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Weinerwald is/was a German chain of fast food restaurants. It was huge at one point, but went through restructuring and pulled out of the US market. I am not sure if that particular restaurant was a new creation, or if it was the result of a buyout, since new investment at the old Ramada would have been an interesting move for an international chain.
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All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
you guys mentioned that this old Ramada was not a hooker hotel and in fact had a high level of security, and was considered a cut above what was going on around it
i myself recall back in the summer of 1979 passing right in front of this hotel which certainly was peaceful and serene, but when we crossed W 48th street to the block that had the fire station and a row of boarded up rooming houses(now it's the swanky Biltmore Tower), it was another story. i saw nothing but people who looked like they were high or drunk as well as prostitution going on, and it indeed looked nasty, not something you would laugh at. you could feel the danger in the air
i think it was coltrane who said once you got past this and reached the Ramada and old parking lot that used to be the old MSG, you were back in civilization
do you think this Ramada hotel served as a deterrent to the junkies, hustlers, drunks, thieves and hookers who were ambling along 8th? would they either turn around once they reached the hotel or just kind of avoid it? or maybe cross the street (which as i recall had a number of really gruesome XXX places)? would the fear of hotel security intimidate them? do you think guests who checked in to the Ramada would often cancel their reservation once they took a look at the surrounding blocks?
sorry to fixate and obsess, but my mom passed away last week and i'm an orphan now, so this is kind of my way of dealing with it, by reminiscing about the old days in NY, strange as that may be...
No, there was nothing classy about it.
If you had the cash for the room and a woman or a man on your arm, you were welcome.
I know there was SOMETHING to eat in on the ground floor but I don't remember the WEINERWALD. I'll peruse my memory and see if I come up with something.
It was BETTER than a lot on the block but hardly a "civilizing" influence.
The street was seedy but safe and I don't think many more Johns were murdered in the Ramada than committed suicide during MY FAIR LADY!
where certain well known businesses like the Blarney Stone (48th and 8th), Century pawnbrokers, Times Circle Stationers (46th-47th), Knickerbocker Lighting Co (48th) Mchales (46th) Acropolis Restaurant (47th) would stay for decades but those miserable dingy XXX places and horrid hustler bars (Haymarket on 47th) would stay for short periods? something less desirable about the address of a particular location?
Yep, the mob opens them until such time as a developer wants the land for luxury apartments and then the City cracks down and closes them. So basically, the land is handed from one mobster to another.
Yes, The Haymarket made you want to shower immediately after walking in.
I always read about an O'Neals Backyard pub/bar on W 48th street or on 8th Avenue but the actual address was never mentioned. does anyone remember it and exactly where it was? I think it probably closed in the early 80's
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I notice
