September 13, 2024 • 49 mins
As the summer wanes, we would be remiss if we didn't pay homage to another summer resort of bygone days. This time we're headed across the pond to the seaside town of Bournemouth in England, where British Jews created their own Borscht Belt of sorts to spend their summers and holy days feted with kosher delights.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hotel history is created for adult audiences.
(00:03):
Content may not be suitable for all listeners.
Discretion is advised.
You're listening to Hotel History.
We take you with us through the sordid history and scandals
of some of the world's most famous and infamous hotels.
I'm D'Etta.
And I'm Yael.
(00:24):
Let's get started.
Today we are headed towards England.
Across the pond.
Is that accent that good?
It's not not bad.
(00:44):
I think it was good.
And so we are headed to a place on the coast of the English
Channel called Bournemouth.
Bournemouth or Bournmouth.
It's spelled like mouth but all the English people I
listened to pronounced it Mth Bournemouth.
Bournemouth.
(01:07):
Well those English can't spell or can't read.
I don't know.
They like to shorten it up.
Well I have to say we screw up a lot of English words because
you know Wilshire is spelled Wilshire and that's how they
pronounce it in England.
Because I made this mistake when I worked at the Wilshire
(01:29):
at the Beverly Wilshire briefly and I kept on saying welcome
to Beverly Wilshire and they're like what the fuck are you
saying.
And I'm like that's how it's spelled.
And obviously I was new to LA too so thank God I didn't know
about Wilshire Boulevard.
But it's yeah.
So this is the reverse.
(01:50):
Yes.
So we'll pronounce it however we want.
Yeah I keep trying to call it Burnmouth.
That's worse.
Yeah.
That's how the Australians pronounce it.
So this is about two hours I believe from London by train.
(02:15):
So you know London is kind of on the southeast portion of.
Sure.
Yeah I knew that.
And Bournmouth is more like directly in the center of the
southern coast.
OK but it is coastal still.
Yes.
(02:36):
Yes that is what draws people to this region is it's supposed
to be a lot more temperate really nice.
It's a beach town.
Yeah.
So we're talking about this area because we found out that
England used to have their own borscht belt.
(02:58):
Yeah this is the British borscht belt.
British borscht.
Yeah.
And it was really the British Bournmouth.
But it's no longer what it used to be but we're going to get
into the history and one of the most famous hotels that resided
there for a long time.
It was it was for there for a few decades right.
(03:21):
Yes yes it's really interesting the parallels actually that
this area has with our own borscht belt because they had a
similar trajectory.
Yeah similar it's like you live in the big city you drive two
hours away to a nice place and you get everything done for you.
(03:45):
You live it up for the week or two that you get to have for
the summer and then you go back.
Yeah.
A horrible city.
It is similar to the borscht belt that is it was
predominantly Jewish and Jewish families went to these hotels
to escape the heat and for health reasons.
But before we go into the details of the specific hotel we
(04:07):
want to go into a little bit of the history of England's Jews.
Yes so Jews first arrived in England around 1070 during the
reign of William the Conqueror.
So they came over from the Norman area of France and were
there for a couple of centuries until their expulsion in 1290 by
(04:33):
King Edward the first.
Yeah he was an asshole.
Yeah he basically overtaxed them until they had nothing left
and then said oh well you're of no use to me now get out.
So it was Jews escaping from being expelled from one place to
another place until finally 600 years later.
(04:58):
Well a few hundred years later from King Edward the first.
Yes.
But it was during Oliver Cromwell's rule that allowed a
group of Spartic Jews to be living in London in 1656 and
they were allowed to stay there even though Jews were never
officially readmitted to the commonwealth.
Yeah they just decided okay well we won't officially
(05:21):
readmit you but we won't enforce this edict anymore.
Yeah yeah and it's interesting to learn that the original
Jews that got to stay were Spartic Jews because then an
influx of immigrants usually Eastern European immigrants
came to London at the turn of the 20th century due to
(05:43):
pogroms and other issues that Jews faced which is what I
think of when I think of British Jews mostly Ashkenazi
Jews.
So now England lets the Jews in.
It was very nice of them and they all kind of are there in
(06:03):
British society and it's now becoming more popular to
vacation and Jews are kind of gaining success.
But I also think this point in history in general for most
people in Western societies is that now is the time where you
(06:26):
know there's a lot of prosperity.
People have some extra income.
They go on vacations.
They you know they can go away during the summer months.
The world is changing and Jews were a part of that.
Yes well and especially for the children of the immigrants it
(06:49):
became you know it wasn't really a part of life to get to
take vacations.
You were poor and you worked hard every day of your life
except Shabbat.
So now they're getting to actually have this a little bit
of extra income and they are saying oh we see all of these
other people here going on vacation and you know that's the
(07:12):
fashionable thing to do and so they want to take part in this
culture and so that's when going away to the seaside
started to be a possibility.
Yeah and I think a big difference between you know the
Jews and other members of society is that even though they
(07:33):
were assimilated they were still pretty observant.
They wanted their own communities.
You know they still wanted people to marry within their
community other Jews.
They were going to keep kosher and Shabbat and that's why they
gravitated towards a specific area with a specific hotel and
that accommodated their needs.
Like otherwise why wouldn't they just go to the local you
(07:55):
know because they didn't have I'm pretty sure that in England
they didn't have this anti-Semitism that they had going
on in the U.S.
Not the same not not quite the same where like Jews couldn't
go to the hotels right.
And it was out of like you know necessity.
It was more like they just wanted to be catered to as Jews
(08:16):
and that's where they felt at home.
Yeah so here's where the history of of Bournemouth and
it's you know being a vacation getaway mirrors the cat skills
because originally people went there first who were in ill
(08:41):
health and needed the you know the sea air to help them
through whatever illness they had and so people are going
there to convalesce.
And so a lot of you know boarding houses and very small
guest establishments got started first just like in the
cat skills and then as popularity grew people started
(09:06):
to hear about it more and more started coming.
That's when actual hotels started needing to be available
to accommodate all of these guests.
And so that's when we start seeing in the around the 1920s
1930s this is all starting to pick up and then right around
(09:30):
the 30s and 40s is when we have the big eights the hotels
that really came to be known.
And that's the difference also between here and the borscht
belt because you couldn't there was way more than the big
eight in the cat skills.
Oh yeah.
So obviously England's going to be way smaller like it's I
(09:51):
mean there's a drastic difference but it would be like
the big 200.
Yeah like the cat skills had thousands of hotels and bungalow
colonies and bed and breakfasts whereas Bournemouth and the
surrounding areas had hundreds.
Yeah.
So the big eight became internationally known for their
(10:12):
luxury and high standards not seen anywhere outside the U.S.
and they were all located in the area of Bournemouth known
as East Cliff which also was nicknamed the Jewish mile.
That makes sense.
Yeah.
So the first four East Cliff Court the ambassador East
(10:32):
Cliff Manor and the Green Park opened before or during World
War II and then they were joined by four other Jewish
hotels after the war the majestic the Langham the Normandy
and the Cumberland.
So each hotel became popular with a specific group of people
from a specific part of the country.
(10:53):
So for example the Normandy became popular with families
from Manchester and whole families from Leeds stayed at
the majestic.
The ambassador was favored among continental Jews and the
Green Park eventually began began to specifically attract
guests from America especially after the owners took a trip to
(11:13):
New York in the 70s.
So I'm assuming they went to the Catskills and they probably
probably said yeah yeah.
So so yeah each each hotel had to do with a certain it
probably was a little classist.
Probably.
Yeah.
And they wanted to be around their own community which is
very similar to even today in the Catskills.
(11:36):
You go to a certain bungalow colony depending on where
you're from.
So although most of the guests at these hotels were Jewish
which makes sense because they were all kosher hotels non-Jews
could be found at some of the hotels.
Sometimes they were friends of Jewish guests but not always at
the Cumberland there was an inquiry from a non-Jewish couple
(11:58):
about staying there and they asked what the difference was
about staying in a Jewish hotel.
The hotel told them the main difference was probably that
there was no bacon for breakfast which they didn't care
about because they were vegetarians.
So they came to stay.
Okay.
Yeah they're like yeah if you really love bacon don't stay
at a Jewish hotel.
(12:18):
Yeah.
Another thing that I thought was interesting.
So the Green Park was like the top tier of these Big Eight.
It was considered the most luxurious the nicest and so they
even though they were all technically each other's
competition they didn't necessarily act like it like they
(12:39):
didn't try to undercut each other or lure guests away.
They sort of like kind of had a hierarchy that they stuck with
like everybody knew the Green Park was going to be the most
expensive so they would let the Green Park set their prices
for the season and then everybody else would set theirs
somewhere underneath depending on like the pecking order.
(13:02):
Interesting.
