Welfare hotel—now that’s a term you don’t hear much anymore, unlike in the 1970s and 1980s; in response to a growing homeless crisis back then, the city put up thousands of families in shoddy, rundown hotels across the five boroughs.
No hotel epitomized New York’s bad old days like the Martinique, on 32nd and Broadway. The 16-story building started out in 1910 as an elegant French Renaissance–style residence in what was then part of the theater district. But as the theater district moved north, the Martinique slid into decline. By 1974, the city was warehousing homeless families there.
Newspapers were always running stories about the harsh life in the Martinique: families cooking on hot plates, creepy characters in the halls, spray-painted numbers on the doors. Finally, by the late 80s, the city emptied out the Martinique and other welfare hotels for good.
Today it’s a much spiffier place, renamed the Radisson Martinique. The original building details and sign remain.
Tags: 1980s New York City, Hotel Martinique, Radisson Martinique, Welfare Hotels
August 27, 2008 at 4:11 pm |
I remember that term very well (I grew up in the 60s and 70s) – that is a lovely building. They really knew how to build back then.
August 27, 2008 at 4:12 pm |
I am also over at the Virtual Dime Museum but WP does not allow me to indicate that -
http://thevirtualdimemuseum.blogspot.com
Hence my interest in NYC.
September 4, 2008 at 5:14 pm |
I remember the “welfare” hotel all too well. I used to live there as a homeless welfare client. From what I presently know, that place is a far cry from my previous experience.
October 13, 2008 at 9:03 pm |
Regina, I am researching this hotel and what it was like when it was a homeless shelter. Could you tell me more of what it was like? Email: mrs.crotts@yahoo.com
July 4, 2011 at 8:24 am |
did you get the info necessary for your story? i was in room 101 in the hell hole, rat, waterbug infested place with my 5 sons. the youngest was 3weeks old…..it was my 1st experience with homelessness. i didnt even know it existed unti friday the 13th of november 1987. omg i can share some info. the security guards there fathered quite a number of children there…
November 18, 2011 at 7:59 pm
I too lived there from 85 -87 I was 12-13 years old. we lived on the 11th floor apt 1101-1102.what horrible memories for me but it made me the person I am today. I remember one of the security guards got muredered on the 11 th floor, blood all over the place, not something a young girl should see…
December 20, 2011 at 4:07 pm |
Wow.. the stories.. I remember the room number(s) I stayed in but do remember living there. Funny it was a homeless shelter and the govermentment paid hundreds/thousands for families to live there. It wasn’t FREE ! and when you didn’t get the money from welfare, they would lock you out. We had to do dishes in the bathtub, cook on hot plates. Use the window ledges in the winter as our refrigerator. What we could store in the room, would be up to us protecting against the rats getting to it. Wow.. innocense is bliss, looking back I had no idea how bad it was.
January 28, 2012 at 9:21 pm |
If you want to know the horrors of that place, read “Rachel and her Children” by Jonathan Kozol. It’s ironic, this city.
January 8, 2009 at 8:01 pm |
My mother, sister and i stayed there after our apt burned down in the Bronx. Funny the red cross thought it was a good place
January 16, 2009 at 3:52 pm |
Jennifer- if you haven’t read it already, read Rachel & Her Children by Jonathan Kozol, he spends a great deal of time at the Martinique in the 1980s reporting the experiences of the families that lived there!
January 31, 2009 at 2:43 am |
We just read the book for one of my college courses. I go to a private college in Iowa. It is a great eye-opening book! I am now writing a paper about the “updates” of the Kozol book. We are supposed to find current statistics and/or stories about homelessness in NYC as it exists today. If anyone can help or give me some insight about the current situation, that would be great! I am researching for my paper, and my research led me to this site.
March 21, 2009 at 5:01 am |
I lived in the matinque hotel from may 1985 to may 1988
my family was depicted in rachel and her children
November 23, 2009 at 6:21 pm |
Which family, and how are you doing now?
April 23, 2009 at 3:43 am |
I’m reading Rachel and her Children Right now and it’s an incredible look back on the city in the 80s. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to be a child in nyc 20 years ago, let alone in a welfare hotel. Amazing. Creature – Thank you and your family for sharing your story.
May 1, 2009 at 9:55 pm |
My family lived in that hotel for over 5 years. This is the place that I lost my father and brother. They were murdered in cold blood. Today I’m researching how Mayor Koch had a hand in turning this hotel into a shelter filled with rampant crimes that have went unpunished. Unfortunately for a lot of people that I have known that have lost their families and wasn’t able to bounce their lives back, I have overcome and am that rose that grew from the concrete.
