Wallet Card at the 1-2-3 Hotel

The building at 123 W. 44th Street opened in 1894 as the Hotel Girard, a luxury hotel and the largest building in what is now Times Square. As fortunes changed in the area so did the hotel, and by the 1970s it was a welfare hotel called the 1-2-3 Hotel, with single occupancy rooms that mostly housed the elderly. According to a 1974 New York Times article, it was one of several hotels that were housing 4,000 elderly senior citizens between 6th and 8th Avenues and 42nd street and 59th Street.


Times have changed again, 123 W. 44th Street is once again a luxury hotel, and there is little housing for non-millionaires in this area. However the 1-2-3 Hotel sign provides a reminder of what Times Square was like not that long ago.