Yeah there wasn't enough to be that competitive.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah but it's so interesting because like I remember talking
about the Borschfeld how there was a lot of competition.
It was like oh they put in an Olympic sized pool.
Well we're going to put in a golf course and two pools.
Yeah it was the opposite.
Yeah.
(13:22):
But maybe that's just the American way.
So not only did Jews go to these hotels in the summer but
they also went during the major Jewish holidays.
So like Passover and the high holy days like Rosh Hashanah
and Sukkot during Passover the hotels would shut down for a full
(13:44):
week before the holiday started because they had to prepare it
like the kitchens and the dining areas to clean it out for any trace of
what is called Chameitz which is kind of I want to say like bread
crumbs is like an easy way but it's not necessarily bread crumbs
but any trace of non-pass over food it has to be spotless
(14:05):
and they have to re-kosher the kitchen and get a whole new set of dishes.
It's a lot of work to make it like Orthodox level of kosher for Passover.
Ask any mother Jewish religious mother for the holidays specifically Passover.
(14:25):
My mom hates Passover.
I can only imagine how much relief the women must have felt knowing that
they were going to be going to the Green Park or a similar hotel for the holiday.
But that's how it still is.
People go away for Passover.
They go on resorts that take care of everything.
It's such a headache.
There's so much work.
But those resorts are really expensive but they apparently were doing it
(14:51):
and they also had their own sukkah during Sukkot.
Yeah I was reading that the roof of the sukkah was where they had it
where it could roll back.
It was electric.
They could roll it back and forth to open it up to be able to see the sky
or close it if it was going to rain.
Oh that's so cool.
I want that.
(15:13):
And people also came to stay for a 10 day stay over for Christmas and New Year's
since a lot of people had time off from work.
And the hotels would serve lavish buffets each night
and at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve they would serve breakfast.
That sounds like so much fun.
(15:35):
Why don't they have this anymore?
I want to go for a 10 day stay over for Christmas and New Year's.
Well I mean you could.
It just wouldn't be a package you'd have to pay for each night.
No I know but I just wish there was something like an event like a thing where that's really cute.
Well I'm sure there are at some places but I just don't it wouldn't be the same I'm sure.
(15:57):
The same level of detail.
It's not the same and you want like it's a whole thing.
There's something I like communal events to an extent as long as it's not forced.
Where like you know everyone's participating in this and that's why I like holidays
and people are like oh it's so stupid but I'm like how often do we have
total strangers all partake in the same thing and the same day.
(16:20):
That's why I think those things are kind of special
and people try to demean it but I'm like shut up.
Yeah hello it brings people together.
That's sort of the point of a holiday.
So getting to Bournemouth was not such a big deal especially if you were from London.
(16:42):
Everybody originally came by train.
In the 50s and 60s driving became more common
and the wealthiest among the patrons would be driven by their chauffeur of course.
So they actually had dedicated trains going to Bournemouth from London Waterloo Station.
The Bournemouth Bell was a popular train.
(17:03):
It had art deco decor comfortable seats and refreshments even though it was only a two hour ride.
That's my kind of train.
Yeah it sounds so nice.
Does it still exist?
No I think so because now everybody just drives.
People coming from the northwest of England from the north west of England
traveled on a train called the Pines Express.
(17:26):
I feel like this is half of the adventure.
Yeah if you were a child imagine.
Yeah but there has to be trains still.
Oh yeah there's still trains that go.
They're just not like dedicated I think to only doing this.
So families traveling very long distances would end up staying with relatives overnight
or travel on sleeper trains but that doesn't sound nearly as nice as the Bournemouth Bell.
(17:51):
Yeah the Bournemouth Bell they got to bring that back.
The highlight of this episode about the Bournemouth is the fanciest hotel the Green Park.
So there's actually a really good documentary.
(18:11):
It's just called the Green Park Hotel right or the Green Park?
The Green Park.
The Green Park.
Yeah.
It was really nice and it gives a really great overview and interviews with the family members
and former guests who are still alive.
It has a lot of heart in it.
It was done really well.
Done really well yes.
(18:32):
So the Green Park building was built in 1937 in the Art Deco style
and it was originally run as a residential hotel which gave it a really special touch
that most other hotels did not have at this time which was that each of its bedroom
had a private bathroom.
Which is so rare apparently.
(18:53):
Yeah this was really unusual back then.
So I think that's probably another element that they just kind of lucked into that made
it seem so luxurious.
Yeah honestly still pretty luxurious.
I think a lot of people who have roommates in one bathroom can tell you.
(19:14):
So it opened on October 15th 1943.
The new owners were Reuben "Ruby" and Sarah Marriott who had been running the Sandringham Hotel in Torquay.
Their name is not related to Marriott Hotels we should say that because I got confused.
They changed it from Marovitch to Marriott and the hotel was run by the whole family
(19:41):
including Sarah's mother Bubbe Richmond and her sisters Helen, Hannah and Rachel.
And Judy.
There were a lot of sisters so Helen, Hannah, Rachel and Judy.
This was very much a family-run enterprise.
Rachel went by Ray.
Hannah, Ray and Judy never married.
They were too married to the hotel.
(20:04):
That's the excuse.
But I will say this.
Bubbe Richman was already passed when they made the documentary as she was old.
Even a long time ago she was old.
But they give a good description of this woman and I wish I met her.
Oh yes.
She sounds like such a baller.
(20:26):
She was like drinking every day, smoking cigars.
I don't know if she was wearing a wig.
She was this orthodox Jewish woman wearing her sheytel, her wig.
Wearing her frum clothes.
But then she would drink brandy and champagne every day.
And she gambled and would cheat at cards.
(20:48):
Was like a notorious cheat.
She was hilarious.
I mean just some of the things they say.
You can tell she had a personality.
Yeah.
She was the heart and soul of this place while she was alive.
So the hotel actually opened during World War II, 1943, while there was a military ban
on the southern coast.
So its first guests were a mix of former guests of the Sandringham Hotel,
(21:12):
which they had been running.
Families who had been evacuated to Bournemouth.
And Jewish members of the Allied forces.
It's so interesting that hotels famously have been used during war.
Like so far almost every hotel we mentioned was useful during World War II.
(21:34):
And they were happy to do it.
I don't think they gave, I don't think they had a choice, but you know.
But still you could have been.
Yeah, but they all did their part.
Yeah, they were, it was like prideful.
We're happy to use this as a bunker to help whoever to spy on someone.
Yeah, like we're part of the war effort.
We do.
Exactly.
(21:55):
In 1944, just before Passover, the hotel was forced to close due to the military's final
preparations for the invasion of Normandy.
But they already had the entire Seder prepared.
All of the food was ready, everything.
So Ruby and Sarah invited the Jewish soldiers that were stationed there from all the different
(22:16):
Commonwealth countries, the US, Britain, all of these Jewish soldiers were able to come
to the hotel and enjoy a Passover Seder.
A kosher Passover Seder.
Yeah.
I love this story.
I feel like this whole sentiment of like, you have the opportunity to share or give
(22:37):
is lost today.
Yeah.
I don't, maybe I'm wrong, but it was, it's in the documentary and they, you know, go
over like the huge crowds of people that came for Passover.
But I don't know.
I thought it was so sweet and thoughtful.
And yes, especially these soldiers are far from home.
They don't know when they're going to see their families again, if they're ever going
(22:58):
home at all.
So to be able to all of a sudden find a little bit of community and home and Hamishness,
you know, this comfort so far from home, I think it was probably a huge blessing.
So the Green Park was allowed to continue as a hotel after this, I believe.
(23:21):
But a lot of the other hotels were not.
They had to be used for military purposes until after the war.
Right?
Yeah.
A lot of the hotels were requisitioned by the military and couldn't function at all
until the war was over.
That's harsh.
Yeah.
That's probably not so great on the business.
Maybe that's why Green Park did a little better.
(23:42):
Yeah.
Cause they opened kind of in the middle of it.
So maybe all the other hotels had already been requisitioned.
Yeah, maybe they didn't.
Cause yeah, some of the hotel owners decided to sell after they didn't want to come back
and have to go through the issues of reopening.
Yeah.
So the owners of the Green Park dubbed their hotel the greatest name in Jewish hotels,
(24:07):
but it was also known by others as the Kutcher's of Burnmouth or the Burnmouth.
See, I did it.
It was the Kutcher's of Bournemouth or the Grossinger's of Bournemouth.
But one of the producers of the documentary actually said that the chefs there would come
from the best places in the world.
(24:29):
And so she liked to refer to it as it was Claridge's on sea, not Grossinger's.
So she's-
Oh, even fancy.
Yeah.
So she's comparing it to Claridge's in London, which is the sister hotel of the Savoy.
Yeah.
You know, opened by the same family.
So they definitely-
That's high praise.
