Ben Wellington from I Quant NY is at it again, with a map of the oldest place to drink in every New York City neighborhood. Because Wellington is using New York State’s Open Data on liquor licenses, the results vary from our popular list of 10 of the oldest surviving bars in NYC.
Wellington found that the oldest license on record is from 1933, belonging to the private Harmonie Club on the Upper East Side. The oldest beer license is at Nathan’s Famous on Coney Island and the oldest liquor license is located at North End Wine and Liquor in the Bronx. He notes that while some classics did emerge from this analysis–Sevilla, Blarney Stone, The Palm–others like the Ear Inn and McSorley’s don’t appear because they don’t have an original issue date on file for the license or the bar changed ownership. And as Wellington notes, “of course, anything pre-Prohibition will get automatically reset.”
For more on mapping and drinking, see the best bars near each subway station and a map of the distinguished drinkeries of NYC. Compare to this list of 10 of the oldest surviving bars in NYC. See more maps in our Fun Maps Column.
