Our researchers continued to dig and have finally found ALL of the deeds / owners of the Riverside Inn property. It took us back to the late 1800s. If you have additional information about any of the owners, we’d love to hear from you. We keep digging. (click here). We’re now looking into police records and newspaper reporting for any speakeasy raids, arrests, or any drinking activities documented from 1900-1934 at the site on North Avenue East.
Every regular imbiber has his or her favorite dive bar to watch the game or get a quick bite, but we wanted to find the consensus of the best local hangouts around the state. Dutifully, our friends at Yelp in 2018 created a list of THE best 31 dive bars in New Jersey. Well, not to be outdone, our Mr. Local History researchers have come up with over 100 – see the link at the end of this story. But one of our old stomping grounds got us thinking: no way, the Riverside Inn is way better than Yelp says.
In 2019, The Riverside Inn in Cranford became the Star Ledger’s Readers’ Choice winner in their N.J.’s best bar showdown. The bar outdistanced The Hudson House in North Beach Haven and Clydz in New Brunswick in the voting. There is no denying that this bar has something special.
Fast forward to 2024, and it all changed when the Riverside Inn bar was crowned AGAIN Jersey’s Dive Bar champion. Tipsycritic held a vote to find the Best Dive Bar in NJ, and unsurprisingly, The Riverside Inn bar was crowned the winner AGAIN! To commemorate this honor, sharp-looking garments were presented to staff to celebrate the honor.
The Riverside Inn along the Rahway River, affectionately known as “The Dive,” has been a cherished establishment in Cranford, New Jersey. Its origins date back to the early 20th century; the building was erected in 1900 along the Rahway River, coining the town’s cliché as the “Venice of New Jersey.” But first, we always like to look at maps over the period to get a bearing:
In the mid-19th century, the Vreeland family played a significant role in Cranford, New Jersey’s development. The 1850 Industrial Census records a woolen factory operated by Vreeland and Williams (see map), producing cloth, felts, blankets, and stocking yarn. This factory was situated on the mill site, with Vreeland’s grist mill located downstream. By 1870, maps indicate the property belonged to the estate of E. Vreeland, suggesting the family’s continued ownership during that period. Additionally, the Vreeland House, located at 306 Lincoln Avenue East, was constructed around 1770 and expanded circa 1840.
Fannie Elizabeth Bates – We were sent this image of a local woman who owned and ran the Riverside and Cranford’s Hampton Hall. Through her civic engagement, Bates had a hand in creating Cranford’s library, starting the township’s sanitation department, and structuring the public school system. She founded the Equal Franchise League (EFL), an organization created to fight women’s suffrage. in 1896, she founded the Village Improvement Association (VIA). The VIA was responsible for organizing the first school board campaign for school construction and redesigning the existing buildings to eliminate fire hazards.
She was born in 1841 and lived to be 77, passing in 1918 years old. She was known as “The Mother of Cranford.”
In 1888, she built, owned, and operated Hampton Hall, the town’s first residence hotel, on the corner of Hampton and Eastman Streets. It opened in 1891 and was in operation until it was demolished in 1969. In January 1907, she bought a piece of property named Yggdrasill or Riverside, which stood on the current site of the Riverside condominiums (22 Riverside Dr.) at Riverside Drive and Prospect Avenue.
Norse Mythology – Yggdrasill is the immense, mythical tree connecting the nine realms of existence. It is often described as an ash tree that serves as the cosmic axis, holding together the universe. Its roots and branches extend into various worlds, including Asgard (home of the gods), Midgard (the human world), and Hel (the realm of the dead).
Yggdrasill and connections to THOR, the Marvel Comic.
Bates renamed Yggdrasill to Riverside and opened a boarding house in February 1907. Could this be the first noting of “a Riverside Inn?” Not the Riverside Inn we’re talking about here, but we’ll keep digging.
Our research has found that other articles say there might have been a Ford Dealership at the Riverside Inn location as early as 1900. Sometimes, the info is accurate, and sometimes, it’s copied from story to story. We continued to look into this claim and saw advertisements for the N. A. Barnett and the Cranford Motor Car Company at 39-41 North Avenue East, going back to at least 1904. The problem is we’re finding garages and auto service garages with odd numbers in their address. Odd numbers are on the north side of North Avenue, and even numbers are on the South side of North Avenue. Before Centennial Avenue to the East, the highest street number we’ve located is 58 North Ave. E (the Riverside Florist Shop). So we keep digging in regarding these statements and clues we’re trying to link.
