McSorley’s Old Ale House

Mc Sorley’s is arguably New York’s most famous bar, and certainly its most celebrated. Rooted on E. 7^th Street since before the Civil War, Lincoln visited it, John Sloan painted it, E.E. Cummings versified it and Joseph Mitchell chronicled it. Every square inch of the sawdust-strewn, sepia-toned, two-room saloon is a caked with old photos, yellowing newsprint and the knick-knacks of history. The liquid bill of fare, served by jacketed men, is limited to ale, dark or light. According to the long-standing, oddball mode of business, one tariff gets you two mugfuls. Weekends get crowded, but on peaceful weekday mornings, it feels like 1888.