My Borscht Belt Story

North Carolina
No LL

I love telling stories. Perhaps you noticed. Anyhow, yesterday a man named Jim chatted with me in The Bean about the Borscht Belt. For those of you who don't know what that means, here is a definition. In the Catskill Mountains of NY, about 50 miles from Manhattan, there were several big and famous resort hotels, including Grossinger's, The Concord, and The Nevele. They catered to New York Jewish customers. Read more about it here.

Once, I was hired to teach a 3 day course at the Concord Hotel, so for the first and only time, I went to the Borscht Belt. What I learned there was amazing. The first thing I noticed was that my hotel room had a walk in closet bigger than my living room at home. Then, I went down to eat breakfast in the dining room. I was there in off season so there were not many guests. I was seated alone at a table for 8. There was a mountain of food on the table for me to eat. I ate about 3 times what I normally do. Then the waiter came around and started shoveling more food on my plate. He was pressuring me. "You can do it. Come on eat more." I was a bit shocked.

Later, I realized the real truth about this place. It must have been that the Jews from Manhattan had their own unique idea about how to go out in style. When they got very old, they would move permanently in to one of the Borscht Belt hotels. That's why their closets were so big. Then they would eat and drink and entertain themselves to death. Even the Wikepedia article about the Borscht Belt doesn't mention that. I think that I discovered a hidden truth that people don't talk about.

Today, all the famous Borscht Belt hotels are gone. Wikipedia blames it on changes in demographics and travel patterns. With them went a singularly unique piece of Americana.