Greenport, New York · Founded 1870
Claudio's traces Greenport waterfront hospitality to Manuel Claudio's 1870 saloon, then carries the story forward under post-2018 ownership.
Manuel Claudio, a Portuguese whaler who settled in Greenport, opened a saloon on lower Main Street in 1870. He later acquired the Main Street Wharf property and expanded the operation into a restaurant and hotel, creating the waterfront Claudio's known to generations of North Fork visitors. The Claudio/Tuthill family owned the enterprise for 147–148 years before selling the property and its three restaurants in 2018; the current Claudio's Greenport complex remains active at 111 Main Street.
After retiring from whaling, Manuel Claudio opened a saloon on lower Main Street in Greenport.
Source: Greenport Walking Tour, 'Claudio's, 111 Main Street'; NoFo Times, Claudio's Greenport profile; Heritage Diner, Claudio's Waterfront history.
Manuel Claudio later acquired the Main Street Wharf property and expanded the business into a waterfront restaurant and hotel. The exact acquisition and construction dates require deed and property-record research.
Source: Greenport Walking Tour, 'Claudio's, 111 Main Street'; Heritage Diner, Claudio's Waterfront history.
Local Prohibition histories say liquor could be delivered through a trapdoor beneath a waterfront portion of Claudio's, with some accounts describing an upstairs speakeasy. The physical feature and smuggling use need confirmation in period enforcement and property records.
Source: Newsday, 'Claudio's restaurant, Long Beach and other LI places that ...,' March 18, 2022; Northforker, 'When baymen became rumrunners: The Prohibition Years on the North Fork,' August 15, 2023.
The Claudio/Tuthill family sold the two-acre Greenport Harbor waterfront property and the businesses Claudio's Restaurant, Claudio's Clam Bar, and Crabby Jerry's after 147–148 years of family ownership.
Source: WSHU, 'Claudio's Is Sold, Oldest Continuously Owned Restaurant In ...,' March 29, 2018; Northforker, 'After 148 years, Claudio's in Greenport has sold,' March 2018; Dan's Papers, 'Claudio's Sold After 147 Years of Family Ownership in Greenport,' May 3, 2018.
Claudio's Greenport continued operating at 111 Main Street as a waterfront restaurant, bar, marina, and events destination, with seasonal service and updated concepts at the harbor complex.
Source: Claudio's Greenport official website; Claudio's Waterfront official page; OpenTable Claudio's Waterfront listing, 2026.
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
Greenport historical-tour material and regional reporting consistently identify Manuel Claudio, a Portuguese whaler, as opening a lower Main Street saloon in 1870 before later acquiring the Main Street Wharf property and expanding into a restaurant and hotel. The source set does not include a period liquor license, deed, directory, or newspaper advertisement proving the exact opening date or original address.
Contemporary 2018 reporting says the Claudio/Tuthill family sold the two-acre property and its three businesses after 147–148 years of family ownership. The final ownership group included Bill and Jan Claudio, Kathy Claudio-Wyse, and Beatrice Tuthill, and reporting describes prior family-corporation ownership from 1989. This is a historical family-ownership claim ending in 2018, not a statement of current ownership.
Before the 2018 sale, regional reporting repeatedly called Claudio's America's oldest or longest continuously/same-family-owned restaurant. The 147–148-year Claudio/Tuthill ownership period is well supported, but no national comparison of other family-owned restaurant claimants was reviewed, and the record must distinguish Manuel Claudio's 1870 saloon from the later waterfront property. The claim is therefore retained as a widely reported former distinction, not a certified national record.
Newsday and North Fork Prohibition histories describe liquor being brought beneath a portion of Claudio's built over water and moved through a trapdoor; accounts also describe an upstairs speakeasy. The detailed narrative is historically credible given Greenport's Rum Row connections, but no contemporaneous enforcement record, court case, photograph, or preservation report was reviewed to prove the trapdoor's date, physical form, or specific smuggling use.
The evidence supports a long Greenport hospitality lineage from Manuel Claudio's 1870 saloon to the active waterfront complex. It does not provide a complete record of operating seasons, closures, legal liquor status during Prohibition, renovations, ownership transitions, storm interruptions, or pandemic operations across the full period. The register does not certify uninterrupted operation.
