For the past 163 years, McSorley’s has stood in the same spot on East Seventh Street, and for most of the past 45 years Geoffrey “Bart” Bartholomew has stood in the same spot — behind McSorley’s long mahogany bar dishing out mugs of light or dark ale.
Before he could see over the bar, Bart’s son Rafe became a McSorley’s regular, tagging along with his dad to play on the sawdust-covered floors with the bar cat or listening to stories filled with words he was told not to repeat around mom. Rafe grew up in the bar among the old drunks, the fratty college kids, the neighborhood characters and the ghosts. But most importantly, the photos, news clippings, historical artifacts and dust-covered wishbones that have filled the bar since 1854 — and (mostly) have not been touched.
After a childhood spent listening to his father’s tales of the bar’s history — yes, that is the chair Abraham Lincoln stood on and spoke to bargoers from while running for president, and, yes, those are Houdini’s handcuffs — Rafe inevitably followed his dad’s lead and began working his own shifts at the bar.
“Two and Two: McSorley’s, My Dad, and Me” is Rafe’s love letter to New York’s oldest bar, its denizens over the years, and, most importantly, his father Bart.
amNewYork sat down with the author and his father to discuss the book over some mugs of dark.
Was this a story you felt you needed to tell, or were you sick of people saying “you should write a book?”
Rafe Bartholomew: I wanted to tell it, but I was a bit embarrassed. You know, is my story gonna be as good as theirs (the longtime bar staff)? They have better stories than me. But once I started writing, it just started to flow. Then, I just had to get on myself a bit and just get it done.
There are some tough sections in the book dealing with Bart’s rough childhood, his struggle with alcoholism, and your mom’s fight with cancer. How did your dad react to having some of this awful history in print?
RB: (Demurs to his dad)
BB: You know, I was never one for any kind of censorship. I’m not ashamed of anything and I’m not one to hide. I’ve dealt with it. My son tells it as well as I could. We all have our tales. Some are better, and some are worse, than others. He tells it all truthfully and tastefully, and with grace.
RB: There was some hesitation, but it’s who he is. In movies, the hard parts (of life) can come off as corny or not believable, so (in the book) you gotta just stay as real and as truthful as you can.
Is this more of a love letter to your dad, or to the bar?
RB: (Laughs) Don’t make me choose. Both. He brought me in and shared his love (of McSorley’s) with me. He educated me on the history and the people here.
BB: It was originally called “The Old House At Home,” and it was a second home for me in the years before I got married. So, it was natural for me to bring him in and show it to him. It was something that I could give to him.
RB: I really wanted to honor him and everyone here for what they do and what they’ve done.
What do you hope readers take away from this book?
RB: McSorley’s is a part of New York that means something to all the people that have ever been here. It takes them back to that time they were here and all the good times they had. You know, it’s more than just some bar that you got drunk at that one time. The guys [bar staff] here all have better stories about the bar. And you can’t top Joseph Mitchell’s story [“McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon,” 1943] about the bar. This is, simply, my story about this era of the bar.
His 5 favorite artifacts at the bar:
1) Photo of the McSorley’s Nine baseball team “There’s only eight guys pictured. I played baseball as a kid, and I’d look at that photo and make up stories about the players.”
2) The WWI-era wishbones hanging above the bar
3) The early-1800s ice box “It’s original to the bar.”
4) The framed poem about Red the bar cat “It’s on the wall behind the stove, where the cat used to sit. I used to toss tin foil balls to him and chase him around the bar as a kid.”
5) Framed photo of Rafe and bar staff with then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg “He had made some negative comments about the Irish a few days before, so he came into the bar for a photo op to publicly make up for it”
If you go
Rafe Bartholomew and his dad “Bart” will be reading and signing books May 9 at McSorley’s; May 15 at The Half King, 505 W. 23rd St.; and June 15 at B&N Upper West Side. All events at 7 p.m.
“Two and Two: McSorley’s, My Dad, and Me” $27, Little, Brown & Co., available May 9.
