south Fallsburg

The 96-acre Pines Hotel offered “fabulous facilities both day and night.” Located in South Fallsburg, the hotel operated year round and catered to families with 400 luxury rooms, an ice skating rink, tennis courts, skiing, golf, indoor and outdoor pools, a theater, numerous bars, nightclubs, poker rooms, and more!

Originally the Daisy View Hotel, in the 1930s the hotel was renamed the Moneka Lodge before it’s original owners, Silverstein and Weiner, sold it to Harry Cohen and May Schweid who renamed it the Pines Hotel. Opening in the 1940s, the Pines grew into one of the largest resorts in the Catskills. Schweid’s daughter Harriet would go on to run the hotel with her husband Jerry into the late 1990s.

In the late 1940s through the early 1960s the Pines added a new recreation building and an iconic outdoor swimming pool that had a distinct arch bridge. This was followed by a new lobby, card room and indoor pool - designed by Architect H.D. Phillips. In 1962, the 1,300-seat Persian Room nightclub was constructed followed by the Wedgwood Room and Viceroy Room ballroom.

Advertisements for the hotel boasted - “Use your head when you head for the hills and head for the Pines!”

SCHENK’S PARAMOUNT: THE SYMBOL OF CAREFREE LIVING - The most futuristic and modern hotel in Borscht Belt History…as told by the daughter of the Hotelier, Laura Schenk Miller:

In 1911, a 16-year-old girl arrived in Ellis Island, having traveled by herself from Minsk to escape the pogroms. From the $5 per week she earned in a sewing factory, she saved enough to bring her younger brother and sister to New York.

That girl was my grandma Bracha (Berthe). Looking back on her 16-year-old self, she always laughed and said she had “more nerve than brains”.  In 1915, she married a charismatic singer in the Metropolitan Opera, my grandpa Jacob (Jack) Schenk. Together they had three children, Lillian, Sylvia, and my father, Harold (Hal) Schenk.

In the 1940s, Berthe achieved her dream of building a resort hotel in South Fallsburg, Schenk’s Hotel.  Jack, Berthe and their children lived on the premises. Their children attended a red one-room schoolhouse. After serving in the Army, Hal became the hotel manager. When the main building at Schenk’s Hotel burned down, Hal, an artist, helped redesign it in a spectacular mid-century modern style. Hal designed the sculpture you”ll see pictured on the historic marker. The glamorous woman wearing a red blouse and gold lamé pedal pushers is my mom, Ellie Schenk.

As a child, I lived year-round on the premises, surrounded by extended family members who worked at Schenk’s. Grandpa would start the evening shows by singing the Star-Spangled Banner and Ha Tikva. After the shows, performers from all over the Borscht Belt circuit would convene at Schenk’s to schmooze and decompress.

In establishing Schenk’s Hotel, my grandma Berthe had truly created a bit of paradise, a haven from memories of the pogroms and the Holocaust, from the teeming city and the all-too-present antisemitism elsewhere.

- Laura Schenk Miller

“Everybody’s Going to the Raleigh!”
For over a century the Raleigh Hotel in South Fallsburg served as a summer getaway! Opening in 1937, the 320 room on 90-acres was originally known as the Ratner Hotel. As the story goes, one summer a man named Mannie Halbert came to work at the Ratner. At Ratner’s, Mannie met and fell in love with his future wife, Nettie, who worked behind the front desk. Nettie’s parents were also employed by the hotel. In the 1950s, along with their parents, Mannie and Nettie purchased the hotel and redubbed it the Raleigh.
Over the next half century, they expanded the hotel and turned into one of the premier places in the region. A catalog of stars appeared at the Raleigh from Sammy Davis Jr to Eartha Kitt and Jayne Mansfield along with  countless bands — one of the most notable being the folk-rock band The Byrds. Legendary comedians such as Rodney Dangerfield, Jackie Mason, Milton Berle and Totie Fields drew millions of laughs in the hotel’s nightclub and Swizzlestick Lounge. 
The Raleigh was highly regarded for its thriving Latin music scene. Along with drawing crowds from NYC, after playing other hotels in the Catskills Latin performers would head over to the Raleigh for its iconic Mambo Night — featuring a Mambo Show AND a Late Night Mambo (which started around 1 or 2 am)! The hotel was also known for its jam sessions with ten to fifteen musicians showing up at a time for a sit-in.
The Raleigh’s longtime owner Mannie Halbert died in 2004. The hotel temporarily closed in December 2005 and then reopened the following year under the ownership of an Orthodox Jewish group known as the Bobover Chassidic sect. As of January 2024, the hotel was under contract for 24 million to be sold to HCS, an organization dedicated to children with special needs. 
 

