40.72871°N 73.98974°W / 40.72871; -73.98974

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][lower-alpha 1]} 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.^{[lower-alpha 2]}

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]

Notable people who have visited McSorley's include Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, Boss Tweed, Harry Houdini,^[25] Jackie Gleason (who reportedly wrote "where are all the dames" in the bar's logbook),^[26] and John Lennon.^[27][28][29] Cultural icons such as Woody Guthrie, Hunter S. Thompson,^[30][31] Brendan Behan,^[30] Paul Blackburn, LeRoi Jones,^[30] Christopher Morley,^[32] Gilbert Sorrentino,^[30] and George Jean Nathan, frequented the tavern.^[30] Folk singer/guitarist Dave Van Ronk used photos of himself outside the doors for album covers, and Wavy Gravy read poetry there.^[33] Dustin Hoffman was a patron.^[34] In the early 1910s, anarchist Hippolyte Havel became a regular.^[13]

In his 1923 poem "i was sitting in mcsorley's", poet E. E. Cummings described McSorley's as "the ale which never lets you grow old".^[30] He also described the bar as "snug and evil".^[30][35] McSorley's was the focus of several articles by New Yorker author Joseph Mitchell. One collection of his stories was entitled McSorley's Wonderful Saloon (1943). According to Mitchell, the Ashcan school painters John Sloan, George Luks and Stuart Davis were all regulars. Between 1912 and 1930, Sloan did five paintings, of the saloon — “McSorley’s Bar,” “McSorley’s Back Room,” “McSorley’s at Home,” “McSorley’s Cats,” and “McSorley’s, Saturday Night.” The first of which hangs in The Detroit Institute of Arts.^[36] The bar has also been painted by Harry McCormick,^[37] and photographed by Berenice Abbott.

McSorley's most notable regular, however, was Cooper Union founder Peter Cooper who would regularly hold court in the back room. John McSorley instructed that his favorite chair be draped with a black cloth every April 4 following Cooper's 1883 death.^[13]

After the New York Rangers hockey team won the Stanley Cup in 1994, they took the cup to McSorley's and drank out of it; the resulting dent caused the NHL to take the trophy back for several days for repairs.^[38][39]

McSorley's Old Ale House has no other locations; however, a company called Eclipse Management has opened four McSorley's Ale Houses in Hong Kong and Macau "based loosely on the appearance of the original McSorley's Ale House in lower Manhattan, NYC".^[30] These bars sell McSorley's Ale, but are not associated in any way with McSorley's.^[30]

• In the comic book Preacher, the character Cassidy recounts having spent a number of years frequenting McSorley's.
• McSorley's is used as a filming location in the 1991 film The Hard Way.^{[citation needed]}
• McSorley's was used as a filming location in the 1998 film Rounders, starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton.^{[citation needed]}
• In Sergio Leone's 1984 film Once Upon A Time in America, the bar in which the five young gang members debate whether to take the dollar the bartender offers them to burn the newsstand or roll the drunk, was filmed inside McSorley's. A different bar was used for the exterior shots.^[40]
• In the television series The Golden Girls, Sophia Petrillo, played by Estelle Getty, claims that her daughter Dorothy was born on a pinochle table at McSorley's, an anachronism, as McSorley's did not admit women until 1970.
• Daniel O'Connell Kirwan, the manager of McSorley's and son of the owner, appeared on the August 27, 1970, broadcast of episode 0514 of the panel game show To Tell the Truth after New York City required women to be admitted to the bar.^[41][42]
• In seasons 42 and 43 of Saturday Night Live, Mikey Day’s portion of the intro was shot here.^{[citation needed]}
• McSorley's is featured in Christian Nilsson's Emmy Award-winning^[43] short documentary Fight To Be The Oldest Bar In NYC^[44] produced by HuffPost in 2015.
• Season 2 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel filmed part of the episode "Look, She Made a Hat" in McSorley's, where it is used to depict Cedar Tavern - also a real bar in New York.^{[citation needed]}
• Episode 7 of the Netflix series Dash & Lily takes place in McSorley's.^[45]

• List of Irish themed restaurants
• List of restaurants in New York City