Legends the Abandoned Playboy Resort

1968... Will live in infamy because it's the year that Martin Luther King Jr and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated, Nixon was elected president and thousands protested the Vietnam war, in the shadows of this time a sexual culture was growing.
Hugh Hefner, with his Playboy empire, was leading the charge, opening playboy nightclubs and resorts all over the country. So in 1968 Playboy unveiled plans for a massive (at the time) $20 million dollar, 1000 acre Resort in Vernon, NJ.
The resort ended up costing $30 Million and was the largest construction project ever, in the history of Vernon township.
By 1970 the resort was nearly completed and Hugh Hefner started making appearances around town, attracting headlines locally and nationally, bringing a bit of a spotlight to the township.
From there, things moved fast.
In December 1971 The Great Gorge Playboy Club Hotel opened its doors. Featuring a luxurious environment with everything you would expect from a hotel run by Playboy. Playboy Models, known as Bunnies would serve patrons as they enjoyed the numerous, pools, tennis courts, neighboring Great Gorge golf course, and of course nightly entertainment.
Right across from the entrance of the resort was a convention center. It was rumored that the true plans for the hotel's vision included a casino in that convention center. To the dismay of Hefner, in 1974 it became clear that gambling would be restricted to Atlantic City.
By 1976 the hotel started to struggle, and as the playboy culture began to fade, the resort was sold and renamed Seasons Hotel in the 1980s and then later Legends Resort & Country Club, which at one time was the township's largest employers
By the 2000s the hotel was falling apart.
The tennis courts were ruined, the pools out of service, and by 2005 the building served as temporary living space for contractors and various other out of town workers.
Until 2008 when the hotel once again made it to newspaper headlines.
only this time it was due to a brutal murder, at its main entrance. It was later reported that by this time the hotel became a den of illegal drugs, underage drinking, and violence.
The hotel finally closed to the public on April 5th, 2018.

[@desireehall6156]

Sad to see this place going down. The very time I was there was sometime during the summer of 1998. I met friends there

[@user-ph5zh7or7j]

Why can’t I find this building anywhere!? What street do you turn down to pull into it? This is off 517 correct?

[@SkylandNJ]

41°11'20.1"N 74°32'03.9"W
maps.app.goo.gl/eWoWDDWTbKEuuVjq9?g_st=ic

[@btscarzella214]

I wouldn’t say “high class” celebrities… probably ever. Lol

[@jeffnnj]

My parents took me to see Peggy Lee there. I was able to meet her in her room after the show and get an autographed pic. I was probably about 12 or 13.

[@DoowopLover]

Another nice video. Thank you Bart.
If I remember correctly, Vernon is in Sussex County.

[@jamesbrown9057]

I stayed there in the 90s when it was just a regular resort

[@jimmyburke2611]

When I was a kid we would practice little league baseball here and you could see rats and bullet holes in the walls.

[@driven01]

There are people who bought timeshares in this place, and condos. What happened to their ownership interests?

[@andyappleton3353]

On another video about this place, the vid-creator said that the upgrades that were supposed to be made to the rooms never happened and that the owners couldn't even get into their own timeshares whilst the hotel tried to sue them for more money on their purchases. Don't know if it's just conjecture or not but no doubt...those people got screwed.

[@desireehall6156]

I went there when I was child. My father took us there for vacation

[@timothyslavin6018]

My dad actually worked for the hotel when I was at child and I had lunch and my mom sent me to my room after I admired one of the Bunnie's... I am 51 now but I remember like it was yesterday

[@TommieB1]

The Americans was after playboy

[@srpdesigns]

You missed one transaction of the club ...Playboy sold it to a company who named the hotel The Americana from there it went to Seasons ....just thought I'd help you out ...We were told that the day the resort was sold the staff changed everything that had a Playboy logo on it over night to The Americano .

[@endtimes4sure425]

Wasn’t it called “the Great American resort” ?

[@srpdesigns]

@@endtimes4sure425maybe that was their slogan ...But the official name was definitely The Americano

[@endtimes4sure425]

Right on! Thanks for the response . Do you happen to have any video or pictures from this time. I FASCINATED with this building and it seems the period between playboy and seasons is the most hard to find info on. Thanks for this correction as for years I thought it was the great American resort! Love learning stuff about this mysterious building. So much shady shit went down in Vernon in these early days it seems lol.

[@kl4984]

It was Americana not Americano

[@derekmanthey8811]

The casino was the game room. All the internal infrastructure was installed just waiting to bring in the tables and slots. It struggled because Hefner's partner was skimming off the top from his other casinos in other location around the world

[@anacarolinabarreiros6943]

I lived there for 3 months in 2008/2009. It was very scary

[@controlledchaos8851]

Holy shit , I got some story’s . Back when I was 18/19 bush had a bunch of non-citizens working at mountain creek and living there . Crazy shit man

[@stevennielsen7500]

Sad, so many man hours to build, just rotting away.

[@TommieB1]

Originally a Playboy Club

[@rodger7029]

lol, it’s in the title

[@desireehall6156]

The only thing that I remember when I was a little girl was the deli restaurant

[@user-gr4dd1sl1f]

That's cool. Please don't take it as an I sult but u should take a public speaking class and so.etype of media news class so you can keep the audience I trusted in what your presenting. U almost have it bud but run on sentences and lack of being sure of your presentation in your voice and description it's kinda just n
Blan

[@SkylandNJ]

Thanks for the advice, I cringe when I hear myself talk too, I prefer being behind the camera than In front of it. Maybe I’ll take a lesson, why not.