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The shocking story of how a haven for the Lower East Side's Jewish population was destroyed by New York's rapacious real estate interests.
There were few options for Jewish patrons looking for a place to stay or celebrate key life events in turn-of-the-century New York City. To meet this need, entrepreneur Max Bernstein built Libby's Hotel and Baths, a magnificent $3 million, twelve-story luxury palace that towered over the tenements of New York City's gritty yet vibrant Lower East Side from 1926 until 1930. Bernstein's grand hotel was short-lived—it was demolished after falling victim to a predatory mortgage lending scheme and a land grab by corrupt Tammany politicians. The Ritz with a Shvitz illuminates the intrigue that an incestuous web of Tammany officials employed in their scheme to wrest control of Libby's Hotel and a large swath of the bustling neighborhood surrounding it. The rogues' gallery included Joseph Force Crater, the judge who vanished into the night, never to be seen or heard from again. Some historians speculate he was murdered because of his role in the takeover of Libby's Hotel. Bernstein's visionary building was razed and with it the dreams of a new, glamorous, gentrified, Jewish Lower East Side. The Ritz with a Shvitz is a compelling story of dreams and reality, greed and betrayal, corruption and reform and is a microcosm of that era of Tammany's oppressive control of New York City government.
"The brief, glorious reign of Libby's, the first and only Yiddish hotel in the Lower East Side, is one of New York's great untold stories and a marvelous piece of forgotten city lore. In The Ritz with a Shvitz, the saga of the hotel's rise and fall during the Roaring Twenties is told with verve and humor, using meticulous research to recreate a vibrant Jewish community that thrived for generations in downtown Manhattan during the Jazz Age." — Tony Perrottet, author of Pagan Holiday: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists
"Two wonderful books in one! First, the enchanting story of Libby's—a unique Lower East Side hotel, bath, and Jewish community center built by Max Bernstein as a memorial to his mother and a counter to antisemitism. Second, the sordid story of predatory lenders and corrupt government officials who destroyed and buried Libby's, leaving behind a dangerous park and, in time, a sinkhole. A rollicking stranger-than-fiction cautionary tale from early twentieth-century New York." — Jonathan D. Sarna, author of American Judaism: A History
"What a delightful book—a radiant palimpsest on countless levels! Ritz with a Shvitz is a veritable Schliemann's Troy of fascinating, joyfully abundant, and exceptionally well researched information. That Libby's Hotel, such a glorious blazing star in the galaxy of the Jewish Lower East Side, should have once shimmered with dazzling brilliance and then so quickly disappeared is an engrossing, almost legendary tale of human generosity, aspiration, greed, and political corruption. An exciting and well-authenticated 'whodunit' of old New York." — Justin Ferate, New York City Urban Historian
"Berger and Zion's The Ritz with a Shvitz chronicles the rise and fall of a luxury hotel endeavor by Jews on the Lower East Side in the 1920s. This well-researched and entertaining volume contributes significantly to the growing literature on the gentrification of the iconic immigrant neighborhood. It reminds us how economically and socially diverse the so-called 'Jewish ghetto' actually was." — Jeffrey S. Gurock, Libby M. Klaperman Professor of Jewish History, Yeshiva University
Shulamith Z. Berger is the Curator of Special Collections at the Mendel Gottesman Library, Yeshiva University. Her English translation of Joseph Opatoshu’s Yiddish novel, Hebrew, is forthcoming. Jai Zion is a teacher, writer, and tour guide. They both live and work in New York City.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: You Have Not Been to New York if You Have Not Been to Libby's
Jai Zion
Prologue: Digging for Libby's
Shulamith Z. Berger
1. The Jewish Times Square: Cloudy, with a Chance of Flowers
2. The Story of the Story: Max and the Pioneering Advertising Professionals
3. Life at Libby's: Libby's Hotel Celebrates
4. Dark Clouds: The Competition
5. The Foreclosure: High Finance and Low Morals
6. "What Price Condemnation?": A Neighborhood in Flux
7. What's Libby's Got to Do with It? : The Moores Against the World
Epilogue: A Sinkhole Grows in Manhattan
Appendix I: Research in the Bad Old Days
Shulamith Z. Berger
Appendix II: Divine Dining on the Lower East Side
Jai Zion
Appendix III: Putting on the Ritz: Bennie and Harry Spend a Summer Day at Libby's Shulamith Z. Berger
Notes
Bibliography
Index