Before building the 1925 brick structure where the Riverside Inn sits today, the site along the Rahway River in Cranford, New Jersey, held historical significance. It was known as Cyrus Drake’s Landing or Drake’s Ford (landing), named after Cyrus Drake. Drake was an 18th-century trader who established a trading post that served as a significant trading hub during colonial times, with the Lenape Indians frequently paddling their canoes up the Rahway River to trade goods. This location also served as a resting ground for the Lenape Indians, the region’s indigenous people.
A “ford” is a shallow place in a river or stream where water is low enough to be crossed on foot, by horse, or by vehicle without needing a bridge. Fords were commonly used as natural crossing points before bridges were constructed. They were essential in early transportation and trade routes, providing a practical way for people, animals, and wagons to traverse waterways.
In historical contexts, a ford like Drake’s Ford in Cranford, New Jersey, would have been a vital crossing point for settlers, traders, and possibly Indigenous peoples navigating the Rahway River. So Cranford had a choice; it could be either Crane’s Ford or Drake’s Ford. Guess what they chose?
The Mr. Local History researchers spent hours at the Union County Clerk’s Office tracking down deed records for those who’ve owned the property where the Riverside Inn was built.
The business we’ve confirmed tied to the Riverside speakeasy (Riverside Inn) is the Riverside Flower Shop, which would later house the beginnings of the prohibition-era Riverside Saloon and Bar. Andrew Olsen was born December 14, 1877, in Assens, Baag, Odense, Denmark, and died June 7, 1947 (aged 69) in Plainfield, New Jersey. He returned to Denmark to marry Emma Sofie Peterson on 26 November 26, 1907. Emma was born in Plainfield, New Jersey. They both returned to the US on 29 February 1908. She would die September 17, 1951 (aged 73) in Browntown, New Jersey. The two started and owned Cranford’s Riverside Flower Shop at 52 North Avenue East in Cranford, New Jersey, through at least 1938/39, according to R.L. Polk Business Directories.
So was there an unofficial Riverside saloon in in the basement of this wooden resident/flower shop, or we’re thinking it was just a speakeasy. The truth lies with the 1925 construction records. Who built that building and what was that address? We know the Riverside Inn today is a brick building at 56 North Ave. East…..we do know that!
Resident and owners of the Riverside Flower Shop at 52 North Avenue E., Cranford. What was a wooden structure, the Olsens came from Denmark to escape WWI and ultimately landed in Cranford. First purchasing their home at 52 North Avenue East, they would open the Riverside Flower Shop, which, sometime after 1920, during the prohibition era, started the basement speakeasy, which is said to have been called the Riverside Saloon. We keep digging.
The Riverside Flower Shop’s unassuming facade was pivotal during the Prohibition era of the 1920s. In those years, the building’s basement operated as a speakeasy, as evidence remains on the basement walls depicting bottles and barkeeps—a reminder of the residents’ defiance of Prohibition laws.
Our research continued as we started to dig into old R.L. Polk & Company City Directories from the Westfield and Cranford Library collections. Over the years, we have uncovered multiple addresses for the Riverside Flower Shop and the Riverside Inn. Two names keep coming up:
The research tells us a few things. It tells us there were two structures at one time from at least 1929. It seems that the Riverside Flower Shop ceased operation sometime around 1940. It appears that the Riverside Inn’s address has changed between 50, 52, 56 and 58 North Avenue before finally being known at 56 North Avenue East, where the Riverside Inn Stands today. So, was the Riverside Inn a flower shop, a speakeasy, a Ford Dealer, and a Tap Room/Tavern? A big MAYBE!
We’ve identified another Riverside Inn owner, plumber contractor, and resident/owner of the Riverside Inn at 52 and 56 and 58 North Avenue E., Cranford. They were undoubtedly the first to hold a legal liquor license in 1934 to operate the Riverside Inn at what was at 58 North Ave. East in the brick structure where the Riverside Inn sits today.
Prohibition in New Jersey, as in the rest of the United States, lasted from January 17, 1920, to December 5, 1933. During this period, the production, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages were banned under the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which the Volstead Act enforced.
Our research uncovered that the two-story brick building at 56/58 North Avenue East in Cranford was built in 1925 and documented at 2,188 square feet. The Cranford Historical Society says the first reference to the Riverside Inn in town records appeared in 1935. Over the years, tenants have also rented the two-bedroom apartment on the second floor. There is a basement, and being next to a river, it often floods. While it carries the term “Inn” in its name, no readily available historical evidence suggests that it ever functioned as a traditional inn offering lodging accommodations.
