You Know the Name: Bernard “Bernie” & Marie Gallagher
This is the first of what will become a regular feature here in the Seven Mile Times. There are so many names around the Seven Mile Beach that have been here for decades. Names on businesses and buildings … Although the names are familiar, do you know the people behind the names? We’ve already assembled quite a list, but if there’s one name that you’ve always wondered about, email us at info@7milepub.com and we’ll make sure that your request is included in our list.
Bernard “Bernie” & Marie Gallagher, July 1937
If the name Gallagher sounds familiar, it should. After all, long before Fred’s Avalon Liquors became a destination on Dune Drive, there was Gallagher’s Avalon Liquor Store, first at 22nd Street and Dune Drive before moving to the current location (2258 Dune Drive) in the mid-1970s. The Gallagher’s purchased the liquor store business from Ella Meany who had recently purchased the business from Pete Vassallo. Vassallo had chosen to focus on his luncheonette that he operated on the Avalon Boardwalk.
Gallagher’s neon sign stood above their massive ice vending machine that dispensed Sea Isle Ice 24/7 in white paper bags long before ice was sold in nearly every retail establishment in town. And painted on the side of the walk-in sized vending machine was Gallagher’s marketing slogan … “Spirits Low? If so call 967-4131 … we deliver!”
Before its demolition this past May, Jack’s Place was a familiar name in Avalon for more than four decades. But before it was Jack’s Place, the building at 36th Street and Ocean Drive was known as Gallagher’s Pub – home of “all you can eat fried shrimp” for $2 on Wednesday summer evenings. Yes, in addition to its full bar and entertainment nightly, Gallagher’s proudly served “Shore Dinners” – a locally coined term for seafood dinners in the dining room that also was open for Easter dinner in the spring.
There’s an old song, “I Met My Love in Avalon,” and that phrase could easily be attributed to Bernie and Marie. Marie was working as a waitress at “Sporty’s,” or Sportsman’s Tavern, known today as Bobby Dee’s Rock ’N Chair, when they met. They married in the summer of 1937 in the Sacred Heart Catholic Church on 25th Street and lived above the liquor store. Bernie passed away in 1958 at the age of 60 and Marie, with assistance from her family, continued to run the store until her death in 1986 at the age of 78. The liquor store continues to operate today in the same location.