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Elk Hotel, Relic Of Times Square's Seedy Past, Has Closed
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Feb 13, 2012
Modified Feb 13, 2012
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Feb 13, 2012
Modified Feb 13, 2012
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Spending your lunchbreak in Midtown with a prostitute just got a little harder: the Elk Hotel, one of the last pay-by-the-hour flophouses that used to be so prevalent around Times Square, has bedded its last strung-out pilgrim. Jeremiah's Vanishing New York acted on a tip and called to confirm: "We're closed. No more hotel no more. For good." We asked the man who answered the phone at the Elk what would replace it. "No idea, no clue. Have a nice day."
Opened in 1925, the Elk survived the Disneyfication of the area around its 42nd Street digs until the end. The Times noted in 2004 that the rooms were spartan: no TV, furniture, or A/C. The reporter asked two out-of-towners what they thought of their accommodations: ''Other than the mice, the hookers and the transvestites, it's fine.''
A commenter on a Vanishing New York story on the hotel last summer who was staying there, noted that if anything, the Elk was consistent. "I've been coming here for the last 25 years, and this hotel hasnt changed much.there's a constant stream of prostitution and drugs flowing throughout the building."
A note to junkies, prostitutes, and thrifty, weary travelers: we hear M&M's World's bathrooms are pretty nice.
Tagged
drugs
elk hotel
hookers
midtown
old new york
sadness
Times Square
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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