THE RITZ WITH A SHVITZ : THE RISE AND FA

The shocking story of how a haven for the Lower East Side's Jewish population was destroyed by New York's rapacious real estate interests.

There were few options for Jewish patrons looking for a place to stay or celebrate key life events in turn-of-the-century New York City. To meet this need, entrepreneur Max Bernstein built Libby's Hotel and Baths, a magnificent $3 million, twelve-story luxury palace that towered over the tenements of New York City's gritty yet vibrant Lower East Side from 1926 until 1930. Bernstein's grand hotel was short-lived―it was demolished after falling victim to a predatory mortgage lending scheme and a land grab by corrupt Tammany politicians. The Ritz with a Shvitz illuminates the intrigue that an incestuous web of Tammany officials employed in their scheme to wrest control of Libby's Hotel and a large swath of the bustling neighborhood surrounding it. The rogues' gallery included Joseph Force Crater, the judge who vanished into the night, never to be seen or heard from again. Some historians speculate he was murdered because of his role in the takeover of Libby's Hotel. Bernstein's visionary building was razed and with it the dreams of a new, glamorous, gentrified, Jewish Lower East Side. The Ritz with a Shvitz is a compelling story of dreams and reality, greed and betrayal, corruption and reform and is a microcosm of that era of Tammany's oppressive control of New York City government.

Shulamith Z. Berger is the Curator of Special Collections at the Mendel Gottesman Library, Yeshiva University. Her English translation of Joseph Opatoshu’s Yiddish novel, Hebrew, is forthcoming. Jai Zion is a teacher, writer, and tour guide. They both live and work in New York City.