Thursday, April 7, 2011

[Updated] City makes McSorley's wipe away 100 years of history, remove Minnie McSorley


The dust busters at the DOH told McSorley's that management had to clean up the bar's famous wishbones, placed there by doughboys headed off to war...


Per Dan Barry's article at the Times:

So, with heavy heart, the proprietor, Matthew Maher, 70, climbed up a small ladder. With curatorial care, he took down the two-dozen dust-cocooned wishbones dangling on an old gas lamp above the storied bar counter. He removed the clouds of gray from each bone. Then he placed every one of the bones, save for those that crumbled at his touch, back onto the gas lamp — where, in the context of this dark and wonderful establishment, they are not merely the scrap remains of poultry, but holy relics.

And!

[T]imes have changed: old New York and new New York remain in conflict, and old New York is losing. For example, lounging cats had been a furry part of the McSorley fabric since Lincoln. But word recently came down from City Hall: no cats. A longtime regular, Minnie, has been barred as a result.

Save Minnie!



We reached out to Minnie via Facebook. She told us the following.

"I actually contacted Mr. Barry hoping he'd do a follow-up to his previous column on the wishbones. He asked about my current status, and I explained that Mr. Maher has said I'm not allowed into the bar during drinking hours...officially. Since the only heat I want coming down is from the stove, that's the fact as it must be reported and as we must maintain.

It's a sad turn of events about the bones."

15 comments:

Roger_Paw said...

The b*stards!!

Anonymous said...

OK, I've put up with a lot of bullshit in this city for the last 10 years, but when Bloomberg comes after the cats, it means WAR.

NOBODY MESSES WITH MINNIE

Jeremiah Moss said...

is this a joke? that cat is essential to the bar.

Anonymous said...

Do you think this calls for a CAT in we all bring our cats

Cat Sitter in the City said...

How dare the city banish Minnie from her own bar! I'm really tired of cats being treated like second-class citizens in NYC! Minnie, you should stage a feline sit-in at City Hall.

Morgan Tsvangirai said...

Bar cats (and dogs for that matter) are awesome and should always be allowed.

Melanie said...

No...Minnie...Minnie is always welcome at Ray's 24/7. I love Minnie. Didn't know much about the bones.

Ken from Ken's Kitchen said...

NYC: not cool for cats. They're working hard every day taking the fun out of Fun City.

Monty Cat said...

This is an outrage!

Dirty drunken animals are a-ok, but not our beautiful and self-cleaning Minnie?!

Four legs good, two legs bad!

Marty Wombacher said...

I can't believe they made them dust those wishbones. Bad Karma coming up for the DOH. And barring Minnie is unacceptable! Next thing you know they'll make them start serving one beer at a time.

Roger_Paw said...

Oh my gosh, I hadn't read Minnie's Facebook message earlier. My goodness, she is so classy and well-written. I'd so love to spend a sunny Sunday embroidering a quilt or drying and pressing flower petals between the pages of scrapbooks with her.

BOWERY REVIEW said...

New York City becomes more vapid everyday.New York Mall

Tricia said...

Somehow I missed this terrible piece of news yesterday. Just awful! The City's cruel & inhuman treatment of our cat citizens needs an overhaul. I'm sure the mice and rats are thrilled

slostan said...

I think the city officials simply missed the fact the Minnie is a "Service" cat and as such is, in fact, allowed in the bar. I'm sure this all a simple mistake.

Lisanne! said...

I guess bodega cats are the next to go. 30 years ago we would have laughed to hear that cats would be barred from a barroom.