(24:50):
Yeah.
They had a very luxurious view.
Yeah.
The Green Park did seem a little bit more luxurious than the Grossinger's.
Like it just seemed like a different vibe, but I don't know if that's just British people
versus American people.
That's true.
Cause you know, if you speak in a British accent, you are automatically smarter, classier.
Like you just-
(25:10):
We immediately put a layer of aristocracy on you.
I mean, just think about the Jewish accent versus like the British accent.
Even if you were Jewish and I heard it a little bit, they have their own like unique accent,
but you just sound so much better than like, I'm from New York.
What do you want?
Rather than like, oh, we're going to go to Claridge's and have a cup of tea.
(25:31):
So a lot of the-
At some point you're going to have to do a British accent, Deanna, not just me.
Nope.
I only do French accents on this podcast.
It's not fair.
So in a lot of the staff for these kosher hotels were actually not Jewish because it's,
it's really important for the functioning of a kosher hotel, especially during the Sabbath
(25:54):
to be able to have non-Jews that can keep doing things when Jewish staff members have to take time
off.
So in the late 1950s, the hotel employed a lot of Italian waiters, which actually added
even more of a luxurious feeling to the hotel because I guess a lot of the guests of the hotel
(26:19):
had never had the experience of like, a, you know, a nice restaurant where they're going to pull the
chairs out for you and put your napkin in your lab, like that very continental experience.
So the way this happened is the Richmond sisters would often go to different hotels in different
hotels in different countries just to see what other people were doing, you know, what,
(26:43):
what they could bring back.
That's the excuse.
Yeah, exactly.
They were on vacation in Venice staying at the Excelsior Hotel when the owner actually
asked them if some of his waiters could work at the green park for six months to learn English
because British tourism was starting to pick up in Italy and he's thinking, oh, this could be a
(27:05):
great exchange.
The waiters actually though had a great time because in Italy, they weren't really allowed
to touch girls or talk to girls on chaperoned.
It was very strict then apparently, probably, you know, very religious type setting, just in a
different way.
You don't think Italians are prude.
That is not the first thing.
(27:26):
Not anymore, but I guess maybe in the 50s.
Maybe they're rebelling from that time.
It could be.
It could be.
So they came to England and they're free to date.
So many of them went on to marry the English girls they met or their fellow hotel staff
members and then stayed in the area and opened Italian restaurants.
(27:47):
So that was the case for Nemo Zacchea, the head waiter for more than 20 years, who is
actually interviewed in the green park film.
He remembers coming to England with visions of Sherlock Holmes.
So I'm glad to know we're not the only ones.
No, everyone has their stereotypes.
(28:09):
And yeah, he didn't get exactly the culture he was expecting.
Yeah.
But he obviously loved it enough to stay.
But they did talk about like when the Italian waiters came, everyone's like, oh, who are
the cuties?
Yeah, it was a vibe.
They were very excited about the Italian waiters.
In 1961, they built a heated outdoor pool, the first establishment in Bournemouth to
(28:35):
have one.
First of all, a heated pool, even in 1961.
I mean, even now.
So in 1961, that's pretty impressive.
I don't know.
To me, a heated pool is luxurious.
Yeah, to me, too.
Because I always had to suffer in a not heated pool.
Like it's cold.
Too bad.
I'm turning blue.
Oh, well.
(28:56):
As numbers started to decline in the 70s, Ruby and Sarah traveled to America to attract
more visitors, which was partially successful.
I guess they had another reason to vacation.
They're like, we're going to recruit guests.
But in the 1980s, Ruby's health started to decline and the hotel closed in October of
(29:19):
1986.
It was sold to Majestic Holidays.
They ran it as a non-Jewish hotel, but then sold it in 1988 to developers who turned it
into apartments named after the Green Park.
So today it's apartments, but it's, I mean, it's the Green Park, but it's not, but it's
nothing like how it was.
When the film was made, Hannah and Judy were still living in their family apartment across
(29:42):
the street from where the hotel was.
Are they, did they pass?
I'm not sure.
I'm not sure. I'm not positive when this hotel or I'm sorry, when this film was released.
It was 2022 or something.
So they may still be.
But then they said like, I think in the beginning, some of these people have passed.
But yeah, they were the only two family members still alive.
(30:06):
So that's true.
They may have passed.
Yeah.
And so of course the Green Park attracted not just, you know, the upper crust of Jewish
families, but it attracted a lot of famous people and they had a lot of famous guests.
Many of them were Jewish also, but some of them were Brian Epstein, who was the manager
(30:30):
of the Beatles.
I had no idea that the manager was Jewish.
I never, I knew his name my whole life, but I never even thought about it.
But yeah, Epstein.
That makes sense.
Yeah. A lot of musician managers.
He was a regular at the Green Park and there were other guests that came to the Green Park
(30:54):
that were pretty important.
Business leaders, specifically Jack Cohen, Isaac Wolfson, Jarvis Astaire and Alfie Esdale.
So here's the thing about British successful people is that we don't know who they are.
I looked up some of them and I kind of get the gist.
I think Jack Cohen was the Tesco founder.
(31:16):
And Isaac Wolfson was also really successful.
I forgot what he did.
Also three successive chief rabbis came to stay.
Rabbi Hertz, Rabbi Brody and Rabbi Jacobovitz.
Oh, and then also Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks.
(31:38):
Yeah.
He's in the documentary.
So he, it must have been filmed before because he did pass away.
Actually, I wonder when they got that film.
He passed away a few years ago, but they really got like a lot of people to come to the hotel.
(32:00):
It was very well known.
And when you watch the documentary, when they're interviewing people,
they say they're excited when these famous people come in and they actually,
they act like everyone else.
And they even gave some helpful business advice to some people.
It was really interesting to see the cultural differences between the British Jews and the
(32:24):
American Jews.
Because I feel like the American Jews would not have been so subtle.
I think they would have been more.
Probably not.
Just thinking about all of the photos that people would take with all of the famous
athletes that came to train.
Yeah.
They were like, oh my God, with Elizabeth Taylor came.
You better believe people were not subtle about that one.
(32:48):
But yeah, it sounds like the Green Park had this amazing history and it sounds really
influential for the area.
But of course, like many things, it has to come to an end.
It did not survive after a certain point, like many Borscht Belt hotels.
But because of increasing popularity and affordability of overseas travel caused many
(33:16):
families to just vacation in different areas like Spain, Israel, and Florida, and probably
a bunch of other areas.
And of course, you know, plane travel, it just, the same reason there was the decline
of the Borscht Belt is the same reason there was a decline of Bournemouth.
So eventually what happened was that after many years, only two of the big eight hotels
(33:42):
made it past the 1980s.
And that's the Normandy and the new ambassador.
I think the new ambassador eventually did close.
And the Normandy is still around today, but it's mostly Hasidic Jews that go.
And it's also still kosher.
But it doesn't have the same, I mean, this area doesn't have the same like allures it
(34:03):
once did.
Yeah, a lot of the hotels that closed ended up being demolished and replaced with apartment
buildings.
However, those apartment buildings were often bought by the Jewish families who had been
coming to stay at these hotels.
It just buying a vacation home was starting to become the more popular thing to do.
(34:24):
Yeah, and then a lot of the Jews, if they if their favorite hotel closed, then they
would still come and they would just go to a non kosher hotel.
But it's not the same.
No, it's not the same.
But it's not like the Catskills where the hotels went and everybody went with them.
The Jews kept coming.
(34:45):
They kept living in Bournemouth.
They were still able to stay.
The whole area is still a vacation area.
But this this beautiful time capsule of a situation declines.
Yeah.
And we should also mention that like, well, two major things about the similarities between
(35:10):
the Borscht Belt and Bournemouth was that people did come out to recover from illnesses
they had in the city, like the fresh air, the nicer weather.
It really did.
That was like that started a lot of it.
And the kosher food that but the kosher food that was all inclusive, that was
(35:32):
constantly available to them.
So like six meals a day or however, and it kind of like snack.
I mean, the food was so important.
Yes.
But you you have to in the documentary, they talk about the food a lot.
And honestly, if the competition really relies on the food, because if you have a Jewish hotel
(35:54):
and you don't have enough food, that's not less and you don't have good food.
Oh, not only would they let you know, but they'll let you know what their wilds
because they'd be walking out the door.
Yeah, actually, I have a schedule of meals in from one of the hotels that I want to read over.
It's it's insane. And I would like to experience a couple of days like this.
(36:18):
It's amazing.
It starts with tea and biscuits in bed.
Oh, you bring it to the door.
And then breakfast is served in the dining room.
This is a kosher hotel.
So it was a milk meal, which means that no meat is allowed.
So it's something like eggs, fruit, cereal, different types of dried fish,
(36:40):
toast, that sort of thing. Actually, the Green Park was famous for its trolley of
35 different types of jams and marmalade.
