POCONO MOUNTAINS Performing arts venue to open on resort site

The Pittsburgh Symphony will be part of the opening celebration.
By RHODA AMON
NEWSDAY
After a two-month delay, the long-awaited Mountain Laurel Center for the Performing Arts is slated to open in August on a historical 675-acre site in Pennsylvania's Pocono mountains.
Despite construction delays because of the harsh winter and reported financial problems, the $40 million center is being readied for a festive weeklong opening celebration, including a performance by the Pittsburgh Symphony, an evening gala, jazz, cabaret and gospel entertainment, and a literary luncheon, bringing "cutting edge" culture to the Poconos area once known for heart-shaped bathtubs and other honeymoon kitsch.
The lush mountain site, less than two hours from Manhattan, was occupied by Unity House, one of the world's largest labor union recreational resorts. It was founded in 1924 by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union to provide a bucolic retreat and self-improvement center for thousands of garment factory workers from the crowded cities. President John F. Kennedy and Eleanor Roosevelt spoke there, Danny Kaye, Alan King and Imogene Coca got their show business starts there, and 10,000 visitors came during the peak years.
Hopping place
"It was a hopping place and will be again," said media spokeswoman Beata Gutman. Unity House closed in 1989 as the U.S. apparel industry moved overseas in search of inexpensive labor and the union's membership declined.
The site was developed and used by German industrialists as a "hunting resort" from 1887 until anti-German sentiment during World War I precipitated its closing.
Center performances will be in the Boathouse, which will seat 500, and the 10,000-capacity Tom Ridge Pavilion, named for the former Pennsylvania governor, now the nation's homeland security chief.
Hotel accommodations are available in nearby Bushkill, Gutman said.
XVisit the center's Web site at www.mountain laurelcenter.org, or call (866) 458-8652 for more information.