With a group of ornamental jockeys standing guard at the door, donated by some of the best-known stables in American thoroughbred racing, the iconic 21 Club ruled midtown Manhattan’s social and culinary scene for 90 years. Founders Jack Kreindler and Charlie Berns opened the 21 Club at 21 West 52nd Street on January 1, 1930. It became one of the most famous speakeasies during Prohibition after architect Frank Buchanan designed a system of camouflaged doors, invisible chutes, revolving bars and a secret wine cellar to hide the restaurant’s stash of liquor. The cellar was located through the wall at number 19 next door, so staff were not lying when they told Federal agents trying to battle bootleggers that there was no alcohol on the premises.

The wine cellar became famous in its own right and later held the private collections of Presidents Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon as well as celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, Frank Sinatra and Aristotle Onassis. Perhaps the most famous part of the 21 Club was the Bar Room where every inch of the ceiling was crammed with memorabilia from its famous patrons. President John F Kennedy donated a model of a PT-109 torpedo boat, Willie Mays gave one of his baseball bats, Jack Nicklaus handed over one of his golf clubs and John McEnroe and Chris Evert contributed tennis racquets.

The 21 Club featured ten private dining rooms, and, with the exception of George W Bush, every President since Franklin Delano Roosevelt dined there. The American novelist Ernest Hemingway was a regular and was caught in flagrante with a female patron he’d just met in one of the dining rooms on the steep kitchen stairs, according to 21 Club folklore.

The 21 Club closed in November 2020 after a series of shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic.