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Sleep Next Door To Where Al Capone Received His "Scarface"
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jan 12, 2011
Modified Jan 12, 2011
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jan 12, 2011
Modified Jan 12, 2011
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"You've dreamed about it..." the Grand Prospect Hall hotel! The 118-year-old Park Slope banquet hall is currently most famous for its amazing commercial (below), but its history is one of a kind. More on that later, but right now the owners hope to expand with a luxury hotel next to their current space. Owner Michael Halkias says it would be an 11-story, 150-room hotel, and told the Daily News, "The Marriott killed me. I have a gorgeous, spectacular space. I have more space than most hotels in the city... But I don't have sleeping rooms."
Of course, with the new endeavor will come an equally charming and quirky commercial—he says, "They make fun of my commercial. My commercial is funny. It's a homemade commercial that cost me nothing... Everybody knows Grand Prospect Hall. Everybody knows about 'We make your dreams come true.'" Indeed, he says reciting the line has even gotten him out of a speeding ticket!
His proposed plan will go in front of the local community board this week for approval, and he thinks they'll be able to move forward, adding, "We believed in Brooklyn when nobody knew Park Slope." Michael and his wife purchased the hall over three decades ago—and according to the website, it used to draw A-listers like Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, and even Al Capone. In fact, it's where Capone received the scar that earned him his nickname; the site notes: "Al Capone frequented the hall's speakeasy (peephole included) during Prohibition. He reportedly received the facial wound that earned his 'Scarface' nickname during a scrap there. Not a complete thug, Capone was also an ardent operatic fan and had a balcony box in the ballroom." Check out more history of the place here, including a photo of that old Venetian garden that was used for motion picture screenings.
UPDATE: A tipster tells us that Capone getting his scar at Grand Prospect Hall is "certainly and unequivocally patently untrue"—and we're fairly certain this tipster isn't from the Marriott! Here's what they say:
The prevailing consensus among many crime reporters, biographers and historians of that era is that Capone got this scar after getting into an injudicious dispute with a low-level hood named Frank Gallucio in 1917, when Gallucio paid a visit to a dance hall, The Harvard Inn, located in the heart of Coney Island.
According to this account which is considered by the aforementioned to be accurate, Gallucio was with his younger sister, Lena and a date—and Capone was working the door as a bouncer for the owner of the establishment, Frankie Yale, who was widely considered to have then been the undisputed mob boss in New York City. Capone was paying unwanted attention to the comely Ms. Gallucio and at one point commented to her about her apparently very attractive posterior, a remark that supposedly so infuriated her older brother that he whipped out a knife and slashed Capone, on the spot, three times on the left side of his face, causing his infamous scar that caused him to be known as "Scarface."
Capone, however, did not hold a grudge, most people agree, as he supposedly apologized for having cracked wise to Gallucio for defending his kid sister's honor and wound up employing him as a bodyguard years later.
You can read more about the tale here.
Tagged
al capone
brooklyn
grand prospect hall
history
hotel
luxury hotel
park slope
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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