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On July 4, 1880, Corbin opened his new Oriental Hotel. This palacial resort was approximately two hundred yards east of the Picnic Pavilion, or roughly one thousand yards east of the Manhattan Hotel. The Oriental was Coney Island's flagship hotel and was one of the most technologically sophisticated and refined resorts in the United Stated when it opened.
The hotel was located in the present-day Manhattan Beach parking lot, spanning from approximately Jaffray Street to Langham Street....
The Oriental Hotel had less ocean frontage than the Manhattan Beach Hotel, but several additional floors and spires gave it the appearance of being a significantly more massive structure. The floors were accessible by elevator for the nearly one-thousand guests it could accommodate, and its all-frame building was set on a brick foundation.
Tracy's Tourists' Guide and Companion to Coney Island (1887) describes the building itself in some detail:
'The Oriental Hotel is that large and beautiful structure furthest east, as complete in all its parts as it is possible to build a hotel in this day and age of improvement and invention. It is 6 and 7 stories high, 478 feet long, and ornamented with 8 large circular towers rising 40 feet above the roof, each surmounted by a minaret 15 feet high. There are 480 sleeping rooms, furnished in elegant style, and the character of its guests are of an exclusive class. Quiet and refinement are its prevailing characteristics, and though a most delightful retreat for its guests, the general public find little to draw them to its grounds, save the magnitude and beauty of its surroundings.'
The lobby, halls, and suites were the ultimate in elegance. In the dining room, the superlative cuisine was served table d'hote to the soothing strains from a string quartette. Here were no milling crowds and noisy bands to fray genteel nerves. In the first few seasons, the Oriental was booked to capacity by the families of the rich and filthy rich, while the Manhattan Hotel was relegated to the patronage of the near-rich. Prestigious organizations, as the University Club and the Union League Club, had suites in the Oriental, where their members could relax and recuperate from the arduous daily strain of amassing millions. If guests wished to play croquet, facilities and equipment were available. Tennis, anyone? Six grass courts were conveniently placed east of the hotel. After the Oriental was demolished, in 1916, the courts fell into disuse. ...
Coney Island History: The Rise and Fall of Corbin's Manhattan Beach Resort