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McSorely's celebrates 150th year [NYC's oldest pub]
The Journal News ^ | 2/17/04 | Michael Gannon

Posted on 02/17/2004 8:16:18 AM PST by Incorrigible

McSorely's celebrates 150th year

By MICHAEL GANNON
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: February 17, 2004)

NEW YORK — Amid the smell of stale beer and ancient smoke, a few feet from the pot-bellied stove warming the early afternoon customers in the middle of the room, Joe McKiernan stood yesterday over his twin mugs of light ale resting on the bar at McSorley's Old Ale House.

"I'm probably one of their older customers," McKiernan, a 57-year-old security guard from the Bronx, said as he contemplated ordering the bar's turkey sandwich he has come to enjoy during 40 years of patronage.

Pausing for a moment, however, he reconsidered what he had just said. "I mean, living customers."

True, McSorley's — which today celebrates its 150th birthday — has outlived its original patrons, but neither their ilk nor much else has changed since the venerable East Village bar first opened its doors in 1854.

The bar's original tap still pours only two beers, McSorley's light or dark, ordered two at a time by patrons who each day pack the bar's sawdust-covered floors. Old pictures, yellowed newspaper clippings and other relics line the walls, contributing to the place's musty ambience.

Surly waiters in gray smocks brusquely elbow their way through the crowds, carrying 10 mugs in each hand, clinking the empties up from tables and returning with foamy-headed replacements from the bar.

But if McSorley's patrons wanted brightly colored cocktails with clever names served by sterile-looking staff, they wouldn't be here.

"In New York, every place has an attitude, an edge," said Tom Gillespie, a 41-year-old financial professional from Brooklyn, as he downed two lights and two darks while reading the sports page at the bar. "This place doesn't. It's not trendy. It is what it is."

That's the way Matty Maher, McSorley's sixth proprietor, sees fit to keep it. He took his first job as a dishwasher in the bar after emigrating from Ireland in 1964, eventually serving as a bartender until he bought the place in 1977.

"When you come in here, you have a bartender serving you," Maher said, in his jovial, County Kilkenny brogue. "When you go to a lot of other bars, you have an attractive young lady. You don't see the big, burly Irishman behind the bar anymore."

Not that every McSorley's bartender is a big, burly Irishman. Several years ago, Maher's daughter, Teresa, became the first female barkeep in McSorley's — which did not even allow women to set foot inside until 1970. Teresa is the heir apparent to the place, likely ensuring it will stay under the control of only the third family since its founding.

Old John McSorely, the bar's founder who ran the place until his death at age 87 in 1910, remains a presence in the place. The motto he coined adorns a plaque that hangs above the bar: "Be good, or be gone."

Aside from the occasional college student who becomes a little too loud in the back room, most of McSorley's patrons pay heed, said Richie Buggy, a white-haired waiter who has tended to the bar's thirsty masses since 1962.

"There's no TV, there's no distractions," he said between trips from the bar to the communal tables that line the walls of the bar's two rooms. "At the tables, you're forced to sit with people you don't know, so you all have to like each other."

And largely, they all do get along, from those bellied up to the bar buying a round for neighbors they just met, to old friends who make it a point to rendezvous at the bar when they are in town for a visit.

Matt McDonough, a 52-year-old real estate developer from Massachusetts, stood at the south end of the bar next to his high school friend, 52-year-old John Chambers of the Bronx, as sunlight filtered through the window facing East Seventh Street.

McDonough said he was driving to New York for business when he heard about today's anniversary celebration and called Chambers, a bartender at Old Town Bar, another old New York haunt near Union Square, to visit the place before the crowds got too big.

"It's the feel of the place," McDonough said. "The people are nice. There's good, simple food, cheap. You always meet nice people in here."

This, to Maher, is what it is all about. McSorley's has drawn customers for 150 years because of its authenticity, its disarming charm.

There is nothing about that that needs changing, he said.

"That's what's survived of old New York, above everything else," Maher said. "A pub is a pub."

