Thursday, October 5, 2017

The Drive from Lake Sheldrake to Grossinger's Resort Hotel

The movie Dirty Dancing was filmed in Virginia and North Carolina, but the story takes place in the Catskills Mountains in New York. Kellerman's Mountain House is a fictional resort based on Grossinger's Resort Hotel. I don't know if there ever was a Sheldrake Hotel, but there is a Loch Sheldrake (i.e. Lake Sheldrake) about five miles from Grossinger's.

At one point in the movie, Penny Johnson remarks that the drive from Kellerman's (i.e. Grossinger's) to the Hotel Sheldrake is about 20 minutes. Perhaps the Sheldrake Hotel is on the lake's north-east shore. Keep in mind also that the road quality probably was worse in 1963 than it is now in 2017.

Click on the map to enlarge it.
The below series of photographs shows
the westward drive from the lake to the hotel.
The following screen-shots from Google Maps shows the drive from the intersection of Loch Sheldrake Road and Highway 52 to Grossinger's Old Hotel Historical Landmark. This is much of the drive that Johnny Castle and Baby Houseman would have made from the Sheldrake Hotel back to Kellerman's. This is the drive where Baby changed her clothes in the car's back seat. (Click on any photograph to enlarge it.)

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In the below photograph, the white car on the left is coming off of Loch Sheldrake Road. The southern tip of Loch Sheldrake (the lake) is to the right of photograph, but not visible here. Our car is headed northwest on NY Highway 52.


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An old church on the right side of the road.


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The entire drive is on NY Highway 52. In the below photo, we still are driving northwest.


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Maybe about here, Baby is taking off her ballroom dress and is topless. She hopes that Johnny is peaking at her in the car's rear-view mirror. She intends to seduce him after they get back to Kellerman's.


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Maybe about here, Baby is in the car's back seat and putting on her bra.

Below, the road is going west.


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The song "Some Kind of Wonderful" begins playing on the car radio.


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Maybe about here, Baby is putting on her peasant blouse.


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Maybe about here, Baby climbs over the front seat's back and sits in the passenger seat.


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The closer we get toward Kellerman's, the more buildings there are.





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In the below photographs, turn right and drive uphill toward Grossinger's.



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Google Maps does not go up the hill. I think the illegible road sign on the right says that Grossinger's Old Hotel Historical Landmark is ahead.

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1 comment:

  1. SloshedTurtleOctober 1, 2018 at 11:16 PM

    Just to help you out as someone who lived the "dirty dancing" lifestyle, living and working at a resort... not every single aspect of the movie was an exact detail...The Sheldrake is actually in reference to the Browns Hotel (now burned down) which is on Rt. 52 as well. the movies’ dance instructors Johnny (played by Patrick Swayze) and Penny (actress Cynthia Rhodes) were based on actual Grossinger’s staff members Michael Terrace and Jackie Horner. It was Michael Terrace that introduced the Mambo to the U.S. supposedly during the hey day of the Borscht Belt. They danced at both Grossingers and The Browns.

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