Inside the “Great Bars of New York City” Photographed by James and Karla Murray

In Great Bars of New York City: 30 of Manhattan’s Favorite Storied Drinking Establishments, photographers James and Karla Murray do something they’ve never done in any of their previous books. For the first time, the Manhattan couple takes you beyond the storefront and inside some of the city’s most famous and beloved watering holes. Turning their lens on elegant and historic establishments like King Cole Bar and tried-and-true dives like Spring Lounge, the Murrays explore sites where celebrities, writers, bootleggers, politicians, and everyday working New Yorkers have bellied up to the bar and raised a glass for over 100 years. Inside the book, full-page photographs and additional detail shots showcase the unique interior architecture of every site and highlight overlooked features that reveal stories from each bar’s past. A brief bar history written by Dan Q. Dao accompanies each grouping of images. Here, James and Karla share a sneak peek at five of the bars featured as we celebrate the book’s publication day!

James and Karla shared more from their latest release in a virtual talk that you can watch in our on-demand archive!

1. McSorley’s Old Ale House – 15 East 7th Street, East Village

McSorley’s Old Ale House is one of the City’s oldest and most beloved Irish pubs, and has also earned the distinction of being one of the longest continuously operating bars in America. Despite its great age, it has remained remarkably unchanged with its original bar taps, sawdust-covered floors, wooden bar, and pot-bellied stove from when it opened in 1854.

2. Pete’s Tavern – 129 East 18th Street, Gramercy Park

Pete’s Tavern, which opened in 1864 during the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln, is one of the oldest continuously operating bar-restaurants in all of New York City. It has gone by several different names throughout its history and was the favorite watering hole of short-story writer O. Henry. In the early 1900s, Henry lived nearby in a boarding house on Irving Place and is said to have spent many hours at the tavern, often dining in the first booth by the side doors. It is also believed that O. Henry wrote his most famous “The Gift of the Magi” in that booth and that the bar’s atmosphere may have inspired the setting of the story.

3. Julius’ – 159 West 10th Street, West Village

Although Stonewall Inn might be New York City’s best-known historic gay bar, the city’s oldest one is actually Julius’. Erected in 1826, the landmarked building has been welcoming patrons since 1840. It is known for a historic “Sip-In” on April 21, 1966, three years before the first brick was thrown at Stonewall. On that spring day, members of the gay rights group the Mattachine Society, protested a state law that prohibited bars from serving “suspected gay men or lesbians”.

4. The Campbell – Grand Central Terminal 15 Vanderbilt Avenue, Midtown East

The Campbell is tucked away in a discreet corner of Grand Central Terminal. The space has only been operating as a swanky cocktail bar since 1999, but it has been a famed room for far longer. The space was originally the office of railroad tycoon John W. Campbell, the man who commissioned architect Augustus N. Allen to design the room as a thirteenth-century Florentine palace, complete with leaded windows, a hand-painted plaster of Paris ceiling, and a mahogany balcony with quatrefoil design.

5. 7B Horseshoe Bar – 108 Avenue B, East Village

This East Village dive bar goes by three different names depending on which longtimer you’re talking to: Horseshoe Bar, Vazac, or 7B, referring to the intersecting streets it sits on. The bar is the gold standard for an understated neighborhood saloon. Much of the bar’s interior is original, including its giant horseshoe-shaped bar (hence the moniker), and its booths, tables, chairs, and hanging wood shelves, all from its past as a catering hall, known as Vazac Hall. Framed photos of many of the stars who have filmed at and visited the bar line the walls.

Great Bars of New York City

30 of Manhattan's Favorite Storied Drinking Establishments

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