Hungarian Jews Meet At Yorkville Casino
One hundred years ago today … The Daily News featured a report, and a cartoon, chronicling the meeting of the Petofi Society at the Yorkville Casino.
The Daily News, 1 June 1920, p. 7. Newspapers.com.
The Yorkville Casino was located at 210 East 86th Street.
Ca. 1915-1920. George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
The Daily News would reminisce about it in 1998:
The six-story building at 210 E. 86th St. was erected in 1904 by the Musician's Mutual Protective Union (which was the forerunner of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians) as a social center for the area's growing German and Irish population. "Casino" also means a place for meetings, dances and such, and those were precisely the kinds of activities that made the Yorkville so popular. One of its two main ballrooms, The Tuxedo, with more than 15,000 square feet of floor space, was for a time among the most popular nightspots in town. The Yorkville, which had the only movie theater in the city that screened German-language films, also served as one of New York's premier catering halls. The in-house caterer was a meister at adding the proper old-world flavor to German favorites like schnitzels and wursts. Add to this generous amounts of authentic German beer, and a catered event at the Yorkville Casino was a gastronomic event. Anthony Connors, “Then and Now, the Yorkville Casino.
–The Daily News, 29 March, 1998.
WRITTEN BY JONATHAN GOLDMAN, JUNE 1, 2020.
Tags: Yorkville, Hungarian Jews, The Daily News