he created and owned the stork club. from the time of the speakeasy until the 1960s, he held court on east 53rd street. according to ralph blumenthal in his 2000 book, "stork club", another new york nightclub owner named mary louise cecilia guinan, widely known as texas guinan, introduced billingsley to her friend, commentator walter winchell, in 1930. in his column in the "new york daily mirror", winchell called the stork club "new york's new yorkiest place on w. 58th".