Welcome to Hotel Brickman  - The Resort with a Personality! 

After immigrating from Russia in 1908, Abraham and Molly Brickman left an overcrowded New York City and purchased land in the Catskills just outside of South Fallsburg, NY. Brickman was a farmer and intended to do so in his newly adopted home. With farming not proving lucrative, he began to take in boarders to help make ends meet. Soon enough farming took a back seat to hosting guests at Brickman’s Pleasant Valley Farm.

When Abe and Molly’s daughter Anna Brickman and her husband Joseph Posner took the reigns, Pleasant Valley had grown into the Brickman Hotel, arguably one of the most successful of Sullivan County’s 538 hotels and resorts.

In 1964, under the management of Anna and Joseph’s two sons, Ben and Murray, the hotel was one of the ten largest hotels in the region, advertising accommodations for 700 guests and offering all the usual amenities, plus a nursery and a day camp at its “Vacation Fun Center.”

The Brickman Hotel operated from 1912 to December 1986, a total of 72 years. After its closure it was purchased by the SYDA Foundation (who also bought the Gilbert Hotel) operates a yoga and mediation ashram. 

For more on the Brickman, check out the new book by @pattiposner (Ben’s daughter and Anna and Joseph’s granddaughter) called My View from the Mountains: A Catskill Memoir. It’s a personal story that strips away the glitz and glamour often associated with the era, trading it in for a more authentic, locally-driven experience. 

The Windsor Hotel in South Fallsburg was operated by the Sussman family. The 221-room hotel had the usual amenities of a Borscht Belt resort - a pool, handball, basketball, golf, tennis, boating, horseback riding, and live shows in the evening with comedians such as Red Buttons and Totie Fields. It’s glittering playhouses—two nightclubs - The Twilight Room & Bon Soir (pictured in slide 2) were some of the areas largest and most detailed. The Windsor Hotel was branded the most elegant hotel in the Borscht Belt, its brochure boasted it as a destination “For smart, informal living!” 

The 1966 film “Moonlighting Wives” a B-rated and very frisky movie during the swinger era was filmed at the hotel.
The Windsor was sold in 1975 to a transcendental meditation group who later sold it to SYDA Foundation in 1985 and converted it into an ashram where disciples of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi from India meditate. The destination became a major center for in the United States for transcendental meditation. In 2003, the former hotel returned to its Jewish roots and was sold to the The United Talmudical Academy of Kiryas Joel, who opened a yeshiva religious school for boys and girls.

The Most Wonderful Things Happen at the Nemerson! On a picturesque lake, the Nemerson accommodated every wish!  Owned by Abe and Anna Nemerson, in the 1920s and 1930s the hotel had one of the largest, most premiere playhouses in the region. During the day, the Nemerson offered an Olympic sized outdoor pool, fully equipped sports fields, a solaria and modern health club. At night, a “pleasure land of cocktails, lavish entertainment and dancing” would await you in the Penguin Club!  If that wasn’t enough the hotel topped it off with “unforgettable mealtime hours!”  
In the early 1970s the Nemerson was sold to members of the Italian community who renamed it the Bel Fior. Later on, it became the Deville Country Club before rebranding as Zucker’s La Vista Country Club in the 1990s. The historic property now operates as Machneh Bnos Yisroel Viznitz, a religious school and camp for girls.

The Heiden - a “charming friendly hotel in country surroundings!” The Heiden Hotel was founded by the Heiden family in 1906 and operated until 1986.  

The hotel was remodeled sometime in the late 1930s, or early 1940s using the architectural style of Sullivan County Tudor. Following the craze of Sullivan County Mission style façades, was a new revival style that utilized architectural influences from Europe. The style made visitors feel closer to home during and after World War II. The Heiden was one of the few hotels that did not modernize their buildings during the Mid Century Modern renovation craze of the late 1950s. 