May 18, 2010 at 1:51 am |
Nina-
I also lived there for years. I do remember all the bad things that took place at the Martinique. I would love to talk to you more about our experiences.
If you would like to get in touch you may email me at jpuff99@msn.com
Thanks, Julian
July 4, 2011 at 8:45 am |
i cannot imagine being in that hell hole for years! i was there with my 5 sons and husband november 15th 1987 and moved out on my birthday march 4th 1988. we were moving out at about 430pm, it was storming outside. the police were coming into the MARTINIQUE HOTEL as we were moving our things out to arrest the man next door to us for sexually assaulting his 6 MONTH old daughter!! it was a family of 8 kids. if i had to be there years i cant imagine what i would be like today……..
May 29, 2009 at 6:13 pm |
I have been researching and writing about the homeless for 15 years. Jon Kozol’s book is one of the most relevent research studies I have ever read. Another is Elliot Leibow’s Tally’s Corner and Tell Them Who I Am. Both of those texts take place in Washington, DC. To those of you who lived there–I’m sure it was even much worse than Kozol described. He saw so much–but he was not there every day. I agree with Nina–how could the city pay so much for so little when even a fraction of that money could have provided each family with a decent home to live in and raise their children? My heart goes out to those parents who struggled every day just to feed their children and try to keep them safe. Government run programs are usually notoriously inadequate and poorly run. Just the EAU idea is ridiculous! Just think–they actually paid someone to figure out this program!
May 29, 2009 at 6:23 pm |
Has anyone published a book recently that looks back at the horrors of welfare hotels and explores how such a terrible (and expensive) idea became reality in the 1980s? It would be very interesting to find out who put the wheels in motion.
June 2, 2009 at 3:28 pm |
wildnewyork,
I think that would be a better use of government money- to track the trail of paper back to the designer and instigator of this program.
June 16, 2009 at 5:32 am |
WOW..i remember these hotels. I didn’t live in the Martinque but i did live in several others in the 90′s. Hotel Latham. Times Square Hotel..The Carter. It wasn’t the worst years of my life..(those came after) but i had some really terrifying and surreal experiences there. I look back now and am so grateful that i made it out alive and in one piece.
June 17, 2009 at 9:50 pm |
I am writing a book and it speaks in part to the three years i lived in a welfare motel with my mother and younger sister. I too am a rose that grew from concrete and now live a life far removed from the horrors of that life and time. I was a teenaged girl (1985 – 1988 age 14 -17) then and what it did to my self esteem is worse than anything I may have encountered there. I am feeling really grateful to my mother right now because she did any and everything to keep us safe. Thanks Mommy!
September 13, 2009 at 12:24 am |
I have to say I lived in the Martinique for five years as a child with my mom, three brothers and sister. Although, it was not the best place to grow up I called it my playground. Iremember rollerskating up and down the halls on the 10th floor or going down to Madsion Square Garden to play video games where many preditors would try to bribe boys with quarters. I have witnessed a lot of things a little boy should have not seen. I was actually thinking of writing a book of my experience while my mind is still fresh, but I would not know where to begin. There is soooo much to tell. Anyway, I thank my mom for being soooo strong and protecting all of her five children. Many mothers turned to drugs to cope. My mom kept focus and I love her so much for that.
May 18, 2010 at 1:54 am |
Phil-
I also lived there for many years. Alot of bad memories. I would like to talk further with you to catch up on our times at the Martinique.
You may email me at jpuff99@msn.com
Thanks,
Julian
November 19, 2010 at 11:16 pm |
Is this who I think this is? Your brother J, *I wont reveal the rest of his name or letters* Your brother J…. was older then you, you were like 7 years younger. Your 3 sisters. If that is you please reply.
Your sister’s First letter of her name was with a L…, and there was Rachel, and we used to hang out. Our families knew each other before going to the martinique hotel, if this is you. But I dont remeber if its who I think it is. Your sister wore glasses, so did you.
If so respond, and if this isnt you then by all means ignore this post I just posted man.