Send e-mail to Michael Gannon

 

The pub's timeline


Sources: Lexis-Nexis research

Not for commercial use.  For educational and discussion purposes only.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: New Jersey; US: New York
KEYWORDS: dark; light; mcsorelys; nyc
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To: Incorrigible
I'll have to remember this place when I visit New York.
21 posted on 02/17/2004 3:14:41 PM PST by Dan from Michigan ("You know it don't come easy, the road of the gypsy" - Iron Eagle)
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To: Dan from Michigan
Ping me when you're coming and I'll join you!
22 posted on 02/17/2004 3:19:06 PM PST by Incorrigible (immanentizing the eschaton)
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To: Incorrigible
I'm going to try and make it to the RNC convention as an alternate.
23 posted on 02/17/2004 3:24:52 PM PST by Dan from Michigan ("You know it don't come easy, the road of the gypsy" - Iron Eagle)
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To: Dan from Michigan
I'm going to try and make it to the RNC convention as a counter protester!
24 posted on 02/17/2004 3:33:32 PM PST by Incorrigible (immanentizing the eschaton)
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To: Incorrigible; Dan from Michigan; dead
I seem to remember The American Spectator claimed it was founded over a few brews at this establishment. I'm sorry I missed the place when I was in the vicinity.
25 posted on 02/17/2004 3:39:17 PM PST by Argh
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To: Incorrigible
This place sounds great!
I'll be on my first trip to New York in May, and I'll be looking for exactly this kind of distraction.

To all: Any suggestions besides the usual tourist haunts? For what it's worth I'll be traveling with someone somewhat familiar with the city.
26 posted on 02/17/2004 3:46:45 PM PST by brewer1516
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To: firebrand; nutmeg
Ping
27 posted on 02/17/2004 4:37:54 PM PST by evilC
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To: Incorrigible
Looks like a great place.

But the Guinness in that pic, looks vile.
28 posted on 02/18/2004 4:53:47 AM PST by Happygal (Le gách dea ghuí)
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To: Incorrigible

AAAAUUUUGHHHHH...
29 posted on 02/18/2004 5:00:24 AM PST by Jhensy
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To: Incorrigible

"Err ahh where's the ahhh address of this establishment?"


30 posted on 02/18/2004 5:03:01 AM PST by KantianBurke (Principles, not blind loyalty)
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To: Incorrigible
"Light or dark?"

I with three friends spent about $300 there one afternoon. Good thing NYC has plenty of cabs.

31 posted on 02/18/2004 5:06:04 AM PST by Benrand
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To: brewer1516
Go to Katz's to get corned beef. It's where Meg Ryan had her "explosion" in When Harry met Sally and the sandwiches there are DYNOMITE!

It's not far from McSorley's.

32 posted on 02/18/2004 5:07:02 AM PST by Benrand
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To: Incorrigible
I sat at the table next to the stive. 8 of us drank 100 beers in about two hours. They tossed us.

Rumor is that McSorley's beer is sold in the bottle as "Matt's".
33 posted on 02/18/2004 5:10:19 AM PST by AppyPappy (If You're Not A Part Of The Solution, There's Good Money To Be Made In Prolonging The Problem.)
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To: Happygal
There's a reason for that. It's not Guinness, it's McSorley's own homemade brew. (Quite good actually, but nothing like Guinness.)
34 posted on 02/18/2004 5:22:40 AM PST by PBRSTREETGANG
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To: PBRSTREETGANG
Ahhh okay! Pseudo-stout! ;-)
35 posted on 02/18/2004 5:31:22 AM PST by Happygal (Le gách dea ghuí)
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To: dead
Whenever I show out-of-towners around the city, I like to start around noon on a Saturday so we can finish up at McSorley's.
36 posted on 02/18/2004 11:59:44 AM PST by presidio9 (FREE MARTHA)
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To: PBRSTREETGANG
If I remember correctly, their homebrew is actually made in Utica.
37 posted on 02/18/2004 12:01:17 PM PST by AppyPappy (If You're Not A Part Of The Solution, There's Good Money To Be Made In Prolonging The Problem.)
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To: Benrand; brewer1516
Go to Katz's to get corned beef. It's where Meg Ryan had her "explosion" in When Harry met Sally and the sandwiches there are DYNOMITE!

F-that! If you want Corned Beef, go to the 2nd Ave Deli, which is 4 blocks away. The make a nice samwich.

38 posted on 02/18/2004 12:06:15 PM PST by presidio9 (FREE MARTHA)
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To: brewer1516

Rated #1 deli in NYC (ie, "the world") by Zagat's. Trust me, I lived in this neighborhood for 7 years. Bring your appetite.

39 posted on 02/18/2004 12:09:02 PM PST by presidio9 (FREE MARTHA)
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To: presidio9
Recapping - when in New York, tell the cabbie to take you to presidio9's 'hood, then be on the lookout for "Z-like thing, N, kinda-D, then numerous undecipherable squigglies-Deli." Oh yeah - start the search already hungry.

Sounds like a plan!

40 posted on 02/18/2004 12:26:38 PM PST by Hegewisch Dupa
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