The gabled Tudor-style hotel was highly noted for for its day camp and family scene. The day camp was widely advertised by the hotel and was one of the few to do so. While many hotels and bungalow offered day camps or child care services, they prioritized their advertising on other amenities such as entertainment or new facilities. The Heiden prided itself on its family friendly atmosphere. One of the unique services that day cares in resorts provided was the Nite Patrol. While parents were out at night, camp counselors would go and check the children periodically throughout the night. Guests would hang a special card on their door handle before leaving for the night. 

The Heiden forever showcased the distinctive relationship between the Catskills resort’s owners, staff and guests when the hotel was featured in the 1987 movie, Sweet Lorraine. The film is considered by many movie critics to be the most authentic film about the Catskills. The film is authentic in that a movie about a Catskills resort was filmed at an actual Catskills resort. Dirty Dancing was filmed in North Carolina and Virginia and A Walk on the Moon was filmed in Canada. 

Many of the hotel’s guests were extras in the film along with Sullivan County residents. The film’s director and producer was Steve Gomer ,whose grandfather had been a chef at the Heiden in the 1950s. Gomer spent his childhood summers at the hotel and later grew up to marry the granddaughter of the hotel’s original owners.

The Heiden was abandoned following the release of the film and the main structures burned in 2008. Today, a drive by the former hotel will notice only the outdoor pool remains with construction equipment on the site. The country road in South Fallsburg still bears her name.

Welcome to Hotel Irvington!

As told by the son of the hotelier, Bart Charlow…

“The Hotel Irvington was born around 1930 when Herman and Rachel Charlow purchased the then Hotel Liss, renamed it after their oldest son and declared it a “hotel of distinction.” The Charlow family were Woodridge Jewish farmers, who among many founding Borscht Belt families moved into renting rooms, then operated the Hotel Glass (later the Saxony) before the Irvington. 

With 150 rooms and 65 bungalows, athletic facilities, day camp, 7 days/week live major entertainment and American Plan dining, the Irvington was a central feature of the South Fallsburg Hotel Row, growing to one of the largest operations between the Rivoli and the Flagler area for over 40 years. 

Red Buttons and Robert Alda started their careers with the Charlows, and Jackie Mason was almost the MC. The three Charlow sons, Irving, Frank and Julie, were immortalized in comedic song by Yiddish comedienne, Jennie Goldstein. The Hotel Irvington was noted as one of the first in the area to integrate its staff.

For three generations the Charlows operated this seasonal resort, full of love and laughter, generating many lifelong friendships and marriages among the guests and staff.”

Today, the Irvington hotel property is now part of Irvington Estates on Route 42 leading into South Fallsburg—the main buildings have been lost to time, but some hotel wings remain and have been converted into summer housing.

PLAZA!

P: pleasure galore
L: leisurely relaxation
A: amusement round the clock
Z: zestful dining (dietary laws)
A: all around vacation paradise

With its commanding location and panorama view on La Vista Drive in South Fallsburg, the HOTEL PLAZA was nothing short of fabulous! Built by the Levine family before being sold to proprietors A. Patt & M. Orlansky, the hotel’s menus and brochures boasted the hotel “In a Class by Itself!”

The majestic white stucco hotel with its red roof employed a full social and sporting staff for all entertainment and recreational desires! The Plaza offered modern accommodations - air conditioning and an elevator (rare for those days) complimented by a picturesque swimming pool, state of the art playhouse and social hall.

South Fallsburg served as the de-facto summer home to members of the organized crime group Murder Inc. Mobster Jacob “Gurrah” Shapiro sent his mother, wife, and kids to the Plaza Hotel while the group’s infamous kingpin Louis “Lepke” Buchalter basked at a hilltop estate nearby.

In the mid to late 1960s the Hotel Plaza burned in a fire. By the late 1970s when photographer John Margolies was documenting the American landscape and spent time in the area, all that remained was the pool and ruins of the handball court. Those relics are now long gone, but the memory of the hotel lives on!

Originally called Rubels Mansion, Gilbert’s was Anne & Carl Gilbert’s “futuristic resort.” A lesser documented hotel from the Borscht Belt, the hotel was one of the largest in South Fallsburg. The hotel’s sleek white mid-century exterior was contrasted with a palette of rainbow colors inside. Its brochure boasted the year-round reprieve with having “all the dramatic beauty of the future and changing hospitality of the past.”

In 1974, the hotel was sold to the Shree Muktananda Ashram, a meditation center, who maintains it until this day.