Before people disappeared inside smart phones, a thousand distracting apps and wall-sized TVs, they used to dress for dinner, enjoy a leisurely meal and watch great comedians and dancers live on stage. Thousands of Jews can tell you stories about Brown’s Hotel, once a popular resort in the Borscht Belt (aka the Catskills Mountains in New York). That was back in the 1950s and 1960s, when Jewish families vacationed during summers that moved at 30 mph.
Brown’s Hotel, converted into condos in the 1980s, burned down April 14. Like Grossinger’s, the Pines, the Concord and other establishments whose names have slipped into dusty death, Brown’s hasn’t been around for decades. But that doesn’t stop us from waxing nostalgic for a time when we could dance the night away without straining our backs and afford a four-course meal for a family of four. So goodbye, Brown’s — and thanks for the memories.
Copyright © 2012 by the Intermountain Jewish News
