26 APRIL 12, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
Serving up some history of a
once-popular Glendale restaurant
BY THE OLD TIMER
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
The year 2005 was a bleak one for
fans of two beloved restaurants
in Middle Village and Glendale.
First, there was the news that
Niederstein’s Restaurant — an iconic
Middle Village eatery with roots
dating back to the Civil War — would
close that February. A popular place
to celebrate birthdays, holidays, even
weddings, the need for major, costly
improvements proved too much for
the owners to keep it going.
Then, within weeks, the Ridgewood
Times reported that Durow’s Restaurant
in Glendale — another great
institution that hosted generations
of family and social functions — was
closing down, too, for many of the same
reasons that led to Niederstein’s demise.
“ONE MORE NOW DONE” blared
the headline that ran on the front page
story about the closure in the March 3,
2005, issue of the Ridgewood Times. It
marked the end of a great restaurant
that had roots dating back to the early
20th century.
In 1909, Louis Sahner — who owned
2.187 acres of farmland in the area of
Myrtle Avenue and present-day 81st
Street — was in his 50s and fi nally had
it with farming. He had sold one acre
on the eastern end of the property
and retained his farmhouse and the
remaining 1.2 acres of land. He subsequently
leased the building and land
to Frederick Wener, who established
a saloon on the premises that he operated
until 1911.
In 1912, William Palmer leased the
premises and operated a saloon there
until about 1919. During National
Prohibition, in the 1920s, it became
“Johnston’s 19th Hole,” a speakeasy that
also rented lockers to the golfers who
played across the street at the Forest
Park Golf Course.
When Prohibition ended in 1933, the
19th Hole closed down; it remained
shuttered for the next three years
until Henry “Happy” Miller” leased
the site from the Louis Sahner estate
in 1936.
Happy Miller had been an iceman
and had been kicked by a horse at the
Wallabout Market. Aft er prohibition
ended, he operated Happy’s Village
Tavern, located at 79-65 Metropolitan
Ave. in Middle Village.
Ridgewood Times archives/Greater Ridgewood Historical Society
The exterior of Happy’s Bar and Restaurant, which immediately preceded Durow’s Restaurant
Ridgewood Times archives/Greater Ridgewood Historical Society
Restauranteur Victor Koenig and others at what would become Durow’s Restaurant in Glendale in this 1940s
photo.
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