Recalling 100 Years Of Summers In The Catskills

1-20-98
Harrisburg, Pa. --- A new book, "Borscht Belt Bungalows: Memories of Catskill Summers," is truly a labor of love by a Penn State professor, detailing 100 years of Jewish summers in the mountains of New York.

Every year between 1920 and 1970, nearly one million of New York City's Jewish population summered in the Catskills. Hundreds of thousands still do, but while much has been written about grand hotels like Grossinger's and the Concord, little has appeared about the more modest bungalow colonies where more than 80 percent of the Catskill visitors stayed.

A cultural study, history and memoir woven into an in-depth look at Catskill summers, "Borscht Belt Bungalows" begins with the first Jewish farming settlements and progresses through the boom years and the later decline of the once-popular vacation haven. The book is published by Temple University Press in Philadelphia, Pa.

Dr. Irwin Richman, professor of American studies and history at Penn State Harrisburg, has drawn upon a lifetime of personal experience to profile life in the bungalow colonies, ranging from the traffic jams when leaving the city to the strategies for sneaking into the casinos of the big hotels. He reminisces about the changing fashions in indoor activities and in sports like handball, baseball and basketball, and he recalls the moment the swimming pool became a necessity and he voted to add one.

The trials and tribulations of the small-time entertainers are here, too, along with those of the guests and owners -- everything that made summers memorable.

Richman has spent at least part of every summer of his life in the Catskills. His parents, Alexander and Bertha, owned a small bungalow colony, and his grandfather, Abraham, was in the mortgage business. In his youth, he worked as a counselor and camp director at larger colonies, and frequently accompanied his grandfather on business calls throughout the hundreds of colonies.

The memoir/history touches on the attitudes of the renters and the owners, and the differences between the social activities and swimming pools advertised and what people actually received.

The Penn State Harrisburg scholar also traces the changes in the Catskills, including the influx of Hasidic families. Richman talks about what it's like to go back and to see the ghosts of resorts along the roads he once traveled.

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Contacts:
Steven Hevner (717) 948-6029 sdh4@psu.edu
Irene Imperio Temple University Press (215) 204-1099 iimperio@astro.ocis.temple.edu