Originally the Ladies Refreshment Lounge (1864), the Central Park Casino (where no gambling took place) was transformed into one of NYC’s most expensive nightclubs. Mayor Jimmy Walker handed control of the property to his friend Sidney Solomon. Mayor Walker had a private office within its walls in order to do business with his political cronies.
The Central Park Casino was torn down in 1936 under order of the new mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia partly because of public criticism of a swank operation raking in the dough on city property during the great depression, the other part was a personal vendetta on the part of La Guardia against Walker.
Celebrating the repeal of Prohibition at the Casino in Central Park, New York City 1933
