Gallagher's Steakhouse

228 West 52nd Street | Times Square | built 1920

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The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1927

    Former Ziegfeld girl Helen Gallagher and gambler Jack Solomon open Gallagher's as a speakeasy

    In 1927, during Prohibition, Helen Gallagher opened Gallagher's on 52nd Street with a partner, the gambler Jack Solomon. Helen was a former Ziegfeld girl, married to Ed Gallagher, one half of the vaudeville duo Gallagher and Shean. The place became a gathering spot for gamblers, sports figures and Broadway stars.

    Source: gallaghersnysteakhouse.com

  2. 1929

    Ed Gallagher of Gallagher and Shean dies, and Helen Gallagher marries Jack Solomon

    Ed Gallagher, of the vaudeville team Gallagher and Shean, died in 1929, the year of the stock market crash. Helen Gallagher, who had opened the restaurant two years earlier and was his wife, then married her business partner Jack Solomon. According to the restaurant's own history, the place carried on as somewhere to let off steam as the Depression began.

    Source: gallaghersnysteakhouse.com

  3. 1933

    With Prohibition over, Gallagher and Solomon turn their speakeasy into Broadway's first steakhouse

    When liquor became legal again in 1933, Helen Gallagher and Jack Solomon converted their former speakeasy into what the restaurant calls Broadway's first steakhouse. They hung photographs of stars and athletes across the walls, and the atmosphere drew wealthy and famous diners. By its own account, the restaurant stayed a favorite in the theater district.

    Source: gallaghersnysteakhouse.com

  4. 1942

    Gallagher's answers wartime Meatless Tuesdays by closing on Tuesdays altogether

    In 1942, with World War II under way and the government's Meatless Tuesdays in force, Gallagher's went one better. The steakhouse announced that it would not only skip meat that day but would close its doors on Tuesdays entirely, and it phrased the notice as a wisecrack aimed at Uncle Sam.

    Source: gallaghersnysteakhouse.com

  5. 1943

    Jack Solomon marries the florist Irene Hayes, who becomes co-owner of Gallagher's

    Helen Gallagher died in 1943, and Jack Solomon married Irene Hayes that year. Hayes, a famed florist who owned the Park Avenue shop Irene Hayes Wadley & Smythe, became co-owner of the restaurant with him. After Solomon died in 1963, she became its sole owner.

    Source: gallaghersnysteakhouse.com

  6. 1964

    Irene Hayes sells Gallagher's to Jerome Brody, and windows go into the meat locker

    In 1964 Irene Hayes sold the restaurant to Jerome Brody. That year Gallagher's also began serving lunch, put windows into its meat locker and gave itself a fresh look. The restaurant's own history calls 1964 a banner year, with new owners and longer hours.

    Source: gallaghersnysteakhouse.com

  7. 2006

    Cartoonist Peb paints the 'Canvas of Stars' mural for Gallagher's

    In 2006 Marlene Brody, the widow of longtime owner Jerome Brody and by then the sole owner, commissioned the cartoonist Peb (Pierre Bellocq) to create a mural called Canvas of Stars. It took him a year to finish. The work includes Muhammad Ali, Joe DiMaggio and John F. Kennedy, and it is now held by Mrs. Brody.

    Source: gallaghersnysteakhouse.com

  8. 2013

    Dean Poll buys Gallagher's and signs a new 20-year lease at 228 West 52nd Street

    In January 2013 the restaurateur Dean Poll, who had operated the Central Park Boathouse for over 12 years, bought Gallagher's after the owners put it up for sale the previous October. He negotiated a new 20-year lease on the building at 228 West 52nd Street with Marlene Brody, the widow of longtime owner Jerome Brody, and the restaurant's union ratified the deal for its 92 employees. Poll said the name would stay.

    Source: dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com

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