That sounds amazing.
Yeah. So after breakfast comes 11 Z's, which I thought was just a hobbit thing.
I didn't know that was an actual British thing.
But I also thought 11 Z's was later in the day.
(37:02):
Well, it said 11 a.m. It's 11 Z's.
That makes sense. Forget what I said.
So that was coffee and biscuits served in the lounge.
Then lunch was served at 1230.
This was another milk meal.
So you're going to be able to have starters, soup, fish,
usually a choice of three different types of fish, grilled vegetables, potatoes.
(37:27):
And then here you're going to have dessert, which would be a choice of five or six fruit dishes,
a dessert trolley with fresh ghetto and cheesecake.
I want to say something.
I'm hungry and full just listening to this list.
Yeah. And then, of course, an ice cream dish like peach melba.
(37:51):
Then there's afternoon tea, which is beverages, cakes, sandwiches available between four and six p.m.
Served in the lounge or on the veranda. Dinner was served at seven or seven thirty.
This was the meat meal.
So, of course, this is going to be like three or four courses.
There's going to be hors d'oeuvres, pickled herring, Russian salad, soups, an entree.
(38:14):
The main course is going to be veal, chicken or beef, potatoes, vegetables.
And then afterward, it's going to be followed by some sort of fruit dessert, cake, lemon,
tea and coffee and then more cookies.
And then a midnight snack.
And then refreshments at 10 p.m.
(38:35):
Tea, sandwiches and cakes were served for those who felt that they could not survive the night
until breakfast or had difficulty falling asleep.
Is this where the obesity epidemic started?
Well, I read that a lot of hotels had to have a doctor on call because of people having angina.
Oh, my God.
(38:56):
Oh, my God. That makes sense.
And yet that doesn't stop the instead of the hotel fixing that issue and saying,
you know, we're not going to have all this next.
They're like, you know what we should do?
We just need a doctor because we're not going to stop anytime soon.
But I love that. I love that for us.
(39:17):
So another similarity between the Borscht Belt and Bournemouth is that it was a great place
for what's known as Hatches and Matches.
Oh, yeah.
So this is Jewish couples meeting and getting married and having babies
and repeating the process over and over.
(39:39):
So I think this is really interesting because I feel like we need to bring this back
to modern day life of like a meeting spot and of it not being a business,
but just like a social gathering, maybe dances, whatever.
But what I liked about hearing about all the hotels and the Catskills and here
(40:01):
is they encouraged boys and girls to hang out and meet.
And I wanted to say something.
These were religious Jews.
Growing up, we were very much deterred to talk to the opposite sex.
They were like, no, you shouldn't hang out.
Even though their generation before the parents of these people,
they were doing that because where else are we going to meet a Jewish boy, girl to get married?
(40:26):
And I felt like it made sense because it was a safe kind of kosher environment.
Like you're outside. People are always around.
If kids are going to go and sneak out, they're going to go and sneak out.
But at this way, they don't need to hide.
They can just talk and mingle.
And I like that they encouraged that.
And it was fun.
In the documentary, they're like, there were a lot of babies being made.
(40:48):
And it's true.
And a lot of the couples that met on vacation there would have their honeymoon there.
So I'm sure a lot of families got started.
I love that.
Another similarity is that the Borsch Belt hotels and the Bournemouth hotels
were usually family-owned businesses.
(41:08):
They weren't at least they didn't start out being owned by a corporation
of or a chain of some sort.
And so not only are they family-owned, but they're also like the women of the family
are front and center and running them.
Like they handle a lot of the operation.
And they're successful.
Yes.
So they were women-run, not business, not corporation-owned, which made them really good.
(41:35):
Because when you hear when people talk about these hotels, they don't just like, yeah, it was nice.
They have like a love for them and then we came in and we saw this woman who runs and owns the hotel
in the lobby greeting us.
Like there was real human interaction.
There's this, I used the word last time also, heimishness.
(41:56):
And which means like, how would you describe it?
Like comfort and homey.
Yeah, homey.
You know, you don't have to go to corporate.
You go to a person and they try to fix the problem.
But you also knew the person and it was like...
Yeah, they know your name.
They remember you from your visit the year before and the year before that.
(42:17):
They know your whole family.
And most of them probably there's a relation or connection there.
So it's not like far off.
And there's this trust, this communal trust with other people, which added to the heimishness
and the safety of the hotel.
And I think that gives it warmth.
And I think people are really, really craving that.
(42:40):
And for me, a lot of hotels just totally lack that.
There is no hominess to it.
Yes, they're very cold.
Yeah, they're very cold.
And I think also, I know there's a high turnaround with hotels, which is problematic.
There's a lot of problems with hotels.
That's true.
But I think that if they took the Borschbelt and the Green Park as an example of that,
(43:05):
as an example, a model of how to run a hotel to get people as if they are like these individuals
invested in it and to treat it like their own little property home.
I think that that would change a lot.
But things would have to change.
It can't be so corporate.
And they'll never give that up because, you know, profit.
(43:27):
Yeah.
Well, and that's one thing about these is it wasn't until like the 70s and 80s, really
the 80s that these hotels even offered the ability to stay just one or two nights
because it was so popular.
You had to take a week long booking if you were going to stay or you would have to share
(43:49):
it with another family or something like they take a week and you take a week because it
was so popular that there was no other option.
So you really spent a lot of time at the hotel.
And that's how you got to know everyone so well because you were not just, you know,
coming in, going to sleep there for a couple of nights and then heading back out.
Yeah.
You were living there for a minute.
(44:11):
Yeah, that's true.
One of the main differences that I was reading about was the entertainment.
So in the Catskills, it was very dominated by Yiddish theater, Jewish humor.
It was Jewish entertainment for this, you know, very insular Jewish audience, whereas
(44:37):
Bournemouth Entertainment was a little bit more assimilated because the, you know, upwardly
mobile British Jews had kind of left behind the more traditional Jewish leisure activities
when they moved to the suburbs and further out, you know, away from their immigrant
neighborhoods in London.
So a lot of times when British Jews would visit the Catskills, they actually didn't
(45:00):
care for the entertainment all that much.
They thought, I learned this new term, they thought the standup comedy there could be
much too blue.
And so apparently, blue humor is kind of a little bit on the more risque side.
Yeah, that's funny coming from British people.
(45:21):
I'm sorry.
They said it's too obviously New York, the accent thing.
I think New York Jews are unique within Jews.
Like, I don't think all Jews are like that, but they are the stereotype of like Jewish
Americans for good reason because that's mostly where most Jews in America live.
(45:46):
And we did kind of that a lot of Jewish New York comedians.
So we put it on the map, guys.
Yeah, I mean, well, the Catskills are two hours from New York.
Like, of course it's going to be a New York Jewish.
But maybe it was too blue at the time.
Maybe so.
I think England has changed drastically from that.
(46:06):
And now I feel like they're a little bit too blue for some Americans.
But it's very interesting.
And another major difference between them and the Catskills is that obviously the Catskills
was in the Catskills Mountains.
So they're going to have huge resorts, way bigger than Bournemouth.
And I didn't know that they served more food than Bournemouth, but probably just number wise.
(46:31):
They're not talking about meals.
Just amount of food.
Yeah, that makes sense.
OK, because they both probably had a ton of snack time and 11 Z's and whatever.
But another major difference also was that when the Catskills resorts shut down,
it tanked the entire region's economy.
(46:52):
But Bournemouth's hotels were put to different uses and the town and areas economy remained intact.
Which sounds kind of good.
The Catskills really did go through it.
Yeah, and they're just now starting to kind of claw their way out of it.
So it's much better that they were able to turn the hotels into apartments
(47:15):
and find other uses to keep the area going.
Yeah, but it also makes sense because Bournemouth is a city.
It's not like mostly Jews, but the Catskills, it was Hickville.
It was like really nothing going on. Very, very small towns.
(47:37):
The farming wasn't great.
There's not much and so it makes sense.
It's true.
So if you're interested in learning more about Bournemouth,
then of course we recommend watching the Green Park documentary.
And you can also check out the book Jews by the Seaside by Pam Fox.
(48:00):
It goes very into detail on not only the big eight hotels,
but also a lot of the smaller establishments
and just the history and building up of the town of Bournemouth itself.
And then I also found a novel called The Crossing Point by Gerda Charles that takes place
in a Jewish hotel in Bournemouth and kind of just gives you the whole idea of all the different
(48:26):
scenes that would play out with what it was like to go to a dance there,
what it was like to see the food put out and the wave of people rush to get their next meal.
Yeah, I mean, just looking at when they show footage of the time,
it just it looks like so fun.
(48:47):
Yeah.
I love watching that old footage.
Thanks for listening to Hotel History.
