I used to go cross-county skiing in the Catskills. A place with great trails was some huge fancy hotel. Three or four stories, at least 500 feet long. It was all run-down except for one little area on the end where they had a wood-stove going as a warming area.
A nice article about those long-lost days:
http://www.laobserved.com/intell/2013/08/two_jews_walk_into_a_catskills.php
“....Where Alan King was so big he gave a command performance for Queen Elizabeth. According to Frank, there is no record of Her Majesty’s reaction when, after greeting the comedian,”Hello, Mr. King,” he replied in kind: “Hello Mrs. Queen.”
From Catskills’ mouth to Liz’s ears.
“No Jew at that time ever went back to Europe [on vacation],” Jackie Mason explained, “because they just came from Europe ... and that’s where everybody got killed.”
Deprivation and scarcity were American Jews’ history, and they continue to reside in the collective memory. Black-and-white footage depicts a young Woody Allen in front of a microphone, fingering his pocket watch. “An antique gold heirloom,” he muses. “My grandfather on his deathbed sold me this watch.”
The borscht belt is indeed no more, since, as “Kellerman” said in that movie, “Kids would rather go to Europe nowadays than learn to rhumba”.