John J. Sullivan Hotel, 17 East Main Street

Narrator: John J. Sullivan (1870-1946), voiced by Rusty Kransky

This is John J. Sullivan. I was proud to be the No.1 cardholder in the Tammany Society, the political machine that dominated New York City and was made infamous by leaders such as William Marcy Tweed. Everyone called him “Boss Tweed. That’s why the restaurant here is named “Tweed’s.” You may have seen this cartoon Thomas Nast drew showing the Tammany ring, each blaming the next for stealing the people’s money. The big guy was Tweed.

I came out to Riverhead and opened a saloon on this very spot in 1896. Business was good – until Riverhead voted to go “dry” in 1905. You know what that means? You don’t? Well, it means that no one here was allowed to sell alcohol. Crazy idea! So what is a popular saloon keeper like me supposed to do? It was easy. I just hung up my barber pole and started cutting hair, a skill I had learned as a young man. I ran this advertisement in the paper every week, promising prompt and polite treatment. All my old customers kept coming – and guess what – we kept it out of sight, but we still served everything just like we did when Riverhead was wet.

Fortunately, the police were not much interested in enforcing the local law, as long as I gave them a little free libation every now and then. That dry spell ended in 1909. But then the new law only allowed alcohol to be sold in hotels. So what did I do? Why, I moved the original building back to use as a kitchen and built a three-story hotel in front of that. We made the façade out of cast concrete blocks rusticated to look like stone. Got the blocks from a place over in Flanders. I installed a beautiful mahogany and marble bar that was built for the 1893 World Exposition in Chicago. I think that is still in there, if you want to check.

Boss Tweed never came here. He was in jail by the time I opened. But other leaders of Tammany Hall frequently stopped by on their way to the Hampton Bays, including Charles Murphy, the machine’s boss during the early decades of the 20th century, and his protégé Alfred E. Smith, who served four terms as governor of New York and in 1928 was the Democratic candidate for president. Both became great friends of mine.

I even managed to operate during Prohibition. Used secret doors and dumbwaiters that are still in the building. Fortunately, Prohibition only lasted 14 years. After the 21st Amendment was ratified on December 5, 1933, ending that awful experiment, it was back to business as normal – as it has been ever since. Indeed, I was still tending bar here when I had a heart attack and died suddenly in 1946.

Much of that time, I had a wonderful neighbor next door -- a British-born baker named Eddie Fisher and his wife Carrie. They lived upstairs and operated their bakery in the downstairs space. They tell me this is a Queen Anne style building, whatever that means.

But, back to my place. I am pleased to see that my hotel has been beautifully restored and still operates, making it one of the oldest eateries on the North Fork.