The Shelburne Hotel gained a reputation as a home to entertainers and celebrities, due to its close proximity to Atlantic City's famed
Warner Theater, including among them businessman
"Diamond Jim" Brady and his companion, actress and singer
Lillian Russell; composer and singer
George M. Cohan; British actress
Lillie Langtry; composer
Irving Berlin; actress
Ethel Barrymore; composer and conductor
John Philip Sousa; and entertainer
Al Jolson. Despite its tower addition in 1926, the Shelburne was a relatively small hotel in comparison to Atlantic City's much bigger resorts such as the
Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Hotel,
Traymore, and
Claridge. This coupled with the
Great Depression bankrupted the hotel in 1931. It would pass through a series of owners until being taken over by the
United States Army during
World War II, then passing into ownership of the Malamut family who briefly revived the hotels success in the 1950s with several renovation and motel expansions. After the legalization of casino gambling in 1975, the Shelburne once again became hot property, as with most hotels in Atlantic City at the time. The Malamut family closed the resort in 1978 after leasing it to Japanese investors
Rocky Aoki and
Takashi Sasakawa, owners of the
Benihana restaurant chain, who planned to keep the existing hotel as well as add a 31-story tower and casino calling it the
Benihana Casino-Hotel. In 1983, work crews began to renovate the hotel, however, disagreements between the Malamut family, the
New Jersey Casino Control Commission, and outside investors led Aoki and Sasakawa to abandon the project after investing over $25 million in construction and renovations. Sasakawa was the son of noted Japanese philanthropist
Ryoichi Sasakawa, who had links with the
Yakuza. Aoki and Sasakawa had also faced charges by the
Securities and Exchange Commission for insider trading in the stock of Hardwicke Companies, which had planned to manage the hotel/casino. In 1984, the site was acquired by Blumenfeld Development Corp. and the hotel was demolished. In 1986, a groundbreaking was held for the intended construction of the Carousel Club Hotel Casino (originally called Carnival Club Hotel Casino). However, the company did not obtain sufficient financing and after foreclosure the property was sold to Bally's Manufacturing Corp., which built
Bally's Wild Wild West Casino in 1997. ==See also==