October 7, 2009 at 7:36 pm |
i was a security officer at macy’s in 1985. i was nineteen years old. i remember those wild kids from the martinique hotel used to run inside macy’s 34th street and run out with merchandise. those kids from the martinique were a constant problem for macy’s security, especially on the weekends. ronmcqueen72@yahoo.com
October 25, 2009 at 2:50 pm |
I am reading Rachel and Her Children for a class at Iowa State University and decided to look into information on the Martinique Hotel and came across this site. It is interesting to me to read about people who actually grew up in the hotel, it makes it more realistic and it easier to put in perspective. I father, now deceased, grew up in New York City in the late 20′s and the 30′s and he use to tell some good stories about hitching rides on the back of milk trucks and swimming in the Hudson, which made him very sick. He grew up as a single parent child in a brown stone building near the Museum of Natural History.
Thanks to all of you who share your stories about living in these hotels.
November 19, 2010 at 11:09 pm |
I knew Rachel and her children. Her daughters name was Rachel. Her real name I cant recall, it was so long ago. There was 5 kids. Two boys and 3 girls.
I pretty much know there names but wont reveal it. They did leave new york though and moved to New jersey, that I will say. I lost contact, I was young at the time. I wish I could contact them to see how they are doing.
They are older now. I wish them the best of luck you know. Times change the pain and heartache of being young and homeless really gets to you, still to this day.
It affects you so much that you really don’t know if your coming or going and your just happy to be alive. I own my own home now.
I know one thing from all that I have been through, I remember where I came from and know that I am a better person from going through this experience. No one should have to go through it.
I empower myself as much as I can.
Thank god I am alive.
Take care.
December 27, 2009 at 1:03 am |
I also lived in the martinique welfare hotel in 34 street in manhattan. My family and I did, and we knew several people there to, that were also in the same situation as us.
I remember the elevator getting stucked and they had to help us out, and I had to walk up alot of flights of stairs. We got robbed there when we went out, and they stole our clothes etc.
I knew some people there that were nice. I knew a mom, who had 5 or 6 kids.
It had a rat infestation like you could not believe, and cooking with a hot plate was better then nothing. You know something it kept our family together, to a certain extent, and while crime, or drug dealing did plague the martinque hotel, it didnt really affect me, except for the robbery etc.
I went to school in the morning, and went home to the *hotel* at the evening and ate one meal. We slept in one room, while my single parent slept in the other room.
What more could we expect, there were other incidents but like I said, as long as you mind your business, and stuff then you didnt worry, it was ok , it was better then nothing.
It was a very sad state of affairs, but if u ever been to the brooklyn arms welfare hotel, I saw the biggest rat, *size of a cat, walked over my foot, and I was scared shitless having to sleep there. Let me tell you life is not fun. I been through shelters in nyc, from the forbell family shelter, to other shelters.
I have been homeless alot, and being homeless affected my schooling, etc. Still now it affects me. After 20 years almost. Life goes on though.
August 19, 2011 at 1:13 am |
i wonder by chance if you remmeber a black family there during the time you were there that had 7 kids and they lived on the 6floor. there was a army chaplain that taught bible study as well. if this sounds familiar contact me at. venezuelablkgrl@ yahoo.com
December 27, 2009 at 1:06 am |
I remember that department store near there, right next door, dee and dee or something, it might be named something else, but I remember the area well. We would also walk to a park. Believe it or not, as a teenage etc, it really doesnt affect u living in a hotel like that, if you keep busy. Food was oodles and noodles soup, u can make spaghetti and sauce with a hot plate.
We did what we had to to eat, even with a hot plate.
March 17, 2010 at 2:20 am |
If anyone is interested what life was life at the Hotel Carter, the Times Square Hotel and the Hotel Longacre (infamous crack house) during 1984, please contact me and I will comment in great detail.
I am also thankful I made it out alive.
March 17, 2010 at 2:22 am |
If anyone is interested what life was like at the Hotel Carter, the Times Square Hotel and the Hotel Longacre (infamous crack house) during 1984, please contact me and I will comment in great detail.
I am also thankful I made it out alive.
August 14, 2010 at 5:51 pm |
Just curious, beside “homeless” people, where there any other permanent tenants living in the Carter around that time? Many?
March 23, 2010 at 6:16 am |
Between 1976 and 1977, my family lived in the “Alexander Hotel” on 103rd street and Broadway. It was also a notorious welfare hotel back then along with “The Regents”. These two hotels have been renovated into luxury hotels for rich people. But they were just like the infamous “Martinique” and many others. It was rat infested; crime infested, and drug infested. A friend of my sisters was brutally raped and killed on the staircase at the “Alexander Hotel”. She was only 14 years old. After that tragic incident, my mother gathered us up and got us out of there. To see this place now, you would never believe what it used to look like.
