Hotel Metropole (New York City)

The Casablanca Hotel Times Square, formerly the Hotel Metropole, is a hotel in Manhattan, New York City, at 147 West 43rd Street just off Times Square.[1] It was the city's first hotel to have running water in every room.[2] The Metropole had a list of notable residents including Nick Arnstein and Western lawman-turned-sports writer Bat Masterson.

Hotel Metropole
Hotel café as it appeared in 1913
Map
General information
Address147 West 43rd Street
Town or cityManhattan, New York City
CountryUnited States
Coordinates40°45′23″N 73°59′08″W / 40.7563°N 73.9855°W / 40.7563; -73.9855
Opened1910 (1910)
Technical details
Floor count6
Casablanca Hotel in 2023

In the early morning hours of July 16, 1912, the hotel was the site of the murder of Herman Rosenthal.[3] Rosenthal was the owner of several New York gambling dens. This murder was allegedly at the behest of Charles Becker, a New York police detective who was executed in 1915 for that murder.[4] James Thurber wrote an article about this called "Two O'Clock at the Metropole".[5]

The Metropole's reputation for attracting gamblers is referenced in F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. It appears in the dialogue as the location of a restaurant favored by Meyer Wolfsheim.[6] The hotel was where Joshua Shapira stayed in Little Odessa.

The Hotel Metropole later became the Hotel Rosoff and is now the Casablanca Hotel.[1]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Casablanca Hotel Fact Sheet". Library Hotel Collection - Landing. Retrieved 2021-04-27.
  2. ^ "Hotel Metropole". Infamous New York. Retrieved 2021-04-27.
  3. ^ "Gambler Who Defied Police is Shot Dead; Rosenthal Killed in Front of the Hotel Metropole Early This Morning". The New York Times. 1912-07-16. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
  4. ^ "The Trial of the Century". 239 Days in America. 2012-11-14. Retrieved 2021-04-27.
  5. ^ Thurber, James; Lopresti, Robert (1991). Thurber on crime. New York: Mysterious Press. ISBN 978-0-89296-450-5. OCLC 23179012.
  6. ^ "Wolfsheim - Great Gatsby Text Search". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2021-04-27.
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