George Grau was a native New Yorker who over the course of a 35 plus year period from 1881 to 1917 counted New York City mineral water manufacturer and saloon keeper and later, Huntington, Long Island hotel proprietor among his several occupations.
Grau’s early life was described in his March 16, 1917 obituary published in a Huntington, Long Island newspaper called “The Long Islander.”
Mr. Grau was born in Manhattan December 23, 1858, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Julius Grau. He was educated in the city schools afterward completing his education at the St. Mark’s German School. When a young man he engaged in the mineral water business with success.
His start in the mineral water business came in 1881 when he was listed with that occupation and an address of 125 Central Avenue in Brooklyn. A bottle exhibiting that initial address is pictured in a publication entitled “A Historical Guide to Long Island Soda, Beer and Mineral Water Bottles and Bottling Companies, 1840 – 1870,” by George Fisher.
Grau’s stay in Brooklyn was short-lived and by 1882 his mineral water business had moved across the East River to Manhattan where it was located on the lower east side at 734 Sixth Street, the address embossed on the subject bottle.
Grau remained on Sixth Street until 1893 when he sold the business to a man named Leo Friedman. An item announcing the sale was included under the heading “Conveyances” in the May 6, 1893 edition of New York’s “Real Estate Record and Builder’s Guide.” It described Grau’s facility as:
…a five-story brick mineral water factory with one-story frame and two-story brick buildings in the rear.
By 1895 Grau was serving as the proprietor of a hostelry and barroom at 395 Bowery called the Eagle Hotel. A hearing held in regard to Grau’s application for a liquor license was described in a May 18, 1895 story published in the “New York Herald.”
Capt. Louis Wendel of the First Battery, appeared yesterday before the Excise Board to support the application for a license for the Eagle Hotel at Sixth Street and Bowery, of which George Grau is proprietor. The application was opposed by agents of the Parkhurst society on the ground that the house is a disorderly house…
Grau must have ultimately gotten his liquor license because up through 1897 the New York City directories listed is occupation as “Liquors,” at the 395 Bowery address.
Then in February, 1898 he partnered with Aaron Hanover as proprietors of a saloon at 12 Center Street in lower Manhattan. Located near New York’s City Hall the saloon, called the Tiger Cafe, was apparently quite successful until subway construction put them out of business in 1905. The June 20th edition of the “New York Herald” told the story.
TIGER CAFE CLOSED
Subway Building Obstructed Access to it for a Year.
The Tiger Cafe, at 12 Centre Street, patronized by politicians, did not open for business yesterday. A sign on the door said, “Closed for Repairs.” Late in the afternoon Hanover & Grau, the proprietors, filed a petition for bankruptcy.
Aaron Hanover is known as the “Mayor of Avenue D.” George Grau resides at Amityville, Long Island. The firm liabilities are $28,341 and the nominal assets $42,303, including a claim for $25,000 damages against the Rapid Transit Commission for taking certain parts of their premises for the subway and general interference with the business. Loss of business on account of building the subway is said to be the principal cause of their bankruptcy. The obstructions were in front of the saloon for more than a year. Before the subway operations the firm, it is said, refused an offer of $50,000 for the place. They took it in February, 1898, and spent much money refitting it. They leased the premises for ten years at $7,000 a year, and at the start gave a chattel mortgage to George Ehret for $10,000. The place is said to have been very profitable up to the time of the subway building…
Later that month, another”New York Herald” story, this one published in their June 29th edition, announced that the Tiger Cafe had been sold at auction.
Hanover & Grau’s saloon at 12 Centre Street, known as the Tiger Cafe, was sold at auction yesterday by Charles Shongood, auctioneer, under the direction of Henry W. Sykes, receiver in bankruptcy. It was sold as a going concern in one lot, subject to two mortgages, aggregating $10,700 and $1,166 back rent. There was a large crowd present, including many politicians and friends of the bankrupt firm. The sale opened at a bid of $100 over the charges, which was gradually raised to $1,075 at which price the place was knocked down to a representative of George Ehret, the brewer, who holds a $10,000 mortgage on the fixtures. The big stuffed tiger in the window was included in the Ehret mortgage, and the crowd was disappointed because it was not sold separately.