The Claudio/Tuthill family sold Claudio's Restaurant, Claudio's Clam Bar, Crabby Jerry's, and the waterfront property in 2018. The business continues under later ownership, but the reviewed source set does not identify the current legal owner or operator.
The reviewed sources did not identify a period newspaper account, building inventory, furniture-maker record, photograph, shipping document, or preservation report establishing the bar's material, installation year, or shipment route. The detail should not appear as fact until it is sourced.
Claudio's has a credible 1870 lineage and is a major Long Island historic-restaurant claimant, but the reviewed evidence does not compare it with every earlier Long Island or East End inn, tavern, restaurant, hotel dining room, relocation, closure, and successor-business case. The register does not certify a regional oldest title.
Claudio's current 111 Main Street waterfront building opened in 1870.
The 1870 date refers to Manuel Claudio's lower Main Street saloon. He later acquired the Main Street Wharf property and expanded into a waterfront restaurant and hotel, so the available evidence does not establish 1870 as the construction or first-occupancy date of the present 111 Main Street building.
Source: Greenport Walking Tour, 'Claudio's, 111 Main Street'; Heritage Diner, Claudio's Waterfront history.
Claudio's is still owned and operated by the founding Claudio family.
The Claudio/Tuthill family sold the businesses and waterfront property in 2018 after 147–148 years of family ownership. The reviewed sources do not identify the current legal owner or operating entity.
Source: WSHU, March 29, 2018; Northforker, March 2018; Dan's Papers, May 3, 2018.
Claudio's holds a current national record as America's longest continuously family-owned restaurant.
The claim was widely reported as a former distinction before the 2018 sale, but the Claudio/Tuthill family ownership ended then. No national comparative audit was reviewed, and the present business cannot claim a current same-family ownership title.
Source: WSHU, March 29, 2018; Dan's Papers, May 3, 2018.
Claudio's survived because the business continually adapted its waterfront role—from a lower-Main-Street saloon to a wharf-side restaurant, hotel, bar, and marina destination—without losing Greenport Harbor as its central setting. The former Claudio/Tuthill family stewardship gave the business a rare long-running identity, while the 2018 sale allowed the complex to continue after that family era ended. Its Prohibition trapdoor story, whether every detail proves out or not, captures why the building's relationship to water has remained more than scenery.
Manuel Claudio, a Portuguese whaler, opened a lower Main Street saloon in Greenport in 1870. He later acquired the Main Street Wharf property and expanded the business into a waterfront restaurant and hotel, creating the Claudio's lineage at 111 Main Street. The Claudio/Tuthill family owned the business for 147–148 years before selling the waterfront complex in 2018, and Claudio's continues to operate under later ownership.
The available evidence does not establish Claudio's as Long Island's oldest restaurant. Claudio's has a credible Greenport hospitality lineage dating to Manuel Claudio's 1870 saloon, but the record does not compare all older Long Island inns, taverns, restaurants, hotels, closures, moves, and successor businesses. It also cannot claim an active longest-family-owned title because the Claudio/Tuthill family sold the business in 2018.
No. The Claudio/Tuthill family sold the two-acre waterfront property and Claudio's Restaurant, Claudio's Clam Bar, and Crabby Jerry's in 2018 after 147–148 years of family ownership. Claudio's remains open at 111 Main Street, but this record does not identify the current legal owner or operating entity.
Newsday and North Fork Prohibition histories say smugglers brought liquor by boat beneath a waterfront portion of Claudio's and transferred it through a trapdoor, with some accounts describing an upstairs speakeasy. The story is historically plausible and repeatedly reported, but this review did not locate a Prohibition-era enforcement record, photograph, or preservation report proving the details.
Yes. Claudio's Greenport operates at 111 Main Street as a waterfront restaurant, bar, marina, and events destination. The official site lists current hours, food and drink service, dock access, and seasonal programming; confirm the schedule before traveling because waterfront operations can be seasonal and weather-dependent.
111 Main St, Greenport, NY 11944
(631) 477-0627
Claudio's Greenport is a waterfront restaurant, bar, and marina destination. Hours, menu concepts, and dockside operations vary seasonally and with weather, so confirm the current schedule before visiting.