We Met at Grossinger’s
Director: Paula Eiselt
USA | 2025 | English | 104 min
NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE
Q&A with Professor Hasia R. Diner, author of Opening Doors: The Unlikely Alliance Between the Irish and the Jews in America
“To the mountains!” was the rallying cry of New Yorkers escaping stifling summer heat for fresh air, relaxation, and a bit of acculturation. Barred from many mainstream hotels (“gentiles only” was commonplace), Jews built a leisure world of their own in the Catskill Mountains 90 minutes north of the City. At its peak in the mid-1950s, the “Jewish Alps” included hundreds of hotels, bungalows, and boarding houses, and became an oasis where Jewish Americans redefined what it meant to be accepted, celebrated, and free.
Of the large all-inclusive Borscht Belt resorts that included Kutsher’s and The Concord, Grossinger’s 600-room resort was a crown jewel, boasting three swimming pools, golf courses, stables, two kosher kitchens, even its own airstrip and post office. At its heart was Jennie Grossinger, a trailblazer in hospitality entrepreneurship who transformed her family’s humble boarding house into an iconic institution that hosted politicians and celebrities, built training facilities for world class athletes, and showcased the best entertainers, musicians and comics.
Featuring incredible archival footage (hey there’s Jackie Robinson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Eddie Fisher and Rocky Marciano! mid-century fashion shows and dance contests, lox, lox and more lox!) and terrific interviews with Grossinger descendants, former hotel staff and guests, historians (including Boston area scholars Hasia Diner and Joyce Antler), and cultural figures, such as Judy Gold, Jackie Hoffman, and Joel Grey, We Met at Grossinger’s brings back the heyday of the “Sour Cream Sierras” with humor, romance, and panache – and a deft exploration of its rich historical context: Jewish immigration in the early 20th century, the impact of WWII and the Holocaust, and changes to Jewish and American life in the postwar period. We Met at Grossinger’s is currently being adapted as a scripted TV series.
“This film is a full meal and then some. Trust me, you want to see this.” –Unseen Films
Wednesday, April 15, 7:00 pm
Coolidge Corner Theatre
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Photo: Jennie Grossinger with Eddie Fisher (L) and Perry Como (R).