Juhász Gyula - Szántó András: Hotels - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1999)

There was a fair number of inexpensive hotels, some of dubious reputation, operating between the two world wars. These establishments were scattered around railway stations and the neighbourhood of theatres, night clubs and cafés in district VI, an area nicknamed “the Pest Broadway”. Their clientele was made up of curious characters, artists, declassé or sometimes criminal elements, jobless music-hall singers, travelling salesmen, gold diggers and confidence tricksters. The Hotel ECJROPA (No. 9 Nagymező utca, today the abandoned offices of Autoker Holding), the Hotel MÁTRA (No. 52 Paulay Ede utca, district VI; offices and a recording studio are housed here today), and the Hotel WESTEND which operated in the Westend House, a building standing in Berlin (today Nyugati) tér until it was demolished, were the scenes of numerous scandals and dramas.

There were quiet, modest family-style hostels, too, including the Hotel ISTVÁN KIRÁLY (No. 8 Podma- niczky utca, district VI) and the ESPLANADE (No. 38-40 Frankel Leó utca, district II), which was mainly patronised by less well-off families visiting the capital. Standing opposite the Lukács Baths, the Hotel LCIKÁCS (46 FranThe Esplanade

19