Page 88 - Layout 1
P. 88
76 Beverly Hills Gothic
Above
Ed, Glady and Art Salter, dressed to the nines during the halcyon days before Prohibition.
Opposite Mike’s obituary in the New York Herald Tribune, 1922.
GOODBYE TO MIKE
Mike died at the age of fifty-four. He had been a wealthy man, but at the end, he was living in near-poverty on the Lower East Side’s East 4th Street. Only two men outside family and close friends attended Mike’s funeral: an obscure democratic boss and the very famous Irving Berlin. Mike was laid to rest at Washington Cemetery.
The Salter family had lived a lavish lifestyle, complete with chauffeured limousines. However, with prohibition, the café lost its customers and the money dried up. Mike lost his Pelham Street saloon but he continued drinking. Max Salter recalls that, because “he could not longer afford the good stuff, Nigger Mike died of cirrhosis of the liver.” He left behind a family that loved and missed him. Lena passed away May 4, 1953.
