McSorley’s Old Ale House | New York’s oldest saloon is 170 years old

(New York) It has experienced the Civil War, two world conflicts, September 11 and COVID-19: the oldest saloon in New York has been standing for 170 years, serving a few beers and burgers, a piece of history of the American megacity.

The secret of McSorley’s Old Ale House, nestled since 1854 in Manhattan’s East Village? “Keep the beer flowing and leave the door open,” sums up his boss Teresa Maher, who succeeded her father Matthew Maher in 1994, manager of this New York institution from 1977 until his death in 2020.

“It’s a very famous little place,” she tells AFP, pulling out her only two drinks, a blonde and a brunette, the only alcoholic drinks in this American-Irish pub with a black and green facade which has opened seven years before the outbreak of the Civil War (1861-1865) and was run by only three families.

“After 170 years, a lot of people come to see if we’re still there,” laughs M^me Maher whose motto on the pub’s website is: “We were here before you were born”.

McSorley’s Old Ale House just celebrated its 170th anniversary^e birthday with cakes and songs, also celebrating like many New York bars, restaurants, cafes the fact of having held despite the COVID-19 pandemic from which the city is recovering.

In 2020, the municipality imposed draconian health rules forcing establishments to sell takeout or serve on terraces hastily set up on the sidewalks.

One in 25 food businesses has disappeared, in particular due to the dizzying rise in commercial lease prices after the pandemic, according to a 2022 report.

“Be nice or leave”

“We own the walls, which protects us for the moment,” hopes M^me Maher who applies to his clients another historic commandment in America: “ Be good or be gone » (“Be nice or leave”).

Now unthinkable, another old saloon motto boasted “good beer, onions and… no women” until 1970, before McSorley’s Old Ale House was legally forced to accept both sexes.

The place is rustic and the decor has barely changed since the beginning of the 20th century.^e century. The floor is old and covered in sawdust.

The food and drinks menu is limited to burgers/fries, hot dogs, a few sandwiches including the famous liver pâté, two beers and three sodas.

The prices are much lower than any New York estaminet.

Which explains why regular consumers, curious people and tourists continue to push open the saloon’s swing doors.

Turkey in 1917

One of his oldest customers is 93-year-old retired firefighter Mike Rousso, whose No. 6 helmet hangs on the bar’s wall.

McSorley’s Old Ale House is also proud of its close ties with the New York firefighters, police and military.

With its moments of History.

In 1917, before being deployed to Europe during the First World War, men of the 69^e New York Infantry Regiment had left with turkey prepared by their families in the restaurant’s kitchens.

And the pub is only three kilometers from the site of the World Trade Center, whose two twin towers were destroyed by planes rushed by the jihadist group Al-Qaeda on September 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people.

“It’s crazy here for the September 11 commemoration,” confides one of the regulars, Phil Lavigne, a retired police officer.

And the succession is already assured: Sebastian Maher, 19, “looks at what (his) mother does and of course wants to one day manage” McSorley’s Old Ale House.