While discussing the literary history of the site of the New York Dopefest, Chumleys, we raised the question of what other bars are historically associated with authors and artists?
An obvious one connection is Dorothy Parker and the Algonquin, but we’re looking for more.
Playwright/author Dylan Thomas is associated with the White Horse Tavern (Hudson St., NYC); there is a painting and plaque and other memerobilia (sp?) of his there. Contrary to popular myth he did not literally die there – though he probably “drank himself to death” there.
Frank McCort (and many other authors) were regulars of the lately-defunct Lion’s Pub (or Lion Head Pub, or something like that… Eve, get in here!).
Oh, one more…
O. Henry is tied to Pete’s Tavern (near Gramercy Park, NYC) though I think I was told by a historian that the affiliation is somewhat dubious.
I promise this will be the last one…
You’re being much too narrow in picking just Dorothy Parker at the Algonquin. The whole “Round Table” crowd – Robert Benchly, Alexander Woolcott, Herbert Ross, etc. – are just as valid as DP.
Geez, I saw Billdo and “Bars” in the same thread, and it made my head hurt all over again.
Ye Waverly Inn, in Greenwich Village, was a favorite spot of children’s book author Maud Hart Lovelace. It’s a restaurant and bar.
The Minetta Tavern on MacDougal Street was frequented by Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, and Chandler Brossard. They also went to the Cedar Street Tavern on University Place, along with abstract expressionists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.
BINGO! Thanks, del. We were sitting around talking about Chumleys and someone mentioned “that bar where all the beat poets hung out,” and someone else chimed in with “wasn’t there another one where all the abstract expressionists went,” but none of us could remember the details (or much more than our headaches at that point).
I recommend the Greenwich Village Literary Pub Crawl to anyone interested in this thread. I took it about two years ago; it’s put on by the New Ensemble Theater.
It begins at the White Horse Tavern. In addition to Dylan Thomas drinking himself to death there, it was also where the original cast of Saturday Night Live went after the show in the 70’s.
It continues on to Chumley’s (where John Steinbeck worked on Grapes of Wrath, Margaret Mead wrote Coming of Age in Samoa, and where RFK composed the 1968 Democratic Party platform.
I had a drink or two at each bar, so my memory is hazy of the last several places we went to, but one of them was where Suzanne Vega got her start in performing.