Best Historic Bars in NYC
The 10 best historic bars in NYC, from a 1762 Revolutionary tavern to sawdust-floor saloons still pouring after 150 years.
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- 1East Village · $$ · Astor Pl (6) · 15 E 7th St
Also No. 1 on Best Hangouts in Manhattan → · No. 2 on Best of the East Village →
Open since 1854, this is the oldest continuously operated Irish saloon in New York, with sawdust on the floor and dust-caked wishbones hanging over the bar since World War I. It serves exactly two things, its own light and dark ale.
Walking across those sawdust floors into a room essentially unchanged for 170 years is the closest thing New York has to a time machine.
Order McSorley's Light & Dark Ale (order 'one of each')
There is no choice to make; just order 'two light' or 'two dark' since the ale comes two mugs at a time, and bring cash.
Photo: (vincent desjardins), CC BY 2.0 Photo: (vincent desjardins), CC BY 2.0 - 2Financial District · $$ · Whitehall St-South Ferry (1 R W) · 54 Pearl St
A Financial District tavern dating to 1762 where George Washington gave his farewell address to his officers in 1783. Now a National Historic Landmark, it houses a working bar and restaurant below a museum.
You can drink a pint in the very building where Washington said goodbye to his army, which no other bar in America can offer.
Order Presidential Punch
Come early and tour the museum upstairs before settling in; the Porterhouse beer list downstairs rewards a long sit.
Photo: MainlyTwelve, CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo: MainlyTwelve, CC BY-SA 4.0 - 3Hudson Square · $$ · Canal St (1) · 326 Spring St
Housed in a Federal-style building from around 1770 and pouring drinks since 1817, it is one of the oldest bar buildings in the city. This old dockworker and smuggler haunt sits a block from where the Hudson shoreline once ran.
Low ceilings, crooked floors and two centuries of river-town history make this feel like the realest old bar in Manhattan.
Order Bloody Mary
Order the Bloody Mary and grab a table in the back room, where the building's age is most obvious.
Photo: Jim.henderson, Public Domain Photo: Jim.henderson, Public Domain - 4Woodhaven · $$ · 75 St-Elderts Ln (J Z) · 87-48 78th St, Woodhaven, NY 11421
A Woodhaven tavern dating to 1829, widely considered one of the oldest continuously operating bars in the United States. It doubled as the Goodfellas bar and nearly closed in 2020 before the neighborhood rallied to save it.
That a nearly 200-year-old bar in Woodhaven survived at all, then became a Scorsese landmark, makes every pint here feel earned.
Order Classic draft lager
Order a lager and ask about the Goodfellas history; the staff love pointing out exactly where the scenes were shot.
Photo: CaptJayRuffins, CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo: CaptJayRuffins, CC BY-SA 4.0 - 5Gramercy · $$ · 14 St-Union Sq (4 5 6 L N Q R W) · 129 E 18th St
A Gramercy saloon operating since 1864 that bills itself as the oldest continuously operating bar and restaurant in New York. O. Henry is said to have written 'The Gift of the Magi' in a front booth.
The rosewood bar and pressed-tin ceiling have outlasted Prohibition and a century and a half of change, and still turn out a proper Manhattan.
Order Classic Manhattan cocktail
Ask for the O. Henry booth up front; it is the historic seat and often free on weekday afternoons.
Photo: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0 - 6West Village · $$ · Christopher St-Stonewall (1) · 567 Hudson St
Also No. 5 on Best of the West Village →
A West Village tavern open since 1880 and legendary as a literary hangout, most famously tied to Dylan Thomas's final heavy night of drinking. The wood-and-tile rooms still draw a mix of old regulars and pilgrims.
Few bars carry this much Beat and literary lore while still just being a good, unfussy Village pub.
Order Draft pint of beer
Do not confuse it with the unrelated White Horse in the Financial District; the historic one is here at 567 Hudson.
@whitehorsetavern1880 ↗White Horse Tavern
From @whitehorsetavern1880 on Instagram, shown through Instagram's own embed player.
- 7Upper East Side · $$ · 77 St (6) · 35 E 76th St
The clubby bar inside The Carlyle since 1947, wrapped in Ludwig Bemelmans's whimsical Central Park mural, the only surviving public artwork by the creator of Madeline. Live piano plays nightly beneath the gold-leaf ceiling.
Nursing a martini under those hand-painted Central Park scenes, with live jazz at the keys, is old New York glamour at its most intact.
Order Classic martini
There is a cover charge once the music starts in the evening; arrive before the band to sit for the price of a drink.
Photo: Ɱ, CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo: Ɱ, CC BY-SA 4.0 - 8Windsor Terrace · $$ · 15 St-Prospect Park (F G) · 215 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, NY 11215
A Windsor Terrace corner bar open since 1933, one of Brooklyn's oldest continuously operating taverns. It is known for its enormous to-go 'schooner' containers of beer and a fiercely loyal local following.
Order a styrofoam schooner of cold draft and you are drinking exactly the way this Brooklyn corner has for ninety years.
Order Schooner of draft beer
Ask for a schooner to go; the oversized container is the Farrell's tradition, and it is still cash only.
Photo: Veggiegalaxy, CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo: Veggiegalaxy, CC BY-SA 4.0 - 9Concourse · $$ · 161 St-Yankee Stadium (4 B D) · 72 E 161st St, Bronx, NY 10451
Also No. 9 on Best Hangouts in the Bronx →
A Bronx sports bar serving fans since 1927, the year the original Yankee Stadium opened nearby. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio were regulars, and it bills itself as the borough's oldest bar.
On a game day, a beer at the bar where Ruth and Gehrig once drank connects you straight to a century of Yankees history.
Order Draft beer
Go before a home game rather than after; the pre-game crowd is electric and you can actually get a drink.
Photo: Antonio Bonanno, CC BY-SA 2.0 Photo: Antonio Bonanno, CC BY-SA 2.0 - 10Charleston · $$ · 4254 Arthur Kill Rd, Staten Island, NY 10309
Also No. 5 on Best Hangouts in Staten Island →
A Staten Island beer hall in a building with 1700s origins, bought by the Killmeyer family around 1855 and fitted with an 1890 mahogany bar. Today it preserves the borough's German-tavern heritage with steins and a biergarten.
A genuine 19th-century Bavarian beer hall complete with an 1890 bar is the last place most people expect on Staten Island, which is exactly the charm.
Order German beer stein (Hofbräu)
Come in warm weather for the outdoor biergarten and order a stein of Hofbrau; the German drafts are the specialty.
Photo: H.L.I.T., CC BY 2.0 Photo: H.L.I.T., CC BY 2.0