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

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.

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

The motto [old John McSorley] coined adorns a plaque that hangs above the bar: "Be good, or be gone."

True to their golden rule, they were good so they're not gone.

Be Good Or Be Gone

The undisputed champion of New York City drinking institutions is an ancient taproom called McSorley's Old Ale House, located in New York City's East Village since 1854. Presidents, residents, authors and thieves -- everyone from Abe Lincoln to John Lennon have indulged in a "One and One," the tradition of ordering two mugs of house-brand ale at a time, while obeying the McSorley's golden rule: "Be Good or Be Gone."

A saloon with swinging doors, sawdust floors and a long wooden counter, McSorley's has been characterized as "an old whore who's lived so long she's become respectable." Perhaps the single greatest novelty of McSorley's is that it has served only one beverage in its nearly 150-year history -- Ale! "A rich, wax-color" is how author Joseph Mitchell described the McSorley's brew, as deft-handed waiters deliver as many as twenty sparkling glasses of ale at a time to thirsty patrons.

More history about "the place where time stands still".

McSorley's Old Ale House has been a gathering place, a drinking hole, the subject of art and literature and even a United States supreme court controversy. Everyone from Abe Lincoln to John Lennon have indulged in a "One and One." Woody Guthrie rallied the early American union movement from a table in the back - guitar in hand while constitutional attorneys Faith Seidenberg and Karen DeCrow had to take their case to the U.S. Supreme Court to gain access – women finally being allowed entry in 1970! From it's humble origins as an Irish workingman's saloon - cheese and crackers on the house-ale for pennies more, to its discovery by the mainstream in a 1940's LIFE magazine pictorial, McSorley's is steeped in a cultural cacophony of Americana. Presidents, residents, authors and thieves - the lot of humanity has sat and shared, all obeying the McSorley's golden rule "Be Good or Be Gone".

Perhaps the single greatest novelty of McSorley's is that it has served only one beverage in its nearly 150-year history-Ale! "A rich, wax-color" is how author Joseph Mitchell described the McSorley's brew in his 1940 book "McSorley's Wonderful Saloon." And the ale didn't stop pouring during the dark hours of America's prohibition on alcohol either – the operation simply moved from the neighborhood brewery to the basement, where it stayed until prohibition was repealed.

The McSorley's of today differs little from the original. House cats (Minnie and Red) lounge near the coal-burning stove, while deft-handed waiters deliver as many as twenty glasses of ale at a time to thirsty patrons. The small galley in the backroom serves up daily specials as well as McSorley's famous chili, burgers and some of the most reasonably priced sandwiches in the city.

In 1977, Mattie Maher, a native of Kilkenny bought historic McSorley's Old Ale House from then owner Danny Kirwan. At that time Mattie was the Ale Houses' manager and keeping with the spirit and tradition of the storied establishment, he did nothing to change the integrity of America's oldest continuously operated public house.

In 1854, when McSorley's first opened its doors to patrons, it was one of 2400 operating saloons in the city of New York. 147 years later, it is the only one of the lot still serving up dark and light ale to the cities population and the myriad of tourists and visitors who flock to it's East 7th Street address.

Of course, McSorley's has always had a certain sporting vibe. It fielded a baseball team (the McSorley's Nine) for many years and photographs of Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey and a host of thoroughbred racehorses adorn the walls.

A successful owner of race horses himself; Mattie Maher is no stranger to the sport of hurling. Before immigrating to New York, he played with Freshford and Conahy Shamrocks and was a member of the Kilkenny minor team in 1959. A serious accident put Mattie out of hurling for a considerable length of time but he had succeeded in reviving his playing career before he succumbed to the lure of the bright lights of New York.

Following his arrival in the Big Apple, Mattie played with the Waterford Club for a number and garnered New York Senior and Intermediate Hurling Championship medals.

Despite the distance involved, Maher is immensely proud of the fact that he has missed just one All-Ireland Hurling final since 1952. He has also attended numerous Leinster and Munster Hurling finals in that time.

"The only All-Ireland I missed since '52 was last year's between Kilkenny and Offaly," he says. "I had an operation that day and it wasn't until I came out of surgery that I heard that Kilkenny had won. Hopefully, I'll be back in Croke Park for this year's All-Ireland final."

Mattie rates the current Kilkenny team highly and feels that last year's All-Ireland win was as comprehensive as they come.

"After losing the previous two All-Irelands, I think Kilkenny showed great character to come back and win it last year. They lost an All-Ireland to Cork in 1999 that they should never have lost but recovered from that to win in great style against Offaly. They'll have a difficult job trying to retain the Liam McCarthy this year but if they can play with the same swagger and confidence as last year, it will take a very good team to stop them."

Maher is full of admiration for many of the present Kilkenny team but singles DJ Carey out for special praise. "DJ is the pulse of the whole team - he makes everyone else tick," Mattie claims. "He is an exceptional player and one of the best I've ever seen. It's an awful pity that he wasn't selected on the Team of the Millennium because he is a very special talent."

Down through the years, Mattie has had the pleasure of witnessing many fine hurlers in action. Two of his favorites were Kilkenny men - Denis Heslip and Paddy Moran.

"Denis was as good a hurler as I've ever seen. He was at his peak in the 1950s and 1960s and could literally do anything with a ball. Another hurler who I thought was gifted was Paddy Moran. Unfortunately, neither he or Denis Heslip got the recognition they deserved."

McSorley's Old Ale House is located at 15 East Seventh Street, New York City. (212) 473-9148

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