The old neighborhood, of course, was the opposite: Once stylish, the half-century-old row houses were host to bars and brothels. The 70-story RCA Building at its center, with its Art Deco glamour, was a symbol of progress and modernity.
In 1930, 228 brownstones on twelve acres, housing an estimated 5,000 people and countless speakeasies, were razed to make way for Rockefeller Center.
