One Word I Have Never Liked … Prohibition
By The Real Todd Harrison | May 06, 2008 | 7:20 PM | 1 Comment
Thank God I wasn't around from 1920 to 1933. I would not have been a happy camper. In 1920, Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment ushering in the Prohibition Era. There is nothing roaring about these twenties. This was a time when the manufacturing, sale and transportation of alcohol was illegal. Say it ain't so! History tells us that cousins Jack Kriendler and Charlie Berns were none too happy either about this little thing called Prohibition. In New York, Jack and Charlie created one of the most celebrated speak-easies, Jack and Charlie's '21'. Today, now called the 21 Club, it is still celebrated as a place for great food, wine and atmosphere.
This past Christmas I spent the holidays in New York. Every time I am there, I go to the 21 Club because it has the best hamburger in the world. Yes, the world. Congratulations. Never mind the $30.00 price tag! But, it wasn't until this recent trip that I actually learned about the history of the 21 Club.
Here is a little history lesson: By 1925, there were over 100,000 speak-easies in New York City alone (Bowen, 160). According to Wikipedia, "a speak-easy was an establishment that surreptitiously sold alcoholic beverages during the period of history known as Prohibition. The term comes from a patron's manner of ordering alcohol without raising suspicion - a bartender would tell a patron to be quiet and ‘speak easy'." Other slang terms for an establishment similar to a speak-easy are blind pig and gin joint. Speak-easies were considered high-class while blind pigs were considered dives. I have been known to frequent both. This stirs up memories of my times at the Huntress in Midway City. As you can guess, speak-easies became extremely popular and often operated by those connected to organized crime.
Most speak-easies offered food, live music, dancing women, and of course, liquor. During this period of time, proprietors of the speak-easies would often have a contact in the police department who would tip them off to a raid or would accept bribes. Coming up with this ridiculous law was not nearly as difficult as enforcing it. This is where Jack and Charlie come in.
During Prohibition, Jack and Charlie created one of the most elaborate and invisible wine cellars ever to circumvent the law. According to our waiter, the cellar was stashed behind hanging hams and canned food. The door weighed two and a half tons and looked like an ordinary brick wall. So how did someone open a two and a half-ton wall you ask? They used an 18 inch meat skewer, which was inserted into one of the many cracks in the wall. Once triggered, the secret door opened and revealed one of the most beautiful sites anyone had ever seen ... two thousand cases of wine.
Legend has it that during Prohibition, Jimmy Walker, Mayor of New York, not the guy from "Good Times," had a private booth in a corner of the cellar. Dyn-o-mite! 
The Mayor would go to the cellar to have a cocktail in peace as federal agents were raiding the premises above for contraband. Mayor Walker's booth has been preserved, and can be viewed today.
21's cellar was, and still is, located at 19 West 52nd Street. During Prohibition, 21 did not own the building they just rented the cellar. Because of this, when employees were asked by Federal agents if there was liquor on the premises, they could truthfully answer "No!"
Today, the two and a half-ton door, which must still be unlocked with a meat skewer, houses rooms filled with the world's finest wines and liquors - Montrachet 1898, Romanee-Conti 1880, Chateau Lafite-Rothschild and many more. In addition to housing the restaurant's collection, 21 stored the private collections of some of the restaurant's most famous patrons, both past and present, including Presidents Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon, Elizabeth Taylor, Hugh Carey, Ivan Boesky, Eva Gabor, Aristotle Onassis and Sammy Davis Jr.
If you go to 21 today, the cellar has been remodeled so that the customers have an opportunity to dine in an atmosphere that is rich with history.
http://www.21club.com/web/onyc/onyc_a2a_home.jsp
"The Real" Todd Harrison
References: Bowen, Ezra, ed. This Fabulous Century. 6 vols. New York: Time Life Books, 1969 Wikipedia Pictures from Gringoft and http://www.21club.com/
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