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by searching for Hotel History or Hotel History Podcast.
If you like what you hear, please leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts
(49:11):
and Spotify so we can reach more listeners.
Hotel history is created for adult audiences.
(00:03):
Content may not be suitable for all listeners.
Discretion is advised.
You're listening to Hotel History.
We take you with us through the sordid history and scandals
of some of the world's most famous and infamous hotels.
I'm D'Etta.
And I'm Yael.
(00:24):
Let's get started.
Today we are headed towards England.
Across the pond.
Is that accent that good?
It's not not bad.
(00:44):
I think it was good.
And so we are headed to a place on the coast of the English
Channel called Bournemouth.
Bournemouth or Bournmouth.
It's spelled like mouth but all the English people I
listened to pronounced it Mth Bournemouth.
Bournemouth.
(01:07):
Well those English can't spell or can't read.
I don't know.
They like to shorten it up.
Well I have to say we screw up a lot of English words because
you know Wilshire is spelled Wilshire and that's how they
pronounce it in England.
Because I made this mistake when I worked at the Wilshire
(01:29):
at the Beverly Wilshire briefly and I kept on saying welcome
to Beverly Wilshire and they're like what the fuck are you
saying.
And I'm like that's how it's spelled.
And obviously I was new to LA too so thank God I didn't know
about Wilshire Boulevard.
But it's yeah.
So this is the reverse.
(01:50):
Yes.
So we'll pronounce it however we want.
Yeah I keep trying to call it Burnmouth.
That's worse.
Yeah.
That's how the Australians pronounce it.
So this is about two hours I believe from London by train.
(02:15):
So you know London is kind of on the southeast portion of.
Sure.
Yeah I knew that.
And Bournmouth is more like directly in the center of the
southern coast.
OK but it is coastal still.
Yes.
(02:36):
Yes that is what draws people to this region is it's supposed
to be a lot more temperate really nice.
It's a beach town.
Yeah.
So we're talking about this area because we found out that
England used to have their own borscht belt.
(02:58):
Yeah this is the British borscht belt.
British borscht.
Yeah.
And it was really the British Bournmouth.
But it's no longer what it used to be but we're going to get
into the history and one of the most famous hotels that resided
there for a long time.
It was it was for there for a few decades right.
(03:21):
Yes yes it's really interesting the parallels actually that
this area has with our own borscht belt because they had a
similar trajectory.
Yeah similar it's like you live in the big city you drive two
hours away to a nice place and you get everything done for you.
(03:45):
You live it up for the week or two that you get to have for
the summer and then you go back.
Yeah.
A horrible city.
It is similar to the borscht belt that is it was
predominantly Jewish and Jewish families went to these hotels
to escape the heat and for health reasons.
But before we go into the details of the specific hotel we
(04:07):
want to go into a little bit of the history of England's Jews.
Yes so Jews first arrived in England around 1070 during the
reign of William the Conqueror.
So they came over from the Norman area of France and were
there for a couple of centuries until their expulsion in 1290 by
(04:33):
King Edward the first.
Yeah he was an asshole.
Yeah he basically overtaxed them until they had nothing left
and then said oh well you're of no use to me now get out.
So it was Jews escaping from being expelled from one place to
another place until finally 600 years later.
(04:58):
Well a few hundred years later from King Edward the first.
Yes.
But it was during Oliver Cromwell's rule that allowed a
group of Spartic Jews to be living in London in 1656 and
they were allowed to stay there even though Jews were never
officially readmitted to the commonwealth.
Yeah they just decided okay well we won't officially
(05:21):
readmit you but we won't enforce this edict anymore.
Yeah yeah and it's interesting to learn that the original
Jews that got to stay were Spartic Jews because then an
influx of immigrants usually Eastern European immigrants
came to London at the turn of the 20th century due to
(05:43):
pogroms and other issues that Jews faced which is what I
think of when I think of British Jews mostly Ashkenazi
Jews.
So now England lets the Jews in.
It was very nice of them and they all kind of are there in
(06:03):
British society and it's now becoming more popular to
vacation and Jews are kind of gaining success.
But I also think this point in history in general for most
people in Western societies is that now is the time where you
(06:26):
know there's a lot of prosperity.
People have some extra income.
They go on vacations.
They you know they can go away during the summer months.
The world is changing and Jews were a part of that.
Yes well and especially for the children of the immigrants it
(06:49):
became you know it wasn't really a part of life to get to
take vacations.
You were poor and you worked hard every day of your life
except Shabbat.
So now they're getting to actually have this a little bit
of extra income and they are saying oh we see all of these
other people here going on vacation and you know that's the
(07:12):
fashionable thing to do and so they want to take part in this
culture and so that's when going away to the seaside
started to be a possibility.
Yeah and I think a big difference between you know the
Jews and other members of society is that even though they
(07:33):
were assimilated they were still pretty observant.
They wanted their own communities.
You know they still wanted people to marry within their
community other Jews.
They were going to keep kosher and Shabbat and that's why they
gravitated towards a specific area with a specific hotel and
that accommodated their needs.
Like otherwise why wouldn't they just go to the local you
(07:55):
know because they didn't have I'm pretty sure that in England
they didn't have this anti-Semitism that they had going
on in the U.S.
Not the same not not quite the same where like Jews couldn't
go to the hotels right.
And it was out of like you know necessity.
It was more like they just wanted to be catered to as Jews
(08:16):
and that's where they felt at home.
Yeah so here's where the history of of Bournemouth and
it's you know being a vacation getaway mirrors the cat skills
because originally people went there first who were in ill
(08:41):
health and needed the you know the sea air to help them
through whatever illness they had and so people are going
there to convalesce.
And so a lot of you know boarding houses and very small
guest establishments got started first just like in the
cat skills and then as popularity grew people started
(09:06):
to hear about it more and more started coming.
That's when actual hotels started needing to be available
to accommodate all of these guests.
And so that's when we start seeing in the around the 1920s
1930s this is all starting to pick up and then right around
(09:30):
the 30s and 40s is when we have the big eights the hotels
that really came to be known.
And that's the difference also between here and the borscht
belt because you couldn't there was way more than the big
eight in the cat skills.
Oh yeah.
So obviously England's going to be way smaller like it's I
(09:51):
mean there's a drastic difference but it would be like
the big 200.
Yeah like the cat skills had thousands of hotels and bungalow
colonies and bed and breakfasts whereas Bournemouth and the
surrounding areas had hundreds.
Yeah.
So the big eight became internationally known for their
(10:12):
luxury and high standards not seen anywhere outside the U.S.
and they were all located in the area of Bournemouth known
as East Cliff which also was nicknamed the Jewish mile.
That makes sense.
Yeah.
So the first four East Cliff Court the ambassador East
(10:32):
Cliff Manor and the Green Park opened before or during World
War II and then they were joined by four other Jewish
hotels after the war the majestic the Langham the Normandy
and the Cumberland.
So each hotel became popular with a specific group of people
from a specific part of the country.
(10:53):
So for example the Normandy became popular with families
from Manchester and whole families from Leeds stayed at
the majestic.
The ambassador was favored among continental Jews and the
Green Park eventually began began to specifically attract
guests from America especially after the owners took a trip to
(11:13):
New York in the 70s.
So I'm assuming they went to the Catskills and they probably
probably said yeah yeah.
So so yeah each each hotel had to do with a certain it
probably was a little classist.
Probably.
Yeah.
And they wanted to be around their own community which is
very similar to even today in the Catskills.
(11:36):
You go to a certain bungalow colony depending on where
you're from.
So although most of the guests at these hotels were Jewish
which makes sense because they were all kosher hotels non-Jews
could be found at some of the hotels.
Sometimes they were friends of Jewish guests but not always at
the Cumberland there was an inquiry from a non-Jewish couple
(11:58):
about staying there and they asked what the difference was
about staying in a Jewish hotel.
The hotel told them the main difference was probably that
there was no bacon for breakfast which they didn't care
about because they were vegetarians.
So they came to stay.
Okay.
Yeah they're like yeah if you really love bacon don't stay
at a Jewish hotel.
(12:18):
Yeah.
Another thing that I thought was interesting.
So the Green Park was like the top tier of these Big Eight.
It was considered the most luxurious the nicest and so they
even though they were all technically each other's
competition they didn't necessarily act like it like they
(12:39):
didn't try to undercut each other or lure guests away.
They sort of like kind of had a hierarchy that they stuck with
like everybody knew the Green Park was going to be the most
expensive so they would let the Green Park set their prices
for the season and then everybody else would set theirs
somewhere underneath depending on like the pecking order.
(13:02):
Interesting.
Yeah there wasn't enough to be that competitive.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah but it's so interesting because like I remember talking
about the Borschfeld how there was a lot of competition.
