Aristocrat of the Village (Barney Gallant’s nickname)
Bernard “Barney” Gallant (1884-1968) operated several speakeasies in Greenwich Village. “Barney Gallant’s” was located at 85 West 3rd Street. From 1929 through 1931, the New York (NY) Evening Post included this in its list of New York City’s supper clubs:
“BARNEY GALLANT’S, 85 W. 3d St.—The aristocrat of the Village.”
The Cotton Club was called the “Aristocrat of Harlem” during the same period.
Old Fulton NY Post Cards
7 October 1929, New York (NY) Evening Post, “The Supper Clubs,” pg. 15A, col. 6:
BARNEY GALLANT’S, 85 W. 3d St.—The aristocrat of the Village.
Old Fulton NY Post Cards
21 November 1929, New York (NY) Evening Post, “The Night Clubs,” pg. ?, col. 3:
BARNEY GALLANT’S, 85 W. 3d St.—The aristocrat of the Village.
Old Fulton NY Post Cards
28 April 1931, New York (NY) Evening Post, “The Night Clubs,” pg. ?, col. 1:
BARNEY GALLANT’S, 85 W. 3d St.—The aristocrat of the Village. Dancing and entertainment at dinner and supper.
Old Fulton NY Post Cards
3 July 1931, The Citizen-Advertiser (Auburn, NY), “New York Inside Out” by Sam Love, pg. 4, col. 4:
And in Barney-Gallant’s the aristocrat of the Village night clubs.
WestView News (The Voice of the West Village)
Visiting Greenwich Village in the Speakeasy Era
May 1, 2014
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However, most clubs and speakeasies did not survive after Prohibition ended in December 1933. Barney Gallant, manager of the old Greenwich Village Inn on Sheridan Square and Seventh Avenue, was the city’s first hero of Prohibition. When his waiters were arrested under wartime Prohibition, Gallant insisted the judge release his waiters and let him serve their time. Petitions to free him circulated in the Village and he served 30 days in the infamous Tombs prison.
Then Gallant capitalized on his new-found fame by opening Club Gallant at 40 Washington Square, a site today occupied by NYU Law School. Eventually, he opened an exclusive nightclub at 19 North Washington Square known as the Washington Square Club. The site today is occupied by NYU Abu Dhabi.
Ephemeral New York
A Village eccentric’s popular 1920s speakeasy
June 23, 2016
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So he opened his speakeasy, Club Gallant, in 1922 at 40 Washington Square South.
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Club Gallant moved to Edgar Allan Poe’s old digs at 85 West Third Street. Gallant then decamped to 19 Washington Square North (right), where he opened his ritzy speakeasy Speako de Luxe (below).