Daily News from New York, New York • 521

XQL 72 Je: 4 4 4 1 II I 1 1 Il DENNIS CARUSO DAILY NEWS The Triangle Hofbrau Restaurant stands majestically in Richmond By JACK WOOD their establishment's history. On prominent display are engravings of old Richmond Hill scenes, 19th century pictures, of the Triangle Hotel and photographs of meetings held on the premises by several generations of the Queens judicial establishment THE QUEENS politicos who' used the Triangle Hofbrau as an unofficial meetinghouse didn't desert even after the Volstead Act was passed Prohibition became the. law of the land and the place became a combination restaurantspeakeasy. "During Prohibition, high political figures still met here," said Marcel Four. "We were never raided.

We had good friends." And after the failure of the "noble experiment" the Hofbrau acquired its most distinctive adornment a beautiful mahogony bar complete with wall paneling and liquor cabinets which had been ori-. ginally designed for the steamship President Carved faces of medieval, drinking men surround the barroom near the ceiling and one, with up-: turned mouth and squinted sports a whimsical cigaret Once upon a time, legend has it, clgarets were not a joking matter here for women at any rate. In a story I 4, 3S- MAE MA? HAVE been bated, but she's not the only luminary who has passed through its doors. The: place's history includes visits by. Theodore Roosevelt, Jacob light-heavyweight champion Paul Berlenbach and Babe Ruth.

"When! was a kid," Marcel Four remembered with a chuckle, "I used to get autographs from him and sell them at school for 50 cents each." In 1976, a plaque was installed in the dining room by the Native New Yorkers Historical Association honoring the Triangle Hofbrau as the oldest tavern in continuous operation on Long Island. A number of momentos of earlier times are on display in the barroom: steins left over from the days when people kept a personal drinking vessel on hand at their favorite watering hole, surviving plates from old dining-room sets, hunting trophies, a glass-encased doll collection and, high over the back booths, a model team of horses pulling a load of beer barrels carefully crafted in leather. Above the bar, suspended from a beer cask, is a brass bell which was traditionally rung to announce either a round for the house or the last call. "It's one, of those customs that died," noted Tommy Hardiman, the bartender. A custom or two may die, but the Triangle Hofbrau, mindful of its history, carries on, an oasis of Old World grace.

a that hotly disputed strip of land on the French-German border" which has a reputation for drawing the best from both culinary traditions. During World War in fact, the Fours' French-Alsatian roots prob-" ably helped their new restaurant survive the prevailing anti-German climate of the times. Today, the restaurant looks like, something you would expect to find in a German or Alsatian country town. Alongside the Myrtle Ave. entrance to the dining room, flowers bloom in barrels resting on iron fixtures.

The half-timbered style building is topped by a steep slate roof, and windows of lightly stained glass reflect the sunlight The Triangle Hofbrau's distinctive whitewashed look contrasts marked- ly with the Jamaica Avenue el rumbling by over the barroom side, the boarded up supermarket across Myrtle Ave. and the general de-lapidation that has been the lot of the surrounding area in recent years. Inside, the prevailing motif is polished wood, from floor to walls ceiling beams. A map of the wine regions of Europe decorates one wall, and on another are two intricately hand-carved 19th century wine-barrel heads. The three Fours who currently run the Triangle Hofbrau, Marcel, Emile and Charlie, (sons of the men who originally converted the old hotel into an Alsatian restaurant) are sensitive to ET73HE HEART OF Yorkville, I I New York's traditional Ger-LI man enclave, has been almost thoroughly Burger Kinged and McDonald'ed.

Even the venerable Luchows recently moved uptown from its 14th St quarters on its 100th anniversary no less. But the Four Brothers Triangle Hofbrau in Richmond Hill is still serving up hearty German and Alsatian fare as it has since 1914. A 63 year presence on the ever-changing New York restaurant scene is remarkable enough, but it's just the most recent chapter in the Triangle Hofbrau's history. The restaurant, which takes its name from its location on the triangular block formed by Jamaica, Myrtle and Hillside actually traces its origins back to 1864. It got its start as a hotel catering to farmers needing a stopover between their Long Island farms and Manhattan or Brooklyn markets.

The hotel rapidly developed as an area social center and even served as a post office for awhile. During the 1890s, with a bow to the booming popularity of bicycling, the hotel was dubbed the Wheelmen's Rest IN 1914, IT was purchased by the Four brothers two of them to be precise, Marcel and Emile Four. The Fours were Alsatians, natives of straight from the "you ve come a long way, baby" advertisements. young Mae West, who made her first show-business contacts at the restaurant, is alleged to have beeq, banned for smoking..