Brooklyn Crowns

We've already known that our Crown family owned and operated both hotels and bars in Brooklyn, and according to newspaper accounts I found, they were often in trouble for running booze during the Prohibition. And to make things even more interesting, there was one account of a mob shooting at the “Crown Bar and Grill” which involved the Jewish mafia! There is a wonderful book called Bummy Davis vs. Murder, Inc.: The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Mafia and an Ill-Fated Prizefighter, which not only describes the exact Jewish Mafia family involved in the shooting at the Crown Bar, but it also contains wonderful descriptions of Brooklyn back in the day. It's worth noting that my grandfather, George J. Schaefer, was also a boxer in his younger day.

Late in 2013, we managed to find and start corresponding with a descendant from the line of Annie Crown, the youngest child of our immigrants to America, namely Patrick Crown and Ann Clancy. It was through this correspondence, along with finding the actual will of Patrick Crown, that I realized there were actually TWO locations in Brooklyn where a Crown hotel and bar were operated:

• 496 Clarkson: This is the address for “R. Crown's Hotel,” for which we have a wonderful old photo. Patrick Crown bequeathed this place to his eldest son Richard, which was then probably passed to Annie Crown Connors upon his death (she inherited several other properties in the area of Clarkson and Albany).
  
• 621 Chester: This is the address associated with pictures I have where the business name in the window appears as “Crown Restaurant and Bar.” This place was bequeathed to John and Charles Crown in the will of Patrick Crown, which was later run by my grandfather, George Schaefer (married Peg Crown) together with Richard Connors (son of Annie Crown). This is also the place of a Jewish mafia shooting in 1943!
  

So if there has been confusion in the past about where the Crown establishment was located in Brooklyn, it's because there were actually two Crown establishments.  At least.