The Casablanca Hotel Times Square, formerly the Hotel Metropole, is a hotel in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, at 147 West 43rd Street just off
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
.
It was the city's first hotel to have running water in every room. The Metropole had a list of notable residents including
Nick Arnstein
Julius Wilford "Nicky" Arnstein (born Arndstein; July 1, 1879October 2, 1965) was an American professional gambler and con artist. He was known primarily as Julius Arnold, but among his aliases were "Jules Arndtsteyn", "Nick Arnold," "Nicholas Ar ...
and Western lawman-turned-sports writer
Bat Masterson
Bartholemew William Barclay "Bat" Masterson (November 26, 1853 – October 25, 1921) was a U.S. Army scout, lawman, professional gambler, and journalist known for his exploits in the 19th and early 20th-century American Old West. He was born to ...
.
In the early morning hours of July 16, 1912, the hotel was the site of the murder of
Herman Rosenthal
Herman Rosenthal (October 6, 1843 – 1917) was an American author, editor, and librarian.
Biography
Rosenthal was born in Friedrichstadt (Jaunjelgava), Courland. He was educated at Bauske (Bauska) and Jakobstadt (Jēkabpils), graduating in 18 ...
. Rosenthal was the owner of several New York
gambling
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...
dens. This murder was allegedly at the behest of
Charles Becker
Charles Becker (July 26, 1870 – July 30, 1915) was a lieutenant in the New York City Police Department between the 1890s and the 1910s. He is known for the scandal of being tried, convicted, and executed for the first-degree murder of the Man ...
, a New York police detective who was executed in 1915 for that murder.
James Thurber
James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist and playwright. He was best known for his cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' and collected in ...
wrote an article about this called "Two O'Clock at the Metropole".
The Metropole's reputation for attracting gamblers is referenced in
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...
's 1925 novel ''
The Great Gatsby
''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts First-person narrative, first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious mil ...
''. It appears in the dialogue as the location of a restaurant favored by
Meyer Wolfsheim
''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby an ...
.
The hotel was where Joshua Shapira stayed in ''
Little Odessa''.
The Hotel Metropole later became the Hotel Rosoff and is now the Casablanca Hotel.
See also
*
List of former hotels in Manhattan
This is a list of former hotels in Manhattan, New York City.
Former hotels in Manhattan
* 995 Fifth Avenue
* The Ansonia
* Astor House
* Barbizon-Plaza Hotel
* City Hotel
* Dauphin Hotel
* Drake Hotel
* Endicott Hotel
* Fifth ...
*
Metropole Cafe
The Metropole Cafe was a jazz club that operated in New York from the mid-1950s through 1965. Located at 7th Avenue and 48th Street, it was primarily noted in the bebop and progressive jazz era as being a venue for traditional musicians. Henry "Red ...
References
External links
*
Midtown Manhattan
Defunct hotels in Manhattan
Times Square buildings
{{Manhattan-struct-stub