April 10, 2010 at 11:48 pm |
i am doin some personal research on homeless hotels. when i was about 12 my family was sent to the martinique but my mom refused to stay so we were sent to the normandie hotel on i think it was w45th st can anyone help me find out the addres on where it stood and what happened to it?
April 11, 2010 at 12:04 am |
i lived inthe normandie from 85-87 it was the worst and best times of my life. the crack epidemic was crazy! we were taught about life in the hardest ways. it still effects me to this day.if anyone lived in this hotel at this time i would like to reconnect and share our stories. the mayor should have paid half of our rent in apartments then to spend millions on these garbage of hotels that gave me horrible dreams .
April 19, 2010 at 4:54 am |
Hello,
Thank you for writing this article. There is very little information on the internet about the notorious Martinique Hotel in the 70′s. I am the son of the manager of the former Martinique, Ralph Accosta. I grew up in Brooklyn, and went to my fathers job there ever since as a little boy. I was given my piano lessons by the lounge pianist, and I had many great memories of the hotel when it was still a good place. As time went on, I noticed how things started to go into decline, I watched it all with my child-like eyes not knowing what was happening until the fencing and safety glass was installed around the large reservation desk. After that, when I would go see my father at the hotel, I started to notice the terrible conditions that were rampant there. Prostitution, drug dealing, crime, filth, dirt and grime and all set in. I unfortunately know that my father was implicated in some ways with the terror that the place had become. I am terribly sorry for anyone whose lives were irrevocably altered because of anything that my father had a hand in. I would like to seek out other people who have stories that I can collect and share, in an effort to get to know this part of my past better from other peoples eyes and perspectives who lived there at the same time.
May 18, 2010 at 2:08 am |
Hello-
I lived at the Martinique Hotel with my family for many years. Yes, there were alot of horrible things happening before my own childhood eyes.
I do have alot of stories that I can share with you. You can email me at jpuff99@msn.com
Thanks,
Julian
January 18, 2011 at 4:11 am |
was your father’s name monk?
May 24, 2011 at 7:34 pm
My fathers name was “Ralph Accosta” , he was a large imposing man of Afro-Cuban descent, I remember he always wore gold snake bracelets. He was always present in the lobby and bouncing.
July 4, 2011 at 8:33 am |
horribly rundrown for all the money the owner was paid to operate this place. i have experiences to share. from every staff member that worked there asking the women for all sorts of sexual favors just to keep living(dying) there to women trading sex with the managers just to be able to sell cigs and drugs and food out of their rooms for extra money. filthy filthy place.omg tears come to my eyes each time i think about this place. years later in 1993 i went to work for the board of ed and worked ONLY with children and their familes who were homeless. feel free to contact me. gudservice@yahoo.com
November 4, 2011 at 3:16 pm |
Hi, This is for Ralph Accosta. I used to work in the Martinique when the Church of Scientolgy was on the second, and part of the third floor. I am researching the hotel in the 70s. Would you happen to have any old photos of the lobby or the 2nd floor ballroom by chance? There were heavy mirrored doors, which must have been so beautiful in their day. Thanks so much for anything you can find. Lynposner at hotmail.com
April 20, 2010 at 2:07 am |
As I mentioned, I would really like to connect with those who have spent time or lived at these hotels. I’m not familiar with the Normandie, but the Hotel Longacre was located on 45th between 8th and 9th. This place was sheer hell.
Also does anyone remember the Circle Bar adjacent to the Hotel Carter? That place gave me the creeps.
April 21, 2010 at 5:12 am |
[...] the right is the Martinique Hotel. Once a stately place to rent a room, it would become a disgusting welfare hotel in the 1970s and [...]
June 14, 2010 at 5:57 pm |
WOW I AM 32 YEARS OLD AND I CAN STILL REMEMBER LIVING THERE AS A KID AND THE THINGS THAT WENT ON IT WAS LIKE JAIL IN THERE JUST (UNISEX)
July 18, 2010 at 10:19 am |
Two of my friends from out of town were mugged outside the Martinique Hotel. That whole area was a no-man’s land, New Yorkers avoided it.