Less than two years later, Grau was retired and still living in Amityville, Long Island when he leased the Suffolk Hotel in Huntington, Long Island. The announcement appeared in the February 1, 1907 edition of “The Long Islander.”
George Grau who has been living a retired life in Amityville for some time past, has leased the Suffolk Hotel for ten years beginning April 1, from Landlord Carll. We are informed that Mr. Grau is a man of means and will make several notable improvements to the hostelry at his own expense… Mr. Grau formerly conducted the Tiger Saloon, on Chambers Street, Manhattan, which was made prominent by having a stuffed tiger in the window.
Shortly afterwards the March 22, 1907 edition of “The Long Islander” described some of the improvements Grau was implementing..
Charles A. Hallock has begun the task of moving his furniture and other effects to his Centreport hotel. George Grau of Amityville, the new proprietor of the Suffolk, has been in town several days this week seeing about the extensive improvements that will be made this spring to the well-known hostelry. John Hurd is the architect who has drawn the plans, and the work will be done under his supervision. A fine plate glass front will be put in with double doors, and the bar moved back and a small auditorium fitted up in front so that one can enter the hotel without having to go through the barroom. New black walnut fixtures will be installed. The barroom and vestibule will have a fine white hexagon tile floor, and a handsome steel ceiling will be another attraction. Sanitary plumbing will be put in and steam heat will be installed throughout. Every room in the house will be repapered and repainted, and up to date furniture will be used. Mr. Grau says he will run the house in first class shape, and have a dining room and table over which there will be no room for complaint…
“The Long Islander” announced the hotel’s reopening in their May 17, 1907 edition.
The rejuvenated Suffolk Hotel will open up tomorrow (Saturday) under the new management of Proprietor George Grau. Mr. Grau has made many marked improvements in the old hostelry, and promises to give the public a superior service.
As early as June 11th Grau’s business card advertisements were appearing in the “Brooklyn Eagle.”
Not a small operation, a September 8, 1910 feature on Huntington published in the “Brooklyn Eagle” described Grau’s hotel like this:
The Suffolk Hotel, one of the oldest and best-known hostelries in the country, has 25 sleeping apartments and the dining room will seat 60 persons at one time. The house is eighty years old, and has been entirely renovated and supplied with new furniture recently at a cost of several thousand dollars. The building is steam heated and has hot and cold baths. George Grau, the proprietor, is a well known hotel man.
This photograph of Main Street in front of the hotel appeared in the “Official Membership Book of the New York State Hotel Association,” published in 1916.
Grau served as the hotel’s proprietor until his death in March, 1917. Subsequently his wife Minnie’s name was on the hotel’s liquor tax certificate up through September 30, 1918.
So it appears she continued to manage the hotel for a while after George Grau’s death.
Ultimately, the hotel property was sold in 1921 with the sale reported in “The Long Islander” on November 4th.
The Suffolk Hotel property at Main Street, and New York Avenue, which has been a hotel since 1848, has been sold by the Edward Carill estate to Paul Schwenn, of Manhattan. The purchase price is somewhere around $120,000. The hotel and four stores front on Main Street and eight stores on New York Avenue. No one knows what is to be done with the property…
Demolished several years later, a story found in the April 8, 1927 edition of “The Long Islander” best serves as the hotel’s final chapter.
Main Street, Huntington, looks as if a cyclone has struck it.
Two outstanding objects that have served the people well for years are being relegated to that heap where all things are sent when their usefulness is over.
One is the wood-blocks which has made Huntington’s wide thoroughfare through the heart of the business section a marked spot throughout all the north shore of Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
The other is the old Suffolk Hotel which has stood at Main Street and New York Avenue long before there was any thought of a paved street.
With the tearing up of one and the tearing down of another, it is about all your life is worth to attempt to travel along the Main Street, but as “Every cloud has a silver lining,” the business people and the motorists are looking forward to a new and better Main Street and the new business building that will replace the old Suffolk Hotel will be such an improvement, that from a civic standpoint the village will be well repaid in losing the old landmark.
The bottle I found was blown in a Hutchinson mold. Its embossing includes the New York City address of 734 Sixth Street dating it between 1882 and 1893 when Grau manufactured mineral water at that address. Embossing on the back side includes a monogram of Grau’s initials along with the year 1881, his first year in business.