Pete's Tavern

Last updated
Pete's Tavern
Petes-tavern-2007 crop.jpg
Pete's Tavern in 2007
Pete's Tavern
Restaurant information
Food typeAmerican, Italian
Dress codecasual
Street address129 East 18th Street (at the corner of Irving Place) in Gramercy Park, Manhattan
City New York City
State New York
Postal/ZIP Code10003
Country United States
Coordinates 40°44′12″N73°59′12″W / 40.73653°N 73.986746°W / 40.73653; -73.986746
Website https://www.petestavern.com

Pete's Tavern, located at 129 East 18th Street on the corner of Irving Place in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, is a pub food restaurant and the oldest continuously operating restaurant and bar in New York City. [1]

Contents

History

The building that houses Pete's Tavern was built in 1829 as the Portman Hotel Pete's Tavern building.jpg
The building that houses Pete's Tavern was built in 1829 as the Portman Hotel

The building that houses Pete's was built in 1829, and was originally the Portman Hotel; [2] liquor may have been sold there as early as 1851 [3] or 1852 [4] when it was a "grocery & grog" store [3] and the first official drinking establishment founded by 1864. It was bought in 1899 by Tom and John Healy, and became Healy's. [4] During prohibition, when selling alcohol was illegal, the bar continued to operate disguised as a flower shop. [3] [4]

The writer O. Henry lived down the street at 55 Irving Place from 1903 to 1907, [4] and Healy's appears in his short story "The Lost Blend" under the name "Kenealy's". [4] Local legend also has it that he wrote his well-known story "The Gift of the Magi" in Healy's second booth from the front, but this appears to be apocryphal. [2]

The present name dates to the purchase of the establishment by Peter D'Belles in 1926. [5]

Although the tavern claims to be "an official historical landmark", it is neither a designated New York City landmark nor is it on the National Register of Historic Places. It does, however, lie within the Gramercy Park Historic District designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1966. [6] Gary Egan is proprietor of Pete's Tavern and has been General Manager of the restaurant for over 30 years.

Pete's Tavern has appeared in numerous films and television programs, including Two for the Seesaw, Seinfeld , Ragtime , Endless Love , Law & Order , Nurse Jackie , Spin City , Sex and the City , Across the Sea of Time, The Guru, Blue Bloods , The Blacklist, and more recently, Fleishman is in Trouble . It has also been used as a location for television commercials such as Miller Lite ads with Ben Davidson and Tony Esposito, as well as print advertisements. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stonewall Inn</span> Gay tavern and monument in New York City

The Stonewall Inn is a gay bar and recreational tavern at 53 Christopher Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Founded as a speakeasy in 1930, it was the site of the 1969 Stonewall riots, which led to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States. When the riots occurred, Stonewall was one of a relative few gay bars in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lexington Avenue</span> North-south avenue in Manhattan, New York

Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street. Along its 5.5-mile (8.9-kilometer), 110-block route, Lexington Avenue runs through Harlem, Carnegie Hill, the Upper East Side, Midtown, and Murray Hill to a point of origin that is centered on Gramercy Park. South of Gramercy Park, the axis continues as Irving Place from 20th Street to East 14th Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gramercy Park</span> Neighborhood and park in New York, United States

Gramercy Park is the name of both a small, fenced-in private park, and the surrounding neighborhood that is also referred to as Gramercy, in Manhattan in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuyvesant Square</span> Public park and neighborhood in Manhattan, New York

Stuyvesant Square is the name of both a park and its surrounding neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The park is located between 15th Street, 17th Street, Rutherford Place, and Nathan D. Perlman Place. Second Avenue divides the park into two halves, east and west, and each half is surrounded by the original cast-iron fence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel J. Tilden House</span> Historic house in Manhattan, New York

The Samuel J. Tilden House is a historic townhouse pair at 14-15 Gramercy Park South in Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1845, it was the home of Samuel J. Tilden (1814–1886), former governor of New York, a fierce opponent of the Tweed Ring and Tammany Hall, and the losing presidential candidate in the disputed 1876 election. Tilden lived in the brownstone from 1860 until his death in 1886. From 1881 to 1884, Calvert Vaux combined it with the row house next door, also built in 1845, to make the building that now stands, which has been described as "the height of Victorian Gothic in residential architecture" with Italian Renaissance style elements. Since 1906 it has been the headquarters of the National Arts Club, a private arts club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Synagogue (Manhattan)</span> Reform synagogue in Manhattan, New York

The Central Synagogue is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue at 652 Lexington Avenue, at the corner of East 55th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Built from 1870 to 1872 and designed by Henry Fernbach in the Moorish Revival style, the synagogue was influenced by Budapest's Dohány Street Synagogue. It has been continuously used by a congregation for longer than any other in New York state, except Congregation Berith Sholom in Troy, and is among the oldest existing synagogue buildings in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Charities Building</span> United States historic place

