Our readers share their Grossinger’s memories
In tribute to Elaine Grossinger Etess who died on January 27, 2026
To start, here’s the backstory of the Janoff famiy, the founders of the Jewish Standard, and their memories of Grossinger’s.
The Janoff family of Teaneck, formerly of Jersey City, spent many vacations at Grossinger’s. Morris Janoff, the Jewish Standard founder, went to college, and then to law school at night, at Rutgers. His day job — which he needed in order to afford law school — was at the Jewish Standard, then a young and struggling enterprise. He worked with Meyer Pesin, another lawyer-turned-newspaperman, who edited the stories, wrote the editorials, and provided the editorial vision that combined with Morris’s understanding of business and the local community to drive the Standard forward.
Here’s some interesting if perhaps tangential Jewish geography — Meyer Pesin’s wife, Regina, had a sister. She was Jennie Grossinger. Catskills royalty. Everything connects. When the Janoffs went to Grossinger’s, it included special time with the Pesins and their extended family.
Who could ever forget the outdoor and indoor pools (with a glass observation window in the wall so people outside could watch the swimmers)? Ice skating rinks? Entertainment in the nightclubs? The resort also had an extensive golf course and even its own airstrip and lake. The hotel had 585 rooms set on 1,000 acres; the dining room was rumored to seat about 1,300 guests. The Janoffs would bring countless suitcases filled to the brim; everyone dressed to the nines, and took part in as many activities as possible. The choices were endless in the dining room and you could order as little or as much as you liked.
The resort’s facilities and main hotel closed when the Grossinger family descendants sold the property in 1986.
As an FYI: Sam Pesin is the president of Friends of Liberty State Park in Jersey City — continuing his father Morris Pesin’s legacy. Morris was the brother of Meyer Pesin (1911-1987), editor emeritus of the
Jewish Standard.
JP
Grossinger’s memories
Elaine Grossinger Etess died in January. Reading about her evoked many memories for us. (See her obituary on page 48.) Many of our readers also have fond memories of the Borscht Belt, whether they went to Grossinger’s, Brown’s, the Concord, the Nevele, or any of the very many hotels that once flourished there.
It is estimated that there were more than 1,000 hotels, summer camps, bungalow colonies, and other similar places in the Catskill Mountains.
We asked our readers to share their memories of Grossinger’s. Here are some of the amazing stories we received.
Beth Janoff Chananie
As a teenager I spent every summer at my great-uncle’s hotel. It was just up the road from Grossinger’s hotel. My summers were wonderful but I always knew that they did not compare to what was right next door to us. A few years later my husband to be and I got married just before Passover. There was no doubt in either of our minds that our honeymoon would have to be at a kosher hotel that would be special. We agreed on Grossinger’s; nothing prepared us for how special it would be. The rooms were great, the indoor pool, the shows and the food met all of our expectations. What really blew us away were the preparations for the holiday which took place in a day. They changed the dishes, glassware, silverware, etc. More amazing was that they changed and cleaned the light bulbs, the fountain fixtures in the coffee shop, and yet never let us feel inconvenienced. Even better was Jennie Grossinger, who made every guest feel like a guest in her home.
When I prepare for Passover, I remember our first married Passover and how special it felt. I hope I always make my guests feel that feeling!
Elaine (and Seymour) Schlossberg,
Wayne
I have very good memories of Grossinger’s from the many summers and Christmas/New Year’s spent at the resort as a busboy and waiter between 1963-1967, earning money to help pay for my college education at Rutgers College in New Brunswick. Those years were lots of fun and hard work, at the height of the Borscht Belt circuit. I have memories of Jennie Grossinger sitting at the front of the dining room, greeting all her guests on Friday night, with wine and challah on every table to allow those who were inclined to say Shabbat prayers. Those were still the days when Grossinger’s Rye Bread was sold in groceries, and regularly available for the diner’s pleasure. Serving the traditional Jewish cuisine, and getting to eat it ourselves, was just terrific. The servings were always plentiful, and we enjoyed the typical requests for another entree “for the table.”
It was my pleasure to often be assigned to the dining room terrace station, near the kitchen, overlooking the vast dining room where I got to serve celebrities (like Jackie Mason and Eddie Fisher) who were entertaining at the hotel, and other well-known people, such as politicians and family members of the Grossinger family. We were always focused on the big tippers, because that was why we worked at this hard job. The college-age busboys and waiters were encouraged to mingle with the guests, especially during the “singles” week events. One of my guests eventually hired me for a part-time sales job, when I returned to campus, which proved quite profitable.
Those years were thoroughly enjoyable, because we were able to see the entertainers that appeared at Grossinger’s, and attend other social events at the nearby Catskill resorts. We made many good friends because we all had similar backgrounds and needed the money to finance our educations.
Amos Gern, Esq.
Livingston
Above is an excerpt from an article my mother, Jeanette Rachmuth, wrote about Jennie Grossinger in 1955, as well as a letter from Jennie to my mother. In the letter, Jennie wrote, “I would also like you to know that I have never liked an article written about me as much as I do this one.”
My mother used her maiden name, Jeanette Rachmuth, on the byline; after she married, she was known as Jeanette (Jean) Herschaft.
Sent from Jean Herschaft’s son, Randy Herschaft, Fair Lawn,
with permission to reprint
When Elaine Grossinger Etess died recently, I saw an article with the email address to send memories of Grossinger’s to — and responded to it with my words of praise for her, and the hotel. I was born in the town where Grossinger’s was, Liberty, NY, and went to Liberty High School with Elaine’s sons, Mark and Mitchel. Mark worked for the Trump Organization (casinos) and died in a helicopter crash in the late 80’s or early 90’s. My parents both worked at Grossinger’s hotel as teenagers, and met there. They never left Liberty until they died. I left Liberty in December 1980.
