McSorely's celebrates 150th year [NYC's oldest pub]

The Journal News ^ | 2/17/04 | Michael Gannon

[Incorrigible]

I love McSorely's.

I celebrated my 21st birthday at McSorely's in 1986 with a bunch of high school friends.  After tolerating our semi-rowdiness long enough, sure enough, Brendan, stopped serving us and kicked us out!

Though they may have allowed women to enter in 1970, there wasn't a separate women's bathroom until the 90's!

I don't get there much at all now.  I've only been there once since the smoking ban in NYC.  I'm not a smoker but alas, this is one place where you might wish for the smell of tobacco in the air!

 

Just a wee little place.

 

Yes, those are turkey wishbones that are attracting all the dust on the lamp above your head in the front room.

 

Pot belly stove in the back room.

No, that's not a photoshop image.  That's a bartender with 10 light and 10 dark!

[Incorrigible]

Dead, something tells me you've spent some time at McSorely's!

[ken5050]

I lived in the Village for 4 years.. (NYU 64-68) and McSorley's was a favorite..back then, it was also a real dump....it lacked the cachet it's aquired the last 20 years or so....back then..the demands for letting females in were just starting to begin....the nascent "feminnazis" used to stand outside the bar ocasionally, and "flash" at the patrons inside..the idea being to tshow them what they were "missing"..which means that McSorley's may well havwe been the real birthplace of the "titty bar"

[dennisw]

Had a few beers there in the early 1970s

[ml/nj]

neither their ilk nor much else has changed

What a croc!

Here's two: Cigars and women.

ML/NJ

[dead]

Hell yeah. It was a big bar hopping destination in my early twenties.

Even managed to get a few mugs past the closing time frisk. (If it's winter, a thick coat can hide them in the upper arm part of the sleeve!)

It was always too packed on the weekend nights, but it's a great place to tie one on if you have an afternoon to kill in the city.

[ken5050]

Twas a typo..not "ilk"..but should have been "milk"..they buy a quart every 20 years or so...

[familyofman]

A great pub! We took our youngest son there with some of his frat brothers to celebrate his 21st birthday. The beer is great and the ambiance is just as good.

The world would be a better place if every neighborhood had a pub like this.

[blackdog]

I first went to McSorley's in 1988 at the coaxing of a coworker. I loved it. We worked in Stamford and it was an hour's commute, but I really enjoyed the pub atmosphere and the civility of patrons and the unpretenciousness of the staff. That slimy fake demeanor at chain bars, restaraunts, sports bars, and the like is downright annoying.

Thanks for the post. I have a cold case of McSorley's Ale (now sold retail in bottles) out in my garage. Well it's close to a full case.......

[u-89]

Did you carve your initials in the table?

[dighton]

John Sloan, McSorley's Bar (1912).

[Hoboken]

I didn't carve my name in the table but was the bartender almost bit my head of for plucking a piece of dust off a lamp. "Do I come to your house and start cleanin up?" were his words.

[ken5050]

On Thursday nights, after our weekly fraternity chapter meetings...we'd all pile into cras..tear over the Brooklyn Brigde, and go down to Nathan's on Coney Island for dogs and fries..then, having heeded the twin maxims of "eat before drinking", and "don't drink and drive"..we'd head back to the Village..park the cars...and head to McSorley's, from which we could walk home....most of my fraternity brothers had no classes of Friday..me, poor slop, I had 8 am labs on Friday...inorganioc, then organic chem..oten wondered how I managed to avoid blowing up the place....

[Remole]

I was there a few times in the late 80's. My first time, I had what my friend called the traditional initiation: cheese and onions on a cracker, with the hottest mustard in the world. I can still feel it in my sinuses. Great beer, great setting, great place. Too bad here in Ohio I can't get McSorley's in a bottle.

[Hoboken]

My previous post should read:

I didn't carve my name in the table but the bartender almost bit my head off for plucking a piece of dust off a lamp. "Do I come to your house and start cleanin up?" were his words.

Hobo

[par4]

I was ther the night before they were forced by the city to allow women to be served. Great party. After that, it seemed to go downhill a little. They even had to station a man at the door to the bathroom so that things didn't back up when a woman was using the facilities.

I think that one of the reasons that it was a fun place before women were allowed in was that there was none of that "singles bar" action going on, just a bunch of men enjoying a couple of beers and a platter of crackers, cheese and onions. No need to dress or act differently for the ladies.

[nicollo]

McSorely's!!! I was so tempted to take my kids there on a visit to the City this summer. See, that's where your Dad... Dropped that idea. 1980s haunt for Nicollo. We'd get unsuspecting ladies to meet us there, then wait for them to have to take a leak. Classic NYC mens room, btw.

That's right: ten mugs in each hand. Slap 'em on the table. Man, I can smell the place now.

[Incorrigible]

Even managed to get a few mugs past the closing time frisk.

That took some talent indeed!

[Incorrigible]

Did you carve your initials in the table?

Alas, I did not.  I didn't have the tools when I had the inclination and didn't have the inclination when I had the tools!

(Though my initials are/were inscribed in the wall at the "old" Gino's East Pizza in downtown Chicago using whiteout of course!)

[Lurking Libertarian]

cheese and onions on a cracker, with the hottest mustard in the world. I can still feel it in my sinuses.

I remember that mustard well. Coleman's English mustard powder mixed with flat beer.