It was like oh they put in an Olympic sized pool.
Well we're going to put in a golf course and two pools.
Yeah it was the opposite.
Yeah.
(13:22):
But maybe that's just the American way.
So not only did Jews go to these hotels in the summer but
they also went during the major Jewish holidays.
So like Passover and the high holy days like Rosh Hashanah
and Sukkot during Passover the hotels would shut down for a full
(13:44):
week before the holiday started because they had to prepare it
like the kitchens and the dining areas to clean it out for any trace of
what is called Chameitz which is kind of I want to say like bread
crumbs is like an easy way but it's not necessarily bread crumbs
but any trace of non-pass over food it has to be spotless
(14:05):
and they have to re-kosher the kitchen and get a whole new set of dishes.
It's a lot of work to make it like Orthodox level of kosher for Passover.
Ask any mother Jewish religious mother for the holidays specifically Passover.
(14:25):
My mom hates Passover.
I can only imagine how much relief the women must have felt knowing that
they were going to be going to the Green Park or a similar hotel for the holiday.
But that's how it still is.
People go away for Passover.
They go on resorts that take care of everything.
It's such a headache.
There's so much work.
But those resorts are really expensive but they apparently were doing it
(14:51):
and they also had their own sukkah during Sukkot.
Yeah I was reading that the roof of the sukkah was where they had it
where it could roll back.
It was electric.
They could roll it back and forth to open it up to be able to see the sky
or close it if it was going to rain.
Oh that's so cool.
I want that.
(15:13):
And people also came to stay for a 10 day stay over for Christmas and New Year's
since a lot of people had time off from work.
And the hotels would serve lavish buffets each night
and at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve they would serve breakfast.
That sounds like so much fun.
(15:35):
Why don't they have this anymore?
I want to go for a 10 day stay over for Christmas and New Year's.
Well I mean you could.
It just wouldn't be a package you'd have to pay for each night.
No I know but I just wish there was something like an event like a thing where that's really cute.
Well I'm sure there are at some places but I just don't it wouldn't be the same I'm sure.
(15:57):
The same level of detail.
It's not the same and you want like it's a whole thing.
There's something I like communal events to an extent as long as it's not forced.
Where like you know everyone's participating in this and that's why I like holidays
and people are like oh it's so stupid but I'm like how often do we have
total strangers all partake in the same thing and the same day.
(16:20):
That's why I think those things are kind of special
and people try to demean it but I'm like shut up.
Yeah hello it brings people together.
That's sort of the point of a holiday.
So getting to Bournemouth was not such a big deal especially if you were from London.
(16:42):
Everybody originally came by train.
In the 50s and 60s driving became more common
and the wealthiest among the patrons would be driven by their chauffeur of course.
So they actually had dedicated trains going to Bournemouth from London Waterloo Station.
The Bournemouth Bell was a popular train.
(17:03):
It had art deco decor comfortable seats and refreshments even though it was only a two hour ride.
That's my kind of train.
Yeah it sounds so nice.
Does it still exist?
No I think so because now everybody just drives.
People coming from the northwest of England from the north west of England
traveled on a train called the Pines Express.
(17:26):
I feel like this is half of the adventure.
Yeah if you were a child imagine.
Yeah but there has to be trains still.
Oh yeah there's still trains that go.
They're just not like dedicated I think to only doing this.
So families traveling very long distances would end up staying with relatives overnight
or travel on sleeper trains but that doesn't sound nearly as nice as the Bournemouth Bell.
(17:51):
Yeah the Bournemouth Bell they got to bring that back.
The highlight of this episode about the Bournemouth is the fanciest hotel the Green Park.
So there's actually a really good documentary.
(18:11):
It's just called the Green Park Hotel right or the Green Park?
The Green Park.
The Green Park.
Yeah.
It was really nice and it gives a really great overview and interviews with the family members
and former guests who are still alive.
It has a lot of heart in it.
It was done really well.
Done really well yes.
(18:32):
So the Green Park building was built in 1937 in the Art Deco style
and it was originally run as a residential hotel which gave it a really special touch
that most other hotels did not have at this time which was that each of its bedroom
had a private bathroom.
Which is so rare apparently.
(18:53):
Yeah this was really unusual back then.
So I think that's probably another element that they just kind of lucked into that made
it seem so luxurious.
Yeah honestly still pretty luxurious.
I think a lot of people who have roommates in one bathroom can tell you.
(19:14):
So it opened on October 15th 1943.
The new owners were Reuben "Ruby" and Sarah Marriott who had been running the Sandringham Hotel in Torquay.
Their name is not related to Marriott Hotels we should say that because I got confused.
They changed it from Marovitch to Marriott and the hotel was run by the whole family
(19:41):
including Sarah's mother Bubbe Richmond and her sisters Helen, Hannah and Rachel.
And Judy.
There were a lot of sisters so Helen, Hannah, Rachel and Judy.
This was very much a family-run enterprise.
Rachel went by Ray.
Hannah, Ray and Judy never married.
They were too married to the hotel.
(20:04):
That's the excuse.
But I will say this.
Bubbe Richman was already passed when they made the documentary as she was old.
Even a long time ago she was old.
But they give a good description of this woman and I wish I met her.
Oh yes.
She sounds like such a baller.
(20:26):
She was like drinking every day, smoking cigars.
I don't know if she was wearing a wig.
She was this orthodox Jewish woman wearing her sheytel, her wig.
Wearing her frum clothes.
But then she would drink brandy and champagne every day.
And she gambled and would cheat at cards.
(20:48):
Was like a notorious cheat.
She was hilarious.
I mean just some of the things they say.
You can tell she had a personality.
Yeah.
She was the heart and soul of this place while she was alive.
So the hotel actually opened during World War II, 1943, while there was a military ban
on the southern coast.
So its first guests were a mix of former guests of the Sandringham Hotel,
(21:12):
which they had been running.
Families who had been evacuated to Bournemouth.
And Jewish members of the Allied forces.
It's so interesting that hotels famously have been used during war.
Like so far almost every hotel we mentioned was useful during World War II.
(21:34):
And they were happy to do it.
I don't think they gave, I don't think they had a choice, but you know.
But still you could have been.
Yeah, but they all did their part.
Yeah, they were, it was like prideful.
We're happy to use this as a bunker to help whoever to spy on someone.
Yeah, like we're part of the war effort.
We do.
Exactly.
(21:55):
In 1944, just before Passover, the hotel was forced to close due to the military's final
preparations for the invasion of Normandy.
But they already had the entire Seder prepared.
All of the food was ready, everything.
So Ruby and Sarah invited the Jewish soldiers that were stationed there from all the different
(22:16):
Commonwealth countries, the US, Britain, all of these Jewish soldiers were able to come
to the hotel and enjoy a Passover Seder.
A kosher Passover Seder.
Yeah.
I love this story.
I feel like this whole sentiment of like, you have the opportunity to share or give
(22:37):
is lost today.
Yeah.
I don't, maybe I'm wrong, but it was, it's in the documentary and they, you know, go
over like the huge crowds of people that came for Passover.
But I don't know.
I thought it was so sweet and thoughtful.
And yes, especially these soldiers are far from home.
They don't know when they're going to see their families again, if they're ever going
(22:58):
home at all.
So to be able to all of a sudden find a little bit of community and home and Hamishness,
you know, this comfort so far from home, I think it was probably a huge blessing.
So the Green Park was allowed to continue as a hotel after this, I believe.
(23:21):
But a lot of the other hotels were not.
They had to be used for military purposes until after the war.
Right?
Yeah.
A lot of the hotels were requisitioned by the military and couldn't function at all
until the war was over.
That's harsh.
Yeah.
That's probably not so great on the business.
Maybe that's why Green Park did a little better.
(23:42):
Yeah.
Cause they opened kind of in the middle of it.
So maybe all the other hotels had already been requisitioned.
Yeah, maybe they didn't.
Cause yeah, some of the hotel owners decided to sell after they didn't want to come back
and have to go through the issues of reopening.
Yeah.
So the owners of the Green Park dubbed their hotel the greatest name in Jewish hotels,
(24:07):
but it was also known by others as the Kutcher's of Burnmouth or the Burnmouth.
See, I did it.
It was the Kutcher's of Bournemouth or the Grossinger's of Bournemouth.
But one of the producers of the documentary actually said that the chefs there would come
from the best places in the world.
(24:29):
And so she liked to refer to it as it was Claridge's on sea, not Grossinger's.
So she's-
Oh, even fancy.
Yeah.
So she's comparing it to Claridge's in London, which is the sister hotel of the Savoy.
Yeah.
You know, opened by the same family.
So they definitely-
That's high praise.
(24:50):
Yeah.
They had a very luxurious view.
Yeah.
The Green Park did seem a little bit more luxurious than the Grossinger's.
