The guardian. [volume] (Boston, Mass.) 1901-1960, 1939-01-21

by whites of all classes, especially the
wealthy rich, whose race preiudices
was a minimum. Proprietors found
gold IN the business, and it was the
most lucrative vocation of the day.
HOTEL MACEO
What was acclaimed as the finest and
most suspicious hostelry of that dav
was the quaint Hotel Maceo, 213-2l5
West 53rd Street L.. corner of Broad
way =. the present site of the Ham
merstein, Columbia Broadcasting The
atre 1t was opened in 1897 oper-
ated from 1900-14 by BENJAMIN F.
Thomas -. later conducted as an auto
mobile school until 1926.
The Hotel Maceo was the cvnosure
perfect and apodictic of the roval
grandeur and conventional fnesse of
our forebears. In plain talk it was the
tops" and last word of eminence
the headquarters and abode of the
branlest and revered of Afro-America.
Ben Thomas sold the famous site
for $4,000 in 1926 which he assumed
was good price, and today it's worth
nearly a million.
The Maceo, was a ''small hotel" of
% rooms , then a marvellous retreat
with baths and splendid appointments,
which were practically unknown else
where. The writer extends this illus
tration of the 10Th century in order to
add color to the conclusive revelations.
Hotel Maceo was the scene of numer
Gus banNuets and parties-occasions
which gave prestige and honor to those
who had made an admired place in the
sun. Mr.. Thomas recalls most inspi-
safe banquet in honor of the noted
educator Booker T. Washington on
July 3rd, 1907.
MENU
Manhattan cocktails, consomme on
tasse, oyster cocktail, calf sweetbreads.
boiled salmon, egg sauce, beef tender
loin with mushrooms, French peas. new
potatoes, fruit salad, neapolitan ice
cream, assorted cake, nuts, raisins.
demi-tasse, liquors, sauterne, claret.
Nuns champagne, brandy, benedictine.
Served to 80 persons 5000 per
plate.
The above gives one an idea of the
effulgence and effusiOn of hospitality
demonstrated as mere gesture of salu-
tation
Other notables and celebrities who
were focused in this limelight and
toasted glamour were important per
sonages, including: DIR. Booker T.
Washington of Tuskegee; his successor
DIR. r. r. Motion; Paul Lawrence Dun
bar, poet; Hon. Judson Lyons, recorder
of deeds, w. T. Vernon, register of
the L. s. Treasury; J. C. Napier; Con
gresham George H. White of North
Carolina; DR.. Crum, I. S. Minister to
Liberia; Harry T. BuHeigh, noted solo
list; Bert Williams. famous comedian
and his partner, George Walker; DR..
George Washington Carver. chemist of
Tuskegee; Dan Glover, potato king of
Kansas; Oscar DePriest of Chicago.
Also Isaac Montgomery, Mayor and
founder of Mound Bayou, Miss, Drs.
Wherefore Williams, and Dan Viii
liams of Chicago, noted surgeons;
Major Charles A. Lynch; Maggie
Walker, bank president of Richmond,
Va; Charles W. Anderson. collector
Internal Revenue; Hannah Elias, P. B.
Pinchback, one time Governor of
Louisiana; Professor w. f. B. Dubois;
Philip A. PaytOn, realtor; Edward C.
Brown, banker of Philadelphia; Roland
Hayes, Nathaniel Dett, Theodore
Drury, Coleridge-Taylor, Will Vodery,
W. c. Handy, Bob Cole, ]. Rosamond
Johnson, James Weldon johnson, Jim
Europe, Sam Lucas, Turner Layton,
Henry Dreamer and others too numer-
Gus to mention.
NEXT WEEK: Pioneers of New York
NIGHT Life.