1931 Old Waldorf Bar Days by Albert Stevens Crockett

Many Schools in One and the lamb are vases of flowers. The significance of the ornamenta tion will be expl ained further on. There is no time now. The crowd surges in. Everyone struggles to get a foot– hold on a brass rail that runs around the bottom of the bar. Sometimes the gang is ten deep, all pressing toward that common goal. On every face is written strong re– solve. Each man pushes forward until some drinker who has been monopolizing a coveted spot falls or otherwise gives way; and then, with something like a shout, the late-comer, if he is a good squirmer or ducker, wiggles into the place thus vacated, stepping, perhaps, over a prostrate body, to claim the drink 'he yelled for while still a Sheridan's ride away. "Ad astra" was the motto of the crowd. If it wasn't Martel's Three Stars or Hennessy's Five, it was a cock– tail or a highball. The fancier drinks came later in the day. It should be stressed tha t the scene described was typical only of hours when the room was overcrowded, as it frequently was toward six o'clock of an afternoon, when men would come in who acted as if they had on:ly one aim in life, and that was to get outside of a drink, and with no delay. Frequently, as intimated, their chances improved when some "tank" at the barside had filled to overflowing and had to be either carried or led away. But, be it also emphasized, that Bar was not regarded as a place of "ill-repute." In its early days, particularly, men of the highest reputation frequented it; some never went from their offices downtown to their homes with– out calling in for at least an appetizer-or something to ( IJ)