McSorley's Old Ale House

40°43′43″N 73°59′23″W / 40.72871°N 73.98974°W / 40.72871; -73.98974

The front of McSorley's

McSorley's Old Ale House, generally known as McSorley's, is the oldest Irish saloon in New York City.[1] Opened in the mid-19th century at 15 East 7th Street, in today's East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, it was one of the last of the "Men Only" pubs, admitting women only after legally being forced to do so in 1970.[2][3][4][a] The aged artwork, newspaper articles covering the walls, sawdust floors, and the Irish waiters and bartenders give McSorley's an atmosphere reminiscent of "Olde New York". No piece of memorabilia has been removed from the walls since 1910, and there are many items of historical paraphernalia in the bar, such as a pair of Houdini's handcuffs, which are connected to the bar rail. There are also wishbones hanging above the bar; supposedly they were hung there by boys going off to World War I, to be removed when they returned, so the wishbones that are left are from those who never returned.[b]

Two of McSorley's mottos are "Be Good or Be Gone", and "We were here before you were born". Prior to the 1970 ruling, the motto was "Good Ale, Raw Onions and No Ladies"; the raw onions can still be ordered as part of McSorley's cheese platter.

McSorley's is considered to be one of the longest continuously operating ale houses in the city due to the fact that during Prohibition it served a "near beer" with too little alcohol to be illegal.[7] In 2005, New York magazine considered McSorley's to be one of New York City's "Top 5 Historic Bars".[3]

  1. ^ Gray, Christopher (November 19, 1995). "The Bridge Cafe: On the Trail of New York's Oldest Surviving Bar". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 2, 2017. Retrieved September 8, 2009.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference admit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Dwyer, Kevin (June 5, 2005). "Blasts from the Past". New York. Archived from the original on May 2, 2014. Retrieved March 13, 2010.
  4. ^ Seidenberg v. McSorleys' Old Ale House, Inc., 317 F.Supp. 593 (S.D.N.Y. 1970).
  5. ^ Kilgannon, Corey (January 22, 2015). "The First Woman Let Into McSorley's Reminisces (Over an Ale, of Course)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 23, 2015. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
  6. ^ Barry, Dan (April 6, 2011). "Dust Is Gone Above the Bar, but a Legend Still Dangles". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 17, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
  7. ^ "The Top 10 Secrets of McSorley's Old Ale House in NYC". Untapped New York. August 15, 2018. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2021.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).