CATSKILLS WEST — Sharon Mark Cohen

If you’ve been following my blog posts, you know my “happy place” is the Catskill Mountains in Upstate New York. The Catskills are always close at heart.

Aside from my years of staying at bungalow colonies, starting when I was a toddler at my cousin’s Mountain View Bungalows on DeBruce Road in Livingston Manor, in the Sullivan County Catskills,* my husband Arnee and I stayed at the Nevele in Ellenville and Kutsher’s in Monticello several times. We also attended some of the Catskills reunions run by Prof. Phil Brown.

At the last reunion, we had our three children along. There, the older two, still in single digits, stayed in the adjoining bungalow to ours, doors unlocked; they frolicked in the grass in the morning. They also had a taste of the hotels with a couple of stays at Kutsher’s in its final years.

The fun at the last of the famous Catskill resorts included playing Simon Says with the social director, a tummler, watching toilet paper art created by the indomitable Morris Katz, bidding at auctions, time spent in indoor and/or outdoor swimming pools, skating at an in-house ice skating rink, and snowmobile rides. That’s not to mention the hefty meals and world-class nightclub shows… let’s just say, “IYKYK.”

That’s why, when we were in California visiting our daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren, I could not have been more excited that the Skirball Cultural Center had a short-term exhibit running from May 1-August 31, 2025, Away in the Catskills - Summers, Sour Cream, and Dirty Dancing, by Marisa J. Futernick. As you can imagine, I was in my glory.

We planned to visit the Skirball with our 2 1/2-year-old granddaughter, as we had last fall, to have her play again in the Noah’s Ark exhibit. Our daughter surfed the internet to look up the hours and saw that there is free admission on Thursdays, but the museum opens at noon. We didn’t have much time to see everything, but we got a lot for nothing!

Stevie had so much fun at the Noah’s Ark exhibit, which was slated to soon close for a few months due to an exciting expansion project. She also enjoyed Away in the Catskills, where she got to “write” on a postcard about her Catskills memories….

A friendly elderly woman handed Stevie a postcard from the stack of cards and a pencil to “write.” Then, the sweet woman put Stevie’s “comments card” on the board.

As the woman placed Stevie’s card on the board, I told her about the Borscht Belt Museum in Ellenville, New York, at the foothills of the Catskills in Ulster County. Adding that we were at the Borscht Belt Fest, which is revitalizing the area, she quizzically asked, “You went just for that?”

I told her about the fun events and that we stayed at Honor’s Haven Retreat, formerly the Fallsview Hotel, next to the Nevele Hotel in Ellenville. She said she was familiar with the older hotels.

I’m sorry I didn’t get a picture of the card Stevie drew on before she ran off to the next exciting thing to see. I am glad we ran into our “friend” again in the gift shop, looking at the Catskills items for sale. There, I had the chance to clarify and tell her that I realized she was amazed we traveled to Ellenville just for the Borscht Belt Fest because we met her in Los Angeles.

We arrived at the Skirball exhibit while visiting with our family in Los Angeles. Relaying the story, I laughed about realizing that we were in California, and Ellenville is a two-hour drive from our home in Northern New Jersey, not a five-hour flight.

The pictures below cover most of the exhibit, but the memories they evoke are the real gift. Do you have Catskill memories to share? Please feel free to post them in the comments section below the photos.

*I also have memories of shorter stays at bungalow colonies, including Mundlein’s, Sunny Glade, Alden’s, and stay-overs at other random colonies, plus overnights at our Cousin Fannie’s home in Liberty, New York. What fun!! When I think about it, I feel as though I’m breathing that fresh country air.