Tags
boxing, Brill Building, history, Jack Dempsey, Jack Dempsey's Broadway Restaurant, Logan County, Madison Square Garden III, New York, New York City, Sports, The Godfather, West Virginia
Jack Dempsey (1895-1983), heavyweight boxing champion of the world from 1919-1926, was raised in Logan County, WV. In 1935, Dempsey opened a restaurant at 8th Avenue W 50th Street near Madison Square Garden III in NYC. In 1938, he relocated his restaurant to Brill Building (1619 Broadway). The business front was featured in the 1972 movie The Godfather. Photo credit unknown. For more about the 1974 closure of Jack Dempsey’s Broadway Restaurant, go here: https://www.nytimes.com/1974/10/06/archives/jack-dempseys-restaurant-is-closing-original-dempseys-recalled.html
Here is the site of Jack Dempsey’s restaurant (1938-1974) as it appears today. 7 December 2019. For more history of the business, go here: https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2018/05/21/eating-at-jack-dempseys-in-times-square/
Here is the site of Jack Dempsey’s restaurant as it appears today. 7 December 2019
Brandon Ray Kirk 
I’ll have to watch for this storefront in “The Godfather.” Do you happen to know which scene it appears in?
Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMgEdoFAE38
Thank you! I knew it couldn’t be the little restaurant where Michael kills them, but I just couldn’t place it anywhere else in the movie. I love your blog and enjoyed learning about Jack Dempsey’s.