BOSTON may be known as the “Hub of the Universe” but the south Bronx has its very own Hub where four roads converge: East 149th Street and Willis, Melrose and Third Avenues, while Westchester Avenue begins its journey to Pelham Bay Park just a block to the north. Arrayed along Third is one of the Bronx’ biggest shopping areas (eclipsed only by Fordham Road), some mini-skyscrapers near some deserted lots and a number of ghost buildings. The framework for the dome of the United States Capitol was cast here, and Arthur “Dutch Schultz” Flegenheimer ran his speakeasy ring from a command post on East 149th.
A small sliver of property along East 149th east of Bergen Avenue where the #2 and #5 trains emerge from the subway tunnel features lamps and benches and has been declared a “drug-free’ zone, as long as the junkies cooperate. A grand building on the south side of East 149th, facing the plaza, is the former Italian Renaissance-style Bronx Opera House, now a hotel. It was constructed in 1913 [George Keister, architect] on the site of a former stable.
The “C & H” on the cartouches stands for the opera house’s founders, George M. Cohan, the “Yankee Doodle Dandy” of Broadway fame, and partner Sam H. Harris. The Harry Frazee production “Fine Feathers” was the first play presented. Frazee later owned the Boston Red Sox and sold Babe Ruth, who was holding out for more money, to the New York Yankees after the 1919 season. Over the years, well-known names such as the Marx Brothers, John Bunny, George Burns and Harry Houdini appeared at the BOH.
After some years as a movie theater, a Latin music dance club and a church, by which time it had become considerably rundown, the BOH was converted into a boutique hotel in 2013. Oddly, the Bronx Opera House wikipedia entry is quite comprehensive.
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3/27/23