McSorley's gets a dusting.

[Feraud]

Anyone who has been to McSorley's cannot forget the years of accumulated iconic ephemera that covers the walls. The NYC Dept. of Health order a dusting of the old wishbone covered gaslamp. We can only guess when it was last cleaned.

By DAN BARRY
On Sunday morning, before the ancient doors of McSorley’s Old Ale House opened once again to spill that beer-and-sawdust aroma upon an East Village sidewalk, the owner took on a sorrowful job that in good conscience he could not leave to any of his employees. Too close to tempting the fates.

But it had to be done. The New York City health department was dropping hints as loud as the clatter of mugs on a Saturday night.

So, with heavy heart, the proprietor, Matthew Maher, 70, climbed up a small ladder. With curatorial care, he took down the two-dozen dust-cocooned wishbones dangling on an old gas lamp above the storied bar counter. He removed the clouds of gray from each bone. Then he placed every one of the bones, save for those that crumbled at his touch, back onto the gas lamp — where, in the context of this dark and wonderful establishment, they are not merely the scrap remains of poultry, but holy relics.

“Reluctantly,” is how Mr. Maher says he approached this task. “It’s kind of — how would you put it? It’s something you didn’t want to touch. It’s the last thing I wanted to touch or see touched.”

But it had to be done.

A couple of weeks ago, another city health inspector paid another visit to McSorley’s, a drinking establishment that has been around since the 1850s, and looks it.

For many, this is the charm of the place: you sip your beer, take in that portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, or that wanted poster for John Wilkes Booth, or those firefighter helmets, and you can almost feel your long-dead relations beside you, waiting for a free round.

But the charm is lost upon the occasional few. They might not understand, for example, what those dust-covered wishbones above the bar have come to mean.

Joseph Mitchell, the inimitable chronicler of old New York, once wrote that the founder, John McSorley, simply liked to save things, including the wishbones of holiday turkeys. But Mr. Maher, who has worked at McSorley’s since 1964 — he predates some of the memorabilia — insists that the bones were hung by doughboys as wishful symbols of a safe return from the Great War. The bones left dangling came to represent those who never came back.

Over the years, Mr. Maher says, the custom continued. In fact, he says, bones representing doughboys lost in France now hang beside those representing soldiers lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. And then he adds: “Actually, it started with the Civil War.”

If this is only a story, a tale embellished by time and beer, its power has resonated for generations. Thirty years ago, Mr. Maher says, he got into a tiff with a health inspector who demanded to take one of the wishbones as evidence of something. Things got physical, and the police came, and, well, he says, “all quashed, no word about it.”

But times have changed: old New York and new New York remain in conflict, and old New York is losing. For example, lounging cats had been a furry part of the McSorley fabric since Lincoln. But word recently came down from City Hall: no cats. A longtime regular, Minnie, has been barred as a result.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, a city health inspector gave the establishment a grade of A, but strongly, strongly, encouraged the removal of those wishbones above — or, at the very least, removal of the dust enveloping them.

“The chandelier had numerous strands of dust,” said a health department spokeswoman. “The inspector encouraged the operator to clean the dust, or at least avoid storing or serving open drinks directly beneath it — to avoid the dust from falling into the drinks of their bar patrons.”

The way Mr. Maher heard this was with a faint touch of hope: At least the bones could stay.

So, on that sad Sunday, he climbed up on his ladder, removed the dust from the bones, and hung them back with the care you might give to heirloom Christmas ornaments. He applied the same care to the dust, which he put in a container and took home with him to Queens, because, in the context of McSorley’s, it is sacred.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/nyregion/07wishbone.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Pre-dusting.

If you visit NYC and want to stop in for a couple of short ones-
http://www.mcsorleysnewyork.com/

 

[Tomasso]

I never really cared for that joint. [huh]

 

[59KUSTOM]

Looks like a lot of cool stuff, but that's pretty nasty! I wonder what took the board of health so long?

 

[rue]

A friend of mine told me about that place. She said it's dearly loved by many New Yorkers. On my next trip, I'm definitely going to have a drink there

 

[Doctor Strange]

You're lucky they now allow women in!

I was there once, back in the 80s. It didn't make much of an impression, but then I'm really not a bar guy. (Actually, it's been decades since I've been in any bar anywhere.)

 

[rue]

I know or else I'd have to wear a fake moustache and sneak in

 

[Alex Oviatt]

For any SoCal Loungers, there is a wonderful oil painting of McSorley's in the Huntington Library collection in San Marino (near Pasadena). Painted in 1928 by artist John Sloan, it is called 'McSorley's Cats" and yes, the dust was there even then. I love the place and actually made it a stop on my pre-wedding stag party years ago--not that I remeber it.

 

[Tomasso]

I much prefer the Old Town.

 

[Alex Oviatt]

Old Town is one of my favorite places--great call.

 

[rmrdaddy]

Slightly off topic, but as mentioned in the article, the author Joseph Mitchell did write about McSorley's and about much of "old New York". If you have the opportunity, get a copy of Mitchell's "Up in the Old Hotel" a compendium of his work. Excellent writing and wonderful for fans of days gone by....

 

[Miss Golightly]

I much prefer the Old Town.

I've just added this to my place to visit list for NYC this Summer - thanks for the heads up!

 

[scottyrocks]

Ive been there a few times. And I can tell you that there is no 'retro' joint that even comes close.

 

[scotrace]

The pre-dusting photo looks like it was taken at the wreckage of Titanic.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Have you ever cleaned that many decades of dust off? It's an experience!

 

[tonyb]

Have you ever cleaned that many decades of dust off? It's an experience!

No kiddin'. If enough dust and other forms of airborne gunk are allowed to collect on stuff long enough it kinda becomes one with the surface material -- the paint or the plating or whatever. So removing the dirt without taking off the finish can be a real challenge.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

we had a place that the third floor hadn't been used since 1920's and likely hadn't been cleaned since long before then. It was interesting.

No kiddin'. If enough dust and other forms of airborne gunk are allowed to collect on stuff long enough it kinda becomes one with the surface material -- the paint or the plating or whatever. So removing the dirt without taking off the finish can be a real challenge.

 

[John in Covina]

I used to go a few times a year in the mid to late 1970's and the wishbones were encrusted with dust then. I recall telling my dad about my first visit there with friends. My father spent some time telling me about how he used to drink there with Uncle Charlie in the 1940's and he talked about the dusty wishbones on the lamp.

I was surprised when I came in and they had made some changes, the 1940's phone booth was taken out.

As I recall the thing is it is a great place to go to during the day but in the evening when it is crowded with college students is is too loud and too juvenile. I enjoyed their sandwiches and Uncle Charlie said he liked their chili. The mustard is made daily (might be the dry Colemans from the tin) and is pretty hot stuff. The iceman came everyday as their front cases were not refrigerated. Do they still have the order two beers at a time sign? In one room there was a pair of old old shoes nailed to the ceiling. The urinals were awesome and they had the box and pull chain flush set up when I went.

Lincoln drank there after speaking at the Cooper's Union nearby.

 

[Fletch]

They recently had to banish their cat. Cats have been at McSorley's since 1854.

Minnie

 

[John in Covina]

We need t-shirts made: Save the McSorley's Dust! Save the McSorley's Cats!

 

[Johnny Dollar]

i've been there i think twice, both times the guy serving the tiny mugs of beer seemed kind of pissed off, but it was a good time nonetheless. a real time warp.