1871-1929 | 1930's | 1940's & 1950's | 1960 - Present
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.
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