My Father During Prohibition
By Dr. Sander Weinreb, 8/2002

The 21 Club (www.21club.com), located at 21 East 52 St. in Manhattan, is one of the world's finest restaurants; it is frequented by very famous people such as presidents and movie stars. During the prohibition era it was a high-class "speakeasy" for illegal sale of imported liquor and the Weinreb family had a connection to this unlawful establishment! The club was founded by Jack Kreindler and Charley Bernfeld. Charley was my Uncle Jack Weinreb's brother-in-law - he was Bea Weinrebs brother and kind enough to give my father, a recent immigrant, a job as a waiter and later as a "checker" who checked the food orders. My father, Maurice Weinreb (Morris before he became a waiter at the 21 Club), told many stories about his work at "21". One of the stories was that the mob tried to force the club to buy inferior liquor from them rather than from the quality Canadian and Scotch suppliers. Jack told them not to mess around with the club because every waiter was packing a gun (of course, none of them had guns) and it worked. This was a key act of courage which helped to make the business. To this day 21 Brands Distrilleries is the importer for the Ballantine branch of scotch. Another story my father told me was about where the liquor was hidden in case of a raid. The kitchen was in the basement and in a sub-basement under the kitchen there was a tiny hole in the wall. When a wire was poked through this hole, the wall would open up into a cave beneath the building next door (unbeknown to its owners, probably the Woman's Christian Temperance Union) and this is where the booze was stashed. A few years ago I was in New York with my wife, Marjie, and grown children, Glenn and Ellen. I asked them where they wanted to eat, and groan to my wallet, they said "21 Club where grand-daddy used to work"! Our reservation under the name Weinreb, of course, was graciously accepted. When we arrived I told the maitre-de that my father worked here 60 years ago and I know the secret about the liquor cave. Did it still exist? He told us to enjoy our dinner and afterward he would arrange a tour of the sub-terranian facilities. We had a wonderful meal, fully worth the $250, and were then escorted through a spotless kitchen, down some steps into a sub-basement. Sure enough, it was just as my father had described it, a wire was inserted through a hole to trip an elaborate mechanism that slid the wall open. What was in the room now? It is a private-stock wine cellar with cubicles labeled "Richard Nixon" and "Elizabeth Taylor", among others. In the middle ot the room an elegant table was set with about 12 place settings. The room is available, upon request, for private parties. So, next time you are in Manhattan with a group willing to spend of the order of $100 a head for a superb dinner in an Weinreb-roots atmosphere, phone the 21 Club and request the table in the speakeasy wine cellar! Bon appetite!!

www.weinreb.org