Going back just a few decades, almost all the kosher hotels were located in the Catskill Mountains

Open any frum magazine, and you’ll be inundated with five-star Pesach programs from all around the world, from Dubai to Italy to Florida to Cancun. But going back just a few decades, almost all the kosher hotels were located in the Catskill Mountains, and the average price per person for the entire Pesach was under a thousand dollars. Of course, if you were in shidduchim, your mother would make sure your wardrobe reflected the catch you were, but in general, it was an easier time, when people could enjoy Yom Tov without feeling they were on an over-the-top world tour.

The Pioneer

The Pioneer opened up in the early ’40s, and had originally been called Gartenberg and Schechter, after the two owners. In the ’50s, Leo Gartenberg took it over and renamed it the Pioneer Country Club. (It has a special place in my family’s heart, because that’s where my parents met.) The hotel was known for its high standard of kashrus as well as for the amount of tzedakah raised there, known as the Pioneer Milk Fund. Although the hotel had amazing food, what really made it stand out was the musical entertainment. There was a special auditorium called the Pioneer Playhouse that held close to a thousand people. In those days, anyone who wanted to make it in the Jewish music field had to start off at the Pioneer. During Pesach in the 1960s, stars like Shlomo Carlebach, Jo Amar, and the Rabbis’ Sons headed the lineup. The house band was the Messengers Orchestra, and every night of Chol Hamoed, Heshy Walfish on keyboard and Yehudah Isaacs on drums would perform in the lobby until 2 or 3 a.m.

Lake House 

The Lake House Hotel, which opened in 1953, was owned by the Katz family and located in Woodridge, NY. It was common knowledge that most of the hotel guests were repeat customers for years, and it was the place to go if you were bringing a large family along. The hotel prided itself on being family-oriented, and some of the extra-long tables for Pesach had as many as 30 to 40 family members. (The Lake House still exists as a chassidish summer resort for Sullivan County vacationers.)

The Pineview

The Pineview Hotel, which ran for 70 years, was owned by the Leibowitz family and located in South Fallsburg. The hotel was popular with many West Side families, its guest list including the Karasik family, the Bergmans, Rabbi Joe Kaminetzky, and Mr. Irving Bunim. While some hotels relied heavily on the entertainment, the Pineview was known for its focus on sports. There would be basketball tournaments all day long, as well as baseball and swimming. Many of the Pineview guests were Holocaust survivors, and that was a common topic of discussion among the older crowd. In the 1970s, Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis was one of the popular lecturers, her well-attended outdoor women’s shiur called “Lecture On the Lawn.” When Mr. Bunim would give his Pirkei Avos shiur, it was called “Perek On the Lawn.”

Zucker’s Glen Wild/La Vista 

Owned by the Zucker Family, this hotel opened in the 1950s and was the summer home of many gedolim. Rav Aharon Kotler, Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav Avigdor Miller, and Rav Eliezer Silver were just a few of the illustrious guests who enjoyed the rowboats on the lake on the premises. A couple of years after Zucker’s closed down, one of their sons, Leo, opened up the La Vista Hotel nearby in South Fallsburg. (Who can forget Jerry Markowitz’s famous jingle, “La-La Vista… Country Hotel”?

I had the honor of being the hotel’s music coordinator for several years. On Pesach, we usually had up to three performers per night.

Leo Zucker would always tell me that the speed at which the hotel would fill up was based on who was scheduled to perform. Leo, who attended the RJJ yeshivah, would always invite the yeshivah’s rebbeim, including the rosh yeshivah, Rav Mendel Kravitz.

Oppenheimer’s

The Oppenheimer Hotel, located in Fleishmanns, NY, and known for its homestyle cooking, is actually still operating today. My in-laws, who were regulars, would always rave about the “heimishe cooking.” When asked why they went to Oppenheimer’s — for the davening? The entertainment? The ambience? They would say, “What are you talking about? We go for the pike they serve!”

In those days, the entertainment was in an outdoor gazebo that would hold about 200 people. The star entertainment would be a hired violinist who played Jewish songs while everyone sang along. That was the highlight of Pesach.

The Stevensville

The first Pesach hotel that was not a year-round hotel was the Stevensville, located in Swan Lake. The hotel was run by Irwin Mehl and family, and was one of the first of the new style, classy hotels. There were professional music shows every night of Chol Hamoed in the Starlight room. When I started out in the music business in the early ’80s, the Stevensville was one of my first clients, and remained my client until they closed many years later. They were the first hotel to have a family show, together with a pre-show specifically for the younger kids. Uncle Moishy and Country Yossi performed there many times, in addition to many magicians and jugglers. But better than any show was the fact that the owner, Irwin, had a beautiful voice, and would always daven for the amud. I’ll always remember his version of “Chasal Siddur Pesach.” We miss you, Irwin.

Homowack Lodge

The Homowack, located in Wurtsboro, NY, was owned by the Davidman family. It was opened year-round, and it catered more to the Young Israel crowd. Radio host Nachum Segal was a big part of the atmosphere, as he would lead many programs and was the emcee for all the entertainment. The “Minister of Entertainment” was Shloimy Ash, who would begin booking entertainment almost a full year prior to Yom Tov. For the main concert night of Chol Hamoed Pesach in 1995, he booked Yosi Piamenta a”h back-to-back with Avraham Rosenblum of Diaspora. Both performers were known for their enthusiastic, extra-loud guitar playing. Shloimy told me that for months before Pesach, people were calling to ask if the music wouldn’t be too loud for them. Even as the guests were checking in on Erev Pesach, he got countless requests that the music not be too loud. Well, they needn’t have worried. As it happened, when the two performers stepped onto the stage, both of them had come with their acoustic guitars, and they were playing unplugged. The crowd went wild, and no one needed earplugs.

These hotel holidays were part of my childhood, but the part I remember most is the drive up to the mountains for Yom Tov. My brother would draw a sign saying “Chag Sameach” and my father a”h would hang it on the back of our car, and whenever Jewish drivers would pass, they would happily honk their horns.

Not everyone, though. In the words of Abie Rotenberg from the classic “Pesach Blues” song, “I’d like to lay down my mop, and rest my back, but we can’t afford the Homowack....”

Wherever you’ll be for Pesach, don’t overdo it.

Chag kasher v’samei’ach!

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1055)