Like it just seemed like a different vibe, but I don't know if that's just British people
versus American people.
That's true.
Cause you know, if you speak in a British accent, you are automatically smarter, classier.
Like you just-
(25:10):
We immediately put a layer of aristocracy on you.
I mean, just think about the Jewish accent versus like the British accent.
Even if you were Jewish and I heard it a little bit, they have their own like unique accent,
but you just sound so much better than like, I'm from New York.
What do you want?
Rather than like, oh, we're going to go to Claridge's and have a cup of tea.
(25:31):
So a lot of the-
At some point you're going to have to do a British accent, Deanna, not just me.
Nope.
I only do French accents on this podcast.
It's not fair.
So in a lot of the staff for these kosher hotels were actually not Jewish because it's,
it's really important for the functioning of a kosher hotel, especially during the Sabbath
(25:54):
to be able to have non-Jews that can keep doing things when Jewish staff members have to take time
off.
So in the late 1950s, the hotel employed a lot of Italian waiters, which actually added
even more of a luxurious feeling to the hotel because I guess a lot of the guests of the hotel
(26:19):
had never had the experience of like, a, you know, a nice restaurant where they're going to pull the
chairs out for you and put your napkin in your lab, like that very continental experience.
So the way this happened is the Richmond sisters would often go to different hotels in different
hotels in different countries just to see what other people were doing, you know, what,
(26:43):
what they could bring back.
That's the excuse.
Yeah, exactly.
They were on vacation in Venice staying at the Excelsior Hotel when the owner actually
asked them if some of his waiters could work at the green park for six months to learn English
because British tourism was starting to pick up in Italy and he's thinking, oh, this could be a
(27:05):
great exchange.
The waiters actually though had a great time because in Italy, they weren't really allowed
to touch girls or talk to girls on chaperoned.
It was very strict then apparently, probably, you know, very religious type setting, just in a
different way.
You don't think Italians are prude.
That is not the first thing.
(27:26):
Not anymore, but I guess maybe in the 50s.
Maybe they're rebelling from that time.
It could be.
It could be.
So they came to England and they're free to date.
So many of them went on to marry the English girls they met or their fellow hotel staff
members and then stayed in the area and opened Italian restaurants.
(27:47):
So that was the case for Nemo Zacchea, the head waiter for more than 20 years, who is
actually interviewed in the green park film.
He remembers coming to England with visions of Sherlock Holmes.
So I'm glad to know we're not the only ones.
No, everyone has their stereotypes.
(28:09):
And yeah, he didn't get exactly the culture he was expecting.
Yeah.
But he obviously loved it enough to stay.
But they did talk about like when the Italian waiters came, everyone's like, oh, who are
the cuties?
Yeah, it was a vibe.
They were very excited about the Italian waiters.
In 1961, they built a heated outdoor pool, the first establishment in Bournemouth to
(28:35):
have one.
First of all, a heated pool, even in 1961.
I mean, even now.
So in 1961, that's pretty impressive.
I don't know.
To me, a heated pool is luxurious.
Yeah, to me, too.
Because I always had to suffer in a not heated pool.
Like it's cold.
Too bad.
I'm turning blue.
Oh, well.
(28:56):
As numbers started to decline in the 70s, Ruby and Sarah traveled to America to attract
more visitors, which was partially successful.
I guess they had another reason to vacation.
They're like, we're going to recruit guests.
But in the 1980s, Ruby's health started to decline and the hotel closed in October of
(29:19):
1986.
It was sold to Majestic Holidays.
They ran it as a non-Jewish hotel, but then sold it in 1988 to developers who turned it
into apartments named after the Green Park.
So today it's apartments, but it's, I mean, it's the Green Park, but it's not, but it's
nothing like how it was.
When the film was made, Hannah and Judy were still living in their family apartment across
(29:42):
the street from where the hotel was.
Are they, did they pass?
I'm not sure.
I'm not sure. I'm not positive when this hotel or I'm sorry, when this film was released.
It was 2022 or something.
So they may still be.
But then they said like, I think in the beginning, some of these people have passed.
But yeah, they were the only two family members still alive.
(30:06):
So that's true.
They may have passed.
Yeah.
And so of course the Green Park attracted not just, you know, the upper crust of Jewish
families, but it attracted a lot of famous people and they had a lot of famous guests.
Many of them were Jewish also, but some of them were Brian Epstein, who was the manager
(30:30):
of the Beatles.
I had no idea that the manager was Jewish.
I never, I knew his name my whole life, but I never even thought about it.
But yeah, Epstein.
That makes sense.
Yeah. A lot of musician managers.
He was a regular at the Green Park and there were other guests that came to the Green Park
(30:54):
that were pretty important.
Business leaders, specifically Jack Cohen, Isaac Wolfson, Jarvis Astaire and Alfie Esdale.
So here's the thing about British successful people is that we don't know who they are.
I looked up some of them and I kind of get the gist.
I think Jack Cohen was the Tesco founder.
(31:16):
And Isaac Wolfson was also really successful.
I forgot what he did.
Also three successive chief rabbis came to stay.
Rabbi Hertz, Rabbi Brody and Rabbi Jacobovitz.
Oh, and then also Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks.
(31:38):
Yeah.
He's in the documentary.
So he, it must have been filmed before because he did pass away.
Actually, I wonder when they got that film.
He passed away a few years ago, but they really got like a lot of people to come to the hotel.
(32:00):
It was very well known.
And when you watch the documentary, when they're interviewing people,
they say they're excited when these famous people come in and they actually,
they act like everyone else.
And they even gave some helpful business advice to some people.
It was really interesting to see the cultural differences between the British Jews and the
(32:24):
American Jews.
Because I feel like the American Jews would not have been so subtle.
I think they would have been more.
Probably not.
Just thinking about all of the photos that people would take with all of the famous
athletes that came to train.
Yeah.
They were like, oh my God, with Elizabeth Taylor came.
You better believe people were not subtle about that one.
(32:48):
But yeah, it sounds like the Green Park had this amazing history and it sounds really
influential for the area.
But of course, like many things, it has to come to an end.
It did not survive after a certain point, like many Borscht Belt hotels.
But because of increasing popularity and affordability of overseas travel caused many
(33:16):
families to just vacation in different areas like Spain, Israel, and Florida, and probably
a bunch of other areas.
And of course, you know, plane travel, it just, the same reason there was the decline
of the Borscht Belt is the same reason there was a decline of Bournemouth.
So eventually what happened was that after many years, only two of the big eight hotels
(33:42):
made it past the 1980s.
And that's the Normandy and the new ambassador.
I think the new ambassador eventually did close.
And the Normandy is still around today, but it's mostly Hasidic Jews that go.
And it's also still kosher.
But it doesn't have the same, I mean, this area doesn't have the same like allures it
(34:03):
once did.
Yeah, a lot of the hotels that closed ended up being demolished and replaced with apartment
buildings.
However, those apartment buildings were often bought by the Jewish families who had been
coming to stay at these hotels.
It just buying a vacation home was starting to become the more popular thing to do.
(34:24):
Yeah, and then a lot of the Jews, if they if their favorite hotel closed, then they
would still come and they would just go to a non kosher hotel.
But it's not the same.
No, it's not the same.
But it's not like the Catskills where the hotels went and everybody went with them.
The Jews kept coming.
(34:45):
They kept living in Bournemouth.
They were still able to stay.
The whole area is still a vacation area.
But this this beautiful time capsule of a situation declines.
Yeah.
And we should also mention that like, well, two major things about the similarities between
(35:10):
the Borscht Belt and Bournemouth was that people did come out to recover from illnesses
they had in the city, like the fresh air, the nicer weather.
It really did.
That was like that started a lot of it.
And the kosher food that but the kosher food that was all inclusive, that was
(35:32):
constantly available to them.
So like six meals a day or however, and it kind of like snack.
I mean, the food was so important.
Yes.
But you you have to in the documentary, they talk about the food a lot.
And honestly, if the competition really relies on the food, because if you have a Jewish hotel
(35:54):
and you don't have enough food, that's not less and you don't have good food.
Oh, not only would they let you know, but they'll let you know what their wilds
because they'd be walking out the door.
Yeah, actually, I have a schedule of meals in from one of the hotels that I want to read over.
It's it's insane. And I would like to experience a couple of days like this.
(36:18):
It's amazing.
It starts with tea and biscuits in bed.
Oh, you bring it to the door.
And then breakfast is served in the dining room.
This is a kosher hotel.
So it was a milk meal, which means that no meat is allowed.
So it's something like eggs, fruit, cereal, different types of dried fish,
(36:40):
toast, that sort of thing. Actually, the Green Park was famous for its trolley of
35 different types of jams and marmalade.
That sounds amazing.