The United Charities Building, also known as United Charities Building Complex, is at 105 East 22nd Street or 287 Park Avenue South, in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, near the border of the Flatiron District. It was built in 1893 by John Stewart Kennedy, a wealthy banker, for the Charity Organization Society. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991 for the role the Charity Organization Society played in promoting progressive social welfare policies, including the development of academic disciplines in that area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Street (Manhattan)</span> Street in Manhattan, New York

William Street is a street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. It runs generally southwest to northeast, crossing Wall Street and terminating at Broad Street and Spruce Street, respectively. Between Beaver Street and Broad Street, the street is known as South William Street. Between Beekman Street and Spruce Street, in front of New York Downtown Hospital, William Street is a pedestrian-only street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julius (restaurant)</span> Restaurant in Manhattan, New York

Julius' is a tavern in Manhattan's Greenwich Village neighborhood in New York City, located at 159 West 10th Street at Waverly Place. It is often called the oldest continuously operating gay bar in New York City. Its management, however, was actively unwilling to operate as such, and harassed gay customers until 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colonnade Row</span> United States historic place

Colonnade Row, also known as LaGrange Terrace, is a group of 1830s row houses on present-day Lafayette Street in the NoHo neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. They are believed to have been built by Seth Geer, although the project has been attributed to a number of other architects. The buildings' original name comes from the Marquis de Lafayette's estate in France, but the series of nine row houses, of which four remain, owe their existence to John Jacob Astor, who bought the property and whose grandson John Jacob Astor III later lived at No. 424. The remaining buildings are New York City designated landmarks and listed on the National Register of Historic Places under the name LaGrange Terrace. The facades remain standing on Lafayette Street south of Astor Place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Brown House (Manhattan)</span> Historic house in Manhattan, New York

The James Brown House is a historic building in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was built in the late 18th century. Today, it is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is a New York City designated landmark. It is one of the few existing examples of Federal architecture in New York. Its ground level is the site of The Ear Inn, one of the oldest existing taverns in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidney V. Stratton</span> American architect

Sidney Vanuxem Stratton was an American architect born in Natchez, Mississippi, but whose practice was entirely in New York City. Stratton is now scarcely known, but he was one of the first American architecture students at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, along with H. H. Richardson and Richard Morris Hunt, in whose office he worked in the 1870s before establishing his own practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">19 Gramercy Park South</span>

19 Gramercy Park South, also known as 86 Irving Place or the Stuyvesant Fish House, is a four-story row house located at the corner of Gramercy Park South and Irving Place in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East 17th Street/Irving Place Historic District</span> Historic district in Manhattan, New York

The East 17th Street/Irving Place Historic District is a small historic district located primarily on East 17th Street between Union Square East and Irving Place in the Union Square neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on June 30, 1988, and encompasses nine mid-19th century rowhouses and apartment buildings on the south side of East 17th Street, from number 104 to number 122, plus one additional building at 47 Irving Place just south of 17th Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gramercy Tavern</span> Restaurant in New York, United States

Gramercy Tavern is a New American restaurant located at 42 East 20th Street, in the Flatiron District in Manhattan, New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fanelli Cafe</span> Historic restaurant in New York, United States

Fanelli Cafe is a historic New York City restaurant and bar considered the city's second-oldest food-and-drink establishment in the same locale, having operated under various owners at 94 Prince Street since 1847. It served as a gathering place for artists during the transition of Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood from a manufacturing area to an arts community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stonewall National Monument</span> U.S. National Monument in Manhattan, New York

Stonewall National Monument is a 7.7-acre (3.1 ha) U.S. national monument in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The designated area includes the Stonewall Inn, the 0.19-acre (0.077 ha) Christopher Park, and nearby streets including Christopher Street, the site of the Stonewall riots of June 28, 1969, widely regarded as the start of the modern LGBT rights movement in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Church of Christ, Scientist (New York City)</span> Historic church in Manhattan, New York

The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Manhattan is a 1903 building located at Central Park West and 96th Street in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. The building is a designated New York City landmark.

References

  1. Gray, Christopher (November 19, 1995). "Streetscapes: The Bridge Cafe;On the Trail of New York's Oldest Surviving Bar". The New York Times .
  2. 1 2 White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot (2000). AIA Guide to New York City (4th ed.). New York: Three Rivers Press. ISBN   978-0-8129-3107-5., p.206
  3. 1 2 3 "History of Pete's Tavern" on the tavern's menu
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Lexington Avenue / Irving Place Songline"
  5. Gray, Christopher (May 18, 2003). "Streetscapes: Irving Place; A 19th-Century Street Honoring Washington Irving". The New York Times.
  6. "NYCLPC Gramercy Park Historic District Designation Report" (September 20, 1966)
  7. "Pete's Tavern History"