July 25, 2010 at 10:24 pm |
I am very disturbed when a former resident of a welfare hotel says it wasn’t that bad…it is undoubtedly a statement made from repression or never learning what a life without dysfunction is. I remember the welfare hotels from when I would visit my grandmother in Brooklyn every summer during the 70′s & 80′s. My summer playmates from the tenements in the neighborhood would sometimes dissapear and I would hear the adults whispering about how the family was evicted and had to go live in a welfare hotel. I had no idea that 20 years later in 2001, that my son & I would have an experience with NYC’s current Department of Homeless Services & a 72 hour stay in the waiting room of the Emergency Assistance Unit in the Bronx. Although the system is not as horrific as the old “welfare hotels”, much more needs to be done.
July 4, 2011 at 8:38 am |
i worked at bronx eau for a period of time. i spent 18 years working with homeless families and their children. my experience as a former homeless person was committed to service every client that came to my window with dignity and respect. i understood homelessness 1st hand. i know what people who dont have the experience feel about homeless folks. they want the homeless to feel ashamed. its hurtful….
November 15, 2011 at 11:06 pm
I wrote the above comment and I would like to say that I did have contact with one dedicated and caring human service worker such as you are when I was at the EAU. His name was Mr. Washington. He treated every client that came to his window with respect. I saw him once on a beach in Brooklyn a few later and he actually recognized me even though we only had very brief contact during my stay at the emergency unit.
November 10, 2010 at 11:04 pm |
[...] moved northward, leaving the Aberdeen and other former luxe hotels, such as the Wolcott and the Martinique, [...]
November 18, 2010 at 1:19 am |
I remember having to live here when I was around 5 or 6 yrs old because me my brother sister and mom were homeless. My mom was an immigrant and not able to work because of mental health issues. We had to live in this piece of sh*t place and it was worst then this article describes. I was there trust me
July 5, 2011 at 6:51 pm |
I also remember when I lived in the hotel and witnessing that little girl getting raped. I lived on thr 10th floor and remember looking out the hallway window. I was able to into other apartments below the 10th floor and seeing this grown male forcing this little girl to perform oral sex on him. I ran to my mother and let her know. She then went to security.
Also speaking of security. I used to have a great relationship with this security guard. He was the nicest man. Because my last name is O’Brien, he always used to call me OB when passing. I was very upset to learn he got shot and killed for assisting in calming down a domestic violence issue on the 11th floor. He manage to make it down to my room 1011 and passed away a few feet away. That really disappointed me. I still think about him today.
I do wish I could find out the mail lady’s Linda’s last name. I would love to reach out to her. She took care of my Brothers and I around Christmas time by taking us to her house in New Jersey and having so many Christmas presents for us to open. It would be such an honor to thank her in person with all my heart.
The only one I really keep in touch with is one of the Social Workers named Mr. Register. He was a blessing while I lived in the hotel. Mr. Register and I have a Father/Son relationship. It is truly amazing how we both bonded. He helped me get through college. He inspired me to become a Social Worker myself. For 12 years I myself have been working for HRA with HIV/AIDS Admin Services.
November 15, 2011 at 11:20 pm |
God bless you. I am a formerly homeless single mother, but not from the same era. I lived in four shelters during a five month period right after 9/11. As I have said in previous comments my experience was in no way as horrible as the welfare hotels, but sexual advances and inappropriate comments from DHS employees were persistent however subtle they were. It was sad that some women were not resistant to the propositions. I witness dysfunctional cycles of poverty and neglect. The system still works the same way, except the city pays non profit organizations to administer the services. The organizations are for the most part safer than the old system, but still thousands of dollars a month are paid to house families in one room until permanent housing is secured.
November 18, 2011 at 9:01 pm |
I rember that seurity guard all to well. He used to call me OB. He made it down to my apartment 1011 after being shot on the 11th floor due t domestic violence issue. How sad.
December 11, 2011 at 3:48 pm |
I lived in the Martinique when it was a welfare hotel, back in 1986-87. My family was on the front page of the Daily News…we suffered greatly there, but let us not forget that there were a few moments of happiness as well. I remember singing on Broadway with the Coalition for the homeless with Peter, Paul and Mary. Going to Washington DC to tell our stories about poverty. My mother was a single mom to 5 children…never drank…never did drugs…just poor. I hate what I went through and have been fighting to overcome since. Now 37, married 18 years and have 4 wonderful children. But that mind set of being a nobody and not deserving anything in life still lingers in my thoughts and down to my soul. Im just now starting to make a better life for my family though we struggle hard. I wish none of us ever had to live through that…I wish everyone that live through the hell a better life…its never to late!