Yeah. So after breakfast comes 11 Z's, which I thought was just a hobbit thing.
I didn't know that was an actual British thing.
But I also thought 11 Z's was later in the day.
(37:02):
Well, it said 11 a.m. It's 11 Z's.
That makes sense. Forget what I said.
So that was coffee and biscuits served in the lounge.
Then lunch was served at 1230.
This was another milk meal.
So you're going to be able to have starters, soup, fish,
usually a choice of three different types of fish, grilled vegetables, potatoes.
(37:27):
And then here you're going to have dessert, which would be a choice of five or six fruit dishes,
a dessert trolley with fresh ghetto and cheesecake.
I want to say something.
I'm hungry and full just listening to this list.
Yeah. And then, of course, an ice cream dish like peach melba.
(37:51):
Then there's afternoon tea, which is beverages, cakes, sandwiches available between four and six p.m.
Served in the lounge or on the veranda. Dinner was served at seven or seven thirty.
This was the meat meal.
So, of course, this is going to be like three or four courses.
There's going to be hors d'oeuvres, pickled herring, Russian salad, soups, an entree.
(38:14):
The main course is going to be veal, chicken or beef, potatoes, vegetables.
And then afterward, it's going to be followed by some sort of fruit dessert, cake, lemon,
tea and coffee and then more cookies.
And then a midnight snack.
And then refreshments at 10 p.m.
(38:35):
Tea, sandwiches and cakes were served for those who felt that they could not survive the night
until breakfast or had difficulty falling asleep.
Is this where the obesity epidemic started?
Well, I read that a lot of hotels had to have a doctor on call because of people having angina.
Oh, my God.
(38:56):
Oh, my God. That makes sense.
And yet that doesn't stop the instead of the hotel fixing that issue and saying,
you know, we're not going to have all this next.
They're like, you know what we should do?
We just need a doctor because we're not going to stop anytime soon.
But I love that. I love that for us.
(39:17):
So another similarity between the Borscht Belt and Bournemouth is that it was a great place
for what's known as Hatches and Matches.
Oh, yeah.
So this is Jewish couples meeting and getting married and having babies
and repeating the process over and over.
(39:39):
So I think this is really interesting because I feel like we need to bring this back
to modern day life of like a meeting spot and of it not being a business,
but just like a social gathering, maybe dances, whatever.
But what I liked about hearing about all the hotels and the Catskills and here
(40:01):
is they encouraged boys and girls to hang out and meet.
And I wanted to say something.
These were religious Jews.
Growing up, we were very much deterred to talk to the opposite sex.
They were like, no, you shouldn't hang out.
Even though their generation before the parents of these people,
they were doing that because where else are we going to meet a Jewish boy, girl to get married?
(40:26):
And I felt like it made sense because it was a safe kind of kosher environment.
Like you're outside. People are always around.
If kids are going to go and sneak out, they're going to go and sneak out.
But at this way, they don't need to hide.
They can just talk and mingle.
And I like that they encouraged that.
And it was fun.
In the documentary, they're like, there were a lot of babies being made.
(40:48):
And it's true.
And a lot of the couples that met on vacation there would have their honeymoon there.
So I'm sure a lot of families got started.
I love that.
Another similarity is that the Borsch Belt hotels and the Bournemouth hotels
were usually family-owned businesses.
(41:08):
They weren't at least they didn't start out being owned by a corporation
of or a chain of some sort.
And so not only are they family-owned, but they're also like the women of the family
are front and center and running them.
Like they handle a lot of the operation.
And they're successful.
Yes.
So they were women-run, not business, not corporation-owned, which made them really good.
(41:35):
Because when you hear when people talk about these hotels, they don't just like, yeah, it was nice.
They have like a love for them and then we came in and we saw this woman who runs and owns the hotel
in the lobby greeting us.
Like there was real human interaction.
There's this, I used the word last time also, heimishness.
(41:56):
And which means like, how would you describe it?
Like comfort and homey.
Yeah, homey.
You know, you don't have to go to corporate.
You go to a person and they try to fix the problem.
But you also knew the person and it was like...
Yeah, they know your name.
They remember you from your visit the year before and the year before that.
(42:17):
They know your whole family.
And most of them probably there's a relation or connection there.
So it's not like far off.
And there's this trust, this communal trust with other people, which added to the heimishness
and the safety of the hotel.
And I think that gives it warmth.
And I think people are really, really craving that.
(42:40):
And for me, a lot of hotels just totally lack that.
There is no hominess to it.
Yes, they're very cold.
Yeah, they're very cold.
And I think also, I know there's a high turnaround with hotels, which is problematic.
There's a lot of problems with hotels.
That's true.
But I think that if they took the Borschbelt and the Green Park as an example of that,
(43:05):
as an example, a model of how to run a hotel to get people as if they are like these individuals
invested in it and to treat it like their own little property home.
I think that that would change a lot.
But things would have to change.
It can't be so corporate.
And they'll never give that up because, you know, profit.
(43:27):
Yeah.
Well, and that's one thing about these is it wasn't until like the 70s and 80s, really
the 80s that these hotels even offered the ability to stay just one or two nights
because it was so popular.
You had to take a week long booking if you were going to stay or you would have to share
(43:49):
it with another family or something like they take a week and you take a week because it
was so popular that there was no other option.
So you really spent a lot of time at the hotel.
And that's how you got to know everyone so well because you were not just, you know,
coming in, going to sleep there for a couple of nights and then heading back out.
Yeah.
You were living there for a minute.
(44:11):
Yeah, that's true.
One of the main differences that I was reading about was the entertainment.
So in the Catskills, it was very dominated by Yiddish theater, Jewish humor.
It was Jewish entertainment for this, you know, very insular Jewish audience, whereas
(44:37):
Bournemouth Entertainment was a little bit more assimilated because the, you know, upwardly
mobile British Jews had kind of left behind the more traditional Jewish leisure activities
when they moved to the suburbs and further out, you know, away from their immigrant
neighborhoods in London.
So a lot of times when British Jews would visit the Catskills, they actually didn't
(45:00):
care for the entertainment all that much.
They thought, I learned this new term, they thought the standup comedy there could be
much too blue.
And so apparently, blue humor is kind of a little bit on the more risque side.
Yeah, that's funny coming from British people.
(45:21):
I'm sorry.
They said it's too obviously New York, the accent thing.
I think New York Jews are unique within Jews.
Like, I don't think all Jews are like that, but they are the stereotype of like Jewish
Americans for good reason because that's mostly where most Jews in America live.
(45:46):
And we did kind of that a lot of Jewish New York comedians.
So we put it on the map, guys.
Yeah, I mean, well, the Catskills are two hours from New York.
Like, of course it's going to be a New York Jewish.
But maybe it was too blue at the time.
Maybe so.
I think England has changed drastically from that.
(46:06):
And now I feel like they're a little bit too blue for some Americans.
But it's very interesting.
And another major difference between them and the Catskills is that obviously the Catskills
was in the Catskills Mountains.
So they're going to have huge resorts, way bigger than Bournemouth.
And I didn't know that they served more food than Bournemouth, but probably just number wise.
(46:31):
They're not talking about meals.
Just amount of food.
Yeah, that makes sense.
OK, because they both probably had a ton of snack time and 11 Z's and whatever.
But another major difference also was that when the Catskills resorts shut down,
it tanked the entire region's economy.
(46:52):
But Bournemouth's hotels were put to different uses and the town and areas economy remained intact.
Which sounds kind of good.
The Catskills really did go through it.
Yeah, and they're just now starting to kind of claw their way out of it.
So it's much better that they were able to turn the hotels into apartments
(47:15):
and find other uses to keep the area going.
Yeah, but it also makes sense because Bournemouth is a city.
It's not like mostly Jews, but the Catskills, it was Hickville.
It was like really nothing going on. Very, very small towns.
(47:37):
The farming wasn't great.
There's not much and so it makes sense.
It's true.
So if you're interested in learning more about Bournemouth,
then of course we recommend watching the Green Park documentary.
And you can also check out the book Jews by the Seaside by Pam Fox.
(48:00):
It goes very into detail on not only the big eight hotels,
but also a lot of the smaller establishments
and just the history and building up of the town of Bournemouth itself.
And then I also found a novel called The Crossing Point by Gerda Charles that takes place
in a Jewish hotel in Bournemouth and kind of just gives you the whole idea of all the different
(48:26):
scenes that would play out with what it was like to go to a dance there,
what it was like to see the food put out and the wave of people rush to get their next meal.
Yeah, I mean, just looking at when they show footage of the time,
it just it looks like so fun.
(48:47):
Yeah.
I love watching that old footage.
Thanks for listening to Hotel History.
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by searching for Hotel History or Hotel History Podcast.
If you like what you hear, please leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts
(49:11):
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