My father worked as a bellhop at Grossinger’s starting at age 14. He joined the Navy at age 17, and returned immediately after the war. He and Elaine were the same age, and were very good friends (both before and after his time in the Navy), although it was always platonic.
Upon returning from the Navy, he met and married my mother, who also worked at the hotel. Elaine was very happy for them and spent the next few decades letting us kids use all the hotel’s facilities, see shows, ski, horseback ride, etc. We even had weddings, sweet-sixteens, etc. at Grossinger’s, always at a very good rate thanks to Elaine’s generosity and friendship with my parents. Four of my siblings worked at “The G” at one time or another. My sisters babysat for guests’ kids, and worked as waitresses in the dining room. Two of my sisters put themselves through college that way. My brother worked as a bellhop.
I have a picture of my father with the bellhops and Rocky Marciano, who was the world Heavyweight Boxing Champion at the time. Rocky trained at Grossinger’s and was also a good friend of my father.
While an undergrad, the renowned attorney Alan Dershowitz worked for my father’s crew during summers at Grossinger’s, and was enrolled in a pre-med program. My father asked him why he was in pre-med, when he KNEW he was going to be a lawyer. The rest, as they say, is history.
I am very grateful to have lived in Liberty when I did, while Grossinger’s was still an amazing place. In the 1980’s, just as I was leaving Liberty for good, things began to go sour in the Catskills. But anyone who walked those hallowed hallways, lined with pictures taken at Grossinger’s of every A-List celebrity from the 20th century (some taken by my uncle Jerry Park, the hotel’s photographer for many years), knows that Grossinger’s was a place where life happened at its best. The food, the entertainment, the mountain air, the lake (where Olympic swimmers would train), and most of all, the opportunity to meet your future spouse, were all unequaled when compared to the Grossinger’s experience.
Dave Levy lives in Massachusetts.
As the story goes, my parents, Dr. Leo and Freda Kohn of South Orange, said that I was conceived the weekend this picture was taken at Grossinger’s, in March 1949; I was born in January 1950. They never took me to Grossinger’s. My loss!! I think they went again, but without their kids.
Alice Kohn Barron
Chatham
Here are a few of my fondest memories of Grossingers, told the way I remember them as a nine- year-old kid in 1976.
Every year during yeshiva week, we did not ski in Vail, snowboard in Utah, or sit in the sun in the Bahamas or St Thomas. We went to Grossinger’s. The year was 1976. My parents and I were packed into a blue Dodge Dart heading up to Liberty, New York. Anyone who knows those Catskill roads knows they are hilly even on a good day, and after an ice storm they become something else entirely. A 1971 Dodge Dart was not exactly a Cadillac Escalade or a Lincoln Navigator, and rear wheel drive plus ice is a bad combination. We could see Grossinger’s in the distance but could not get up the hill near Exit 100 no matter what my father tried. The wheels spun, the tires slid, and Grossinger’s sat there teasing us just out of reach.
Then, like something out of a movie, a tow truck appeared. Hitching onto the bumper was not an option, so the driver gently pushed us up the hill while my father kept the car in neutral. I was pressed against the back window, watching the truck inch forward and nudge us along until we finally reached the top.
The tow truck driver refused payment after noticing my yarmulke and my father’s fedora, saying he could not charge another Jewish family. My father thanked him, handed him a few bills anyway, and said it was so he and his wife could go out to dinner. We then checked into the Jennie G, where we stayed every year.
I had skating lessons with Grandma Rosa and insisted on hockey skates, while my parents skated together like an Olympic pair. At night, we watched college kids ride cafeteria trays down the icy toboggan hill, something that would never be allowed today but was part of the magic of the 1970s.
Snowmobiling was a once-a-year thrill. I clung to my father’s big blue coat, feeling the wind and exhaust rush past us. I took ski lessons on the bunny hill and quickly settled into the rhythm of Grossinger’s meals. Fried herring for breakfast and veal chops for dinner that barely fit on the plate. I always ordered apple juice because soda cost extra and had to be fetched from the Pink Elephant Lounge.
The dining room had a strict no outside food policy for kashrut reasons, except when the maître d’ received three bottles of my father’s homemade kosher wine. At that point, he would smile and say, “we will make an exception for you, Dr. Nierenberg.”
In 1981, I was playing Simon Says with Lou Goldstein when he told me to ask Brian Kelly of the New York Giants to flap his arms and squawk like a chicken. Towering over me, Mr. Kelly did exactly that, lifted me high, and said, “You are a cute kid. I will do it for you. I walked away with a Grossinger’s T-shirt and a memory I will never forget.
My parents were very fond of Jennie Grossinger, though I never knew her. Elaine Grossinger Etess, however, was a dear family friend, always stopping by our table to greet us with warmth and grace. During one trip, I fell while skating and broke my front tooth on the first day of vacation. Elaine Grossinger Etess immediately arranged for her family dentist, Dr. Etess, to see me on a Sunday. He performed a root extraction and root canal while I watched in the mirror and even let me keep the root. I did not miss a single meal, and Elaine Grossinger Etess checked on me daily to make sure I was comfortable and eating properly.
Those are my Grossinger’s memories. A Dodge Dart that could not climb a hill, a tow truck miracle, skating, snowmobiling, oversized meals, kindness when it mattered, and moments that felt enormous to a nine-year old in 1976.
Jonathan “Yoni” Nierenberg
Cedarhurst, NY
(His daughter and son-in-law, Rachel and Sam Rhodes, live in New Milford. His sister and brother-in-law, Andrea and Rabbi Neil Winkler, formerly of Young Israel of Fort Lee and the Moriah School, lived in Fort Lee.)