Steven (a/k/a “The Russian) and Stella Rudzinak of Henry Street in Linden are next in the line of Riverside Inn owners starting in late 1953. They required the liquor consumption license transfer from Anna Deguire (also spelled Degurie), as stated in the September 3, 1953 newspaper announcement. They would acquire what is known as “The Plenary Retail Consumption Licence C-4. Their credo: ““Your friends are our friends.”
Robert M. Byko, a US Navy WW2 veteran and former New Jersey State Trooper, along with his wife Renee Byko, purchased the Riverside in. They lived in the apartment above the Rivside with their son Bob Jr. The Bykos would later sell the Riverside Inn to the Driscoll family, who lived in Cranford and Roselle.
Records show that in 1975, at 22, the Driscoll family from Cranford/Roselle took ownership of the Riverside Inn. David Driscoll and his wife Kate ran the institution for over twenty years. Through floods and hurricanes, they kept the Riverside alive and kicking. David lived on Belmont Avenue in Cranford during high school, graduated from Roselle Catholic, went to Mount Saint Mary’s College in Maryland, and came home to run the Riverside Inn after graduating.
On January 20, 1995, lifelong Cranford resident and Cranford High ’80 grad Peter “Jake” Jacobs and his brother Jeff (Jocco) purchased the bar. Jake had been a partner of Cranford’s other dive bar, the Rathskeller, with his friend Kevin Hudak but decided it was time to join forces with his brother. The two purchased the bar from longtime owner David Driscoll, who had owned the Riverside Inn from 1975 until 1995.
Today, patrons appreciate its status as a community hub where generations gather to enjoy a uniquely local atmosphere that blends history, art, and local flavor, maintaining its reputation as the beloved “River-dive.” While it was a bar when the brothers bought it (the “Inn” is a misnomer), Jacobs made several changes to the place, including bumping out the front and adding windows. There’s a pew running along one wall, which Jacobs jokingly says is reserved “for those who fart in church.” Jocco ran the kitchen, with their mom making several sides, including her famous deviled eggs (quoted from TAP Cranford.)
As you look around the bar, you could spend tons of time looking at all the eclectic icons dangling from the walls. There’s a skateboard and a banjo above the bar and Cranford High wrestling stuff throughout, yet neither of the Jacobs brothers wrestled. I guess they were just big fans. There’s even a Winchester 1866 Carabiner, aka the “gun that won the West,” on the wall, which I’m sure there’s a story about, but you never know when you might need a rifle if things get tough. Just break the glass and provide your own ammo.
Significant floods have tried and failed to drown out the Riverside Inn. The Rahway River flooded over twelve times: July 1938, May 1968, August 1971 and 1973, July 1975, June 1992, October 1996, July 1997, September 1999, April 2007, Hurricane Irene in 2011, and Hurricane Ida in 2021. After each tragedy, people often stated, “There is more water inside the Dive than the River.” But after each devastating flood, the “River-Dive” underwent repairs to restore operations. During Irene in August 2011, the water didn’t stop rising until it was knee-deep on the first floor.
With over $100,000 in flood damages from Hurricane Irene, locals came to the rescue with a fundraiser at the Cranford Elks Lodge, “Divestock,” which netted enough money to cover the costs and also help out the Cranford First Aid Squad. The November 6, 2011 “Divestock” was a musical fundraiser at The Riverside.
Our journey with the Riverside is a long one. This writer’s been a big fan of The Riverside Inn for decades, going back as far as 1979, so what better way to share the history than with photos? Feel free to send in yours for consideration (see below). Just click any image to start the sideshow. Bonus points for anyone who submits a photo when actor Kiefer Sutherland, known for his role in the television series “24,” came into the Riverside. If someone has one, we’ll even accept a photo from Frankie Ryan (Class of 83).
We continue to get so many photo submissions, we now have a page just for the Riverside Inn pics. Click HERE to see the entire album.
“”There’s a lot of fancy, schmancy places,” he said. “But these people need this place.
Peter Jacobs
I give people a place to go,
We’re open 7 days a week until 2:00 a.m.”
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My Grandfather had his own bar stool there.
Played hockey for The Dive, back in the day!
Owner at one time Don the lifeguard taught me how to swim at the Roselle Swim Club. When I was of age he was the Bartender!
My uncle and cousin owned the Texaco next door.
My father was a bartender there in the 60's. Friends with Steve Redzinak, A/k/a the Russian. He was the owner at the time. My father had to wear a white shirt and tie. Loved it when he would bring home the burgers or soft shell crab sandwiches.