The Borscht Belt by Dale Rio

Public Project

The Borscht Belt

Copyright Dale Rio 2024

Updated Aug 2015

I have always been fascinated by abandoned places, particularly those that were of great importance in their heyday. I recently discovered the Borscht Belt, an area of the Catskills that boasted an enormous number of massive, luxury resorts and more modest bungalow communities for much of the 20th century. It was a place where people from New York City, (particularly Jews), spent their summers, and many great musicians and comedians got their start there. A number of factors - use of air conditioning, an increase in airplane travel, and a decrease in anti-semitism - contributed to the decline of the Borscht Belt. Most of the resorts and bungalow communities are abandoned or have been razed, apart from a handful that are still operational, some clinging to life. It is mind-blowing to think of the sheer number of buildings that once existed in the area and are now gone.
I started making trips to the Borscht Belt to shoot in the winter of 2015 and am collaborating with an historian on a project focusing specifically on the bungalow communities. We chose this focus because although research exists on the resorts, little has been done in regard to the more humble bungalow communities.

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Dale Rio

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