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He understood ale; he knew how to draw it and how to keep it, and his bar pipes were always clean. In warm weather he made a practice of chilling the mugs in a tub of ice; even though a customer nursed an ale a long time, the chilled earthenware mug kept it cool. Except during prohibition, the rich, wax-colored ale sold in McSorley’s always has come from the Fidelio Brewery on First Avenue; the brewery was founded two years before the saloon.
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“You better keep your eyes on that long-haired nut,” he said. He’s in favor of blowing up every bank in the country.” “So am I,” said Bill. He owned as many as eighteen at once and they had the run of the saloon. He fed them on bull livers put through a sausage grinder and they became enormous.
Notable regulars – who drank in McSorley’s?
Sometimes, for the benefit of a newcomer, one of these customers would show Bill off, shouting, “Hey, Bill, lend me fifty dollars! ” Such remarks usually provoked an outburst of gamy epithets. Then the customer would turn proudly to the newcomer and say, “See? He did not have a peephole door, nor did he pay protection, but McSorley’s was never raided; the fact that it was patronized by a number of Tammany politicians and minor police officials probably gave it immunity. Although Old John did not consider himself retired until just a few years before he died, he gave up day-in-and-day-out duty back of the bar around 1890 and made his son, William, head bartender.
McSorley’s Old Ale House
Strangely, Lincoln shares this similarity to JFK, who was also rumored to have tasted McSorley’s toasted lager. They hang from an iron chandelier above the bar forbidden to be touched. Yet Theodore Roosevelt might have witnessed as much, as his faded portrait overlooks the very place he once occupied during this time.
A brief history of McSorley’s – New York’s oldest Irish bar
The bar regularly hosts war veterans, and some have left memorabilia behind. Patrons have gifted the bar two purple hearts, challenge coins, patches, and helmets from all eras. Spending eternity at McSorley’s isn’t an option available to everyone. Because of this exclusivity, patrons have been known to surreptitiously sprinkle a loved one’s ashes on the floor.
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The exit door (which was an alternate entrance during prohibition) is currently Stinky and Minnie’s (the house cats) way in and out when the crowds get too large. As well as regular New York punters, McSorley’s boasts among its clientele a who’s who of American history and culture. Former presidents Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, and the aforementioned Lincoln would visit the pub when in New York. McSorley’s is known as a place for good political conversation. The bar is a significant part of East Village history since its founding and has been shaped by American political discourse over time. It has also attracted many political guests including Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt.
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Eleven years in, Buggy still refers to himself as “the new guy.” One bartender has been working at McSorley’s for 47 years (and counting), and several customers have been coming in on a regular basis since the 1950s. “Not a day goes by without someone coming in and starting a conversation with, ‘The last time I was in here…’” Buggy says. The lawsuit compelled New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay to sign an executive order prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in bars and other public accommodations.
New York’s oldest Irish bar: Inside McSorley’s Old Ale House
Harry Houdini, the Hungarian-American escape artist and magician, was a regular at McSorley’s. To this day, a pair of his handcuffs can be seen dangling from the rafters by the front right window. It is no wonder, then, that Old John began to collect Lincoln memorabilia immediately after the death of McSorley’s first celebrity patron.
The only customer the bartenders brag about is Police Inspector Matthew J. McGrath, who was a shot-and hammer-thrower in four Olympics and is called Mighty Matt. Although by no means a handshaker, Old John knew many prominent men. One of his closest friends was Peter Cooper, president of the North American Telegraph Company and founder of Cooper Union, which is a half-block west of the saloon.
I am lucky enough to have once been a patron and to have experienced the vast history amongst the walls of the old ale house. Adjacent to the free lunch he kept a quart crock of tobacco and a rack of clay and corncob pipes—the purchase of an ale entitled a man to a smoke on the house; the rack still holds a few of the communal pipes. Old John was thrifty and was able to buy the tenement—it is five stories high and holds eight families —about ten years after he opened the saloon in it. He lived with his family in a flat directly over the saloon and got up every morning at five; he walked to the Battery and back before breakfast, no matter what the weather. He unlocked the saloon at seven, swept it out himself, and spread sawdust on the floor. Until he became too feeble to manage a racing sulky, he always kept a horse and a nanny goat in a stable around the corner on St. Mark’s Place.
McSorley’s gifted a free turkey dinner and beer to all the neighborhood men who were leaving for the trenches. After the meal, the soldiers would place their wishbones on the lamp rail over the bar for good luck fighting in France. Only a few of the old men have enough interest in the present to read newspapers. These patrons sit up front, to get the light that comes through the grimy street windows. When they grow tired of reading, they stare for hours into the street. There is always something worth looking at on Seventh Street.
On these days the smell of malt and wet hops would be strong in the place. Kelly’s product was raw and extraordinarily emphatic, and Bill made a practice of weakening it with near beer. In fact, throughout prohibition Bill referred to his ale as near beer, a euphemism which greatly amused the customers. One night a policeman who knew Bill stuck his head in the door and said, “I seen a old man up at the corner wrestling with a truck horse.
McSorley’s Old Ale House reveals a lot about New York history as its walls capture many of the greatest moments in American history. As the walls are covered with newspaper articles, photographs, records, and more, a visit to McSorley’s is an educational experience. To this day, McSorley’s is the only New York City bar that still throws saw dust on the floor.
It’s been home to presidents and poets, scallywags and scribes—and just about everyone in between. During World War I, McSorley’s offered all US troops a turkey dinner before deployment. It became tradition for the soldiers to leave the turkeys’ wishbones in the pub to be snapped upon their return. Perhaps the most touching piece of history in McSorley’s, however, are the wishbones hanging from a light above the bar. McSorley’s continued to be located in the East Village and was previously known as “the 5 Points Neighborhood.” At the time McSorley’s was founded, the 5 Points neighborhood was considered a slum where the poor and immigrants resided. It was a tough neighborhood with gangs that fought to take control of the district.
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