My Grandma Harley told me many stories of her parents.  Her father, Frederich August Fels arrived in New York City on May 6, 1906, on the Philadelphia. The passenger list indicated that he was headed to work at the Holland House Hotel at 30th and 5th Avenue, one of the finest hotels of the day.

 

Trained in Paris, Gus was a fine chef, and his plan was to tour the world before settling down to take over the family hotel and restaurant in Graffenstaden.  His plans changed, however, when he met Antoinette Lordemann at the opera one evening. He asked to borrow her opera glasses; they married on October 4, 1910.

 

The Holland House Hotel closed in 1920. Prohibition had an unintented consequence for the hotels and restaurants of New York; without wine lists and the income from other alcoholic beverages, they went under.  Gus was no longer working at the Holland House when it closed; by 1915, he was listed in the census as the head of the household at 402 8th Avenue, a three-story building with a restaurant and bar on the first floor. The other members of the household were Toni and their daughter Henrietta (Rita), my grandmother, who had been born December 9, 1911. The rest of the house was rented to ten roomers, many of whom were possibly employed by Gus: four waiters, a cook, a kitchenman, and a porter. (There were also a lawyer, a machinist, and a driver rounding out the boarders.)

At some point between 1916, when Rita’s brother Frederich was born in New York City, and 1920 when the Federal Census lists them at the home on Somerset Street in Philadelphia, Gus’ business failed. I have heard it said that he was too trusting, got into trouble with creditors, and fled to Philadelphia to start over. I am curious what role WWI and Prohibition might have played in its downfall, if any. Gus, in his mid-thirties, did not fight in WWI; being German and French, the family worked hard to prove their patriotism in their new home in Philadelphia. They had been American citizens for years; young Fritz became Fred only, and Rita spoke English in her new Kindergarten.

More to come…