Knife And Fork Inn

Over the past century, the Knife & Fork Inn has led a long and colorful life, making it one of the oldest and most historically charged establishments in Atlantic City. Standing where Atlantic, Pacific and Albany Avenues converge, the Knife & Fork was originally established in 1912 by then Atlantic City Mayor William Riddle, the Commodore Louis Kuehnle, and their cronies as an exclusive mens drinking and dining club. The second floor was graced with curtained dining alcoves and a separate ladies lounge where women, who were not permitted at the bar, waited to be summoned. Private rooms on the third and fourth floors were used for gambling and, perhaps, other activities. During Prohibition, rebellious club members defied the laws of an alcohol-free society and continued to openly serve liquor at the bar. The club survived without being raided for some time, perhaps due to the influence of Enoch Nucky Johnson, the reigning political boss, who was aKnife & Fork regular. Eventually, however, federal agents decided to crack down and, in true roaring twenties style, entered the bar and destroyed all of its contents. After the raid, the clubs membership declined and in 1927 the building was sold to Atlantic Citys Latz family. Convinced Prohibition was here to stay, the Latzs removed the bar, which once occupied what is now the Hearth Room, and converted the building into a public restaurant. During the depression, Milton and Evelyn Latz moved the family into the third and fourth floors of the restaurant, where they lived for several decades.