefinitely and the casino site selected in Sullivan was not the one connected to Grossinger's so it's fate is also unclear as we enter 2015

Channel: Andrew Whitman

Views: 79,880

Rating: 4.8369565 out of 5

Keywords: Catskill Mountains (Mountain Range), Travel, Borcht Belt, Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel (Location), Nevele Grand Hotel (Structure), Casinos, Tourism, NY, NY Politics, Sullivan County (US County), Orange County (US County), New York (US State), FiOS1 News, RNN, Andrew Whitman, Politics, Government, Jobs

Id: GLD8bGyyZXc

Length: 7min 47sec (467 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 05 2015