Big fire at what’s left of ‘Dirty Dancing’ hotel in New York

The remains of an upstate New York resort that inspired the movie “Dirty Dancing” have burned down, according to the local fire department.

Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel closed its doors in 1986, and most of the structures were demolished in 2018.

The fire broke out Tuesday evening. A notice posted on the Facebook page for the Liberty Fire Department reads: “Multiple calls into Sullivan (County) 911 reported a large structure on fire at the old Grossinger’s Hotel property.”

The post said firefighters had trouble reaching the source of the blaze because of a locked gate and overgrown foliage. It was determined to be a three-story building that was burning. The fire took several hours to put out, and then an excavator was brought in to knock down the structure.

The Liberty Fire Department is investigating the cause of the fire.

Though Grossinger’s inspired the story, “Dirty Dancing” was filmed at Mountain Lake Lodge in Pembroke, Virginia. The 1987 movie starred Jennifer Grey as a teenage girl who falls in love with a dance instructor played by Patrick Swayze at a lodge called Kellerman’s Mountain Resort.

Grossinger’s, which opened in 1919 under the name Grossinger’s Terrace Hill House, was a kosher establishment that catered to a mostly Jewish clientele from New York City, two hours’ drive away.

This region of the Catskills became known as the Borscht Belt. During a period when many Jewish families were barred from country clubs and summer camps, the string of resorts in the area became a place where the Jewish community could vacation.

Comedians including Jackie Mason, Woody Allen, Don Rickles and Milton Berle cut their teeth performing at venues in the Borscht Belt.