Hello Alan,
The Half Moon Hotel, with it's great mosaic dome, opened for business on May 5th, 1927 on the Boardwalk at West 29th Street. It was managed by the American Hotels Corporation and financed by prominent members Coney Island Chamber of Commerce, including William Ward, Charles Feltman, Edward Tilyou, and William Mangels. The Half Moon was sited at the outer fringe of the amusement area on the theory that the Boardwalk between the hotel and Stillwell Avenue would fill in with other luxury establishments. Many prominent guests visited the hotel and it remained a popular venue for weddings and banquets.
The Great Depression killed the Chamber's dream of greatness and the hotel sat exiled at the West End until the beginning of WW II when it was transformed into a naval hospital. In 1941 the hotel gained notoriety when mob turncoat Abe Reles fell to his death from a sixth floor window while under police protection shortly before he was due to testify in court. No one knows for sure whether he was pushed or slipped during an escape attempt. After the war the Half Moon became Harbor Hospital and in 1953, the Hebrew Home for the Aged. The elegant building was demolished in 1996 before it could be landmarked.
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Half Moon Hotel
I was born in the Half Moon Hotel (Harbor Hospital) in November 1949. My mother kept the original menu from "Harbor Hospital Thanksgiving Dinner" which I still have along with my birth bracelet. My family continued living in Coney Island on West 33 Street in the Gravesend Projects until 1968. I went to PS188, Mark Twain Jr. High School and graduated from Abraham Lincoln HS in 1967. I have such fond memories of growing up in Coney Island which I share with my grandchildren. I came upon this web site when I was doing research on the Half Moon Hotel for my grandson. He is building an Airbnb rental in Virginia and will name it the "Half Moon Farmhouse".
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