Hotel Carter

250 West 43rd Street | also 252 West 43rd Street | Times Square | built 1929

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The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1930

    The Dixie Hotel's basement bus terminal opens with a 35-foot turntable to swing buses into berths

    Beneath the Dixie Hotel on West 43rd Street, the Central Union Bus Terminal began service in 1930 and was advertised as New York's biggest enclosed bus station. Buses came in next to the hotel's entrance, went underground, and drove onto a 35-foot turntable that swung them toward one of the loading berths. The turntable area, along with column detailing and a checkered floor pattern, can still be seen in the basement garage.

    Source: scoutingny.com

  2. 1932

    The Bowery Savings Bank takes the Dixie Hotel from the Uris brothers in foreclosure

    The Uris brothers built the Dixie in 1930 as a no-frills economy hotel with small guest rooms and a bus terminal in the basement. Two years later they lost the property when the Bowery Savings Bank foreclosed. The Southworth Management Company then took over running the hotel.

    Source: hospitalitynet.org

  3. 1957

    July

    The Dixie's bus terminal closes after 27 years, unable to compete with the Port Authority terminal

    In July 1957 the bus station under the Dixie Hotel shut down after 27 years of operation. The Central Union terminal, later known as the Short Line terminal, could not compete with the Port Authority Bus Terminal nearby. At its busiest it had handled 350 buses a day in peak summer seasons.

    Source: hotel-online.com

  4. 1984

    The city stops sending homeless families to the Carter, and an official calls it Nightmare Alley

    The Carter housed 190 homeless families by December 1983, when it was cited for failing to fix health and safety violations. The city sued the hotel in 1983 and 1984, and a judge held owner Tran Dinh Truong in contempt. In 1984 the city stopped referring families there, and an official of the 42nd Street Redevelopment Corporation called the hotel Nightmare Alley. All remaining homeless families were removed in 1988.

    “The hotel's physical condition was so bad that the New York City government stopped referring homeless people there in 1984, and an official ... called it "Nightmare Alley".”

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 1989

    City officials close the Carter's Rose of Saigon bar after finding crack sold openly

    The hotel's bar, known as the Rose of Saigon, was shut in early 1989 after city inspectors found crack cocaine being sold in plain view. An official with the city's Office of Midtown Enforcement said it was the worst bar he had ever seen and compared it to the bar scene in Star Wars. The closing came a year after the city removed all homeless families from the hotel over plumbing, electrical, security and vermin problems.

    “The hotel's bar, known as Rose of Saigon, was closed in early 1989 after city officials found that crack cocaine was being sold openly at the bar.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  6. 1998

    Great Expectations films at the Carter as a seedy hotel, the same year inspectors cite its facade

    The 1998 film Great Expectations used the Hotel Carter as a location, casting it as a run-down hotel. The building was in poor shape in real life as well. In January 1998 the Department of Buildings issued a violation after inspectors found bulging masonry on the facade, and in December the hotel was briefly closed because an emergency fire exit had been damaged.

    “That year, the Carter was used as a filming location for the motion picture Great Expectations, representating a seedy hotel.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  7. 2013

    A court-appointed administrator takes over the Carter after its owner's death and installs new managers

    After owner Tran Dinh Truong died in 2012, his family feuded over the estate and a court stepped in. Former state judge Stanley Parness was named temporary administrator in November 2012 and took control in April 2013, installing a professional management team. He tackled building-code violations and insurance gaps while keeping rates under $100 a night. Court papers valued the 700-room hotel at more than $100 million despite its condition.

    Source: dnainfo.com

Further reading

Nearby

All 91 buildings with stories in Times Square