Last month I recounted how an unplanned luncheon at Grossinger's golf course led my family to the small "mom and pop" owned Sunnyland Hotel. I will now share with you some of the memories created in the Catskills oasis where I spent many of my childhood summers.

People around my age, or perhaps a bit older, I know you're out there, will remember hotels in that era were different from what we now call resorts. Amenities we take for granted today were unheard of in the heyday of the Borscht Belt.

Brochures used to describe bathrooms as "convenient." Convenience was directly proportionate to where your room was located. Room number twelve, the Fein family favourite, was at the end of a long hall, furthest from the two bathrooms. All the guests shared these two stalls and in those days "private" meant there was a "hook and eye" latch on the door.

Although we were a bit of a hike from the toilets, we benefited from two tradeoffs. You see, we would often spend the High Holy Days at the Sunnyland. Our room was closest to the heater, which provided climate control for the entire floor. So while we were all comfy cozy on chilly early autumn evenings, those bathroom hogs at the other end of the hall were laying under triple blankets with their teeth chattering.

The other advantage to room number twelve was air conditioning. Not the air conditioning we have come to know and love today, but more of the old-fashioned type. During the hot months of July and August, it was incredibly uncomfortable in those small, boxy rooms. Number 12 was the only one on the entire floor featuring cross ventilation. That's right; natural air conditioning! Because it was the corner room, it had windows on two sides, so you can see why it was our favourite. Competition was keen for room number twelve, and often a shmeer to the owner ensured the availability of this prime location.

The Main House contained twelve guest rooms, a lobby and the dining room. It also had a wonderful long front porch with lots of rocking chairs for relaxing. Other smaller buildings also housed guests. These bungalows had four to six rooms each and the largest was known as the Main Cottage. The Main Cottage boasted eight guest rooms and three, count 'em, three toilets.

One summer Mr. and Mrs. Cocose, the owners of the Sunnyland, came up with a brilliant idea. A new luxury feature that was to beat all luxury features ever imagined for a hotel of this size.

Private showers!

That's right, a private shower right in your very own guest room. This was too good to be true. While the toilets were still located somewhere convenient, you no longer would have to traipse down the hall in your gatkes to bathe. Only four rooms offered this new amenity, so my parents made sure their reservation was in early so we could take advantage of this new miracle of modern resort life.

The newly equipped rooms looked exactly as they did before with a night table, dresser, sink and a couple of chairs, but now, between the two beds there was a brand spanking new stall shower. My father could hardly wait to test it, so while my mother unpacked for our three-week stay, he eagerly stripped down and hopped into the shower stall. Within a minute, my mother gave out a geshray that could be heard clear back to Queens because the room filled with steam, wrinkling and soaking every stitch of clothing we had brought with us. Oh well, I guess it takes a while to work out the kinks in any new technology.

No hotel would be complete without a swimming pool and the Sunnyland wasn't an exception. It had a lovely square, cement pool that plummeted to the staggering depths of five feet. There was no diving board for obvious reasons, but a rope ladder could be used for climbing into the murky, lukewarm water. To save a bit on the enormous cost of this "large hotel" luxury, the Cocoses decided to forgo a filtering system. At the beginning of the season, the water looked crystal clear and pristine, but as the weeks passed, it began to lose its clarity until you could only guess where the bottom might be. The Sunnyland pool was extremely popular with guests… early in the season.

Evening entertainment was important. The building, known as the Casino, served as the venue for festivities. Unlike Vegas, the only slots were in the wooden floor and more than loose coins would disappear into these holes. The Casino also doubled as the children's dining room. It was not unusual for a performer to discover a discarded piece of French toast on stage, resulting in an unscheduled bit of acrobatics not originally in the act.

The acts that appeared at these hotels were legendary. Many "big name" stars got their start in the Borscht Belt. Familiar household names such as Jerry Lewis, Danny Kaye, Totie Fields, Buddy Hackett, Eddie Fisher and myriad others got their first exposure to show business in the Hebrew Himalayas. There were however numerous other acts that never quite made it out of the hills.

I saved the best for the last, food. What can be said about the meals at these resorts that has not been said a gazillion times before? One of the measures of a hotel's quality in those days was how much weight a guest gained during their stay. How many times have I heard "Oy, did we have a vacation. The food was so good, I gained fifteen pounds." In the Catskills, every notch added to a belt was considered a dollar well spent.

Typical dinners would start with an appetizer such as gefilte fish or melon. This would be followed by chicken soup (nu, what else?) with a big kneydl in the middle and globs of fat floating on top. Then came the choice of flanken, London broil, rib steak, boiled chicken, roast chicken, fried chicken, or any kind of chicken except pickled chicken. On the same plate would be one or all of the Jewish KKK: Kasha, Kugel or Kishka. Vegetables, salad, bread and margarine were supplied in abundance. Dessert was cake: sponge, honey, marble and several other varieties along with Jell-O, fruit salad and bowtie cookies. What else could one ask for? Remember this? "Waiter, on your way to the kitchen dahlink, do me a favour. Bring me a bissel boiled chicken. And as long as you're going anyway, you could also bring a little extra kishka? Dat's a good boy." Or, "Please, could you bring me a little extra flanken? It's for my dog." Bow wow.

As I type these thoughts on my word processor, my mind fills with memories and stories of those wonderful years. I could hardly hope to put all of them in this column. Next month, I will be remembering the golden age of Borscht Belt entertainment. If you enjoy these stories, please let me know, and I will add more columns on this topic in the future. I get a great deal of joy remembering and writing about this period, so don't be shy.

Arnold put together a multimedia production illustrating some of my special memories of the summers gone by. In it, I explain a few aspects of small hotel life along with images of then and now. I should explain that if you are accessing the Internet using a dial-up connection, please click on the link labeled 56K. This will deliver a slightly degraded image, but it should flow very smoothly on your monitor. Those of you using high-speed connections, such as cable, should click on the link labeled "High-speed." This will deliver a better quality image in a larger format. Either way, these graphics have been salvaged from very old photos and slides as well as standard VHS video recordings. Unfortunately, these formats do not allow for the pristine quality we experience when using purely digital images. No matter, we hope you will enjoy viewing this presentation as much as we enjoyed creating it for you.

We wish to thank everyone who has made financial contributions to the Megillah. Your gifts are what make it possible for us to provide this service month after month as well as to offer extras such as the Catskills remembrances. Please click on the links provided below if you would care to add your support for our ongoing efforts.

We would like to wish you and your loved ones a very happy and sweet Pesach. In this time of war, let us all offer prayers for deliverance from hostility and battle to a world of peaceful coexistence and respect. Our thoughts are with the men and women abroad. May they return to their homes quickly and safely.

Enjoy the Megillah. Much love to all of you,
Michael
Editor