McSorley's Ale House
Went to McSorley's Ale House last night. I would not want to go there every week, esp. not on weekend nights when it's pretty raucous, but its a great place to visit once in a while.
Its been open since 1854, and little has changed since then.
There's a coal-burning Franklin stove in the center of the main room.
They serve only two types of beer- McSorley's light and McSorley's dark. For food, you have ultra-basic stuff such as cheese squares, fish and chips, and liverwurst sandwiches.
In the past, McSorley's regulars hung wishbones across the gas dusty chandelier that hangs over the bar. In 1917, it served as a gas lamp, and men who were going to war in Europe hung chicken bones over it for good luck. The bones still hanging belong to the men who never returned from the war. In deference to their sacrifice, the bones and the chandelier, now powered by electricity, have not been dusted in decades.
Yesterday was Veterans Day. I saw an Air Force vet wearing his old uniform, two people wearing Remembrance Day poppies, and, in full dress uniform, a member of the ( British ) Royal Green Jackets.
