6. After Hammerstein, a Lucky (Luciano) place

Charles “Lucky” Luciano. Via Wikimedia Commons. Photo by New York Police Department.

In 1933, with Prohibition repealed, the struggling Manhattan Theater was transformed into a “Music Hall” run by composer and impresario Billy Rose. Rose was reportedly a front for mobster Lucky Luciano who bankrolled an extravagant, but affordable place to be entertained and enjoy a drink.

According to the New York Herald Tribune, the Music Hall was a spectacle with “150 singing waiters,” “an imposing posse of vaudeville practitioners,” and a “nymph infested wishing well.” It only stayed in business a short time though Billy Rose continued to operate other venues for many years after.