Texas Guinan: Hotel Harding

Oh those days when TEXAS GUINAN offered world-class whoopee at the Hotel Harding (203 West 54th Street) — — a  speakeasy on the lower level — — until the padlocks arrived.
• • New York's Whoopee Center • •
• • From an ad in a NYC magazine on December 29, 1928 — —  Early Bird Catches the New Year's Eve Table at New York's Whoopee Center — —  Phone now: Circle 2500 — —  Texas Guinan (With Sound and how!) — — Texas at her Showplace, Hotel Harding, 203 West 54th Street — — A BIG SHOW.
• • Note: Mae West was living at this hotel when "Diamond Lil" was onstage and when Tex had her speakeasy in the cellar. Pay attention to that iron handrail going down to the lower level.

• • "Harding Changes Hands" • •
• • The Harding Hotel, frequently in print, has changed hands again. The new owner, said to be headed by Morris Sweetwood, will conduct it with a night club as an adjunct.  Because it comes within the law, the latter will be open all night.
• • Last year [i.e., 1929] it had Texas Guinan as the feature.
• • When Ed Arlington took over the Harding Hotel several years ago, he made it highly profitable. He sold his lease for $75,000. The new owners secured that lease, which has 10 years to go, for $45,000.
• • Source: Variety; published on Wednesday, 6 February 1930
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• • The legal battles fought by Mae West and Jim Timony are dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets," set during the Prohibition Era. Texas Guinan is in some scenes, too. Watch a scene on YouTube.
• • Website for all things Mae West — http://MaeWest.blogspot.com 

• • Exciting Texas Guinan news is on the horizon. More anon.
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Texas Guinan
• • Photo: Texas Guinan • • 203 West 54th Street today • •
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Texas Guinan.