Go on a historic pub crawl for St. Pat's
Reuters and Metromix have each put together what could make a great historic Irish pub crawl. The Reuters piece focuses on two places:
Carroll Gardens: P.J. Hanley's, which claims to be Brooklyn's oldest Irish tavern, middle-aged men can be found chatting at the bar in a mixed crowd. Established in 1874, it has had three Irish family owners.
Manhattan: McSorley's Old Ale House, established in 1854 not long after New York became a prime destination for the Irish emigrating during the years of Irish potato famine ... McSorley's is not far from the former "Little Ireland" district that emerged in the 1830s and is near a host of modern glass-fronted buildings being built along The Bowery district.
We learned, for one, that Abe Lincoln patronized McSorley's!
The piece also mentions P.J. Clarke's, which amNY profiled last week. And it gives a nod to places in traditional Irish neighborhoods, such as Woodlawn and Woodside, that could be worth seeking out on Monday.
In addition to those places, Metromix touts the taps at Landmark Tavern, the Ear Inn and Desmond's Tavern, which is the baby on the list -- it opened in 1936 -- "but the few times its ownership has changed hands makes it the fourth-oldest continuously operating bar in Manhattan -- not an insignificant claim to fame."
Cheers!
-- Rolando Pujol
Photo via peterbourgon on Flickr
