NEW YORK CITY – Coming soon to your screens will be a new television series that’s a fictional take on the very real life of the Grossinger’s Resort.

Harris Salomon (Atlantic Overseas Pictures Television) and Alan Zweibel are the creators and producers of “The Mountains” TV series, which they hope will be picked up by a streaming service next year. 

Salomon, a New York City-based producer, became passionate about telling the story of the era and obtained the life story rights of Grossinger’s—the famed Catskills resort in Liberty.

“I’m fascinated by lost worlds,” Salomon said. “And Grossinger’s really is a lost world. It was the leading hotel of the time—and now it’s gone.” 

Zweibel is a writer, producer, director, comedian and actor, who is known as one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live.

His life story as a kid growing up on Long Island and going to the Catskills for the summer serves as inspiration for their show.

“We hear the story in Alan’s own voice as a witness, somebody who’s there seeing and watching, but also interplaying with the characters,” Salomon said. 

The other characters will be the Grossinger family, specifically Jennie and her daughter Elaine. Jennie was the matriarch of the resort and was known for her warm welcome to guests. Elaine now lives in Florida. 

Salomon wants to highlight the “richness” of the Borscht Belt era, which tells the unique story of Jewish Americans, who would vacation at Grossinger’s and other resorts as most hotels across the country would not accept them. 

“The idea is to bring that world back to life,” Salomon said. “It touches upon anti-semitism, which was [prevalent] at that time and unfortunately still is today. But I would rather fight anti-semitism with humor.”

The series, in the vein of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, will celebrate and honor what happened at Grossinger’s.

“We can learn a lot today from that period,” Salomon said. “People had a good time—there were no phones, no computers, a lot of those hotels didn’t even have television. And they found joy in things that today we don’t find joy in. And I think today we’re all looking for something that we’ve lost.”

The series is currently in pre-production and Salomon notes that, while they don’t have a filming location yet, it likely won’t be in Sullivan County, as there are no resorts still standing today.

“If I could go back in time, I would like to go back to a place like Grossinger’s on a Fourth of July weekend in 1950,” Salomon said. “And just experience what it was like; I think it was pretty special.” 

‘We Met at Grossinger’s’

Another step back in time, the documentary “We Met at Grossinger’s” recently premiered at the Doc NYC film festival. Salomon is the creator and an executive producer of the film, which was directed by Paula Eiselt and produced by Robert Friedman, Eiselt and Bennett Elliott.

From the film’s description: “The real-life 

inspiration for the setting of the 1987 classic film Dirty Dancing, Grossinger’s provided both a physical and mental getaway where Jews—and others from marginalized communities—needing a break from NYC could relax. The resort’s growing reputation attracted a wide variety of comedians, athletes, and political figures, including Jackie Robinson and Eleanor Roosevelt.”

The site where Grossinger’s once stood has been bought by a Florida developer; details of their plans are not yet available.