Red Hat on the River

Our Story

Mary Beth Dooley and Jim Parker opened Red Hat in a cozy Main Street storefront in Irvington, NY in June of 2003. They flourished there for four and a half years, serving French bistro classics like moules frites and rillettes de canard and hosting singers specializing in the music of Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf. They made many friends and had many fans.

The original Red Hat at 63 Main Street in Irvington, New York

January 2007 - Construction begins at Red Hat on the River

In 2007 they had an opportunity they couldn't ignore. After nearly a year of transforming the space, Red Hat on the River opened in what was the boiler room of the former Lord and Burnham factory on the Irvington waterfront. The 1910 brick structure had the texture and ambiance of their Main Street bistro with a priceless view of the Hudson River.

Today, 16 years after opening the bistro on Main Street, Red Hat celebrates it's twelfth year on the River.

The history of our location

Red Hat on the River is located on the former site of The Lord & Burnham Company, noted American greenhouse manufacturers and builders of major public conservatories in the United States.

The company moved to Irvington from Syracuse in 1870 in part to be closer to its affluent customer base and to avail itself of the adjacent New York Central Railroad.

In 1881, Lord and Burnham constructed the first steel-framed curvilinear greenhouse in the United States for railroad magnate, Jay Gould, for his estate known as Lyndhurst.

from Colliers Magazine 1912

The Irvington site remained a Lord and Burnham production facility and its headquarters for 126 years. Red Hat on the River is housed in what was the factory boiler room.