21 club-history, timeline

1871-72:   Construction of the townhouse at 21 West 52nd Street gets underway. '21', as well as buildings 19 and 17 were part of a row of brownstones designed by the firm of Duggins and Crossman. 

January 17, 1920: The Eighteenth Amendment goes into effect beginning the Prohibition Era. 

1922:  To earn night school tuition, cousins Jack Kriendler and Charlie Berns open their first speakeasy, The Red Head, in NYC’s Greenwich Village. 

1923: Jack and Charlie open Club Fronton at 88 Washington Place. Among the Fronton’s notable patrons: NYC Mayor James J. Walker and poet Edna St. Vincent Millay.  1926: Jack and Charlie move the business uptown to 42 West 49th Street because condemnation proceedings start to make way for a subway around Washington Place. They name their new bistro The Puncheon, but (partly to confuse the federal tax men) it is also known as The Puncheon Grotto, Grotto, 42, 42 Club, Jack and Charlie’s, and Keyburn Club (its name when raided).  1928: Rockefeller Center is planned, and Jack and Charlie receive $11,000 from landowner Columbia University to vacate #42. They purchase a house on West 52nd Street, and spend the next year converting it into a speakeasy and restaurant.  December 31, 1929 - January 1, 1930: With the help of their patrons, Jack and Charlie unhinge the wrought iron gate that had been the portal to #42, and install it three blocks north at 21 West 52nd Street. They open Jack and Charlie’s '21' Club in the wee hours.   1930: Daily Mirror gossip columnist Walter Winchell (the inspiration for Sweet Smell of Success character J.J. Hunsecker) is banned from ‘21’. As retribution, he runs a column noting that ‘21’ had never been raided by Prohibition agents. The next day, ’21’ is raided. Soon thereafter, Jack and Charlie hire architect Frank Buchanan to install a complex system to hide and destroy liquor in case of future raids, including the infamous ‘21’ Wine Cellar, now considered one of the world’s most coveted private dining rooms.  Want a bit more information on the architectural secrets of '21'? Read "Architecture and Construction History: The '21' Club" by Mr. Adam Gauntlett BA MA MSc RICS.  52nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues is nicknamed "Swing Street" and is home to over 30 speakeasies.  1931: A model of the British Airways "flying boat" is the first corporate toy hung from the '21' ceiling.  Jack purchases 19 West 52nd Street; in 1935, its lower floor becomes an addition to '21'.   1932: '21' is raided again in June when ten federal agents knock on the door. Doorman Jimmy Coslove squints through the peephole and, seeing the officers, activates a secret alarm that alerts management that a raid is imminent. The officers then burst in, and ransack the building, looking for liquor. After hours of searching the premises - closets, rooms, attic, basement - agents admit defeat and leave without finding the two thousand cases of contraband that is hidden downstairs. The great mystery as to why the agents never found the liquor? '21's secret Wine Cellar, built to be invisible.  According to Joyce and Lisa Baron, niece and great niece of former ‘21’ doorman Jimmy Coslove, he was one of 7 brothers and sisters who all had different spellings for the last name. According to family legend, Jimmy drove one of his sisters down to Florida to pick up booze, which they hid under the large car fenders to bring back up to New York for "21"; this made the situation look like a young couple on vacation rather than "rum-runners" so the police wouldn't bother them.  December 5, 1933: Prohibition is repealed.  1934:  Charlie creates '21' Brands, a liquor importing/distilling/distributing company; its first salesman is then-aspiring 1944: Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall celebrate their first date at Table 30. They first work together in To Have and Have Not, written by another '21' regular, Ernest Hemingway (who was caught making love to gangster Legs Diamond’s girlfriend in the '21' kitchen in 1931). Notable writers frequenting '21' at the time include Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley and Lillian Hellman.   1945: Spellbound hits theatres and is one of the earliest films to feature/mention '21' Club.  According to Jeff Kraft and Aaron Leventhal, authors of Footsteps in the Fog: Alfred Hitchcock's San Francisco, Mr. Hitchcock had a long-standing connection to the '21' Club. Starting with his first trip to the United States from England in the late 1930s, he was a regular patron of the restaurant throughout his life.   July 20, 1941: Charlie Berns is pardoned by FDR. The official pardon reads, “…pleaded guilty in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to an indictment charging the maintenance of a common nuisance where intoxicating liquor was kept, sold, and bartered, in violation of the National Prohibition Act, and on March eleventh, 1929, was sentenced to pay a fine of one hundred dollars ($100.00)..."  1946: Walter Weiss comes to work for '21' as a waiter ultimately becoming "the legendary Maitre'd" according to his NY Times obituary. Ultimately responsible for which celebrity or VIP sat where, nobody 'dressed a room' like Mr. Weiss. His much beloved successor is Oreste Carnevali, who came to ‘21’ in 1994 from the Four Seasons.    1953-1958:  That's the fact Jack: acclaimed actor Warren Oates (Sgt. Hulka from Stripes) worked off and on as a coat- and hat-check person at '21'.  1957: Hollywood comes to '21' and shoots scenes for the classic films 'All About Eve' and 'The Sweet Smell of Success'. 1960:  Every President since FDR has been a guest of '21' with the one exception of George W. Bush. In true fashion, JFK dined at '21' on the eve of his inauguration.  1980: Wall Street Boom. '21' spawns the power lunch.  Forbes says "more deals are done at '21' than on the stock market floor." Part of the movie "Wall Street" is filmed in the restaurant.  1985:  '21' is sold for the first time to financier Marshall Cogan. Patrons hold their collective breath as it closes for a massive refurbishment.  Four months later '21' re-opens to rapturous praise - it looks the same, and feels the same.  It's still '21'.  1995: '21' is sold to Orient-Express Hotels. It is fitting that new owner, James Sherwood, is known for acquiring properties that represent what is best and authentic about the world's greatest cities.  1997:  The famous Wine Cellar is remodeled, becoming one of the most sought-after private dining rooms in the city.  Patrons enter through the now famous brick wall "door" that the Feds never found.  2002: The new Upstairs at '21' restaurant opens on the first floor to great acclaim. It is hailed as 'the most romantic restaurant in the city, a heartfelt love song to New York'.  2009: On December 31st '21' celebrates its 80th birthday.