New York bars are the stuff of myths, legends and stories immortalized in film, literature, theatre, television and song. Over the past three centuries, the beloved pubs, cocktail bars and gambling dens have become living spaces, where people leave their homes. So they offer the companionship necessary to escape a little from the frenetic rhythm of everyday American life.
These independent businesses became local institutions in their own right, some, like the Stonewall Inn, were home to the gay liberation movement. In a city that is constantly changing, they also see the joy, wit and charm that is so often found in the pleasures of alcohol.
Please don’t tell © James and Karla Murray
Over the last two decades, photographers James and Karla Murray have dedicated themselves to preserving those places of life that make up the soul of New York. After the success of the NYC storefront (photos of storefronts in the city), they return with another series of photos, focusing more on the interior.
To perform Great Bars of New York Citythe first book in a series about how New York culture and its small businesses, James and Karla Murray work with the cultural journalist Dan Q. Thug to identify 30 community centers. The Murrays’ work also draws inspiration from the work of photographer Robert Polidori, and cinematographer Christopher Doyle, to create an engaging look at these businesses that continue to serve new generations of New Yorkers.
“I saw you at Rudy’s”
Great Bars of New York City showcase the history and culture of New York. With its interesting mural by Maxfield Parrish, the King Cole Bar at the St. Regis was the perfect setting for the movie The Devil Wears Prada (2006), and the East Village’s 7B Horse Bar played a central role in the movie Russian Dolls (2005).
Artists, writers, musicians, actors, politicians and underground people of all kinds have frequented bars. Writer Jack Kerouac spent so much time at the White Horse Tavern that someone scrawled “Jack Go Home” on the dining room wall, and poet Dylan Thomas drank his last glass before passing out. pronounced his last words in 1953: “I drank 18 nice whiskies. I believe this is the record. »
Rudy’s Bar & Grill, the legendary “dive bar” that has been a cornerstone of Hell’s Kitchen for generations, has been an antidote to ugliness, serving up free beer and free hot dogs. supporters. “I saw you at Rudy’s / you were really tall”singing Steely Dan in his 1977 album, Black Cowwhich earned him entry into the pantheon of pop culture.
The most surprising thing? Despite the city’s evolution, all of these businesses are still in business today, some more than a century after they opened. As of 2020, more than 85 historic bars in New York have closed their doors for good, while others, like Cubbyhole, a West Village lesbian bar, have relied on the support of their loyal customers.
Stories anchored in places
“Bars have always been melting pots”wrote James and Karla Murray in the introduction to Great Bars of New York City. “They are places where people of all backgrounds and cultures can mingle and share stories while drinking, and where relationships are often formed. »
In this sense, bars are a kind of third place. A few blocks from the Stonewall Hotel is Julius, New York’s oldest gay bar. Although Prohibition ended in 1933, it was still a crime to serve “suspected homosexuals”.
During a police raid, customers fled through underground tunnels behind the bar. Until 1966, when they decided to stick it out. Three years before the famous Stonewall Riots, gay activists from the Mattachine Association organized the “Sip-In” protest at Julius’. They took the case to court, helping to pave the way for gay bars to legally open in New York.
Great Bars in New York City: 30 of Manhattan’s Best Bars published by Prestel and available for $40.
2024-10-02 14:39:58
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