User:Davenichmd/Jack's New York City Restaurant

Jack's New York City Restaurant new article content ... Jack's was one of New York City's most legendary restaurants, located on Sixth Ave and 46th Street across from the Hippodrome Theater. It first opened as the Manhattan Oyster Bar in 1891 on Sixth Ave. between 43 and 44th Streets, quickly becoming known as Jack’s Oyster Bar because of the engaging personality of the proprietor, Jack Dunston, and then simply Jack’s (1). Jack’s was a reflection of that boisterous time in New York City’s history during which the restaurant flourished, and its popularity was due to charisma of Jack Dunston, the Irish waiters, the colorful characters who made Jack’s their second home, and of course, its good food and drink. At the time, Jack’s had the only all night liquor license in New York, and it quickly became the gathering place for theatergoers, actors, actresses, chorus girls, professional athletes, sports fans, visiting college men, newsmen, politicians, financiers, writers and assorted other New York characters. In the late evening when New Yorkers out on the town asked where they should go next, the response was usually "let's all go to Jack's!" (2). For the first 20 years, Jack’s never closed its doors and, in fact, Jack Dunston threw away the key when he first opened. There were four large dining rooms (the Battling Nelson Grill, the White Room, the Rosemary for Remembrance Room, and the Blue Room), two to either side of the main corridor leading to the long bar and Oyster Bar in the back, where the notables and revelers gathered, and one might see John L Sullivan, Bat Masterson, Diamond Jim Brady and Damon Runyon having a drink at the bar, O Henry writing a story on a brown paper bag in the corner, or Babe Ruth bursting in with a crowd of friends (3,4). Prohibition adversely affected the ambience and financial success, and after 35 years as “the hottest center of nightlife the big town knew before or since” (5a DR), Jack Dunston closed the restaurant in 1925 (5). Up until that time, it had made more money than any other New York City restaurant ever had (6). Jack Dunston The restaurant’s fame and popularity was in large measure due to the proprietor, Jack Dunston, a Damon Runyon character in his own right. He was the descendent of a Captain Dunston, who came to Ireland in 1642 with his uncle, Colonel Townshend, head of a regiment in Cromwell's army. Castle Townshend was constructed in County Cork as the Regiment headquarters. Captain Dunston fell in love with a local Catholic Irish girl, Molly O'Reagan and married her. For an Englishman to marry a Catholic Irish woman was a capital offence at that time. Fortunately, however, his uncle decided to merely dismiss him from the army, but also gave him a plot of land to farm in the nearby Townland of Moneyvollahan, a few miles from Skibbereen. The Dunstons have remained farmers there (and avid Catholic Republican Irish supporters) ever since. Jack himself supported the IRA financially from New York, and was a close friend of the Irish patriot, Jerimiah O'Donovan Rosa (8). Jack Dunston was born in 1853 in Moneyvollahan but left Cork by ship in 1871 for Canada, where he met and married Ellen McCarthy. He then came to NYC and took a job as a waiter at Burn’s Restaurant on 45th Street, moving up quickly to become a very popular head waiter. One day he got into a dispute with the proprietor and was fired. As he left Jack said, "I will come back and buy this restaurant!" (5). In 1890, Jack and his partners Tom Kennelly and Tim Hurley started the Manhattan Oyster bar on Sixth Ave. between 43rd and 44th Street, soon called just Jack’s, and in 1915 Jack did buy Burns’ Restaurant and moved Jack’s to that location, just one block north (9). It is not clear where Jack Dunston got the money for the transaction, but his granddaughter Victoria says that it was well known that Jack was a formidable Poker player. Jack Dunston had an apartment above the restaurant and also a small estate in Sharon Connecticut. Family legend has it that Jack went on a fishing trip with some Wall Street financiers in the Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence River, where they all played poker, and when he returned Jack owned the Connecticut estate (10- Millerton Paper story of the reunion). Jack was tall and handsome, with a distinguished white handlebar mustache and full white hair. He always wore an evening jacket with a large white boutonniere in the lapel (11). His nickname at the restaurant and among his friends was "the Earl of Dunston" because of his distinguished, erudite and polite demeanor as he greeted each guest and circulated about the restaurant, greeting and chatting with each guest (12). Despite the fact that he did not have a high school education, Jack was well versed in Irish history and literature. He and made it a point of reading the works authored by his writer patrons and would often sit late into the night with them, discussing Irish history or their latest poems, plays, articles or books (13). Jack’s menu Jack’s was famous both for its food and drink. The oysters were considered the best in the city, and the menu listed items such as… (14 ). But perhaps Jack’s was best known for its 4 AM scrambled eggs and Irish bacon, a favorite of late night patrons who were not yet ready to go home and knew that they could go to Jack’s late in the evening or early morning and be welcomed with a fine late supper or early breakfast, and mingle at the same time with some of the most interesting people in the city (15). Several famous writers and patrons of Jack’s have written stories about the humorous happenings at the restaurant during that colorful period in New York City’s history from 1891 to 1925. One institution at Jack’s was the “Flying Wedge”. There were four entrances to Jack’s, one on 43rd Street and three on Sixth Ave. It was through the Sixth Ave. entrances that the “Flying Wedge” of waiters, mobilized by a buzzer at the Cashier’s desk used to hurl unruly patrons such as footballers from Harvard, Yale and Princeton when their celebrations passed the bounds of decorum in Jack’s (16)(add material from refs) A Haven for writers, playwrights, poets, politicians, athletes and other notables (DR). Among the writers who could often be found at Jack’s were Booth Tarkington, Benjamin Decasseres, Frank Ward O’Malley, Damon Runyon, and O Henry. Politicians included Theodore Roosevelt, and many Tammany Hall leaders (7). Add material from all references. Add story of Tammany leaders selecting their candidate during dinner at Jack’s. Jim Corbett, Kid McCoy, George M Cohan, the Vanderbilt's, the Gould's John L Sullivan-2 stories Babe Ruth Gamblers: There were several well-known gamblers who frequented Jack’s. One, Arnold Rothstein, was behind the Black Sox scandal. One time, several gamblers were arrested near Jack’s. The NY Times reported the raid and the fact that the next morning Jack Dunston posted bail for the four. The wild poet

Jay Gould and Helen Kelly and the Blue Room

Louis the Lug and cabbies

Prohibition and the decline of Jack’s

During probation, Jack Dunston kept a store of liquor in a hidden attic of his apartment above the restaurant. Customers of Jack’s could request a cup of “Jack’s special tea” and a tea cup of whiskey would be brought. One day, the police raided Jack’s apartment, confiscated the cache, and arrested Jack. During the trial, the prosecutor asked Jack Dunston why he had the large number of boxes containing whiskey in his apartment. To the enjoyment of those watching the trial, Jack replied in his Irish brogue, “Sure, I was hoping to drink them before I died.” He was then asked, “Mr. Dunston, how is it that you had the only all night liquor license in New York City”? Jack replied, “That’s for me to know and for you to guess.” The charges were dismissed, and the judge ordered to boxes of liquor to be returned to Jack Dunston. (8)

Jack was known for his wit and convivial personality but also for his stern discipline. Still, he was very tolerant of all the range of characters who came to Jack’s and considered it their home away from home. Jack was also quietly generous. There were $50,000 in unpaid IOUs at the time he closed the restaurant. (10) (1303 words, 3 pages to here) Jack Dunston died of pneumonia in 1927 (7)

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