The Central Park Casino
Speaking of high end luxury real estate…
Did you know that there was once a Central Park Casino?
The Ladies' Refreshment Saloon - Photo: NYPL Digital Archives
Getting up to Central Park in 1862 was no easy task. Therefore, its creators Calvert and Vaux designed and built a few places throughout it where park goers could get refreshments. One of them was named the Ladies' Refreshment Saloon and was located where today’s Rumsey Playfield/Summerstage is located. It was a Victorian style cottage that catered only to women until the early 1900’s when it expanded and rebranded itself as an upscale restaurant called The Casino. You could get a sirloin steak for 75 cents which, at the time, was pricey.
The Casino’s location within Central Park
Photo: Grangers
Toward the end of the 1920’s The Casino had lost its luster and its wealthy regulars were dining elsewhere.
No, this is not a mobster, it's NYC's very own Mayor Jimmy Walker - Photo: NYPL Digital Archives
In 1926 one of New York City’s most corrupt and larger-than-life Mayors was elected to office. Mayor Jimmy Walker, noted for his love of nightlife, high fashion and kickbacks on large construction contracts, awarded his friend Sidney Solomon the lease to The Casino.
The Casino at night - NYPL Digital Archives
Solomon hired architect Joseph Urban (designer of the Metropolitan Opera House) for a massive renovation. It reopened on June 4th, 1929 with a party of 500 of New York City’s most elite. In attendance were names like Drexel, Hearst, Lehman, Vanderbilt and Ziegfeld.
'Movie Stars' like to visit The Casino. - Photo: Library of Congress
Photo: NYPL Digital Archives
or a short period of time, The Casino was the choice nightclub of the elite, including Mayor Walker himself. The NY Times said of The Casino, “Parties lasted well past midnight, and when the main restaurant closed at 3 a.m., chorus girls from the Ziegfeld Follies arrived with a police motorcycle escort to entertain select clients in private rooms upstairs, as dazzling light spilled from the windows and blazed upon the luxuriant exteriors of Fifth Avenue.”
The Casino being demolished (1930's) - Photo: Wurt's Bros
The Casino’s demise came from a series of events that started with the Wall Street crash of 1929 leading to the Great Depression. While many were thrust into poverty, the city’s wealthy class were frowned upon for their extravagant lifestyles. At the same time Mayor Walker resigned after he was caught taking bribes. The newly elected Mayor LaGuardia had a distaste for Walker and his flashy mayorship - so with the help of his right hand man, Robert Moses, they dismantled The Casino. Moses then built the Rumsey Playground on the site that The Casino stood.
Central Park Summerstage - Photo: Melissa Blitz
Today, the site is home to Central Park Summer Stage. Any trace of The Casino is long gone, but as a runner who frequents the park almost daily, I love imagining the parking lot full of vintage luxury sedans while New York’s old guard, its Captains of Industry, party til 3am as jazz music fills the air.
