Fire destroys building at vacant Grossinger's resort, once a Catskill jewel
LIBERTY — A fire consumed a building at the site of the long-closed Grossinger’s resort, once among the most storied and glamorous hotels in New York’s Catskills.
In its heyday after World War II, Grossinger’s drew hundreds of thousands of vacationers a year, many of them Jewish. The Borscht Belt resort had a 27-hole golf course, indoor and outdoor pools, a nightclub, two kosher kitchens and a 1,500-seat dining room. It drew crooners like Eddie Fisher and has been cited as an inspiration for the 1987 movie “Dirty Dancing.”
The fire broke out Tuesday evening in a three-and-half-story building on the old hotel property. A column of smoke from the fire was visible for several miles.
Firefighters who responded to the scene had to cut through a gate and were hampered by overgrowth and concrete barriers. An excavator knocked down the structure after the fire was out, according to a Facebook post by the Liberty Fire Department.
It was not immediately clear what the building had been used for, though Sullivan County Fire Coordinator John Hauschild said the main building was torn down about four years ago. State police said the building that burned was on what had been Grossinger's golf course.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
The former 812-acre resort is about 80 miles north of New York City.
Fisher not only made his debut at Grossinger’s, but married fellow entertainer Debbie Reynolds there in 1955. Other big names to appear at the resort were Joel Grey and Leslie Uggams, as well as boxers Rocky Marciano and Jack Dempsey.
Grossinger’s operated for nearly 70 years before closing in 1986, suffering the fate of many local hotels after the region’s appeal faded. The site fell into disrepair amid efforts to redevelop it.
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Staff writer Mike Randall contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Grossinger resort building destroyed by fire in Liberty in Catskills
