Oct 10, 2020
This is Danny and Helen Riordan in front of the original Riordan’s Restaurant at 4th and O St., SW, Washington DC. Circa 1951.
The baby in the carriage is Patty Riordan. Now Patty Hutchinson.
The bird on Danny’s shoulder is a parrot named Polly.
Danny’s father, Patrick, was tending bar at this local pub near the waterfront in the southwest quadrant of DC, when the owner had to leave town in a hurry. According to family lore, he sold the place to Patrick Riordan for $250. Circa 1890’s…Danny Riordan was born in 1896.
Patrick had immigrated from County Cork, Midleton . He initially went to work in the mines of Cumberland. Eventually he moved his family to Washington DC. He was a fisherman and found a second job in a saloon near the waterfront. And the saloon was named Riordan’s Restaurant.
The District of Columbia seized the property under the Law of Eminent Domain during the Southwest Urban Renewal project in 1962.
Helen and Danny were paid $15,000 for the corner lot restaurant with two apartments on top. The Condos that sit in that same space originally sold for $90,000 in the 1960″s.
The saloon evolved into a very popular neighborhood restaurant. Helen ran the kitchen and all of their four sons worked in the family business.
