I've never before photographed the beautiful old men's bathroom at the Old Town Bar. (And, yes, judge me as you like, I've long wanted to photograph it.) This is because it is usually occupied, and propriety does not permit my taking photographs. Also, it's often after hours when I visit the ancient Manhattan tavern, and the light is not ideal.
However, recently, I happened to pay a call on the Old Town during daylight hours. The bar was sparsely populated, and I found the lavatory unvisited for many minutes at a time. Some old saloons in the city (P.J. Clarke's, McSorley's) still have their big, ceramic urinals. But the Old Town has the whole package. Every bit of the room, from the stall doors to the ceramic floors to the stained glass ceiling, has the look of the early 20th century. It's perfect.
Oh, and if you think my waxing rhapsodic about urinals is odd, consider this: just outside the men's room door is a framed proclamation from the Mayor honoring the 100th year anniversary, in 2010, or the urinals.
Don't find you strange at all Brooks, this post inspires me to have a few cold ones there so that I might visit those old time urinals. Yes, a beautiful bathroom! If ours is that nice, how nice must the ladies room be? lol
ReplyDeleteThose ARE great urinals.
ReplyDeleteMan, years and years I took a dump in that rest room and you know, I didn't feel like a worthless alcoholic at all felt myself to be elegant and refined. Looking around it I saw a beautiful john, that's for sure. Am proud I used to go to places like that.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the ladies look like?
ReplyDeleteBrooks, awesome photos! What does that stained glass ceiling look like? Love those urinals! Masterpieces of industrial design. I'm waiting for these to become the new must-have for hi-end Manhattan condos!
ReplyDeleteJohnny: the stained glass is pictured.
ReplyDeleteBrooks, I do not think your waxing odd. For I, too, have visited (and photographed) the Great Hinsdale Urinals. I think the explanation lies in what the Old Town owner Gerard Meagher told The New York Observer on the occasion of the urinals' 85th anniversary: "The urinals are a relic from another time. ... They make a man feel more important than he actually is."
ReplyDeleteLadies looks similar but more altered, as if it were carved out of a men's room where other urinals used to be. I would say perhaps Old Town didn't have a ladies' room originally, but supposedly the upstairs dining room for families has been there since the beginning.
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