Above: YouTube footage of a fire at the Grandview Palace in Fallsburg. Early on in the video, a woman - presumably a resident of the complex - can be heard saying, "Well, there goes our first investment in real estate."
For the second weekend in a row, fire has raged across the site of a former icon of the Borscht Belt, destroying buildings and calling hundreds of firefighters to the scene.
On Saturday, a fire broke out at the Fallsburg condo complex Grandview Palace, formerly known as Brown's Hotel, and destroyed or damaged seven of the complex's nine buildings.
The complex had been cited for many fire code and safety violations. Just last month, the town of Fallsburg dropped an effort to condemn the complex for fire code violations, after a settlement was reached with Grandview's owners. As a result of the extensive problems at Grandview, the Times Herald-Record reported, the town is planning to ramp up its inspections of multi-family dwellings.
While no residents were injured in the fire, many were displaced, and are taking shelter at Sullivan County Community College, YNN reports.
The Times Herald-Record, which has many photos and videos of the fire, reports that 43 fire companies and 300 firefighters responded to the scene.
Today's New York Times reminisces about the glory days of Brown's Hotel:
The audiences at the resort, [comedian Dick Capri] said, were somewhat jaded by all the stars who came up there to perform.
“They would brag, ‘Oh, I walked out on Sammy Davis.’ And the other guy would say, ‘Me? Harry Belafonte.’ ”
Still, he said, he was very sorry when the resorts like Brown’s ultimately went out of business. “It was vaudeville with room and board,” he said.